Here is a picture of my china cabinet with the door open so that my blue and orange or yellow china is visible. Click picture to see the whole cabinet. On the top shelf in the front of the upper left is the piece that started the collection. When we were little we had the small bowls from this set and I loved them. They came from my Grandmother and at some point I got the big bowl from her. One of the little bowls is tucked in behind. They are from Spain. Next to the bowl is a pitcher that my daughter brought me in Spain and next to that a small pitcher my mother gave me as a souvenir from a trip to Italy. Behind that is a pitcher from France that my sister gave me for my birthday one year. After she gave it to me she asked me how I would use it. I said “I will put it in my china cabinet.” And she said “But how will you use it?” I repeated, “I will put it in my china cabinet.”
Click picture to see the whole shelf. Next to that is another bowl from my Grandmother that says “Grazia in Deruta” and next to that a creamer and sugar bowl on a little tray with the brand name Deruta but they were cheap and made in China. The large fish plate and the blue and yellow plate in the back are also new and cheap. The candlesticks and the small vase in front of the fish plate are from Israel and they are one of my few tag sale purchases. To the left of the candlesticks is a mug from Italy with an orange on it, a gift from my husband. Stay tuned for future posts on the items on the second and third shelves and the china cabinet itself.
My sister in law Louise makes multiples of a mini quilt ornament each year. We are just back from our Christmas celebration – it takes place on Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend each year. It is always exciting to see the newest design. This year’s quilt was quite a departure (not as Christmassy):
We have a very large collection of the mini quilts now, we hang the first few years on the tree and the rest on the China cabinet glass panels (on the doors and the sides). Click on the photo to see the complete picture
As you can see we began doubling up this year. Next year we may need to think of a whole new idea. My niece hangs hers on a clothesline with tiny clothespins.
Usually we leave our Christmas decorations up till the end of January – the decorations not the tree! This year, though, since we are going away this weekend for our last Christmas celebration with my husband’s family and we are integrating a new cat into our household which involves running and chasing and we fear for our snowpeople and Santas in our absence, we are putting them away before we go. These small eclectic (in style and materials) collections sit on top of our speakers which usually host our woven shaker instruments. While they are back in their boxes in the basement, their images can live on here. Click on the photos to see the whole collection.
I couldn’t resist stopping to take a shot of these cool owls crafted by a kindergarten class that were hanging in the local bagel place. Made of stuffed nylons/pantyhose and painted, they look almost real!
Sibella Court’s new book “The Life of a Bowerbird: Creating beautiful interiors with the things you collect” is featured in the February issue of House Beautiful. I was struck by her use of the word curator in the printed excerpt:
“A Bowerbird is an Australian native bird that builds a reedy nest and goes to extraordinary lengths to decorate it with “stolen” goods and found objects such as shells, bones, and shiny milk caps. I have been referred to as a bowerbird, and I like to think of myself as a finder, keeper, and curator of collections of beautiful things, I enjoy having my things around me: out on show and ready for their story to be told; as rotating objects and treasures available to touch and turn over.
“A collection doesn’t need to be justified beyond the desire to have it and to keep it. Collections are simply an attraction (over and over again) to the same object, or shape, or color, or texture.
“A collection is a memento of people, places, past times, and experiences…You are the curator of your collections: edit, be selective, picky or accommodating. These are objects that make sense to you and make you happy…”
Yes, Yes, Yes!!!!
When my husband first heard of people having more than one Christmas tree he thought it was one of the most ludicrous ideas he had ever heard of so our imaginary second and third trees became a big joke around here. But when my friend Susan gave me a fairy with the Albert Einstein quote “If you want your children to be bright read them fairy tales, if you want them to be brilliant read them even more fairy tales” I knew it was the perfect topper to a tree dedicated to my children’s book character ornaments. I had used these on a branch at school but recently they had just been waiting in a box. So I bought a small fake tree and set it up in the guest bedroom. So far the tree sports the fairy, Madeline, Babar, Curious George, Pippi, Olivia, The Cat in the Hat, Strega Nona and Big Anthony and many of the characters from the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland. A Tomie de Paolo version of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf in Granny’s nightgown sit below the tree as they have no hooks.
Here is a shot of our quirky Christmas collection – our M&M guys! My husband loved that commercial a few years ago where the M&M keels over when he sees Santa and of course that meant that my husband became the recipient of M&M guys. Looks like a reindeer from our stuffed reindeer collection sneaked onto the display box too.
Today I am baking Pain d’Epice. It is a spice bread with the flavors of anise, cinnamon, sherry, and honey and it embodies the smell, taste, and look of Christmas to me. My mother baked this baking soda leavened bread every year. She began by combining honey and sherry in a large bowl with boiling water which filled the kitchen with heady aromas. Stirring in the dry ingredients yielded a very sticky dough which she then ladled and smoothed into three bread baking pans. The loaves baked for an hour as the anise and cinnamon filled the entire house with the smell of Christmas. After it cooled a bit she sliced the bread as thinly as possible and spread it with a little butter. I love the taste of this bread so much that my sister once baked me a batch for my birthday in June but what made the bread really special at Christmastime was that my mother wrapped up the loaves in tinfoil, tied a shiny red ¾ inch ribbon around each loaf, and delivered them to our neighbors. The shiny tinfoil, the red ribbon, and the taste of anise made this the perfect Christmas present!
For the most part our Christmas is pretty secular but as I mentioned in an earlier post, one of my favorite parts of Christmas has always been the advent calendar. Now that our children are grown up we just tie bows on the days leading up to the 24th but on the 24th we still tie a small nativity scene. We have many now made from many different materials and from many different countries. Some of these hang on the tree but some sit on shelves. Of course, in the way collections grow, we also have received as gifts and bought a few larger ones. This year I arranged the nativity scenes on the top of the china cabinet. They are not hung yet but I usually hang another collection in the glass panels – the small Christmas quilts we get every year from my sister in law.
Here are two of the larger ones – one from South America and one from Africa. They could be part of another collection too – my carved gourd collection
My older daughter Julie is a huge fan of photo booths. She and her roommate Ken have filled their refrigerator with their many photo booth experiences and interesting refrigerator magnets. Refrigerator magnets always remind me of an even awkwarder than usual interaction Alex Trebek had with a contestant during the interesting tidbit segment of Jeopardy many years ago. It went something like this, “So you collect refrigerator magnets” said Alex and then with a very puzzled expression, “so where do magnets come from in old refrigerators?” It took the contestant a minute to realize that he was going to have to explain the concept of a refrigerator magnet. Alex’s refrigerator must be quite bare – especially compared to Julie and Ken’s! 
