Candy & Jeff stopped by Sunday afternoon on their way to Chattanooga to visit their daughter Penny and her hubby Alex. Tomorrow, their plans are to drive to Atlanta to explore the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer exhibition at the Center for Puppetry Arts. This was Penny’s Christmas wish.
Candy and I haven’t seen each other in ages so we had a lot of celebrating to catch up on; Christmas 2021, both of our birthdays for 2022 as well as this Christmas. Candy was like Mrs. Claus bringing a bounty of happiness with a cornucopia of gifts. Her theme and gifts were British inspired: a white tea kettle for a cuppa, a white TEA mug along with a GOODIES plate for “biscuits”, and a pull down car shade with the image of her majesty the Queen waving. She said that all of these were the perfect gifts until Queen Elizabeth II unexpectedly passed away. She was so disappointed that during Halloween, she found a small, glass ghost that she added to my collection which I named Lilibet in honor of the Queen.
Other festive items included a Hallmark Keepsake vintage-inspired, porcelain Mr. & Mrs. Claus ornament, a nostalgic ceramic Christmas tree nightlight, a classic Santa ornament with articulated legs, a snazzy gingerbread man flask to toast the season and a hilarious, “We’ll always be best friends because you know too much” sign.
Here’s the crazy, fun, cosmic weird universe thing. Candy and I both had similar themes for our gift giving, Queen Elizabeth II and ghosts. I found an embroidered ornament celebrating the Queen’s platinum jubilee along with a book called, “The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt” which I thought was so clever and beautifully illustrated. The ornament made her laugh as she realized our similar themes and when she opened the book, she clasped her pearls and I literally thought was going to cry. It just so happens that this book is one of her favorites and she had even created lesson plans for her 1st grade class based on the book. In fact, she’s so attached to the book, she would bring it home from school just to keep it safe. Now she has her very own copy.
I also immortalized a photo that was taken of us circa Christmas 1988 with our big hair and shoulder pads and turned it into an ornament. Always searching for the unique and unusual, I found a vintage, ceramic poodle figurine that’s both a pin cushion and a scissor holder for her sewing room. When you place your tiny sewing scissors in the bridge of its nose, the finger rings turn into a pair of spectacles. That made her laugh hysterically. We both agreed it’s either super cute or hideous.
Candy wants to come back on her winter break, crawl onto our bed in our pjs and watch the Netflix docuseries, “Harry & Meghan” so we can fuss at the TV together.
We had an amazing time laughing and giggling like school girls. Merry Christmas little friend!!
