This is a musical snow globe I placed near the miniature log cabin our children made years ago. The log cabin is a year round fixture in our home, but I do like to add seasonal touches to it. I am almost done decorating , now that I have put away all the stuff that I had out for the last bazaar and kind of organized the craft room again( a perpetual project). Oh, and let's not forget the continual hauling of pitchers and watering cans of hot water out to the livestock and poultry because the temps are way below freezing around here!Do you know what hard work that is? I am just thankful we have running water and a hot water heater to provide this modern miracle...so I reflect on that when I am tempted to grumble about hauling so much water outside in single digit temperatures....and you need to know ...ducks require, use,and waste huge amounts of water!
This year I am determined to keep the decorating simple. We have a vast miniature village, but since we are not hosting any big events this month we decided to edit our traditional decorating. No lights outlining the outside of our home, just wreaths and greens on the porch. Inside I put out a few miniature village houses and vignettes, the ones I like the best. I decided I really do appreciate the traditional Scandinavian colors of various hues of blue and white with wood, natural greens, and accents of red. My eyes rest when I view clean lines and cool colors and my mind seems able to focus more on what's important while taking in with joy very simple things. Above is our buffet with the big platter we serve all kinds of good food on, and by the lamps are two vignettes that hold meaning for us. I left room on the buffet for FOOD!
You might notice the tree is not decorated yet, that is for tonight. Every year I reflect on how much I like the tree with just lights...no decorations at all. I toy with the idea of leaving the tree this way but I know we cannot resist adding the many decorations we have collected over the years and I will be happy to add them. But for this past evening my husband and I enjoyed the tree as it is here..a quiet evening together , watching a T.V. show we enjoyed , while 4 of our dogs and the 3 cats slept by the fire. A nice night.
The village church on the buffet.
Singing round the Christmas tree on the buffet.
~Mary Ellen Ladd Lowery and her husband William Henry Lowery, they are my husbands' great-grandparents. The following story was written by my husband's great-aunt Esther Meyer, in 1980 and she was the oldest daughter of William and Mary Ellen Lowery.
~~~The weather had turned frigid suddenly. The homestead shack could not keep out all the icy blasts, but the hearts inside were warm with love and excitement. It was now well into December and Christmas would soon be here.
This was a time in the early 1900's. A family had just the previous spring taken a homestead of one-quarter section of sagebrush land in a newly opened project in the Columbia Basin. They had great hopes of making a home here.
The town was one and one half miles away and had no more than four or five buildings so far, and only a few supplies.
Christmas had always held a special meaning for these God-fearing, devoted parents. The happiness and welfare of their four children was their greatest concern. ( They had more children as time went on)
Now the holiday was fast approaching, the young ones were on tip-toe with excitement. With little money and no evergreen trees available, how could they celebrate the big day?
The Mother, a very imaginative and resourceful person, lay awake nights planning and scheming. So for many evenings she cut, sewed, stuffed, and pasted until homemade toys evolved for each child. All of those were made from available household materials. Days were spent helping small fingers string popcorn and cranberries; and make paper chains of pages of the wall paper sample book. All the while she made time pass quickly with re-telling the Christmas story, with poems of the season and fairy tales.
But now, what about a tree ? Some of the fields were full of sage brush, as there had not been time to clear it all in the few months since arriving here. Down by the big draw where a torrent of water ran down from the hills in each spring thaw, grew bushes four or five feet high." Now why would one of those not be beautiful set up in a corner of the room and decorated?" mused the Mother.
So Christmas came at last. Four eager children awoke at dawn. Oh wonder of wonders, there before their eyes stood a grey-green, spicy smelling Christmas tree, aglow with candles, festooned with the home-made chains and ropes as well as the treasured ornaments of yester-years. Four stockings hung in a row from nails on one wall were bulging. Of course there was an orange in each toe, probably the only orange received all year. There was a little striped, paper sack of hard candy, augmented by plenty of home-made fudge. The Father had a sweet tooth, and always saw to that part.
Now evening came after a blissful day and four happy , tired little ones fell asleep, content.
Now-a-days we are blessed with an abundance of the good things of life, but no children today can be happier or more satisfied than were those little ones over the simple pleasures provided by those loving parents!
~This is the complete family. The Lowery's were one of the founding families of Quincy, Washington...I met Great Aunt Esther, her sisters Martha and Marion. They were incredible women and I hope to do a story on them some time in the future. This is a family that celebrated Christmas BECAUSE of Jesus, and so may you today! Merry Christmas!
