Christmas Decor

Just a couple of blocks from where I live,

there is a tiny tyny Xmas market.

You have Adirondack chairs, Xmas trees and open air fires.

 I love the smell of a wood fire.

There's also a heart with a rocking chair, but no Santa.

It seems everyone can be Santa....

NO! I

Xmas is Xmas! I want Santas, stars, baby Jesus, the virgin Mary

and the whole kit and caboodle!

 What is wrong with people?

You want to celebrate Hannukah? Kwanzaa? or Diwali?

GO AHEAD, BUT JUST LET ME CELEBRATE XMAS

THE WAY I LIKE IT!!!

For some reason, here in Montreal there is a lot of tension over Holiday

Decor....

Some town halls decided to take down their nativity scenes to avoid controversy and

some libraries took down their menorahs.

How about we just celebrate our own holidays in peace?

I prefer the melting pot and all its flavors!

After all variety is the spice of life!

On the thrifting front here are some pics of

tackylicious things I left behind!

 I left them behind because there were kind of cruddy

 And broken and sad.

And that is too bad because they had a lot of 

tackylicious potential!

And here is my 2015 Xmas tree!

The 2016 tree is taller.

I started decorating it today.

Picture to follow!

Sleep tight!

Home

We wanted to go on a mini roadtrip, but let's face it folks we had to TCB on the homefront!

I'm ashamed to tell you that the tree wasn't down....yet

So now I can proudly tell you that all the ornements are put away and that the tree itself will be put in its box tomorrow and on its way to the basement.

Of course when you put away Xmas stuff; you cannot help but reminisce...

  

I got this cutie patootie from a flea in Massena NY in December.It is made in Japan

It set me back $1.

 

Now this is my yearly ornements in Pyrex pic.

 

 

 

I had a lot more but they were unbreakables and they got packed earlier

 

Most of the glass ornements are heirlooms from my parents and some are even from my grandparents, and even my great-grandparents.

 

  We had snow so Dan shovelled evrything, I shoved a blade roast in the new crockpot with spices, onion,garlic and red wine , changed the beds, tidied the kitchen and started the beans for the cassoulet.

The Montreal Gazette published  an easier and simpler cassoulet recipe so Dan  wanted me to try it.

 

I was really surprised because last time we had it we had a really hard time digesting it even if it was made by a famous Montreal chef; I swear I burped it for 2 days.

Dan keeps making faces everytime someone mentions cassoulet!

 

in case you're wondering...Cassoulet is an old french dish with beans, duck, sausages and pork.

 

It is of course a cold weather dish....

 

I can't wait to taste it! 

 

I hope mine goes down easier...lol

 

 

We got.....

WE GOT STEPS! WE GOT STEPS! WE GOT STEPS!

I kept repeating : I have a balcony like a fool.

It's not finished yet but it is a HUGE improvement!

                                Our very own new steps

                                Bandito is checking if every thing is up to code!

Before the wood was touching the soil...not anymore!

NICE!

 

I love that railling

 

I can't wait to decorate it for Xmas

 

Speaking of Xmas....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not bad eh?

 

The stockings will go in the store as well as the ornements, Santa will be taking

the train next week because I will bring him to work with me to infuse me and my

coworkers with seasonal joy!

 

Gotta go, I'm off to make sure my balcony is still there! LOL

 

 

 

 

Wreath? Check! Snow ? Check!

Well this is it folks! The pinacle of the season, Xmas! I'm short on sleep, but my spirit is soaring!

I redid the wreath

And I'm happy to report, it is still tackylicious!

I've heard that a lot of Quebecers have been praying for a white Xmas and our prayers have been answered!

The blownolds looks so much better with a bit of snow!

The penguins are a bit crooked...but who cares!

This is the little guy I found in a church basement for a dollar.

All the cookies are baked, the presents wrapped, the kitties asleep....

Oops lack of focus....the tree is finished

Let the feast begin!

May you all have a beautiful Christmas with all your loved ones!

I gotta go the roast is ready and I have a cosmo waiting for me! 

New Thrifty Finds!

Isn't thrifting the BEST?

I love the thrill of finding something amazing! Here are my latest finds....

Aren't these cute? Little individual casseroles for french onion soup or individual pot pies....

These are going in the shop.

Oooh yellow egg cups! Another fab find for the store !

Xmas ornements!

These are GORGEOUS!

Both boxes will go in the shop....

Here's what I kept for myself!

A Melita filter in white ceramic; you just insert a paper filter some coffee, place over a cup and pour boiling water....and presto coffee!

A Pyrex canister in the Spice-o-life pattern and a Xmas tree paper napkin holder (I've been wanting one for AGES!)

These pieces were a dollar each....SWEET!

So folks I'm off to list these great finds in the shop because we all know that Xmas is just around the corner!

And Susie QT...I'm keeping my eyes peeled for some objects with 'shrooms! I believe that you are totally right and these are the next owls!

Sleep tight :)

Xmas Shopping and other stuff

What a relief it is to feel almost 100% better.

My chiropractor is definitely a miracle worker. I know some people are against chiros, me I'm totally for them. Mine is mot all about cracking, he's also about deep tissue work, and that is goood because sometimes my muscles are so tight they displace my vertebraes....EEEEWWWW!

My chiro is in downtown Montreal so I took the opportunity to shop and check out the decorations!

My first stop

The Bay department store. It was know as Morgan's until the 1980's and was established in 1867. 

Oooh! Silver, lime and turquoise! I love it!

Xmas goodies all ready to give!

Red and gold

Need a lift? For those who don't know, The points blanket was introduced in 1780 by the Hudson's Bay Company as a standard trading tool. Pelts for blankets basically.

The off white one with the colored stripes is called a chief's blanket. The blankets were made larger since they were felted as part of the manufacturing process and shrunk 50% of their size!

I'm very lucky to have one that was my grandmother's (Gran-Mimi). It is part of my winter bed.

I'm sure you remember how anal I am about sheets, lol. So yes I have winter beds, and fall and summer beds.

About the winter beds...they are usually made with some nice and soft LLBean flannel sheets, then a woven cotton blanket, then a wool blanket (like a points blanket) and finally a comforter. If it gets really cold, I add a flannel comforter cover. The cats love this!

I know it's a lot of covers but we don't heat the bedrooms or just barely. It's so much better for our noses!

I visited their kitchen department and was totally smitten with these lime green Le Creuset!

Wow heavenly cookware! I really don't need any more, but they are sure sweet!

Notice that one of the lid from the small casseroles is missing...was it stolen? That is bad! 

I spied this super cute florist stand on Ste-Catherine street.

I was really glad to get a jump on Xmas shopping on wednesday. But I was happier to jump in the train and head home! Treatments can be really exhausting!

Oh I almost forgot! I want to welcome my 94th follower! I hope you enjoy the ride!

I'm thinking that it might be time for a giveaway....a Xmas giveaway! I would like to reach 100 followers by Xmas....little goals! lol 

Tune in tomorrow or monday as I share what I found in my yard!

CSN Shopping on the Horizon

The good folks over at CSN stores asked me a while back if I wanted to host a giveaway or review a product...Well ,I had  a giveaway not too long ago...and I need stuff for the house, Xmas is coming soon and this girl LOVES to shop!

CSN has over 200 stores filled with whatever you need or want! Furniture,Bar Stools , Xmas decor, bathroom fixtures,bakeware you name it they have it!

I know ,I know I just got a fab couch but this one is super sweet!

Yes Santa I'm good, I'm always good!!!

Aren't these super cute? I love them! Did you hear Santa?

All these came from my window shopping over at CSN!

I can't wait to shop for real! This is so exciting! Have a great week! :)

Indian/Pakistani Buffet

Friday night we went to the culinary school dining room for an Indian/Pakistani Buffet. I love Indian food so I was real excited about this!

When I saw the spread I realised that most of the dishes I didn't know and the ones I know had been interpreted...

Our friends Pierre and Johanne had never tried Indian food and I have to congratulate them for trying everything! You guys rocked! This meal was an 'experience'. Some items were hits (samosas,koftas,chutney,raita) some misses ( You could use the lamb as a doostop-yes it was that tough). A big fave was the cardamon and pistachio ice cream. All those different spices must have been tiring for my body because I slept until 10 am! I wake up at 7 on the weekend...

Saturday I took down the Xmas tree and put everything in boxes. It was a great opportunity to use Pyrex and take pictures!

Sunday we went to the dance class and vegged out the rest of the day!

It was way cold outside (minus 16 celsius/ 4 F) to do an activity.

All I wanted to do is snuggle with the cats in front of the TV.....Heaven!

Winterscape

I was putting away the Xmas decorations yesterday and realised that I didn't post a picture of my tree or some of my favorite decorations!

So I'll just have to harass you with Xmas for a while!

First pic: These are new to me snowmen, but obviously vintage...from the 50's? the 60's? I found them in my fave church basement for 10 cents each. I just fell in love with them...

Ah! The tree! It was a hodgepodge of new,vintage, antique,homemade decorations. Like I always say:a tree is personal, decorate it like you want!

I feel I didn't get to enjoy it as much as I could. But at the same time I couldn't wait to get rid of it! It's on the balcony now waiting for the recycling truck.

Now my living room seems empty and life less...

















I didn't have time to change my Pyrex display before Xmas....So I changed it for the New Year.

What says winter more than snowflakes?

Beautiful in white,turquoise and charcoal...I'm still missing some pieces like the 2 qt turquoise space saver and I'd love to get my hands on the metal lids that came with them...

I still can't believe that I passed on those lids at the Brimfield flea in 2008-they were only 1$ each! But I didn't know what they were for a the time....

Ignorance...!"/$$%?&*()_! LOL

Have a great week and stay warm!

Retro Tuesday: Homemade Vintage Wreath

I've been procrastinating about my Xmas wreath. Probably because of that nice mild weather...



It was on my to-do list since last week. I love to-do lists and it's no big thing if I don't do everything on it...There's always tomorrow! If I don't have a list, I run all over the place like a chicken without a head. To-do lists keep me focused and a bit more orderly!



So this morning everything was covered in a blanket of snow (will I ride my bike again in 2009???). This was it, I had to decorate my wreath today or there was hell to pay! Just a figure of speech....Or I might punish myself and force me to eat Xmas cookies , that would be crual and unusual, no?




I had cut some cedar in my yard, and proceeded to arrange it around a wreath base and securing it with fine metal wire.

See second pic. Then I pulled out all the vintage and tacky decorations I found a couple of weeks ago in my fave church basement.... I glue guned those...I love my glue gun!

See? All the glorious vintagy goodness?

It turned out even better than I expected! It fills me with fuzzy joy!

I'm sure Dan will like it. But I'm pretty positive other family members will roll eyes and pass not so positive comments....But who cares?

It's my wreath on my door!

I believe most of the stuff on the wreath is from the 60's or 70's. Hard to tell. I remember seeing these before....I can't help feeling I traveled through time, I'm 5 years old watching A Charlie Brown Xmas on my mother's knee. I was snug as a bug!

Have a great afternoon!

Isn't it totally fab? look at that hanging basket on the bottom!

Don't forget to visit my pal, the original Retro Tuesday's hostess Crazy Suburban Mom at www.crazysuburbanmom.com

It's always fun! TTFN!

Thrifty Xmas finds

Mid-November already! The Xmas race is on!

I found some interesting thingies at my beloved church basement!

As you can see in the first pic: 3 little cocktail napkins-I think they came from the dollar store, an hot water bottle with a seasonal sweater and a doubleglo angel tree topper.

The hot water bottle was sold by Avon in 2004.

Unfortunately my pictures are not always spot on.

So I'm providing a picture of just the angel...Look at that face! I don't know if I should be enchanted or terrified!

That is certainly a conversation starter!

Since I didn't have a hot water bottle, I will be keeping it as well as the napkins (to wrap small gifts) but I will definitely be listing the tree topper in my etsy shop...

Later I will be attending my weekly country line dancing class...I'm not a country music person...at all, but this is so much fun, I'm having the time of my life every sunday afternoon! We won't be learning any new dance today, the entire time will be dedicated to practicing all the dances we learned...we wouldn't want to make fools of ourselves at the dance school Xmas party, now
would we? LOL

I find myself dancing in my kitchen, in parking lots whereever the fancy strikes! I even watch CMT (country music television) when I clean my kitchen....

It's heeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrreeeeee

Forget about Halloween! My Thanksgiving is over!

I'm ready for Jolly Ol' St-Nick!

I was grocery shopping this morning at Canada's Superstore (here it's called Maxi & cie) and noticed that they were busy decorating for Xmas!

How cool is that??? ok a bit early, but how cool is that? We all need some love,peace ,goodwill and cheer and nothing makes me feel more festive than seeing Xmas decorations!

Yes I have already begun my shopping...but since it will be a thrifty Xmas...there's no time like the present to get started!

I don't plan on buying any new decorations....except maybe a string of lights if one dies. And besides second hand decorations have more character, a je ne sais quoi (besides the dirt), a Mad Men flair...They are full of memories, of what was and what could've been and didn't happen...Did I mention that lighted Xmas decorations of any kind when I was growing up (except plain lights) were a BIG NONO?

They didn't fit with my parents vision of Xmas. So now I'm totally cuckoo for snowmen and santas and the whole kit'n'caboodle. They make my heart sing!

Ok it's lunchtime in the suburbs! Be sure to visit tomorrow for VTT! See ya!:)