Christmas Storage Ideas

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This is a neat idea for storing one's precious ornaments.

Every year when I take out my Christmas boxes I think there must be a better way to store all this stuff.  My Hubby is a fantastic packer and if I had him packed up all our Christmas decorations I'm sure he could reduce the number of boxes by fifty percent or more.

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                  I tried this cardboard system one year using cardboard wrapping paper rolls to wrap the lights but it seemed to take up even more room and the rolls were too long to fit into my boxes.

This is where we store all of our Christmas decorations...under our basement stairwell.  It's pretty deep...goes way back in.  I've taken several boxes out before I shot this photo...with all the boxes stored in there it is filled up to the top of the stairs.

 I may take our lights, wreaths and other items that heat and/or cold would not affect and put them out in our shed to make more room under the stairwell.

I do like the clear boxes because it is easier to identify what is in each box without opening it.  

What about you....have you found some nifty ways to store your Christmas decorations?

Starting the Christmas Season!

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It's been a busy day here at Teacup Lane.  

We dragged out all of the Christmas boxes and tested all the outdoor Christmas lights.  We just finished putting the lights on our front bushes and hanging our Green Garland over the front door.  It's suppose to rain the next three days so I wanted to get the exterior Christmas lights done today.

I'm on a roll...for once...I should finish our Christmas cards this weekend so they can be mailed Monday.  That's the earliest our cards have ever gone out.  LOL!

With our garage freezer dead as a door nail I have to hold off baking my Christmas cookies until just before Christmas.  Usually I spend the Thanksgiving weekend baking and frosting them and into the freezer they go until Christmas.  But not this year...my schedule is turned upside down this year.

I still have to decorate my front door and put lights out on the screened in porch rails.    Once that is done then the outside is finished. 

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Check out these Christmas treats (click on the photo).

These would be fun to make for the holidays.

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Isn't this little guy cute?  

We don't have any of this white stuff yet.

In fact, today and yesterday were warm here in the low 60s.   Some of our trees and bushes are all mixed up with blooms coming out on them!

I didn't have to wear gloves or even a coat outside while stringing the lights.

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Just click on the above photo for 34 yummy morning casseroles for the holidays!

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My laugh for the day!

Have a lovely day and thanks so much for visiting!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is a vintage Thanksgiving greeting from 1927!   

It is so appropriate for my blogging friends. 

These cute boy and girl pilgrim candles belonged to my Mother-in-Law.  They sat out on her Thanksgiving dinner table every year.  Boy, do we miss those wonderful dinners at their home. 

 I remember my Mom getting up very early to put the turkey on so we could have our Thanksgiving dinner in the early afternoon.  We dressed for dinner every Sunday and especially for the holiday dinners.  We would put our aprons on when cleaning up the dishes too.  You didn't want to get anything on your Sunday clothes.  My paternal Grandparents would come for dinner too.    

      

This is my Mom's silverware set of twelve that was used for every Sunday and holiday dinner.  There are two different patterns in her set.  

The original set of six was from the Nobility Silver Co., Inc., Newark NY, in the pattern "Reverie" which was produced from 1939 to the early WWII years.   The set included the sugar and creamer and a sugar spoon and butter knife.  I don't know for sure but I think my Mom may have purchased the Nobility silver and wooden chest (called the Ambassador) sometime in 1942.  

My paternal Grandmother had a full set of 12 in the Nobility "Reverie" pattern (which was passed down to my oldest brother and his wife).  

Nobility "Reverie" 

Wm Rogers "Spring Charm"

  The second set of silver is Wm Rogers Silver in a pattern called "Spring Charm" which was produced on or after 1950.  That is the pattern with the flowers. 

I never knew the pattern names of my silverware until recently when I found a  internet Facebook page for Nobility Silver.  You can find out just about anything on the internet. 

I just love my Mom's silverware set and am so pleased to have it after all these years. 

It's just the two of us here for Thanksgiving.  We're having an easy meal of hot turkey sandwiches with dressing, cranberry sauce and white corn.  And of course, pumpkin pie for dessert.

I'm DVRing the Macy's Thanksgiving parade to watch later.   I would love to see this parade someday in person....that would be a nice trip to go to NY over the Thanksgiving weekend, take in a Broadway Show and see the the parade too.  I must put that on my "bucket list".   

Have a Happy Thanksgiving Day with Your Loved Ones.

Another vintage Thanksgiving greeting card!

Please join me for:

                                    Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday                                
                              Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday
                                        Wendy at The Shabby Nest for Frugal Friday
                               Donna at Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite SpecialCielo at The House in the Roses for Show Off Your Cottage Monday     

Fall Leaves at Teacup Lane

Lots of Fall leaves in our yard!

The sun is not shining here today but I couldn't resist taking some photos of our front yard filled with fall eaves.

Yummy pumpkin pie!

Today I baked a pumpkin pie using Libby's Can Pumpkin Mix (Libby's recipe here) and Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust.  I just realized I forgot to flute the pie edges...where was my mind!  We like our pumpkin pie with lots of spices...so I added more cinnamon then the recipe calls for.      

I figured out the calories per slice too so we can try to stay within our daily calorie ranges.  Well, that took two tries...the first time the calories seemed rather low until I realized I forgot to add in the calories for the pie crust.  Then when I showed my calculations to my Hubby he thought the amount for the pie crust seemed high...and it was...by mistake I added the calories for two pie crusts instead of one.  LOL!  

We ran over to Target today to purchase our Christmas cards and pick up some other items.  My plan is to devote the Thanksgiving weekend for preparing our Christmas cards so they are ready to be mailed by the 1st of December.  I'm thinking up a new Christmas decoration for our front door and can't wait until I can show it to you... (hint...think Snowman!) 

Our home the day before Thanksgiving!

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Christmas China Setting

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Isn't this a pretty Christmas setting in red and white with the touches of black?

Drop on over to my Christmas blog to see my Christmas China.   

A Pink Saturday

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What gal wouldn't like a pink dresser like this!

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Or pink poke a dot suitcases...

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Pink cake pops...yummy!

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A sweet pinkish ruffle quilt...just beautiful!

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A little girl would love this pink table skirt!

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And for all my pink gal friends!

Welcome to Beverly's Pink Saturday .  Click on her link to see more PINK

My Love of RED!

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I keep coming back to my L.O.V.E. of RED!  

This room sings to my heart...wish it was mine!

Today is my 65th birthday and I found this saying on Pinterest that says it all...

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I had a wonderful birthday...thanks Sweetie for treating me like a Queen!

And there are more REDs to enjoy with our host, Sue, at 

It's A Very Cherry World

(here) 

for REDnesday!

DROPS Waistcoat & Disney License Plate

I decided at the last minute to NOT take my Rainbow Scrap Afghan on our Florida road trip.  I was running out of some of my colors and I didn't want to drag the afghan all over the country in case I couldn't find the colors I needed.  

Plus we were limited in storage in our travel van and by the time I loaded all the different yarns for the afghan into my crochet bag it was stuffed, heavy and overflowing.   

Instead I choose a couple left over yarns in bright colors to try to make this waistcoat pattern from DROPS Designs.

"Drop" on over to the DROPS website and take a look - there are so many FREE cute waistcoat patterns to try. 

Another "Mickey"

Before we left on our trip we knew we wanted to find a cute front license plate souvenir from Walt Disney World.  

We hit all the shops at the Magic Kingdom but couldn't find any souvenir plates.  

Then I remembered a large shop in ToonTown but when we tried to find ToonTown we discovered it was completely gone.  

Disney is building a new section in the Magic Kingdom called Fantasy Land (coming 2012) which will showcase Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the Little Mermaid. 

  

We kept looking at the shops in the other parks too.  Epcot has several good shops and finally my Hubby found this adorable Disney license plate there.

We were so busy on our trip Hubby didn't have time to attach it on the van until we returned home! 

Isn't it cute!

There's No Place Like Home!

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After 29 days touring Florida we are HOME and....

 yes, Dorothy...there's no place like home!

We arrived home yesterday afternoon.  

We had two long travel days in the van once we left Georgia.  Our last night in the van (in Wytheville, VA) the temperature fell to 25 degrees F.  

It was cold! 

But our propane heater kept us warm through the night.

 Yesterday we got up early, dressed and were on the road by 7:30 AM.  Well, Hubby was up and driving but I laid back down on the bed and slept until we stopped for breakfast, ate and went back to bed until 10:30 AM.  I even took two naps on the road later in the day.  I guess I was we were tired.  We went to bed last night and slept like babies.  

Today I'm doing the laundry from our trip while Hubby is winterizing the van.  I can't think of a thing to blog about except we're glad to be home.  We had a wonderful time on our road trip and we were very pleased with our new travel van.  

Enjoy listening to Judy Garland sing "Get Happy" and have a wonderful day!

Ft. Wilderness Walt Disney World

Our campsite at Ft. Wilderness, Walt Disney World, Florida.

Hi!

Have you missed me?

We're in the Florida Keys and this is the first time we have had any internet service while on vacation.  Walt Disney World has internet, expensive internet, at $9.95 per day.  We tried it while at the campground and again while staying at a cabin but the service was so poor Disney credited the charges back to us.  We were told that they were installing WiFi and that it should be available by the holidays.  

The internet service is excellent at this campground down in the Keys.  We have a waterfront site here and as I'm sitting in our van I can look out at the Gulf of Mexico and palm trees!  The last two days we  camped at the Bahia Honda State Park (only electric service there) and had a blast snorkeling in their beautiful waters. 

My "Mickey Mouse" made out of pine cones!

Ft. Wilderness Campground is fun to stay at while visiting Walt Disney World. 

We rent a golf cart so we have "wheels" to get around the campground loops and down to the marina for the ferry to the parks...it is fun during Halloween to drive around looking at all the RVs and their decorations.  Even golf carts are decorated for the holiday. 

Lots of the campers decorate for Halloween and it's a big deal at the parks too. 

And some go way out there with tons of decorations. 

Toy Story Midway Mania! attraction at Hollywood Studios

This is my favorite attraction...love to play it!  It's a 3-D action game with all the Toy Story characters.

Me...waiting to play my favorite game!

The day we went to Hollywood Studios it was packed and we only got to play "Toy Story Midway Mania" once. 

Supper at the Trails End Restaurant our first day at Ft. Wilderness.

Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World

It was overcast our first few days at WDW.   But all in all we have had great weather. 

We spent just over two weeks at WDW.   We were able to rest between visiting the parks and had time to do some fun stuff at the campground...like canoeing one day and then taking a 17' Boston Whaler out on the lake another day and even each of us taking out the small Sea Racers another day.

I probably won't be able to post again until we're back home in the middle of November.  

Tomorrow we head north to Stuart, Florida to visit my cousin and then on to Atlanta, GA to visit college friends before heading home to Philly.

And, unfortunately, to answer - Kate - The Garden Bell - I haven't been able to "pin" while on vacation.  

Maybe I can do some pinning tonight...starting tomorrow no internet again until home. 

Thanks for visiting me while I've been on vacation! 

I'm not looking forward to cooler weather at home!