Ice Cream Cone

..."Mamma, this ice cream cone ornament looks good enough to eat!" says baby Treasure, a doll created by Fay Zah Spanos in 1996.

Josephina

Lovely Josephina is reading a Christmas story.  She is a beautiful girl with a sweet spirit.  ("Shay" by Donna Rubert.)

Shay or Josephina, as I call her, was purchased from Mrs. Johnson of California, in Phoenix, AZ, perhaps around 1993 or 1994, at the Phoenix Doll Show.  What a face!

Goldilocks & Her Three Bear Friends

Beautiful, sweet Goldilocks has dressed in her best Christmas dress to introduce her friends, The Three Bears.  They are all excited about the coming holiday.

Actually, "Goldilocks" is really a Shirley Temple doll and I combed out her curls.  She was purchased at the doll show in Anaheim, CA. around 1996 or 1997.

"Here you have Papa Bear, Baby Bear and Mamma Bear," says Goldilocks.



Little Jimmy, the Engineer

Little Jimmy loves to play with trains.  He is dressed in his best Christmas engineer's outfit with red and green plaid trim.  He is playing with the wooden train Santa brought him last year.

Look at those beautiful blue eyes and blonde hair!



Historical Ornaments

This tree is decorated exclusively with ornaments issued by the White House Historical Association, http://www.whitehousehistory.org/.  The prominent one in front is made of limestone, the same material used for the real White House.  Other ornaments depict scenes of various Christmases from past Presidential administrations.  Each year, a new ornament is issued; however, the ornament is from a past presidency and not the current administration.  The ornament comes in a gift box, with a ribbon tie, and a little pamphlet about the ornament including an explantion of the era.

Baby Shay Awaits Christmas

Baby Shay awaits Christmas with her ornament of the famous painting entitled, "The Good Shepherd," sitting on her pale green and pink poinsettia fabric.  Baby Shay has enjoyed the first candle lighting ceremony of Advent.  Tomorrow will be candle number two.  For young children, you can make an advent wreath out of a large circle of cardboard, about the size of a dinner plate, glue upright 4 empty toilet paper rolls wrapped in purple and 1 wrapped in white paper to represent (flameless) candles.  Fill the rolls with yellow tissue paper to simulate a flame.  Your church can guide you in an Advent ceremony or find one on the Internet for each Sunday of Advent.  Your children will enjoy it.

Christmas Decor

St. Nicholas ornament.  When I was a child, I lived on a Dutch island and it was St. Nicholas rather than Santa Claus that we celebrated.  On December 5th, we left our shoes out for him to fill with candies and tiny toys.  How exciting to awake to such treats!

Here is a rose garland to grace the easel.  Some of my favorite Christmas CDs are on the ledge.  My current favorite Christmas CD is Celine Dion's "These Are Special Times."



Elsbeth and Billy

Elsbeth and Billy grace the Christmas table.  Don't they look cute in their smocked outfits?

Little Dawn and Her Angel Bear

Little Dawn is holding her angel bear as she waits for Christmas to arrive.  She is looking at the lovely Christmas tree.

Victorian Santa and Sleigh

Many years ago, my dear friend Nancy made this Victorian Santa ensemble for me for a Christmas present.  Even today he is stunning in his beauty.  The papier mache reindeer has suffered some damage from bugs over time but still looks great from a distance.



Beautiful Malena

Beautiful Malena... she looks so serious, pensive.  She is thinking about the meaning of Christmas.

Sweet Julianna

Sweet Julianna is ready to help her daddy hang the lights on the outside of the house.

Nativity

My mother was an artist and she dabbled in many mediums.  Later in life, she took up ceramics.  The Nativity is one of her creations.  I always loved it and when my parents passed away, I asked for this special reminder of my mother.  She really did a beautiful job with this Nativity set. 

Hawaiian Santa

Here is Santa, all decked out for a day in the sun on The Big Island.  He has his sun glasses, hat and umbrella.  I bet he's going to the beach at Haupuna.  Mele Kalikimaka!



Las Posadas

In the small town of Santa Marta, the children participate in a Christmas tradition of going house to house, looking for baby Jesus, for the nine days that precede Christmas.  They carry torches as they parade through the town, knocking on doors and finding them locked ... that is, all but one.  In that house, they do not find the baby Jesus, just an empty crib, until the last night of Las Posadas. 

On the last night, they kneel and pray at the crib, where baby Jesus lays.  They celebrate with music and dancing and pinatas filled with candy and small toys.

St. Lucia Tree

Here is the little tree I decorated with pretend cookies for St. Lucia.  It is part of her vignette.  Please enjoy!

St. Lucia

In the early 90s, I went to visit my dear friend Patty in Flagstaff, AZ. She showed me a catalog of The American Girl dolls and their accessories. The American Girl doll was the brain child of Pleasant Rowland in 1986. She developed dolls and their authentic accessories to represent different periods in American history. Each doll had different outfits and books that reflected her life at that period of time.

One of the dolls was named Kirsten Larsen, a Swedish immigrant girl in 1854 Minnesota who still maintained some of the traditions from her native country. The custom on St. Lucy's Day, Luciadagen, December 13, is early in the morning, the oldest daughter takes a tray of coffee and sweet buns to her parent's bedroom. She wears a white gown with a red sash, and a crown of greens.

My daughter had outgrown her interest in dolls, and I conscipted a pretty little doll with blonde hair braided in pig tails to make my own St. Lucia doll. We were so poor at the time, all I had for material was an old, white pillow case and some left-over lace. When I moved in 1998, I packed up St. Lucia and didn't take her out of her box until this year.

Once again, almost 20 years later, in 2010, my friend Patty was the inspiration for retrieving St. Lucia from her cardboard exile. When I visited Patty in November, I saw that she had made a little Christmas vignette with some of her dolls and a tree. I came home and set up a little vignette with St. Lucia, some tiny porcelain dishes and then I bought a little tree and some tiny "cookie" ornaments for the tree which I put beside her.

As an aside, back in the early 90s when I first made the St. Lucia doll, I had attempted to make a crown of greens but it never looked right, so this year, I recalled a small wreath a friend had made for me as part of a totally different Christmas gift.  I tried it out on St. Lucia's head and it looks much better than the original.  Merry Christmas, St. Lucia, you still look great after all these years!!