A Christmas Reindeer Greeting

Just a little reindeer cartoon
I drew up a few years ago.

Let me introduce you to Scooter,

one of Santa's special delivery reindeer.

Thaddeus Ozark has hired him to deliver, 
some very special holiday cheer.

May your Christmas be Merry
and 
your New Year be Bright!

Gingerbread House Cookie Jar

Searching the web like I always do,

I Googled images of "Gingerbread House cookie jars"

and this caught my eye!

get one here

It's a Certified International Gingerbread House Cookie jar

from the Gingerbread Man line

Designed by Susan Winget

you can see more of the line here

Certified has other holiday 2011 lines too

Aren't they wonderful?

I found two stores that carry the gingerbread house

Target has it only online here

They want $44.99 + shipping.

and

Dillard's has it pictured

with the backside facing forward for some reason,

here.

They want $40.00 and it's in their store.

They had it on sale last week 

but, when I dragged my wife to see it...

the sale had ended!?!

A week before Christmas and no longer on sale? 

I guess I'll be scrambling the day after to catch the

half off clearance.

Wish me luck fighting the masses.

Then again, there's always Ebay!

Hope You're Having A Warm & Wonderful
Christmas Eve.

I Need Christmas Table Scaping Advice

I am a big fan of the blog "The Tablescaper" seen here

and

the blog "Between Naps on the Porch" seen here

 I thought how hard could it be to do a tablescape?

Well for me, at least, it seems to be a challenge. 

Here is my kitchen table...

all decked out with Christmas...um...cheer?

It all started a few years ago when I found 
this wonderful
reindeer cookie jar from Pottery Barn.

This is a picture form their website.

The reindeer cookie jar is beautiful....

only, I can't seem to capture that

warm "milk and cookies" homey feel.

I'm also a fan of the blog "Mod Vintage Life"

here 

and was inspired by

Nita's fascination with mercury glass.

So I added these Target

mercury glass candle holders I found 

last year and these Kohl's

faux birch bark pillar candles

I found this year.

Thought they would add a country woodland feel to the deer.

While I was at Kohl's I spied these deer placemats

and imagined they would be a perfect pairing with the

reindeer cookie jar.

Next to the placemat wall I found this holiday dinnerware

I thought to myself, the reindeer's finish

matched perfectly with their ivory tones

and the pottery can be seen through the glaze on both.

I purchased just two bowls with the idea

 they would be nice candy or fruit bowls.

My wife said the scape lacked red.

I went to Michael's and found two pine and red berry sprigs

that would go with the placemats.

 She also loves Bobs Sweet Stripes

(no apostrophy, because there are two Bobs, or least there were)

Read more about Bobs here

I figure "why not get a small apothicary jar

and display the Sweet Stripes in it"

So... here is the result thus far...

It's coming together...but... I feel like it still needs something.

Any suggestions?

Update: 2012 I've added to the Scape even more!!!
Today I'm linking with:
Susan's Tablescape Thursday

Christmas time in the kitchen

One of my favorite things to do
at the start of the Christmas season

is to change out the hutch/buffet.

I just love pulling out all the Christmas cookie jars.

I have a Radko Shiny Bright Holly Jolly Santa cookie jar.

He is very reminiscent of the old spaghetti Santas.

  Here's an example from Ebay 

of a vintage 60's spaghetti Santa bank.

Can you see where Radko got his idea? 

Next is a baker gingerbread man cookie jar.

Doesn't he look tasty?

 And a very friendly snowman cookie jar.

I just adore these Radko Shiny Brite

"Little Toy Soldier" candle holders, I found on Ebay.

They're at attention for the big man himself.

 Behind this soldier is a Bordallo Pinheiro

green holly pitcher and plate,

they kind of go with the "Holly" Jolly Santa.

I'm happy to find a mischievous little Annalee Elf

circa 2002 (but I just got him this year at HomeGoods.)

He's the keeper of the Cadbury Snow Balls

They are so addictive 

I can never eat just one!

Above Santa I put a mini Christmas tree light. 

I 've seen small lights displayed in hutches

in little tchotchke boutiques.  I found this one

at Pier 1 last year and thought it would add a little charm.

I think that Santa head mug

was my very first Dept 56 possession.

I didn't even know it was Dept 56

till a few years later, when I looked at the bottom.

I just liked its quality at the time.

The other mug and matching plate

are for Santa's milk and cookies on Christmas eve.

They were from Hallmark two years ago.

This is a Hallmark Snowman Mug

from even further back.

Isn't the little snowman face simply delightful?

I just love his little pink cheeks and the candy stripes.

This little fellow is from

the Becky Denny line called "Retro Santa"

I wrote about it earlier this month here.

He is a little dip bowl with a candy cane spreader.

To the left of Santa we see the

Radko "Peppermint Puff Snowman" salt and pepper shakers.

My parents have always had two plastic

snowmen that are an exact match to these.

Theirs are hollow and the sacks have an open hole

designed to hold Christmas candy.

Here's a picture I found of one on Ebay

  I would play with them every year

I think I might have broken their pipes off. 

When I saw these Radko copies

a flood of memories came back to me.

They just had to be mine.

The Radko "Nutcracker Suite" salt and pepper set

was a lucky find at Marshall's last year.

I love all the detail in something so small.

What's this?

Another little sprightly Annalee elf!

He looks like he might have helped himself

to a few Cadbury candies.

What's you favorite Christmas candy?

The Ozark Holiday LGB Express

One of the things I look forward to during the holidays

is finding seasonal work as a "gandy dancer"
(a worker who laid and maintained railroad tracks)
on the Ozark Holiday Express line.

The annual Christmas train, an extension of the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway,

steams over the river and through the woods

to bring a little Christmas cheer and supplies

to the rural townsfolk all across the living room.

Through frigid wind and icy show nothing will

slow the mighty fire breathing mini LGB Mikado

from arriving on schedule.

As the "ash cat" or fireman, as he's called, 

shovels more coal into the firebox,

the steam pressure builds in the boiler

and the iron horse picks up speed. 

Our engineer is a real highball artist

as he handles the speed with ease.

The wildlife is startled as the thundering redball whistles by.

The conductor is pleased that

the Ozark Holiday Express

is running on time and will be pulling into the

station any minute.

The tiny country Spode train station

is all decked out for Christmas as it

awaits the train's arrival.

I found this country Christmas picture

last year at HomeGoods, it was 

just after Christmas and marked down 50%. 

I think it makes a great backdrop 

 for my new train station cookie jar. 

which arrived just ahead of the Ozark Holiday Express

 As this galloper pulls into the station

with a big cloud of steam and bell ringing,

you can almost hear the song

"There's no place like home for the holidays"

on the station's speakers.

Eggnog is drained from the tank car and the townsfolk

rejoice in the merriment of the holidays.