Second Merry Christmas

Ahhh, back from the shopping trip. It was a zoo, but I like the Christmas zoo, as long as I am not under pressure to find the exact right thing, and I wasn't, as I wasn't there to buy gifts at all.

But, because live (or rather dead) Christmas boughs and garlands are a no-no in a trailer, I bought a fake pine garland. I twisted it around the molding over the sofa cubby.

I pulled out some handmade ornaments and decorations and miniature toys to trim it and I put my favorite dolls and stuffed animals (which are usually packed) on the back of the sofa. I tell ya, not much room for fol-de-rol here. From left to right on the back of the sofa, Nutcracker made by Zak at the age of 12 for me as a Christmas gift; "Bimbo", the sock monkey made by my sister-in-law June the year I was seven; Golden Girl, made by our d-i-l Mandy for me as a Christmas gift about 10 years ago; Rag Baby, made by my late friend Judi Thomsen; Gruff, a jointed mohair teddy made by Linda Siegal; and a made-in-China doll (carrying her baby sister in a sling on her back) from the 50's, brought from China by a traveler.

I took pictures of the sofa and the tiny tree, which at 24" is still too tall for the only spot available for it. I could have put it on the table but that's behind us, relative to how we sit in the evenings, and we couldn't see the tree there so I opted to put it on the secretary desk, to the side of the TV. Here you see a Santa figure I sculpted in the 80's, a tiny doll whose armature is a chicken's "wish-bone", made by my late friend Judi in the 90's; a pair of tiny carved wooden shoes dated 1901 which belonged to my late m-i-l, the edge of a jointed teddy made by Zak as a Christmas gift; and a teeny flute-playing mouse, symbolic of all the cats we've. :)