I've discovered Pinterest

It's been quite awhile since I've blogged!
This summer during our time in Montana,
my cousin's wife Tangie started me on Pinterest.
Stage one of Pinterest
is spend LOTS of time scrolling down and down and down....
I do it while Den is watching a movie so I can call it "multitasking."
Stage two of Pinterest
is wanting to share your own ideas.
Since clicking on ideas often leads to a website or blog,
this blog is where I will put my ideas.

It seems quite odd to be talking about Christmas in August.
but to get the ideas out in time to be used,
I guess this is the way it's done.
Besides, "Oh come, let us adore Him!"
and "Let Earth receive her King!"
are great thoughts any time of year.

I am a dedicated, weekly Goodwill shopper.
When I find interesting
Christmas pins for under a dollar,
I buy them
and pin them on an old hat,

and when Advent season comes,
I start wearing the hat.
Along with the eye rolls
I get some interested or
amused looks from people
and sometimes they lead to conversations.
I then offer them
a pin of their choice.
If they choose one,
I ask their name
and wish them a Merry Christmas.
I write their name on a list in my car
and as I drive around in December,
I pray for my "pin people."
(Note: not recommended for
wearing to the United Nations.
The metal detector there doesn't like it.)




Den and I also decorate the vehicles for Christmas.
Den's jeep
and my ancient Volvo Gilda
both wear wreaths on their front grills,

and Gilda also wears a jaunty sprig of holly
on her back windshield wiper.
The holly works especially well,
as the wiper is broken,
along with the tape deck,
the trim on the door,
the back speaker cover,
the latch that secures the back seat,
the front seat heaters....
Thankfully she still passes inspection.








Another decoration that Gilda wears all year long is her quotes.
Since her paint and the metal under the paint
are the same color,
her cancer isn't immediately evident,
but she is just tacky enough
that writing favorite quotes--
scriptures,
the Irish blessing,
Robert Frost,
Jim Elliot,
C.S. Lewis,
Groucho Marx--
above and below her windows
seems like a creative rather than a destructive idea.
Sharpie marker works well.




Various species of greenery from the mountain
become Christmas wreaths for the driveway
and the garage
and the barn,
and extra branches are pushed into the leftover soil in the window boxes
or tied in bunches for the front door
or the pass through.
They're not really Christmas decorations,
they're winter decorations,
and they stay up 'til Valentines Day,
at which time we start looking expectantly for bluebirds and robins
and plant our seeds for summer on the south porch windowsills.








Our Christmas tree ornaments
help us relive the past years.
Each year we choose ornaments
that have a flat surface
on which we write significant events of the year,
one for each child
and one for Den and me to keep.
As the boys decorated the tree,
they relived their childhoods.

Paul's ornaments now hang on his own tree,
and Luke's provide a way to share his past with friends.



 We use old toys from our family's childhoods to decorate the shelf above the woodstove.

I collect moose(s?!)

that are really Hallmark reindeer--
less than a dollar at Goodwill
or yard sales
or Deseret Industries
when I can find them.
I name them for someone
significant
at the time
(Jack is for Uncle Jack
who was there on our DI trip)
and write their names
on their butt tags.
At Christmas
they sit on the stairs
with other old toys.
Granddaughter Anna
has fun deciding
which moose
will play with which toy.













The boys' mouse house
 also gets decorated
at Christmastime.
(It's NOT a dollhouse;
it belonged to the boys
who used army guys
and mice,
not dolls,
and stacked the furniture
against the doors
and windows
to keep out the bad guys.)
The stockings are
hung by the chimney
with care,
and not a creature is stirring,
not even a mouse.






Scrabble tiles
are another great Goodwill find.
I use them on trays in my classroom
for spelling practice
and in the hall outside my classroom
for passing students
to do an unscramble-the-word activity.
I put an object,
often something from nature,
on the round table outside my door
and mix the scrabble tiles
that spell the name of the item.













I started using Scrabble tiles
in the upstairs bathroom
to write messages to family
or guests
after seeing Groundhog Ben's
cool breakfast room
with Scrabble tiles on the top of his wainscoting.



















I also use Scrabble tiles
to decorate the table at family gatherings.
This is our Easter table,

with Scrabble tiles
and flowers
and my grandma Maud's ceramic people.
I miss my grandma,
and emulate her in my own grandmothering.
What would Maud do?




My dining room table used to belong to Maud.

Before that, it was the Davenport family's laundry table.
and before that--
hmmm.
I don't know.
Mental note to call Davenports!
 I saw an article in Reader's Digest years ago
that told of a college prof
(sorry, forgot who you are)
who had dinner guests sign
the underside of his dining table.
We've tried to do that
and keep a sharpie in the dining room

for that specific purpose
but at least half the people
have left without signing
because we've forgotten to ask them.
Perhaps that's a mixed blessing
as we've run out of room for names
on the main table
and now alternate the table leaves used.






I'm sure there are more Pinterest ideas around here,
but I'm also currently working on writing a song
for a Penn State competition.
Seven or eight winners will be critiqued by Paul Stookey
(for the two people who don't know who that is,
think "Peter, Paul, and Mary")
and one winner will sing in a concert with him in September.
I'm a great loser,
but I'm hoping to be an enthusiastic winner.
I'll let you know how that turns out.

Blessings,
Sue