Christmas 2025: Merry Christmas!

Second Post of the Day

Christmas 2025 was a very merry one for our family.

With no littles with us (well, four dogs excepted), we could sleep in a bit and have a relaxing Christmas morning together.

Lisa and her pups had slept over with us, and she and Kyle decided to recreate a few family Christmas morning traditions.

Such as lining up on the stairs in age order (youngest going first) before coming downstairs to see what Santa had left them. Nash decided to accompany them.

Old sibling rivalries just may have surfaced a bit - here Lisa is moving as slowly as she can so that her brother has to go slowly, too.

We all got settled around the tree

and Kyle read the story of the birth of Christ from Luke before the gift frenzy began.

As always, the dogs were in the way in the thick of things.

Nashie wondering what Santa has put in his stocking.

"Wait! What?? That's Kyle's stocking? Well, where's mine?!"

Cordless cutting shears from Cole and Emily - I can't wait to get back into the sewing room and try them!

A book on drafting patterns from Sarah and Todd. I'm a self taught sewist so this will help me improve my skills.

(No pictures yet of Craig opening his gifts. Lisa took these of me, and Kyle took those of Craig. I forgot to ask him to send me those.)

I am not sure what it is that Lisa has just opened, but Pepper and Nash find it very interesting!

This one, not so much. Haha!

An impulse gift on my part proved to be a good idea.

Pay attention, Tammo! Your dad is opening a gift for you!

Another gift from Lisa proved popular, too. Tammo is guarding it closely from the other dogs.

After cleaning up the Christmas gift detritus, we all got showered and ready for more family to join us.

All ten of us would fit in the dining room.

I was really happy with how the napkins I'd embroidered looked when the table was set.

The kitchen table was set up as a buffet.

Cindie, Eric, Steve, Lisa, and Craig.

Craig, Rick (leaning back), Leslie, Jenny, and Kyle.

For whatever reason, Mama curled up against Rick's chair even though her bed is clearly ready for her.

Desserts included a festive fruit compote from Cindie,

cherry pies from Kyle and me, and Leslie's pumpkin pies.

After a quick put away/clean up from dinner, we went into the living room to exchange gifts. And when that was done,

Surprise! Happy Retirement, Jenny!

She had retired after 40 years of editing medical texts (does she ever know some big words!) on December 18. Leslie and I figured that, since we'd all be together, it would be a good time to surprise her with a celebration.

She hadn't suspected a thing! 

But that wasn't the only surprise. After Jenny's celebration,

we spontaneously began singing "Happy Birthday" to Lisa and brought out cards and red velvet cupcakes that Leslie had made for her!

Her birthday is December 30 and again, we were all together, so why not?

Our annual sibling Christmas photo

and our annual sibling goof off photo.

Jenny and Eric stayed late to play games (and eat more cake, pie, and cupcakes) after Les, Rick, Steve, and Cindie left.

Jenny's favorite game is Scattergories (probably because her vocabulary is so large which gives her an edge over the rest of us. LOL)

This year we were all pretty evenly matched - I guess she took her retirement seriously!

Things wrapped up as it got late and we spent the rest of the day nibbling on leftovers and just being together.

It was a wonderful Christmas Day. And on that note (pun intended),

enjoy this song by Sir Paul McCartney. The video is old and very dated, but the song is great and a horse makes a brief appearance! 

Yuletide Challenge: Next Year's Grail?

First Post of the Day

Next year's grail? The same as it has been for years. These very rare circus horses, none of which do I really expect to ever find and acquire.

The Melbaware Circus Horses. (I suspect the palomino on the left is the same piece as the one on the right only with faded coloring. Note how its feathers are faded, too.)  Big and chunky and beautiful. If only. Sigh. (Photo from Google Images.)

The Boehm Malvern Circus Horses. No doubt far higher than I'd pay. If I ever found them. (Photo from Google Images.)

The Royal Worcester set that was sculpted by Doris Lindner around 1936.  Out of all of my grails, these are the grailiest. I would expect them to go for thousands of dollars. (Photo from Museum of Royal Worcester.)

The Cybis Equestrienne Extraordinaire. I saw this once on... eBay, I think and its cost was sky high. (Cybis Archives)

and the Cybis Circus Horse Trio "Showtime" - this is the only known photo of the piece and it is believed that only a few pieces were ever produced. Enlarging the photo only makes it even blurrier. (Cybis Archives)

Sometime I'd really like to have the full size china Striking Arabian Circus Horse by Donna Chaney. (Photo from Google Images and attributed to Animal Artistry.) I have seen several of these in person, but never had the opportunity to buy one.

One time I did find a grail and snap it up. And the seller had a second one that I had never seen before and bought that one just as quickly.

The white Metlox Poppytrail Circus Horse

and the palomino Metlox Poppytrail Circus Horse. 

I'd seen pictures of the white piece but had never had any luck finding it. Then, one day I spied one on eBay. As I looked at it, I discovered that the seller had another one in palomino. I'd only recently learned that that color really existed (I'd heard unconfirmed rumors) - to find both at the same time was an exhilarating windfall!

Just as I doubt that I will ever find my other grails, I had doubted that I ever would find these two. These two remind me that it's always possible. You just never know!

That concludes the 2025 Yuletide Challenge. It was so much fun and I am glad I could participate. Thank you, Kirsten and Sarah Wellman!

Christmas Eve 2025: The Pie Dough Tutorial

Second Post of the Day

Kyle is working on a genealogical digital project and working to preserve family memories and important knowledge. Making pie dough for cherry pie passed muster and so he recorded me making to dough for this Christmas's cherry pies.

It's a personal history post (this blog is actually my journal), but if you want to learn how to roll out dough, here you go. 

Rolling out the dough and fitting it to the pie plate.

Transferring the rolled out pie dough to the pie plate and how to flute the edges.

Making the Honeywell vent mark and a little history on Georgia Honeywell.

Kyle practices making the Honeywell mark.

Yuletide Challenge: Island of Misfit Models

First Post of the Day

Island of Misfit Models - what's your weirdest model? 

How about this for a Breyer?

It is indeed a Breyer product that was distributed by Lionel in 1996.

Trains are an important part of our family's history on my father's side.

So when I discovered that Breyer had made this train car, I searched for it and bought one to add to my own small childhood train set.

It's a Breyer, and it could be considered a misfit in a model horse collection, but it fits ME just fine!

Yuletide Challenge: Golden Decorators

Second Post of the Day

I was a little surprised that this prompt (Five golden uh... decorators?) was not used for December 5th since it's a take-off from the Twelve Days of Christmas song and is asking participants to show five golden decorators.

But, I am still happy to show some golden ponies from my collection and, since it's December 29 and not the 5th, I'm showing more than five!

My beautiful gold charm Running Mare.  She was produced 1963 - 1964 and is in near mint shape.

Her baby, the Running Foal, in gold charm and also produced in 1963 - 1964. 

The Modernistic Doe in matte gold. Such an unusual piece! I found it while out thrifting years ago but no longer have it in my collection. It was a novelty and I enjoyed it while I had it, but it just took up shelf space.

Only 50 of these gold charm Man O' Wars were made in a run of 1,000 in 2023. I was a stunned lucky winner when I opened the box.

In 1990, Breyer brought back the gold charm color with this Secretariat that was an early Breyer Tour Model. Peter Stone signed many of them. I sold one a while ago to a friend and kept the other.

A florentine Festive Filigree Lippizaner from 2020. I love this mold and actively collect it.

Carat from the 75th Anniversary Brilliance set in a gorgeous gold charm.

My Christmas Candy Zebra in gold stripe from 2019. I love the candy stripe colors! This was the one I received; I got the green, red and blue on the after market. 

And here is Short and Sweet, his companion piece from this year. 

There are only two more prompts to the Yuletide Challenge. I am going to miss it when it finishes - it's been fun!

Stay 'tooned!