When I was little and Daddy was stationed in Indianapolis, Christmastime was always cold and snowy. A few days before Christmas Mom and Dad would pack all of us into the old Dodge and drive downtown. All the stores back then had big display windows along the sidewalks and for the holidays they had special displays. Some windows had the religious theme, with a Nativity that was real people. It was so exciting to see them bending over the manger and bringing gifts to the baby Jesus. Other windows had winter scenes with mirror ponds and little skaters on them. These scenes all had lots of interesting details, like a guy who had fallen on the "ice" and a dad lacing up his childrens skates, fires in tiny metal barrels and a band of people singing carols. Most of the scenes used doll sized people and were static. Some scenes had Santa's workshop or his sleigh being loaded with toys. We would walk from window to window, hanging on to Mom and Dad, pointing at each new display and yelling, "Look at that one Mommy", or "Daddy look over there!" My parents had the patience of Job to take five kids out on a frigid evening to walk two blocks at a snails pace, down and back, to look at window displays like that. And we didn't want to stay together either, the boys wanted to go into the stores, the girls wanted to go back to look at anything with horses in it. My parents must have felt like they were herding cats. Those were my most vivid memories of Christmas. Oh yeah, and the Christmas eve that my little brother ate a bottle of baby aspirin and we all had to go to the emergency room and watch him get his stomach pumped out through his nose. That one has stayed with me too. Ha! Cheryl

Your LR is beautifully decorated for fall. You even have fall pictures of leaves and a pillow! I'm very impressed and look forward to more you will share with us. I look forward to seeing your crafts. I use to tole paint alot. But once I got into tablescaping that passion kinda went by the wayside. However, I'm hoping to paint some for Christmas gifts this year. I've also done cross stitch, embroidery and sewed alot in the past. I love to garden and I'm like you, if I could garden 24/7 I would too! That's not an option in MT tho. Sometimes I'm ready for the season to come to an end so I do more in the home and back to business.LOL So glad you've joined us. Jeanne, your basket is gorgeous! Thanks for helping another post pictures w/us! I have to try this browse option.Thanks Punk

Kathline... "The more things my ex buys my son, the less I have to buy him. I hate Christmas, vehemently. I think it's become a symbol of all that is wrong with Western civilization. The greed, the one upmanship, the avariciousness, all turn my stomach and have for years." I'm right there with you. I don't buy my dd anything most years. I do the stocking stuffers. She gets everything and more from everyone else. I hate the whole commercialism, greedy greedy greedy, gimme gimme that has taken over the November-December months. Hate it. Often she will get too many toys, and I will just scoop them up before they are put under the tree (I get a lot of stuff from family off the internet, and then I am the one to wrap it) and put it in the closet for the next time. This will be harder as she gets older, but for now it works. She just gets too much stuff. Love the tree. Love the lights. Love the music and being warm inside the house with a fire or baking. I just really don't want to do the holidays. They make me sick to my stomach. Someone mentioned going to a womens shelter with the pre-holiday clean-out stuff. I think we'll do that this year. KKNY, your posts on this are really bugging me. I don't make $100/hour. I worked very hard for my degree and don't have the luxury to go back to school. It is really hard for me to stomach you saying it's hard for you when your ex lives high off the hog when to me, and I'm sure to others on the board, making $100/hour is several times higher than my income. To me, that is high off the hog. It's all a matter of perspective, is it not? And yes, to those who do not have the kids 24/7 like some of us, it is easier to buy bigger gifts and look like a champion. Isn't that often the issue with NCP? I understand that often the more one makes, the more one spends. The quality of life bar is set higher. "...I agree that there is never any need to tell children what you earn. I just dont think it is a good idea to tell them you make minimum wage when you dont." "...I just think if you are going to say how long Dad and I would have to work, then you should be using your current hourly after tax rate..." Ok, I don't get it. Don't tell them what you make, but don't tell them it's minimum wage. If you're explaining the truth, shouldn't you talk about taxes too? If I were to use Sweeby's suggestion, I would probably use $5/hour because it's nice and round and easy to grasp. Going into the issue of savings, bread and electricity is just way too much information. I agree, education usually increases earning potential. Telling kids that college is good for the brain and the wallet is good. But this is not about talking to children about higher education. This is explaining the cause/effect relationship of work vs gifts and the relationship of kids who get a few nice things and kids who live in shelters. It's a basic lesson, not one that they will be recalling the amounts for when you are filling out college applications (but mom, I thought you only made $8/hour!) Gimme a break.

Flag would you like a fiesta teapot?I think it is Chartreuse , I have several pieces,not antique ones but the chartreuse is retired I think.I can't get to them til wed when ny DH goes to the ranch ,he can bring them to me...if you have a place for it let me know .I think I may have a gravy boat also,isn't that awful I don't remember what all I bought.I was going to make a fiesta birdbath with the teapot in the middle.