General Electric Christmas Lighting Booklet

{New Xmas Stuff 2022}

Mr. Husband got me this amazing vintage booklet for Christmas last year.

It will teach you everything you need to know about exterior illumination!

 

Felt Stocking

 {New Xmas 2022}

Picked up from an estate sale for a buck.

Frito Xmas Seals

{New Xmas Stuff 2022}

These vintage seals were a gift for Christmas last year from Mr. Husband.

My only complaint is they should have been Fritos scented.

 

Tips and Treats for Christmas

{New Xmas 2022}

This little "Tips and Treats for Christmas" booklet was a gift from Mr. Husband last Christmas.  Even if the tips and treats were crap (which they are not!) it's worth it for the amazing illustrations alone!

Click on images for enlargements.

This recipe for Unbaked Fruit Cake is intriguing. It's just pressed together.  Kinda reminds me of a Larabar.   This could be a nice alternative to make for the more health conscience or the constipated at the holidays with it's 9 cups of bran, dates, and prunes.

Candy Cake makes the little tikes wide eyed!  This sounds like a neat recipe too.  

Both of these no bake cakes could easily be made into bite sized treats.

I scanned these pages because of the 'Christmas Tree Door Trim' idea.  The 'Cheese Nippies' is bonus.  The star shaped deals on the top of the left page involve green olives and jello and are not to be considered.  The beginning of the recipe is on the previous page and I am not endorsing nasty.

Here is the next page to finish out the 'Christmas Tree Door Trim'.  

I have always loved the idea of the 'Bouncing Snowballs'.  I have tried this out ten different ways using moth balls, vinegar, baking soda, citric acid, etc.. and it never works for me.

In 2019 I set the whole thing up with a lovely under water diorama of vintage candles and it was to be the show stopper of the evening.  We invited friends over and as I was adding the ingredients they all whipped out their phones to take videos... and nothing.   At most, it bubbled and fizzed for 5 seconds and just fizzled out.  I have looked up modern instructions and saw that 4th graders use it as science experiments with ehhhh results.  So maybe it's just lame.  At least my house smells moth ball fresh! 

Use Skelgas for all your propane and propane accessories needs just like Santa!

Skelgas is still around serving the north US in areas I have no plans of every going to.

 

Christmas Carols

{New Xmas 2022}

This Christmas Carol booklet was a promotional item from Watseka Building and Loan.

Mr. Husband got it for me last Christmas.

You already know all the songs so here is just a scanned page so you can see the cute illustrations:

and a reminder on the back that next Christmas has it's hand out already: 

 

Christmas Club 1958

 {New Xmas 2022}

Mr. Husband got this postcard for me last Christmas.

I find that Santa a bit disturbing.

Holiday Bright Tips

{New Xmas 2022}

Mr. Husband got me this vintage overly etiquetted Christmas brochure last year for Christmas.

Good lord!  I would rather just not send a card if all these rules have to be followed!

 This brochure has the same graphic styling as my Gulf Service Station booklet.

Puppy Pixie in a Stocking

 

 {New Xmas stuff 2022}

We picked up this cutie at a thrift store last year for a buck.

Christmas Dumps 2022

Well...it's that time of year again...oh boy.  I have slipped back into my negativity to Christmas yet again this year.  I really tried not to.  I decided this year that I was going to do a short list of activities I wanted to do and also those I did not.  On the want to do is: watch Christmas movies and make a couple of interesting treats for the fam.  On the not going to do is: buy christmas gifts and be someplace other than my home on christmas day.

And at this moment I have all of that stuff locked in but I am still not feeling it.

I peeked into a few Christmas bins hoping to get a wave of nostalgia like last year but nothing yet... 

I don't know.   I'll just have to fake it if I don't get visited by 3 spirits soon. 

 Oh yeah, this is a Christmas card that Mr. Husband got me over the past year.

 "Butch" and his Christmas wishes with lots of fun and happy things to do....yeah, right.

 

The next few posts will be all the "new" Christmas stuff we have picked up since last year.

Fall JOL

Even though Fall isn't officially over until the end of December we all know that bitch Christmas owns the whole month, declaring it winter and claiming it for it's own.  Fall unofficially ends on November 30, and that's just the way it is.  Can you imagine if we left Fall decor up til Dec 20 and then just decorated for a span of only 5 days for Christmas?!

I mean, don't get me wrong, I love me some Christmas decor and have the bounty of plastic storage tubs to prove it but I am not wanting to let go of Fall yet.

Since the inevitable is upon us I decided to spend this last "Fall" day carving me an autumn inspired pumpkin of a most precious squirrel!

It came from a vintage embroidery pattern:

I know once a pumpkin is carved it's only a matter of a few days before the rot sets in so that will be my motivation to let go.

🍁  🍂  🍁  🍂  🍁  🍂  🍁  🍂  🍁  🍂

{I am literally sitting here trying to come up with some way to invent/create Fall-Mas right now.  It can't have turkeys, pilgrims, maybe not even pumpkins.  I see Fall colors, leaves, woodland creatures (deeries!), cabins, pinecones.  Using these characteristics but maybe on traditional Christmas fodder....Ya'll it's basically a 70's Christmas!  No way I could pull that off this year, but interesting to think about}

 

National Square Dance Day

One of the neatest "holidays" is National Square Dance Day!

To celebrate I am going to share our small collection of Square Dance Records.

Up on top we have 'Learn Square Dance with Ed Gilmore'.

Square Dance with 'Mac' Gant and his Tennessee Dew Drops.

Square Dances with Roy Horton and his String Band featuring Slim Coxx

Swing Your Partners with Hank Barns and the Country Squires, calls by Smilin' Ed Hayes

We will be celebrating this year by spinning these toe tappers!

 

Past Square Dance Do-Si-Dos Posts:

 2019 Sets In Order Magazine Features and our Square Dance inspired outfits

2016 Square Dance Cake

Make Your Own (Shrunken) Head Day

 Boy Howdy!  Make Your Own Head Day is one of my favorite obscure "holidays"!

This year I am sharing the 'How to' on the Shrunken heads I made for our Tiki Voodoo Swamp Hut decor from Halloween. 

Materials needed: Masking tape, aluminum foil,  newspaper, paper mache material (I used Celluclay), paint, clear craft glue, hot glue, waxed thread, hair (I used a dress up hair headband (toy department) from 1.25 Tree)

It's a very abstract 'How to' because I thought I had taken several pictures along the way which I apparently did not.   I only have one...

Start by balling up newspaper into a vague head shape, control looseness with masking tape.  Next, use pieces of aluminum foil to shape and build up features of the face such as eyebrows, nose, and lips.  Tape all in place. Next mix up your paper mache material.

I happen to have a package of Celluclay that I have had for close to 28 years. It's a product that has been around since the 70s and is still available today. It looks like a block of compressed powdery dryer lint.  You add water to it and smoosh it until it becomes clayesque.  Apply small amounts of this to the head armature.  Smooth as you work.  Use small dollops to build up areas such as the eyelids and lips.  Use a pointy thing (such as a ceramic needle tool) to make definition to the eyelids and lips while still wet.  Also use this time to make holes for the stitched areas.  Let dry for several days.

After your head is dry, paint in your color of choice and let dry.  Cut small pieces of waxed thread for the stitching and craft glue in place, a pointy tool to jab the thread into position helps.  Let dry.

Lastly cut and hot glue down the hair. 

Tie on some twine to the hair and hang from the rearview mirror of your Knight Bus or place at an Alter to your God! 

Here are several past Make Your Own Head Day posts.  

The Miracle Masque one is quite disturbing:

MYOHD 2021: Vintage Funny Face (DIY paper craft)

MYOHD 2019: Vintage Beauty Tips

MYOHD 2018: Scotch cellophane tape Funny Face (DIY paper craft)

MYOHD 2016: Miracle Masque

And here are a few edible heads I have made:

Pancake Head

Funny Face Hamburgers

Skull Cakelettes

Turkey Roulettes

Looking for yet another way to use up those turkey left overs?

Try out Betty Crocker's Turkey Roulettes!

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"Turkey Roulettes are a real delight, when lunching by the fire on a stormy night."

Oh, that sounds heavenly!

If you find yourself short on storming weather or a crackling fire, I love to listen to ambiance videos on youtube with these exact characteristics.

These roulettes can't help but be tasty, they're just turkey, biscuits, and gravy!

Here are a few other past posts where I made the most of a turkey I baked during the early days of the coronapocalypse:

Souper Turkey Squares

Turkey Chicken Bake

Hot Corn Ring with Creamed Turkey

 

Gooble-Gobble Gobbler

For our Thanksgiving dessert this year I made this Mr. Gobbler coconut cake!

I didn't realize until after I had the icing on that I should have tinted it a caramel color. Mine looks kinda like a fancy hybrid free range snob turkey that you can only buy at Fresh Market.

I didn't have any black gumdrops or licorice on hand (because it's nasty) so I used a black button for the eye and fashioned him some legs out of chopsticks and hot glue.

 

{image source}

This cake is the November offering from a vintage book of coconut cakes (Baker's Coconut Cut-up Cakes 1956) that I have made several of:

January Mr. Snowman

February Ever Lovin' Heart

March Coco the Nutty Clown

April Quick like a Bunny

October Hallo witch

Space Turkey

 

I did a abbreviated and last minute theme this year for Thanksgiving.  

It is based after a story that I love for Mr. Husband to tell me every year.  Several decades ago when he was having Thanksgiving dinner with his family his mother wouldn't stop talking...on and on.  Talking at people, not with them.  Posing questions about stuff no one knows or cares about.  Somehow she got on the subject of astronauts and their Thanksgiving when they are off planet.  And again on and on... I imagine it in my head like the girl on the end of the MST3K episode of Manos where the chic (Joel) is talking about her 5 year plan and loosing 5 pounds of butter... Everyone around the table has about had it,  Then she asks "I wonder what they eat on the space ship for Thanksgiving?"  Mr. Husband's dad had had enough and bursts out "God Damn Space Turkey!!!"  Ya'll I'm chuckling as I am typing this.  I will laugh every single time.

So, that's the theme I have been wanting to do for the past several years but haven't been able to get all the pieces sourced.  I decided to just see what I could pull together in 24 hours.

I printed out some stuff on a regular printer.  I made the poster by printing two pages, tiled, and matched the seam.  There's pipe cleaners, glitter, star confetti, and some little space men from PB's toys when he was 4 years old.

I also thought I would kinda address what the astronauts might eat on Thanksgiving as a little pre-meal appetizer.  I browsed around 1.25 tree and found the whole meal...freeze dried (kinda) style!

From left to right: Cranberries (craisins), green beans (shaped crisps), Turkey (jerky), and mashed potatoes!

And Tang (the official drink of astronauts) for a beverage.  Dessert is Pumpkin Pie (baking morsels).

Here are some of the bags for what items I used.  The Tang isn't actually Tang as you can tell by the color.  The store was out so I used Orange Crush powdered drink mix.

It was a quickly tossed together kinda thing but it's fun.  

Hope you all enjoy your damn space turkey today!

Turkey Apple~Pumpkin Pie Surprise

 I made this little cutie to adorn the top of my pumpkin pie.  And my pumpkin pie surprise is this one is store bought! You can't beat 5 bucks and all the work is done!  If you would like to make the true surprise, spoiler...it's brown sugar, not Wrigley gum!

 

I don't think this is something I would try.  It doesn't look right.  Part of the appeal to me is the golden orange color of the filling.  Wrigley's has turned it into a mud pie...and this poor little turkey apple looks like he's stuck!