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Saturday, December 15, 2018

Have Yourself A Sentimental Christmas



It's about the time of the season that I get a little weary of all the decorating excitement. The saturation, I mean. Sort of past the honeymoon phase, if you will. But never completely! LOL!




It's a roller coaster ride isn't it? There is so much involved with it, and a big mixed bag like all that stuff carried on Santa's shoulder. A good metaphor for all of us I think. I mean so many carry the weight of Christmas in all its forms and meanings and obligations. And always so full of nostalgia.




Folks who love vintage are all about "a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past" as the definition states. I know I am. Especially at Christmas. Like a good movie that makes you cry no matter how many times you see it, I'm going to be reaching for all the charm that gives me that special feeling.




I need a softer Christmas this year with less stuff and more people, and definitely more place for happy personal associations. Those of the past, and those present, like the traditional Dickens story. 




Getting there can be so easy! You just let go, the way you did the year you had a baby at Christmas, or the one you lost a loved one, or the year that you were sick. Christmas always welcomes you. Come as you are.




One of my easy Christmas comforts is found in revisiting my favorite stories. I have let go of some of my lesser favorites, but I once amassed a pretty large Christmas book collection. I am a word person, and also very visual, so books are a natural pleasure. My Mother has been long gone, but one of my strongest early memories of her was her reading voice as she made stories come alive from the page. It was so unlike the way she sounded otherwise, which must have fascinated me as a young child, and it will never leave me.




This wonderful volume is the story of how Clement Moore wrote The Night Before Christmas as told by his great-great-granddaughter.




Complete with a sample of his own hand. 




And still available in different editions, though some say this one, the original from 2001, is the best.





And speaking of Dickens, I have many versions of A Christmas Carol now, but this keepsake is the first one I got for Christmas when I was nine years old. It's quite small, about 5 by 8 inches, and shows no copyright date. Illustrated by Donald McKay.









I love gifting and selling vintage nostalgia too.




These adorable Scotties make me wonder what summer and winter looked like in the collection!





And I recently came across this very familiar framed print of The Angelus by Millet at some vintage market. Can it ever help but remind us of our humbler times? Or folks who now themselves are living very humble times?





As you may already know, linens also never fail to bring me joy and connect me to the beauty found in old handmade things from the past.




I wanted to think of a project for these lovely old child's stockings that some of us once wore as children. But that will wait yet another year.




These new vintage laces may find themselves a place at my table, or sent to the shop for someone else to find.




For truly, a vintage shop is the only place I ever hear shoppers reminisce so much about their mothers and fathers and grandmothers, and the lives they remember. So I rest my case about vintage things and sentimental longing.






May your memories fill you full of peace and Christmas joy.

Heartache and all.

Jacqueline





16 comments:

  1. Such a beautiful post and oh so true.
    Merry Christmas Jacqueline.

    hugs,
    Sissie

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  2. Jacqueline,
    Exquisite vintage linens!
    Oh, yes. . .nostalgia hit with the box of children's anklets!
    So~o~o true, are your thoughts of Christmas when we had a baby,
    were ill, lost a loved one. . .and yet,Christmas came.
    The packages have all been wrapped.
    The stockings are yet to be filled and hung.
    One more batch of Christmas cookies to bake.
    But, I'm at that precious time before Christmas
    where I can sit and soak it all in!
    Merry Christmas, dear one.
    Pat

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  3. Beautifully written, thank you.
    All the best for a joyful Christmas.
    Regards Janine

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  4. As always, beautifully written!! I have that very same table runner with the thick crochet and tassel and same fabric and color...…

    Merry Christmas, xoxoxo

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  5. Very well written and so beautiful. Wishing you a wonderful Christmas.
    Hugs,
    Kris

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  6. You always have beautiful posts, well done. Have a Merry Christmas

    Cindy

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  7. When you mentioned just 'letting it go' the year of a Christmas baby; it triggered a special memory. We had been waiting to adopt a baby for over a year when we heard a couple of weeks before Christmas that a baby girl for us was finally available. Of course, this was the one Christmas that I hadn't done much in preparation for Christmas; and we had an excited 4-year old son at home already. So, I just had to let Christmas happen the best I could. It ended up being a very good season for us ---- who needs more than a newborn in the house plus, of course, the wonder of Baby Jesus. May your Christmas be as special! Sally

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  8. Great post. Merry Christmas. Loe the pop of red and white ribbon. Janice

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  9. Lovely post, Jacqueline! Wishing you a lovely Christmas!

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  10. Jacqueline, you can always put everything in perspective. Your description of a simple and sentimental Christmas should have everyone putting their worries aside and just being with Christmas and what it is all about. I love how you describe your mother reading to you. Have a wonderful and beautiful Christmas . You have made mine a little more special..Judy

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  11. I do love everything about this post, Jacqueline. Of course, your beautiful photos -- that red with the white, the ribbon, the books. All perfection. But most of all, I love the sentiment and thoughts behind this. You really understand what it's all about and I just love that so very much.

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  12. Lovely post! We can all take a lesson from simpler times I think. A very merry and old fashioned Christmas to you and yours!

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  13. such precious sentiments and so timely. Life goes on during Christmas, and sometimes it can be painful and nostalgic. Have a wonderful Christmas, hugs and blessings to you and your family, J. xo Debra

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  14. Sweet linens! I noticed the Scottie dogs in the post for the antique shop on Facebook. A book I am reading right now, The Christmas Chronicles, I think you would enjoy. Have a lovely Christmas.

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  15. I always adore your beautiful treasures and the way you display them.

    I have two books that I treasure, but only bring out at Christmas. My mother's 1926 edition of Little Women is fragile and I keep it tied with ribbon. My aunt's 1927 edition of A Christmas Carol is not quite so fragile, but it too is tied with ribbon. They have a place together on top of a cabinet where I can smile at the illustrations when I walk past.

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