Friday Funnies

Five Things Thursday

Today is my 2nd annual Charles Dickens party. This is the 181st anniversary of the publication of A Christmas Carol. What better group to invite than my book club?

I've said it before---many times before---setting the table is my favorite thing to do. As for the tablescape, I just pile up a bunch of stuff. In this case, anything I have related to Charles Dickens. 

Charles Dickens books and a picture of Charles Dickens (yes, I bought it at the Charles Dickens house/museum in London--been there twice).

A Fitz & Floyd Scrooge teapot and lots of candles. My table favors are little glass vials of loose tea. I do love table favors.

The pitcher is part of the Fitz & Floyd Dickens collection next to the Scrooge hat I decorated. I love everything about all of this.

On the menu:

Wassail

Potato cheese soup

7-Up biscuits

Grape salad

Tea punch

Pumpkin bars

I'll share pictures of my book club friends later. I do have a couple things up my sleeve. I'm going to have a little trivia quiz to see how much everyone remembers from A Christmas Carol. 

As far as movies go, I grew up with the Mr. Magoo version. My all time favorite version is A Muppets Christms Carol. If you look close, it's on the table with the teapot sitting on top. The movie is adorable. 

Also, I plan to toast Charles with this sentiment:

"I wonder if--all the way back on December 19, 1843--Charles Dickens had any notion that a book club in 2024 would be celebrating him. That's quite a legacy!! Here's to you Chuck!"

And legacy--it surely is. Happy Charles Dickens day! 

What's Been Happeniin' This Holiday Season!

There haven't been as much going on this holiday season. Still, there are a few things to share:

I had a festive lunch with my high school friend, Cathy. This was our first time here and the food was unusual and delicious. I highly recommend the "hot brown."

We went to the Buttermilk Ranch--all dressed up like a gingerbread house. 

I finally got Morgan and Olly's Christmas card after 10 days! It only came from Illinois, so not that far!

Aren't "the boys" cute in their festive scarves? They are really well-behaved for sure! I know, I've said that before, but it's so true!

Morgan and Olly went to some "dress like santa" bar party.

I'm not sure what it was all about, I think it was some sort of bar crawl thing where you visited several places. They went with friends. Sounds like fun. I would totally do something like this.

Sara, my garden girl, and her crew planted my winter boxes. I look forward to them every year. They also surprised me by decorating our mailbox--our Christmas gift from Sara.

Nicky always sends me pictures of Rio hiding during the holidays. 

She always loves to get under the tree. She doesn't bother anything, though, so that's good.

You never know where she'll turn up.

Speaking of Nicky, he delivers a beautiful poinsettia to me (and his mother) every holiday season.

They get bigger and bigger every year. It's so gorgeous! And that's why he's my number one son-in-law!!

Last Friday was our poker dinner. Unfortunately not everyone could make it.

From the left: Karolyn, Butch, me, Linda, David, Jack and Connie. We had the best time. We vowed to get together more often.

Also, last week, we went to the Bonefish Grill with Stephanie and Nicky. We used this special event to celebrate Steph's new job. It was the BEST deal! "Merry Martini" was a 5-course dinner paired with 5 different drinks. We started off with a glass of champagne with a bowl of lobster bisque--with lots of lobster on top. 

The second course was a shaved brussel sprout salad with pomegranate vinaigrette along with a pomegranate martini. Next came a seafood del mar with crawfish, shrimp, and scallops in an Alfredo sauce paired with a white Christmas cosmo. Next came a filet lobster thermidor with a Christmas martini. Finally, the meal ended with a gingerbread espresso brownie with a gingerbread martini. It was all so delicious--the portions were huge and we took a lot home with us. Since I was the driver, I had just a sip of each martini to taste them. They were all so good too. And the best part---the cost was only $75.00 per person!! Later, I priced out the cost of the food at $96.00 plus the drinks--which I have no idea what they cost--but 5 of them--probably at least $12.00 each--it was so well worth the cost. 

The downside, it was to be a "community" event--which meant that there were long tables. Luckily for us, we were at a table to ourselves, so we had the best time. 

Check out these events at Bonefish. You can rely on delicious food for sure--one of our favorite places. There's another one coming up in January. Check it out.

On Monday, Connie and I planned to pick up our old lady bridge friends--almost 97 now. Betty was sick and not able to join us.

We picked up Louise and took her to The Midtown Cafe! Another delicious lunch. 

Yesterday, I was at Richland for our annual Christmas bridge luncheon.

I snapped this picture at the entrance to the club--so pretty. 

After my post yesterday about vintage decor, I thought I would share this little lady.

She is so darn cute standing on top of those old blocks! I think I picked her up at some antique mall a very long time ago. She still makes me happy!

I thought I would share the entry when you walk through the front door.

This is the reason I wanted an open foyer/entry. We've been here for almost 30 years now and have the bannisters decorated every year.

The entry table differs every year.

It's pretty easy. You just pile on a bunch of stuff! Books are always a part of my decor. 

This is the latest needlepoint that I've done. 

It was a lot of fun to stitch. Wouldn't it be fun to have a complete red and pink tree? I won't be doing it as I am starting to get rid of and not replace my decor. I love it when it's done, but more work than I want anymore. 

Okay, I guess that's enough for today. 

The whole family starts arriving today to celebrate a couple very special birthdays. Mindy is turning 40 and Jordan is turning 30. We have a jam-packed, fun-fulled weekend planned--all a surprise for the birthday girls. 

I might be able to slip in a post or two, but no promises!

Tuesday Thoughts About...

...vintage decor! 

I love it!

Here are a few of my favorites:

Love this wreath with all the vintage ornaments. Those little dolls are adorable!

I love the idea of using these old-fashioned boxes as decor. 

What an awesome collection! Almost makes me want to go antiquing again!

Clever use of a vintage of potato masher.

Are these (and some of the following) scenes just made inside of the old Shiny Brite ornament boxes? Or could you buy them like this?

How pretty is this on an old window?

Monday Mystery

I was at Sam's last week and saw my first robot. It was roaming the aisles. 

As I was approaching from the other direction, it just stopped until I passed. Then it turned down another aisle. It was kind of weird seeing something drive itself. I don't know what it was doing. It wasn't carrying anything.

That's the mystery: What was it doing? Maybe it was related to security or something. I have no idea. I think the next time I'm there, I'll ask someone.

On another mystery, it looks like it only took Disney 6 weeks to find my car keys--even though I described my hot pink carabiner with a yellow rubber duckie hanging off of it! I was positive they didn't even look! 

I have to admit, I was pretty surprised to have heard from them. I was pretty certain that when they sent me that letter two weeks after I left it, saying that they "could not find my item and were closing the case"--I was certain I would never hear from them again! But, I did. They are mailing my keys. I'm so happy that we didn't replace them yet! To have a new key made was going to be several hundred dollars. Now we don't have to worry about that. 

At least that's one mystery solved!

Monday Mystery

I saw this sign when we were in Charleston a few weeks ago. I don't understand it.

Are lifeguards regularly on duty at fountains? This baffles me. I've never seen a lifeguard at a fountain. 

It's a mystery for sure!

Something For Sunday

I just love looking at Christmas trees and decor. Here are some of my favorites this year:

I adore tons of pillows. The guys in the family--not so much!

If we were celebrating at the beach, I could really get in to this color palette!

Another beautiful beachy scene.

This is pretty awesome if you don't have room for a tree. I hope it's all fake. Otherwise it seems like ti could be a fire hazard. I can't figure out what all that stuff in front of the hearth is. Looks like rocks. 

The pillows💖💖💖

Gorgeous!

That rug! Swoon!!

So I find that I am partial to the red rooms. Personally I've had many different colors and decor types over the past 53 years. But ever since I got a flocked tree--probably 10 years ago--I've always done it in red because that's about the only ornaments that would show up on it. I had it in the living room until Covid in 2020. We didn't get a live tree that year, so just moved the artificial to the family room. I have never looked back! Love it so much.

I took a page out of Sandy's book and just added more red! All my pillows are from Walmart and very cheap!

About three years ago, I decided to use all red for wrapping too. I'd love to have that rug above, but then there would be the hassle of changing it out (hmm maybe I could just put it on top) and then storing it. I think I'll leave well enough alone!

What does your tree look like?