What I Buy Wendesday

Okay, so we all know that I have a multiples problem. I just never want to run out of something when I need it. There's nothing more frustrating than having to run out at the last minute. I hate that. I prefer to be prepared for any eventuality!

Now for the story. 

As I was decorating for Christmas, I was pulling candles out of my candle cabinet. Yes, I have a cabinet dedicated to candles. Anyway, I decided it needed a good clean-out. I didn't get a before picture and it isn't even all that much better than how it was before--my cabinets are pretty neat. But I really needed an assessment of what I have. 

Here's the after:

That tub on the bottom is full of more candles and holders--mostly Christmasy. 

We use candles--a lot. We light a 3-wick candle every morning as part of our routine--making coffee/tea, unloading the dishwasher, etc. It burns for a couple hours and gives us a pleasant scent to start the day. The current one we're using is called Buttery Bakery (or something like that--I was too lazy to get up and look--but I'm sure you can smell it!)

Once I cleaned everything out, these are the odds 'n ends:

There are a lot of leftovers, mismatched, but nothing goes to waste. I've always done this:

I just use them up by bunching them together on the hearth. I don't even care if they match. It's just a fun way to use them while creating a nice ambience in the evenings. 

Now you are probably wondering what all this has to do with what I bought. Well, I knew--as I was cleaning out the candle cabinet, that I had ordered some new ones!

Yep, I have a hundred new ones!! Part of the reason that it seems I have multiple problems is that I cannot resist a good deal. Candles are expensive. I got 100--10" for about 30 bucks! Now that's a deal. On Thanksgiving, I gave Stephanie and Jenni a handful of them. 

Now, all this candle talk is reminding me that I have a bit of another candle problem. Some of them I cannot bear to burn. Take my Christmas candles as an example:

They are so cute, I just can't burn them. But this year, I'm going to! I'll put them at each place on the table for Christmas Eve breakfast and re-light them at dinner. Well, except for those tiny Christmas trees. I need to hoard them. I need them for this:

I bought these two, chippy old wooden pieces--I don't know what they're from--and they came with the little Christmas trees. I just have to have replacements. You are catching a glimpse of my Dickens tablescape. Ahhh, but that's another story for another day!

How is your candle collection? Do you have a lot, or are you having to go out to specifically buy them? Either way, happy burning!

Travel Tuesday...

...to London. Well, not really, but I've always wanted to go at Christmas time. The second best thing is my Dickens table scape. 

It’s my favorite decorating thing I do at Christmas. I’ll be having my 3rd annual Dickens tea party on December 19th—the anniversary of the publishing of A Christmas Carol--in 1843---182 years ago! When I started it, I thought it was appropriate to invite my book club. Seems like a good reason to celebrate.

Things to note: mug from the Charles Dickens museum in London, Scrooge salt and pepper—Fitz & Floyd—I’ve had this collection for over 30 years now. More books. The one on the bottom is my favorite version of A Christmas Carol with the Muppets! If you haven’t seen it, give it a go. It’s so cute and funny—plus I love Michael Caine as Scrooge.

Christmas Stories book by Charles Dickens from my childhood, Dickens in America—gift from my friend, Diane, tiny little Christmas Carol book from an advent calendar that Stephanie gave me this year, Scrooge hat—I bought the hat and decorated it last year. 

The Fitz & Floyd Scrooge teapot was the start of my collection in 1993. He’s sitting on top of a leather bound copy of A Christmas Carol that is part of my classic book collection. Picture of Charles Dickens at his writing desk from the museum. I found the Scrooge & Marley sign at Hobby Lobby in the fall.

Candles and assorted bric-a-brac thrown in.

Basically, just a bunch of junk all piled together. I've had this little glitter bird, keys and clocks for years now. I love anything sparkly.

It looks different every year as it’s never the same way twice. I just love putting it all together.

PS I've started watching Dickensian on Prime. It's a series--I think there are 10 episodes. It's really good--if you like that sort of thing. I do love period pieces and anything about England. So I can't really be unbiased. 

What's your favorite thing to decorate each year? Send me some pictures and I'll gladly post them for all to see!

Me on Monday

November seems like it was a while ago. Time is just whizzing by. Finally, my "November by the Numbers" even though it's already December!

November by the Numbers:

Movies Seen:

*****Anniversary

*After The Hunt

*****Sarah’s Oil

*****Christmas Karma

***Rental Family

****Wicked: For Good

****Running Man

*****Wicked: For Good 3D (I saw it twice--so good)

Books Read—17

5 star books:

  The Self-Care Solution

  Nothing to See Here

  The Intruder

  Tidy the F**k Up

  We Have Always Lived in a Castle

  The Only Woman in the Room

  The Perfect Child

  The Kingdom of the Poor

Podcasts:

Paul Burrell Spills the Royal Tea (4 episodes)

Scrap Girls (3 episodes)

Lunch Out—9

Dinner Out:—7

Bridge—3

Documentaries/Movies/Series  

Hulu:

*Who Killed JFK (waste of time)

Netflix :

*****The Perfect Neighbor

The House of Guiness (1 episode)

*****The Beast in Me

****The Carman Family Deaths

***Missing Dead or Alive (4 episodes)

Prime:

*****Hollywood Idols (6 episode)

***Hollywood and Crime (5 episodes)

****Royal Murder Mysteries (6 episodes)

****Remarkable Twentieth Century (6 ep)

****King & Conqueror (8 episode)

*****I Like Me: John Candy

*****Luke Bryan (5 episodes)

*****Chatsworth (3 episodes)

***Truth or Dare

*****Wicked

*****Drop

***Christmas in Connecticut 

****Beyond Tomorrow (Christmas)

*****Christmas Through the Decades(4ep)

*****Playdate

****A Very English Scandal ( 3 ep)

Peacock:

*****One Wonderful Night: Wicked

*****All Her Fault (8 episodes)

*****Devil in Disguise (8 episodes)

***Blackwater Lane

Paramount Plus:

*****Landman—(11 ep)

Scrapbook Pages Completed: 0

Worked on December Daily

Trips & Events:

Christmas Village

Steph’s birthday

Poker Group Happy Hour

Boozy Bingo

Thanksgiving

Something for Sunday--It runs in the family!

Butch and his buddy, Jack are going to Japan in April. (In case you are wondering, I have no desire to go there. I'm reserving all my international trips for England. I still haven't done everything I want to do there. Sheesh! Now, I've made it about me--again).

Back to Japan. So, Butch reached out to Jordan because that girl is darn near a Japanese expert! Well, at least in our family. It started all the way back to grade school when she got hooked on all of that Pokemon stuff. She still is!! She also went there while she was in college for some abbreviated course. Anyway, you get the picture--Japan is probably her favorite place on earth. 

I think that she and Robbie actually met because of Pokemon. Hmm, I'm going to have to get her to write that story for her wedding album!

Last April, Jordan and Robbie were in Japan during the apple blossom season. It's no surprise that he proposed to her there.

Any way, she loves Japan and its culture. 

It was only logical that Butch asked her for some recommendations. This is what she sent:

TWO pages single-spaced!! (I don't know if young people even know what that means today--just a little throw-back to typing class!). Basically, she sent a school report!!

Just so you know, Jordan would not be the only one in our family to be so detailed. This is just how the Eads family rolls when it comes to trips! Thorough research and a packed itinerary--the only way to go!

As I say, it runs in the family!!

Scrapbook Saturday

We had our last AYM meeting of 2025 at Susan's on Thursday. She had a blazing fire burning as it was freezing cold and raining. We all loved that. She served us wine and champagne along with some tasty bites. We got Pete to snap a picture or 5!

Nancy brought a few layouts as she was a bit behind.

This might look familiar as I already showed the left side page. Susan's layout had somehow gotten separated and she only had that page when we had our last meeting.

We discussed our theme for next year and I showed what our title page is going to be:

I might have mentioned that I am taking Ali Edwards December Daily class. I was excited to put some of the techniques to use before I forgot them! 

For the title page, I cut all of these tiny houses on my Cricut. When I took them off of the mat, most of the windows and doors fell out. So, the girls will have a teeny tiny puzzle to put together for their page.

I loved this weaving technique which I decided to use on the end page of our 2026 album.

I pre-cut everything. With all of the classes I've taught for over 25 years now--I've learned to leave nothing to chance. Regardless if I'm standing right there guiding people through the process AND with complete written directions, someone will screw something up. It matters when you have exactly the number of papers you need. One miss-cut dooms the whole project!

So, I've cut ALL the strips and made the frames for the weaving. There should be no mistakes!

Friday Funnies

Ten Things Thursday

Well, the Christmas season is upon us. So, I thought I would start with some beautiful Christmas porches!

This is my favorite. I love all of the white! It makes the lighted garland really stand out. I've always wanted to have a Christmas tree on our upper porch full of white lights. But, I never really wanted all the extra work. The more that I think about it, it wouldn't really be that bad. I could get a pre-lit tree. Then all we have to do is drag it out of the attic and just put it together and plug it in. No ornaments, just lights. Maybe that's what we need to do.