"The Good Ole Days of Yore" or Something Like That.

It's 1971. We were young (very young---just 19 & 20). We had no money. We had no Christmas decorations. We had no ornaments. We decided to make our own. We worked diligently every night after work---at the kitchen table.

When I think back on it now, it surprises me that we didn't work in front of the television. I guess nothing good was on. That was back in the day of only 4 channels and one of them was educational tv. Or maybe we just liked each other's company. Yeah, that's it!!

Anyway, we made tons of ornaments---from a kit---we just had to follow directions. Today, they are some of my most prized ornaments. I wonder what happened to all the rest. We have very few left.

The kits were really cheap---maybe 2 bucks for---like---50 ornaments. Each year, we did one set.

Decoupage was all the rage in the 1970's. You had to cut out the paper pictures. You glued them to a piece of wood. If I recall, you had to figure out on your own which piece of wood went with the picture. Then the glaze was applied over the top of it all.

Each one had a back. In storage, some had stuck together so are a bit ratty and torn. Still, I love to have them as a reminder of the "lean" years. They are simple ornaments. But our life was pretty simple then too. Well, maybe not. Butch was working full-time and going to college. I guess our lives were just simple in the money department. We didn't have any. We barely scraped by. If I spent $1.00 too much at the grocery store, that meant I couldn't pay another bull in full for the month. It's kind of hard to remember how we really had to keep track of every nickel. I think Butch would like it if we returned to those days of NO spending. Me, not so much!

I think we did the painted wooden ornaments the second year. I'm no artist, that's for sure, but there were lines, so I did okay. Compared to what I have in my scrapbook room, the paints were your very basic colors. We didn't try mixing to make new ones. I'm not sure why---maybe we just didn't think of it.

Our last year of making ornaments were the plaster of Paris. I have no idea where that term came from. I guess Paris invented plaster. I do know that many of these were broken over the years. Plaster is much more fragile than ceramic. In fact, this is the only ornament we have left. Maybe the girls have a couple. At least I hope so.

What I remember most is how much fun we had making them. Or maybe it was just doing something together. We don't do that much these days. He doesn't stitch, cook or scrapbook. I don't golf, bike or watch football. Soooooo, I decided to plan a Christmas activity for us this year---the Legos project. Since I've already blogged about that (remember the double gin and tonic---you have to skip down the post?), I'll just show you the finished results.

Our little village is the centerpiece on the table in the rec room. It can be moved if we need to use the table. It turned out pretty cute. At least the girls got a kick out of it. They think everything we do is "cute." You, know in that "our parents/grandparents are so old" kind of cute!

After 44 years, we've settled in to a comfortable pattern together. Still, it does't hurt to shake things up now and then!!