Christmas In July Special Spode Edition

Still working with Ruth
getting the house ready to sell.
Tom & Ruth spent every

Christmas with us save

2 or 3 since the day we met.

They loved our kids like

their own and treated them

like family.

One of our best traditions

was always Christmas Dinner

at our house.

I always set the table with

the set of family given

Spode Christmas Tree china.

I never realized that Ruth

had china that matched.

The stinker was holding out

on me-I could have been 

eating at her house every 

Chritmas and felt right at home! 

Anyway, as we are packing

things up she said-

I have a gift for you!

It's not TOM, is it? I asked!

We both snickered.

Instead she led me to a 

cabinet filled with pieces of this!

She is giving me some pieces

I have never seen before!

WhooooHooooo!

Just call me LUCKY!!!

source

AND she has a whole set of her

Grandmother's blue Spode that we

are going to use for staging.

source

I'll show you the whole ball of wax

when we get it staged.

Meanwhile, I am out of town

today but will be around

late tomorrow.

I promise to visit when and as I can-

so don't give up on me just yet.

At least you know I talked my

way out of the trunk.

You can see that story here.

Spode Spit Polished And Shined

One time a long, long time ago..

in a house far-far away,

I set the table when we were

having company for dinner.

After it was set I noticed that

there were some smudges 

on the knives.

Child, I said,

and I won't tell you which one

lest I embarrass them to death

and they will do something hateful

to get even with me.

Child...Could you please take a cloth,

go around the table,

and polish all the silver

to get rid of the smudges?

A bit later I said...

The silver looks really good,

did you use a bit of water

on the cloth?

Nooooo....said the child.

I just spit on them

and wiped it off.

Ummmmmm....yuck!

Double yuck!

Did I rewash the silver?

Did I have time?

What's your best guess?

Anyway,

Here's the table today.

These silver chargers belonged to
Grandmother Clara.
They are very very heavy silver.

Spode takes center place here.

The centerpiece consists of a
Fitz & Floyd Santa and Reindeer.
Gifts from my kids several years ago.

 The reindeer is about 18" tall.

Santa is about 24" tall.

This table makes my

heart happy.

This  is a wider shot of the 

dining room.

This chandelier has a long

story behind it-but we

love it.

And here's a peek at the 

dining room mantle.

I found these sweet birds 
a few years ago and they
hang off large candlesticks
on the mantle.
One Little Birdie

Two Little Birdies

Three Little Bir......

What the Heck?

Ohhhh..There is another

one of Mark Roberts

Danged Santa Fairies

keeping his eyes on me.

And after I promised to 

be good and all.....

pffffttt....

My Gosh-
I just checked my email/blog
this morning and I am over-whelmed
with all the well-wishes from
yesterday-Thank you ALL
so much-Now I think I
might have to have a little cry,
or something-
Love to ALL of you!