As we open today's Advent calendar window, we see it is getting close to Christmas, and as a new dawn arises things appear to be pretty peaceful and calm at Pamela's Victorian Cottage...
But inside those doors there is a flurry of activity going on...
Mother and her little growing family have been busily getting the house decorated and ready for Christmas
A couple of days ago Papa and some of the children went and found the most beautiful Christmas tree in the woods and brought it home to decorate:
Painting by John Sloane, Country Seasons Calendar
And so they brought it in and decorated it as beautifully as they could:
Mother said they had done a very good job of decorating, and just in time, because they were expecting a special visitor!
Papa had gone to the train station to pick up their wonderful Auntie from the city, who was coming to visit for Christmas as per her usual custom each year:
Painting by John Sloane, Country Seasons Calendar
Oh my! There she is now!
As always, there is a great bit of excitement when Auntie comes to visit! She is always full of wonderful surprises and fun!
Mother worries in the kitchen about making sure there is enough food for everyone and that everything looks perfect for their sophisticated guest from the city...
But what Auntie really wants is to sit down and relax in her sister's warm, cozy country kitchen and have a cup of tea and a good visit with her family. She's tired from her journey and from the hustle and bustle of city life, and she just wants to enjoy a country Christmas with the ones she loves.
And so, while the children go out to play in the snow, Auntie and Mother have a wonderful time visiting and enjoying each other's company and catching up on all the news from their busy lives.
The children are having a great time sledding and skating on the pond
Painting by John Sloane, Country Seasons Calendar
And the family looks forward to going to church together while Auntie is visiting, especially because the children have been practicing for their Christmas program and they want their Auntie to see them perform as they sing the Christmas carols and tell the old familiar and wonderful Christmas story once again.
Painting by John Sloane, Country Seasons Calendar
"O Holy Night"
Won't you sing along with us?
Now let us all sing "Silent Night" together
I hope you enjoyed this little Christmas program put on by the family at Pamela's Victorian Cottage.
Here are links to last year's Christmas stories:
https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-special-christmas-visitor-at-pamelas.html
https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2019/12/pamelas-victorian-cottagea-new-years.html
Merry Christmas from Pamela's Victorian Cottage!
May God bless you all with a very Merry Christmas!
What a sweet and wonderful post! I love your doll house and all your dolls.
ReplyDeleteNow you're making me want to decorate my doll house that my dad made for my girls. A lot of the furniture and stuff has been broken over the years, but I still keep it in my living room with the stuff that has survived. I haven't decorated it for Christmas in a long time.
Well, maybe it is time to do so! I think you will be cheered by doing so, and your family will love it! And be sure to take pictures when you are done and share them with us! Merry Christmas from my doll house to yours!
DeleteI love this Pamela! It's making me want to kick myself for getting rid of the big Victorian house I built for my daughter when she was little.
ReplyDeleteOh, I am so sorry! I found this house at a yard sale a couple of years ago, and it was in need of some refurbishing, but I've had a lot of fun with it. It's not too big to manage and have fun with. I am sorry you let go of your doll house, but I am sure at the time it was something you felt you needed to do. Sometimes we have to "downsize" with dollhouses as well as our real houses, and it is always difficult to make those decisions. You are always welcome to visit here at Pamela's Victorian Cottage! It's not fancy...just fun!
DeleteHow wonderful to see this sweet family once again, Pamela! I do love the stories you weave around them - makes them really come to life, as it were.
ReplyDeleteBlessings!
Thank you, Martha! I have you to thank for being an inspiration for making things "come to life". Your "Adventures in the Glade" series is proof positive that you really know how to "weave" a great story! Your compliments make me feel particularly special and honored!! Thank you.
DeleteVery enjoyable. ☺️ It so happens that I had a sophisticated auntie who, like the one in your story, just wanted to sit and enjoy her family...if only my mother could have stopped scurrying. She just wanted everything to be perfect.
ReplyDeleteAll the little girls in my family...daughter and nieces... had their own dollhouses. I'm thinking that they could be put to better use than being stored away in my attic.
What a beautiful Christmas program. The children of this family are most accomplished.
Thank you, Vee! Yes, I believe those dollhouses should be put to better use than sitting in an attic! think of the stories they could tell from their adventures up in the attic...the things they've discovered up there! Oh the stories they could tell, if only "someone" could rescue them from their dark, lonely place of forgottenness... And thank you for enjoying my little family. They really are quite talented, if I do say so myself! LOL. Merry Christmas!
DeleteVery pretty. It feels like CHRISTmas! xx
ReplyDeleteHey, guess what! It IS CHRISTmas!! Time to rejoice and sing!! Thank you! :)
DeleteI haven't had a dollhouse since I was a kid and have always wanted a grown-up one. So adorable.
ReplyDeleteIt's never too late. I found this one at a yard sale a few years ago, and it was definitely a "fixer upper". (You can read more about that by clicking on the links on the sidebar for Pamela's Victorian Cottage). I've had lots of fun with this "grown-up dollhouse". I see nothing wrong in being a child again...
DeleteHow I enjoyed this episode ... together with last year's! O Holy Night has long been my favorite Christmas carol, and isn't there something so special about a children's choir? I've not thought of my own doll house in forever. Light pink and made of metal, I've no idea whatever happened to it. This makes me long for another, but I don't have a spare square inch to accommodate.
ReplyDeletePS - At first, I thought your son had crafted this for you. Does Benton do this sort of thing?
Thank you, Myra. I'm so glad you enjoyed this and also last year's Christmas story. To answer your question, no, my son did not make this. I found it at a yard sale, and it needed some repairs, which I did myself. You can read all about it by clicking on the link to Pamela's Victorian Cottage on the side bar, and scrolling back through all the posts to the beginning. No, he doesn't do this kind of thing...he's pretty busy with building tables and shelves and actually making a sound booth for a church right now! God is blessing their business and we are all so thankful. I'm afraid trying to build a dollhouse might be too time consuming and would end up costing a lot more than people want to spend. But I sure do enjoy this little house. It has been a lot of fun!
DeleteOh how I loved visiting your Victorian Cottage and all the sweet people who live there! A delightful post that made me smile!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mary. I have fun "playing house" with them. Brings out the child in me, I guess, and sometimes we just have to let our inner child come back out for a while!! I'm glad you enjoyed this. I had fun living it!
DeleteYou are very gifted in writing these stories and also adding the visuals. I did enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteOh, thank you, Ruth. It was fun to do and I am so glad you enjoyed it too! I don't know how gifted I am...I'm just kind of playing like a child...and sometimes we need to do just that! It's good "therapy". LOL. Thank you for visiting. Please come back again!
DeleteI love your sweet doll house. So darling decorated for Christmas. I love the idea of sharing tea with a loved one. Have a blessed weekend,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Mildred. I am happy you enjoyed visiting here with our little family. It was fun for me too. And having tea with a loved one or a good friend is always a special time. We all need more of that in our lives. (((hugs)))
DeleteI love and appreciate your creativity and sense of whimsy, my friend! This was such a cute and fun post.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I just read a little book about adult children estranging their parents and one of the ways of coping the author suggested was a dollhouse...because it can sometimes give a parent a sense of control over something in their life. The book was heartbreaking. So many have it so much worse...children trying to declare them mentally unstable, filing restraining orders, trying to turn the rest of the family against them...who'd have thought having my son cut off the entire family would actually be a better bad thing?
Oh Stacy, I am so sorry about your son. I pray he will see the "error of his ways" before it is too late to make it up. Life is so short and we need to try to forgive and live in peace if at all possible. That book sounds interesting...I never would have thought of using a dollhouse in that way...however I do enjoy it and find it relaxing...and a kind of creative outlet...but I guess I can't quite think of it in those particular terms. However, when families become dysfunctional people have to find ways to cope that are reasonable. And sometimes being "cut off" is a better alternative, but praying it doesn't become permanent. Sending you hugs and prayers.
DeleteI so enjoyed the tour of your beautiful Victorian Cottage!! xo
ReplyDeleteThank you Terri! Someday you can come and play with it with me! Merry Christmas!
DeleteThank you for the lift to my spirits. I loved your story about the family in the victorian house. I also flet up lifted by the carols. Peace and blessings to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteOh, I am so glad you enjoyed this, Cecelia, and that you also listened to the songs. Weren't they sweet? I could just picture all these little children singing with them. Sometimes when we can't do these special things for real, it is nice to make them happen right where we are. Our children are not having Sunday School or Children's Church yet, and there won't be a Children's Christmas program this year. I am very sad about that and feel like this pandemic has stolen too much from us. Praying for a better year next year for all. Peace and blessings to you and your family as well.
DeleteI can't believe how much we are alike, Pam! I just posted a similar post, in Tansy's dollhouse, LOL! I love this one....all the pretty pictures and all your tiny little dolls. Where did you find those, by the way?--love them! I love those calendar pictures too, really gorgeous, do you know if there will be new calendars for the new year? The winter scenes are so pretty, and I LOVE THE TRAIN SCENE. Loved my most pleasant visit to your Victorian cottage! (where did you get your cottage? and did you paint it yourself?)
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Slow down girl! One question at a time! LOL. Love it. 1. The tiny dolls are actually Hallmark Christmas ornaments...Madame Alexander dolls. My sister gives me a new one each year for Christmas. I don't know if you can go back and find them all now w/o going on Ebay or something like that. I had to glue little outlet plug covers on their feet so they could stand up as they were designed to be hung on a tree. I love them too, as my mother collected M.A. dolls and we girls were given some when we were younger, and they are special to us. The calendar you can look up John Sloane calendars...Country Seasons...Not sure if you can find it on Lang calendars or if you have to go to John Sloan's website. I try to get a new one every year because I love his pictures so much. Now, the cottage I found at a yard sale a couple of years ago. You can read all about that on the link for Pamela's Victorian Cottage on my side-bar. Scroll back through all the way to the first one to get the whole story of how it was a "fixer-upper" that had to have some refurbishing, which I did. The blog posts will show you everything I did from day one. So go enjoy some sweet little stories! Now I want to go see what you did over at Tansy's place! Merry Christmas, kindred spirit!
DeleteI always enjoy visiting your post and today was no exception. Touring the Victorian cottage was fun and you did a good job.
ReplyDeleteThank you Linda! I am so glad you could pop in for a visit! You are always welcome here at Pamela's Victorian Cottage and also at my "open window". Merry Christmas!
Delete{{{Grin}}} Thank you Pamela. I hope you have a beautiful day, friend. smiles
ReplyDeleteThank you! I hope you do too!! Hope you are surviving the rush!!
DeleteI totally enjoyed my visit here tonight. Seeing the Madame Alexander dolls remind me of my mom. She loved them. She gave me one for my birthday one year. She us to be a manager of a chain of Toy stores. She got to fly out to NY to buy things from Mattel. Is is special when one person's post can bring up memories for another. Have a happy Sunday!
ReplyDeleteOh, I am glad these posts bring up happy memories for you and others. Yes, I love the Madame Alexander dolls too. My mother actually had a collection of them that she proudly displayed to anyone who came to visit. She had a bedroom (my old room) changed into her "Doll Room" and a sewing room. It was such fun. When we settled my parents' estate, each girl got a doll and the rest were sold to collectors. That was sad to see, but we couldn't take all of the dolls. I do have some others that were given to me when I was young, by my grandmother and my mother. Yes, I love to see what others post about their family traditions and decorations, etc., as they do trigger warm memories for us. Happy SONday to you too!! Have a blessed day.
DeleteWOW!!! outstanding post. Those dolls are absolutely beautiful. I love how you incorporated the photos with your story. Blessings
ReplyDeleteWhat a darling Victorian house so full of character and life Pamela! I just love how you wove such a sweet story through the house and shared the story of Christmas! The calendar pictures are gorgeous too... such beauty from days gone by. I had special aunts in my life as well, and their visits were always such a highlight for us as children. I enjoyed this beautiful story brought to life through your house, dolls, and the calendar pictures, so very fun! Many blessings to you dear friend :)
ReplyDeleteThis was just precious, Pam!
ReplyDeleteChristmas at the cottage -- what a delight! And the John Sloan artwork is perfect. He can show us the snow and we don't have to shovel ANY of it!!
ReplyDeletePam, this is such a lovely story. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLove and blessings!