Holidays

I can't beleive that I've not posted yet in December, but it ahs been that kind of month. We missed a major blizzard, but are subzero and ice covered; some of long for a nice, warm trip to Siberia! The museum joined the Montana Lady's Antique Doll Pages today which is a terrific reference site. I recommend it to all. She is faithful about posting and sharing information. Best online "doll club" yet!

My thanks to my friends at the Warren County Doll Club; we had a great Christmas meeting and party, and the ornament exchange was terrific. This is a devoted and wonderful group of people, warm and sharing in the true spirit of doll collecting.

Christmas is a sad time for us at the museum; since my mother died, there are really no gifts, and no festivites at my parents house. My dad, ever a scrooge in somethings, is now in his glory. It's HIS way of keeping Christmas. Our holidays consist of trips to her grave, but I don't mind that. I look forward to it, and I have left her small dolls and little things like we used to buy together. She loved Christmas, and busy as she was with me, Dad, and a job, she always made ornaments and dressed one of my dolls in a fantastic outfit. She knitted and crocheted till the day she died, for the dolls. She hated old things, but gamely went with me to antique shows and stores, and got to the point that she "loved the hunt" herself, and would ask for dolls for "our" collection for special occasions. We will have a gallery devoted to her work, and the doll she made and dressed. Her specialty was outfits for "ugly" dolls, like the Alien Queen, and two-headed Halloween monster baby, who now wear tasteful knitted ensembles. She also created fantastic Barbie wardrobes, shoes, trousseaux for china heads, and knitted stuffed animals.

She loved to decorate trees, and we had all kinds of all sizes. My late puppies were always in the act, and my Smokey dog didn't bother the tree, but loved to brush by it because his tail set off an ornament with a bell. He liked hearing it ring.

We scoured the after Christmas sales all over the country; Macy's and Marshall Fields were tradition. We also cooked and baked till we dropped, cleaned, looked for real holly, and organized gifts for the next Christmas. We wrapped everything, and even our puppies had stockings. The room was filled with all kinds of beautiful stockings and wrapped gifts,and we always had something to exchange through the 12 days of Christmas and Epiphany and Russian Christmas on the 7th.

Now, I honor the season for her sake, but it is painful, and the stark "do without" is a shock. I try to put up my own decorations, and my husband and his family try, but it is not the same. There used to be more than 12 people around our Christmas table, even if we travelled to my Grandmother's. Now, there aren't even two.

But, Christmas is about love and sharing; I bake for my friends with her recipes, I visit her grave, I do things at work and we send things to the Children at the Sun Valley Indian School in Arizona. I also like to donate to Goodwill, Toys for Tots, and The Salvation Army. Sometimes, I'm sad, but a little releived when Christmas is over. January was her birthday, and the month she died, and the month we have lost others in my family. I've come to be more of a spring/summer person, with fall my all time favorite season, but Christmas with its old traditions and my mother's love of dolls and doll restoration will always live in my heart.

Seasons Greetings and Merry Christmas to all of you from The Doll Museum.