q is for quandie

One of the fun things about our recent Danube river cruise was getting a chance to share our dinner table with other passengers.  We noticed that the highest percentage of travelers were also Americans, but the next largest group seemed to be British.  We enjoyed dining with a few different British couples, and one thing that was mentioned more than once was that this year was the 100th anniversary of the start of the first world war.  Perhaps it came up in conversation so often because we visited Vienna, the seat of the Austro-Hungarian empire.  You may know that the assassination of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary is what prompted the start of WWI (although of course it is far more complicated than that).   Still, it seemed as though this anniversary was a much bigger thing in England that it is here.  I assume because we didn’t join the war until much later.

But why am I sharing this history lesson with you on Christmas?  Well, hang on, I’m getting there I promise.

After Mr. Q and I returned home, we saw an advertisement for All is Calm, the Christmas Truce of 1914, which was playing at Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis.  We were intrigued and decided to splurge on tickets.

All is Calm is based on the incredible true story of the truce between German and Allied soldiers on Christmas Day 1914.  Here is a brief explanation of the truce from history.com.

All is Calm is performed by Cantus, a men’s vocal ensemble with 9 members.  The show is mostly music, with some narration by 3 actors who quote from letters and journals of real WWI soldiers.  The music was incredible, just 9 men’s voices singing in amazing harmony.  Some highlights were when they sang O’ Tannebaum and of course, Stille Nacht, which they sang with snow softly falling around them on the stage.  My ultimate favorite was Minuit chrétiens (O Holy Night) sung in the original French.

So, while it wasn’t the Nutcracker or Mannheim Steamroller’s Christmas Tour, for us it was a much more poignant reminder of the true meaning of the season.  Peace on earth and good will towards men.

It is the classic Christmas combo, but I rarely decorate for the holidays with red and green.

But, that didn’t stop me from having some fun with a few vintage goodies I had on hand.

Sometimes it’s fun to play around with the classics.

Even just a couple of vintage books can seem festive in the right colors.

Best wishes to you for a festive Christmas Eve!

Sue brought this darling little rustic box to the Carriage House sale last fall, and no one bought it.  Can you imagine?  Did no one see its potential?  It was only priced at $6, so I know it wasn’t overpriced.

So rather than let Sue take it back home with her after the sale, I purchased it from her myself.  I felt it was calling out for some finishing touches, so I decided to add a stencil and some vintage drawer pulls as handles on the sides.  I was dying to use my newest stencil, which is this one (and you can order it here).

I’ve mentioned this stencil in a couple of posts.  It says “Family and Friends gather here”, which makes it rather inappropriate for bedroom furniture, no?  I’ve been searching Craigslist high and low for a buffet or sideboard to paint since that would be the perfect piece for such a sentiment, but haven’t found anything yet.  Meanwhile, I realized that a portion of the stencil would be perfect for the side of this box.

I stenciled it using black craft paint, and freshly stenciled it looked like this.

I sanded it to give it a more authentic look, and then finished it off with a little Miss Mustard Seed furniture wax.  Next, I added some old cup pulls to the sides of the box just to add a little more interest.

Since I was on a roll and I had all of my supplies out and ready to go, I decided to do some more stenciling on boxes.

That box in the middle is covered in galvanized metal, the other two are both wood.

There are so many possibilities for boxes like these.  For example, they make great containers for storing all of your Jeanne d’Arc magazines.

Or add some vintage faux berries and a candle to create an awesome centerpiece.

I like using containers like this in my pantry to store the more mundane household goods, like paper towels.

I use this one to corral stuff on my coffee table; kleenex, remotes, coasters, etc.

 These boxes make great container gardens for the winter window sill too.

The possibilities are endless!

Sometimes I have what I think are brilliant ideas for a blog post.  I take on a project, shoot a bunch of photos, and in the end I only have one or two pictures that I like.  It doesn’t feel like I have enough for a full on blog post.  Such has been the case with most of my holiday decorating this season.

I was going to do a full post on the winter window box, but I really only had two decent photos.

It looks great in person.  The lights are pretty at night.  But the photos just felt sort of blah.

I also decorated the Eastlake dresser that is next to my back door.

I picked up the small silver ornaments in Germany and the vintage camera was a gift from my friend Sue.

The vintage Christmas postcard in the typewriter is from 1926, and was mailed from Notodden, Norway to Minneapolis with a Christmas message written in Norwegian.  God Jul!

I’ve also added a festive holiday pop to my Kitchen Scale buffet.

I was hoping to have some more photos to share with you, but it’s been so gloomy here lately that I can’t get any good pictures.

The forecast calls for sun this weekend though, and I hope to get a few projects cranked out that I can share with you next week.  Stay tuned.

If you followed my blog last Christmas, you already know that I have a collection of vintage glass Christmas ornaments.  I have a small silver tree that I display most of them on.  Last year I had a big plan to limit my collection to mainly pink, aqua and green, I wrote about that here (and you can see the full tree on that post as well).

The pink and aqua are definitely still my faves.

So pretty.

I totally adore this little blue one because of its space age theme.

Try to ignore my reflection in the ornament, lol.

But I wasn’t that successful at limiting my collection.  I ended up saving all of the silver and gold ones to decorate my dining room.

And I certainly couldn’t part with some of the more unusual ornaments, like these …

 A few years ago I used a lot of my plain vintage bulbs to create a wreath.

I have to laugh at the countless reflections of my black and white checked floor that you can see in this close up.

So, in the end I rarely have very many ornaments that I actually want to get rid of.  But, sometimes I put some aside for my Carriage House sale.  I’m trying to fill this box for next year’s sale.

I just need six more.  I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for them at garage sales next summer!