SET FOR TWO
SIMPLE SOUP AND SANDWICH SUPPER
Answering the call to Debbie and Shannon’s Dollar Tree challenge.
SIMPLICITY
I wandered the aisles of our local $ Tree, picking up this and that, all the while pondering one idea and another.
Back Porch Musings visitors won’t be surprised, I gravitated towards the dish shelves.
Pretty plates and seasonal bits and pieces, from $ Tree, are all you need to make your table special.
I spied the plates and bowls, noticing the colors first, then the design resembling Holly. The mugs were nearby.
The napkins are 2/$1 dish cloths, napkin rings are made of 2/$1 picks tied with narrow red ribbon from my ribbon stash. Soup spoons were also 2/$1. The tablecloth is a Dollar Tree felt tree skirt.
A clear glass vase, filler, and battery candle, all from Dollar Tree, complete the centerpiece of fresh Cedar, gathered from the back of our property and accessorized with red ribbon from my supply.
CHRISTMAS MEMORIES
When J brought the Cedar boughs into the house, the fragrance brought back memories of many Christmas trees. Cedar trees adorned with Granny’s wonderful depression era ornaments; many were handmade. She even saved foil from chewing gum wrappers for embellishing beautifully simple ornaments.
The star, atop the tree, was made of cardboard, covered with foil. The lights were multicolored, the icicle tinsel was glorious. Not at all like today’s icicle tinsel. The tree sat inside a wooden box.
A week before Christmas, each year, we drove out into the country, looking for the perfect tree. These trees, at my grandparents’ home, are the ones I remember best from early childhood.
Cellophane rope garland and sprigs of bittersweet draped the archway in the living room. Paper folding bells were also perfectly placed along the arch.
The trees were magical.
After Christmas the tinsel was carefully removed from the tree and wrapped in paper, saved for the next Christmas.
A Special Tree
CHRISTMAS 1959
My parents divorced when I was 12 years old. For a few years, we lived with my grandparents.
When I was 15, a hospital opened in a small town, south of the town where I was raised. Mother found employment at the new hospital. We soon moved to the little town.
The second Christmas, after we moved, we were living in a single car garage that had been converted into a tiny cottage. Times were not easy for the single mother and her two daughters, but we managed to do alright.
Most years we did not have a Christmas tree where we lived. We traveled to the home of my grandparents for Christmas and enjoyed those magical trees I described.
Just before Christmas, when I was 16, I decided we needed a tree at our own home. Enlisting the help of my boyfriend, we managed to find a huge old wispy Cedar and brought it home. It practically filled the living room. Friends gathered at our home, ready to help trim the tree.
At that time I was still doing baby sitting jobs. It would be another year before I went to work at the little movie theater in town. That’s a story for another day. Extra spending money was unheard of. Certainly no money for Christmas tree ornaments.
We treasure hunted soda bottles along the road, returning them for deposit. With the return money, we bought spray snow in white and a package of those wonderful old time tinsel icicles. We sprayed the tree and added the icicles. There were no lights; just tinsel and snow. It was the most beautiful Christmas tree I had ever seen.
Mother was happily surprised when she returned home from work that evening.
I always feel a tad nostalgic when I think of that tree.
THANKSGIVING DAY 2012
I hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving Day. We celebrated, with our family, last weekend. Today, we are trimming the tree.
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