7 A Liberty Christmas

Having a big move right before the holidays isn't easy, although I'm hard-pressed to pick a time of year that would be "easy" to move your entire lives- two humans, two dogs, one cat-dog, five checked bags, four carryons, one anthropomorphized Element named Watson, 10.5 crates of junk crap necessary items (luckily Paul doesn't come around these blog-parts often!- across the ocean.
Anyway, all that was just to say that it's a good thing we're not super-holiday people. We're more likely to take advantage of some days off to either do a bit of traveling or to just have some nice relaxation at home. Paul does enjoy a real Christmas tree, though, so when we first got married I began slowly collecting ornaments. Most of them are souvenirs from trips we've taken, but there are a few other, more traditional ones, that I got at after-Christmas sales. It's made a task I would normally see as a pain- a couple hours' work and some money spent on a mostly disposable thing that requires a lot of clean up- to be a fun time to reminisce and think about our trips and see all these bits that I've hand-selected for us to enjoy.  When we were at Lowe's a few weeks ago, I walked through the Christmas trees all lined up and thought "hmm... Paul's gonna want one this year!" despite his having denied it previously (due to the whole lack of funds thing from the first paragraph. See? It all ties in eventually.). Sure enough, as we were picking out our herb seeds we went there for, he commented that smelling the Douglas firs sure was nice...
So this weekend we're getting a Christmas tree. It'll be a smaller one, and if our stored-for-three-years lights don't work, we won't be purchasing new ones yet, (that said, we didn't bother buying new strings of lights in England and I liked it better...) but we will have a bit of Christmas in our house- even though our Christmas "presents" won't fit under a tree!!

Since December starts tomorrow and in honor of Christmas arriving at our house this weekend, I decided it's a good time to post my pictures (taken October 2) from Liberty's Christmas Shop. After enjoying Bloggers' Afternoon Tea, Selena, Becky, and I strolled over to Liberty- where we ran into several of the other ladies who were at the tea! We all wandered around the building, drooling dreaming over gorgeous fabrics, planning clever crafts, and devising just the right place in our homes for each item.

Displays of ornaments were in every nook and corner.

Despite their being lined up in rows, each one seemed delicately crafted- obviously meant to last for years and years as a cherished decoration.

Of course, Christmas crackers lined some displays!

They're just so lovely all on their own- I'd have a hard time pulling them!

These brightly colored jingle balls were tempting- but thinking of the 2AM "fun" Mia would have with them prompted me to leave with only a picture of them!

I lean towards the more natural ornaments, so these caught my eye.

Colour-schemed tabletops displayed ornaments and baubles like treats and delicacies.

I'm definitely drawn to blue ornaments, and these turquoise ones had just the sparkle!

Next week I'll show you the two ornaments I did pick up as last-minute souvenirs of our time in England, as well as some of my other favorites as I pull them out to decorate our tree!

Have you started your holiday festivities already, or is this weekend the big kick-off for your house as well?

Edit: Selena posted her pictures from Liberty today as well! Check them out here.

4 Happy 4th, Americaland!

Happy 4th of July, American friends!

I hope it's full of laughter, fun, great food, lake shenanigans, parades, fireworks-

and friends and family.

Take some time to think about where our country has come from, and where it's headed-

no matter what your political beliefs, 

I think it's important to know our country's heritage!

I made this years ago in a printmaking course.  Seems fitting, I think!

Have a great mid-week day off... 

yeah, that's weird, isn't it?!

8 Happy Dependence Day!

Y'all.  There's a bit of red, white, and blue in my house,

and it's not the Stars and Stripes.

I'm going to assume you're all a little more observant than me, but just in case you didn't know how the Union Jack was created, check out this post from Laura at Happy Homemaker U.K. She's got it all laid out for me us!

I've mentioned my Stoke addiction here, and I bought this Emma Bridgewater teapot last summer as the perfect souvenir for our time here. I love it!

But then the Jubilee festivities started...

 and I saw this Mason Cash cake plate in a kitchen shop in Harrogate. I have a small collection of cake plates, and this one had to join...

 Then the Aga Shop had a little sale, and one of their designers made some adorable Jubilee-inspired designs, including this hot plate lid cover....

 Then Lakeland joined in the July sales (sales here are normally in January and July), and these little Mason Cash pudding bowls were dirt cheap... 

(For scale, these are 14 cm/16 cm/17 cm, or 5.5"/6.3"/6.7" in diameter.)

They say "God Save the Cream."

 My friend had these mixing bowls already, and I love them, but I was resigned to accepting that I'd bought enough Jubilee-related kitchenware for my already bursting kitchen cabinets.  Then I found them for (relatively) cheap! 

(These are 29 cm, or 11.4" in diameter each.)

They say "Let Them Eat Cake" (red), "God Save the Cream" (white), and "Off With Her Bread" (blue).

 Since it's Stoke sale time, I was all geared to go. I called my favorite potteries to find out the start dates for their sales, but was disappointed to hear that only Emma Bridgewater was having a sale right now.  Other sales would be later, in August, because of the Jubilee.  My favorite shop is Port Meirion/Spode, and they're having their sale in August.  I knew I wanted to check for Jubilee stuff from Emma Bridgewater, but four hours round trip is a long drive for just one shop's sale!  Luckily, Emma Bridgewater has entered the 21st century (you Americans wouldn't believe the lack of comprehensive websites for major brands/shops here), and had their sale, including seconds, online!!

(Seconds are the "less than perfect" pieces. They may have a small bubble in the glaze, or a slight misalignment in the design, but if you're choosy you can often find great pieces for cheap, and they're all still safe to use! Almost all of what I've bought in Stoke are seconds, as they're cheap and even cheaper during sale time.)

I took my chances with the Emma Bridgewater team selecting my seconds Jubilee teapot, and it's great! A few very small bubble inclusions, but no design issues!

Sad news is, I forgot to wear my favorite shirt for today- My "Dependence Day" shirt from Shirt.Woot!

I proudly rocked it our first July 3rd here, but last year we were in Ireland (Republic of) over the holiday- so I avoided wearing the Union Jack! We did get more holiday well-wishes from the Irish than we have from the English, though!

Happy Fourth of July tomorrow, American friends!  Any big plans for this mid-week day off?

Also, are y'all interested in seeing my other Stoke loot? 

0 Barcelona: Kings' Day/Day of Epiphany/My Birthday Eve

As you may have guessed from the silence, we're on another trip!

This time we're in Barcelona, and it's great- 

they even have a National Holiday the day before my birthday,

with crowns and special cakes!

YUM!

0 Barcelona: Reis Magos Three Kings' Day Parade

Three Kings' Day is a huge holiday in Spain- bigger than Christmas itself.  This display was set up in a main square.

Children sat in the windowsills of all the buildings lining the street...

or climbed up ladders to get a better view!

Police (or military) calvary led the parade, clearing the road.

Then, the street sweepers came... can you think of a better time??

An elaborate display from a newspaper.

Each of the three kings had his own retinue, with singers, dancers, and performers.

Each king also had his own set of postal service workers towing post boxes.

This postal float sang/read letters from children.

One of the kings.

Children were advised to go to bed, so that they would wake to their Epiphany Day gifts.

The final float was a loud, catchy rock song proclaiming the threat of coal- or carbó in Catalan- for any bad children.

It was a fun parade, and a novel experience for our trip!

0 Boxing Day

If you're someone who still has a paper calendar you might notice today is listed as 

Boxing Day.

No, this isn't a day in celebration of Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali.

Rather, Boxing Day stems from a history of aristocracy and servitude. 

Because the upper class needed their servants to work on Christmas day (to serve Christmas dinner, amongst other tasks), the servants traditionally got their holiday a day later- December 26.

The "box" part is believed to describe the gifts, hand-me-down clothes (if you got new ones for Christmas, you pass the old ones to your maid!), and leftover food packaged up and given to the servants by their employers.

Today, Boxing Day means something more universal:  SALES!

And a bank holiday (means national holiday).

I wonder if today's sales staff gets a different day off in lieu of Boxing Day... 

I've opted out of the hustle and bustle, despite having some errands due.

I've spent the day in a much more enjoyable way.

I made homemade Belgian waffles for breakfast

and I've been editing Budapest photographs whilst watching 

Downton Abbey.

A period drama set in the 1910s, the show explores the life of both the family and staff at a Yorkshire estate.   

That's right... Yorkshire.  Although it's filmed in Hampshire- boo.

Most of the actors are from Yorkshire as well- 

and Mr. Carson, the butler, is played by Harrogate's own Jim Carter.

Yay!

0 Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Here are Max and Sloan unwrapping their presents.  Enjoy!

or, if you wish to see the video in a larger frame (Hi, Mom!):

click here

0 London Break: Christmas Window Displays

Since our timing put us in one of the world's greatest cities at Christmastime, I thought we should see some of the Christmas displays at a few of London's best shops and department stores.

We also went to Hyde Park's Christmas Market- it was absolutely packed with people and only one booth offered any seasonal wares.  Very disappointing, especially after Budapest's fun and festive markets.

Leadenhall Market.

Carnaby Street.

Hamley's Toy Shop's Lego display.

Regent Street.

I think Guess?

Fortnum and Mason, for the next eleven images.

When the clock struck the top of the hour these two figurines came out- they're hard to see here, but it was a treat in person!

Piccadilly Arcade.

 The doorman and entry of The Ritz.

This and the three following images are from Harvey Nichols' windows.

Where would any London-retail post be without a mention of Harrods?  This is actually the first time Paul and I have been to Harrods- and it was closed, so we still haven't been in!