My Raggedy Ann(e) Christmas tree: My name is Anne. I have collected Raggedy Ann dolls my whole life. Years ago my sister started giving me a Raggedy Ann/Andy ornament every year. At some point I realized I had enough of them to completely decorate my Christmas tree exclusively with the little red-headed dolls. My sister outdid herself this year and gave me five or six ornaments so I thought I'd do a collage so she could see them in situ. (All the bottom and right hand side are new to me -- wooden painted with paper hair; toymaker holding Raggedy Ann in arm; old-fashioned style; new style; Barbie's little sister.) Thank you, Grace. You know I love them all.
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| Carly is looking at me. She is positioned behind two tall gals. |
Christmas Music: Last Sunday we attended the Christmas Concert for the Northwest Repertory Singers in Tacoma. Our daughter has a lovely soprano voice and we always enjoy attending her concerts. We are also glad she has found a place, as an adult, where she can use her God-given gift. While we were attending that concert, an invitation came in via text from our cousin asking us to attend her concert with the Seattle Bach Festival. They were performing Bach's Christmas Oratorio -- the first three cantatas. The concert was last night and it was FANTASTIC, sung in German (with English translations in the program) with many of the musicians using actual Baroque instruments. Apparently Bach wrote six canatas for this oratorio back in 1734. It was intended to be played from Christmas to Epiphany (January 6th) in six performances. Next year at Christmas the Seattle Bach Festival will perform the last three cantatas. We'll be there. For your listening enjoyment I've linked the Spotify page for this oratorio. It you just want a tiny taste of the oratorio, listen to the Part 1, #1. (Click link to Spotify.)
Rearrangement: Last Sunday our grandsons visited us. After they left we discovered they had rearranged our Nativity set. Ordinarily I position the three wise men and shepherd outward so people can see who they are. But our grandsons rearranged the figurines so they are facing baby Jesus and his parents. Thinking about it, the kids got it right. "Oh come let us adore Him." 𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮
Speaking of our grandkids: Ian's class had a market. The students made and sold products to each other, to make classroom bucks. Ian and his mom made cookies for his booth. He named his business 'Terrific Treats' and he sold out, making $2000 bucks. What a little entrepreneur. Now he will have plenty of bucks to spend on future class projects.
Long overdue project: When Don and I got married we found a small cardboard box where we could store our Tupperware lids. The box moved with us three times, adding pyrex, ziplock, and off-brand lids which joined and then supplanted the Tupperware lids. But the box remained. Every year, as the box was clearly falling apart, we vowed we would find a new container for the lids (and do some sorting at the same time.) Well, this past week was finally THAT week. We hummed "Taps" as Don carried the old box and mismatched lids out to the garbage can. Isn't that a pathetic thing?
Book Club met at our house: so I got to show off my tree. We discussed a book, The Stars are Fire, which wasn't a favorite of mine but we had a really good discussion and that is what counts.
-Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins -- Don and I are listening to the audiobook together. I purchased the audiobook as soon as it was published and have been sitting on it all year. My goal, finish it before the end of the month.
- A Marriage at Sea: a Memoir by Sophie Elmhirst -- a memoir which has been getting a lot of attention recently. A couple survive a shipwreck and live to tell their story.
-The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende -- a book club selection for January.
-Worth Fighting For: Finding the Courage and Compassion When Cruelty is Trending by John Pavlovitz --I hope this will be my first book of 2026 but I'm getting started now.
Books finished this past week:
-The Rose Field by Philip Pullman -- the third in Book of Dust series.
-The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve -- the last book published by this prolific writer.
-Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico -- a novella, the first by this author.
Blog posts:
Music, Part 2: Tomorrow our church choir will sing their seasonal cantata full of inspirational and traditional music and songs. It is something I look forward to each year. Don and both of my daughters are singing in it this year. I'll circle back and add another photo if I can sneak one. In the meantime I'll post a few more photos of my Raggedy Ann(e) ornaments.
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| The Andy ornament in the middle says "Annie loves me" on his jeans. |
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Joyous New Year!
-Anne
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