Of flocked deer, flocked trees, and The Night Before Christmas (a giveaway!)....

Don't you love this darling flocked deer family?

I have just two things out for Christmas this year.  

The vintage deer family on the table next to the wing chair...

...and the flocked 'Craigslist' Christmas tree that we picked up this afternoon.

There's a section of the tree that won't light. We're not sure if the lights are defective (it was supposed to be in excellent condition) or if we haven't found the plug for the last section of lights (it took us forever to find the others among all the flocked branches). In any case, I've been pricing my dream (flocked) trees and 7.5' tall prelit flocked trees are so far out of our price range, it's not funny. So for the very reasonable Craigslist price of $50, I'm definitely not going to fret about a small section of lights not working!

Last year we purchased a slim tree because our living room is so small... 

... but I couldn't even fit half of our ornaments on it. So when I came across this full-sized flocked tree, I couldn't resist.

The previous owner left all these beautiful prisms on the tree.
Snow and ice.
Beautiful on the tree.

Not so beautiful on the vehicles.

And tomorrow they're predicting freezing ice/sleet on the roadways during the morning commute. Yes indeed, winter has arrived. 

But on the plus side, along with winter comes Christmas!

Just look at this beautiful version of The Night Before Christmas that I picked up while out thrifting! And I want one of you to have it!

As some of you know, I have an extensive collection of Night Before Christmas books. Our family has been reading this story every Christmas Eve since our girls were born (back in the 80's!). And the tradition still carries on, with each of us picking a book from the stack and doing a 'round robin' reading around the table on Christmas Eve.

I already own this edition with stunning illustrations by Christian Birmingham... 

...so when I spotted this one, I knew that one of you would love it!

It's an over-sized copyright 1995 edition, full of eye candy artwork!!

To be entered into the drawing, just leave a comment before midnight, Friday December 13th. And if you don't have a blog, be sure to leave an email address so I can contact you if your name is chosen!

Until then, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!"

This week I'm joining Brenda at Cozy Little House for Tweak It Tuesday
Debra at Common Ground for Be Inspired,
and Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday.

Donna

Celebrations and a giveaway winner...

 I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Ours was lovely as we combined Thanksgiving with celebrating our Amanda's birthday 

since she was home from the city for a few days.

Amanda always enjoys coming home, and one of the highlights is that she gets to spend time with her sweet Tiger, who is now over 20 years old!

This is a photo of them sleeping together back in September of 1993. 

Aren't they adorable?

And to this day, Tiger sleeps on Amanda's bed.

We've built her something of a "Tiger cave" that she can snuggle into to stay warm....

... or lay in front of if she wants a bit of fresh air. She's such a sweet little girl.

And speaking keeping warm, I snapped this photo last week of our first 'mini snow' - Brrrrrr! I feel cold just looking at this photo. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to get through the next four months, but c'est la vie! That's New England!

And now it's time to announce the winner of the giveaway for any 16" x 20" or smaller 

art print from my Etsy shop....

Hubby did the picking and he pulled Carla from Here in Texas!

I'll be in touch with you, Carla, to work out the details for your print choice & address.

I hope you all have a wonderful week, and be sure to stop back because I'm going to be having another giveaway for a fabulous 1995 edition of The Night Before Christmas with amazing illustrations by Christian Birmingham. As many of you know, I have an extensive collection of "Night Before Christmas" books. When I spotted this book while out thrifting, I knew one of you would enjoy it as I already have it in my collection and it is gorgeous!

Till then, stay safe & warm!

This week I'm joining Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday.

Donna

'Twas the Night Before Christmas ... my growing book collection

I absolutely love beautifully illustrated copies of The Night Before Christmas. I wrote about my (extensive) collection in this 2009 blogpost and in this 2008 blogpost.


This past year I added four more delightfully illustrated copies to my collection. Three I happened across at thrift stores, but one I searched for and found on-line.


This weekend we had our first dusting of snow - just enough to make it feel like Christmas truly is right around the corner. That got me in the mood to get the books out.

So Baby and I went into my office, turned on Miracle on 34th Street...

...and went to work photographing them.

(click any photos to enlarge)

This 1991 version is illustrated by Jerry Smath. I am so glad I found it because the artwork is delightful! See for yourself:

Here is the next copy I found:

This copyright 1985 book has a Victorian flair, beautifully illustrated by Scott Gustafson.

Now the next book is the one I searched for (illustrated by Grandma Moses, copyright 1948), because in last year's comments J.G. suggested that if I didn't have this version, I should definitely consider adding it to my collection. She was so right - I love it!

The quaint, folk art style of Grandma Moses suits this story perfectly!

And last, but definitely not least, I came across this gorgeous version, filled with a variety of classic artwork from the late 1800's to the early 1900's.

So those are the newest additions to my collection.

And if you love this Clement C. Moore story and the various artists' renderings as much as I do...

... be sure to check out the links above to my previous posts about my ever-growing "Twas the Night Before Christmas" collection. You never know, you might just find a favorite version that you'll want to track down for yourself!

Comment: Bobbi, send me your email address so I can send you the information you requested regarding pop up books!

Donna