The Bloggyland Christmas Tour! Welcome! Come On In!

It's today, it's today! Wake up! Wake up! Dress warm!

Welcome to the Bloggyland Christmas Tour!

Everyone in Bloggyland has something very special for you today!

Look!

The entire village is decorated just for you!

Christmas trees are sparkling with lights!

Did you find my house okay! I'm so glad you're here!

Come in! The door is open. The fireplace is lit, and lots of our friends have already arrived! Do you like my wreath? I "borrowed" it from Debby.






Have some mulled wine - it will warm you up for the tour





I've made my favorite cookies for you - they're springerle just like my grandmother used to make.

Oh, would you prefer hot chocolate? Is the alcohol content of the mulled wine a bit high?



Relax by the fire, the sleighs will be here in just a few minutes to pick us up Here comes the first sleigh! Do you have your mittens on? Don't forget your scarf!





Sit up front here next to our driver, Mr. Peck. Isn't he handsome?





Wrap that scarf a little tighter!



Mr. Peck is going a bit fast, I know - but we won't get a ticket in Bloggyland. Hang on to your hat! And fasten your seat belt - it's going to be a bumpy ride


Look! All of our bloggyfriends are on their way to our first stop






We're almost there - just the other side of the pond.





Are you excited? Just 2 more blocks to go!





And here we are at a bloggyfriend's house! Let's stop in and see what surprises they have in store for us!



Just click on the links below to visit each of your hosts! Because of time zones and schedules, some may post a bit later today - so make a note of who you've missed and keep checking! Have a wonderful time!

Stevie Wren @ http://alittlebirdietoldmeso.blogspot.com/

Lavinia @ http://birdbathchronicles.blogspot.com/
Blicky Kitty @ http://blickykitty.blogspot.com/

Debby @ http://lifesfunnylikethat.blogspot.com/

Sparky @ http://redbirdacres.blogspot.com/
Janeen @ http://chachaneen.blogspot.com/
Trish @ http://nanaslivingthedream.blogspot.com/

Shelly @ http://logcabininmichigan.blogspot.com/

Mim @ http://ammdh.blogspot.com/

Soulbrush @ http://soulbrush.blogspot.com/

Devoted @ http://theresamae.blogspot.com/

Anna @ http://lifejustkeepsgettingweirder.blogspot.com/2008/12/we-mock-what-we-dont-understand.html

Imere @ http://thegreengrassgrowsallaround.blogspot.com/

YaYa @ http://yayastuff.blogspot.com/

Petra Michelle @ http://petramichelle.blogspot.com/

Hydrangia @ http://lilyhydrangeasanonymousblog.blogspot.com/

Linda @ http://lifesacallingwhoisthis.blogspot.com/

Kat @ http://hyggedigter.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth @ http://elizabeth-aboutnewyork.blogspot.com/

Bibi @ http://yankee-in-belgrade.blogspot.com/

Fastfingers @ http://www.brummieblogs.com/

Tova Darling @ http://tovadarling.blogspot.com/

Buttercream Cottage @ http://buttercreamcottage.blogspot.com/

Larry G @ http://ytfe.blogspot.com/

Patty @ http://autumnsmeadow.blogspot.com/

Snarky Much? @ http://snarky-much.blogspot.com/

Margaret Ann @ http://waterblossoms.blogspot.com/

Nan @ http://nansblog2.blogspot.com/

Alex and Alicia @ http://waitingforvermont.blogspot.com/

Joanne @ http://barelydomesticmama.blogspot.com/

Alvn @ http://whisperwoodcottage.blogspot.com/

Expressions by Devin @ http://expressionsbydevin.blogspot.com/

Angi @ http://angie-beem.blogspot.com/

Call Me Cate @ http://showmyface.blogspot.com/

Jane @ http://jumpininthejungle.blogspot.com/

Martha @ http://comicallyflawed.blogspot.com/

Kelly @ http://fabulouskcreative.blogspot.com/

Kelly @ http://fabulous-k.blogspot.com/

Suzi @ http://suziandjoshellis.blogspot.com/

Cora @ http://lovelettersbycora.blogspot.com/

Aimee @ http://aimeesland.blogspot.com/

Kathleen @ http://kathleenrichards.blogspot.com/

Hippie Family @ http://hippiefamily.blogspot.com/

Tara @ http://kidzorg.blogspot.com/

Marianne @ http://mandarianne.blogspot.com/

Bonnie @ http://www.borninazoo.com/

Lisa @ http://artsyendeavors.blogspot.com/

Laura @ http://www.historical-home.com/

(If you do not see your name on the list of participants, please leave a comment that says Add Me Too! And I will!)

The Secret Is In The Sauce!

The Secret Is In The Sauce girls have posted a Shout Out with a link to the Christmas in Bloggyland Tour on the SITS website! We have had several SITS girls stop by and add their names to the growing list of participants!. It's going to be a busy and fun day tomorrow as we tour all of the Bloggyland sites!

This is the secret about The Secret Is In The Sauce:

"The Secret to Success is Support.
Welcome to the Sitstahood! We are a group of bloggers dedicated to supporting one another by leaving comments. Lots and lots of comments.
Whether you are new to blogging and looking for blogs to read, or a veteran looking to expand your readership, SITS is for you!"

If you are not yet a member, or haven't heard of the SITS website, click on the picture and get started!

Mr. Peck (yep, I've got him today) is assisting me in getting everything ready for tomorrow's tour. We'll be providing transportation and treats and the day will end with a skating party and bonfire. As I mentioned on the tour post, I will list links to all of the participants so you may visit everyone to see what they have posted. Visitors and participants: Be sure and leave a comment - everyone will love to know that you have stopped by! We have each found wonderful new bloggy friends during our previous events and here is another fun opportunity to meet new bloggers!

We will be traveling all around the world tomorrow! Distance and time zones are no problem - each holiday post on the tour is just a click away!

If you haven't heard about the tour yet, just click on the invitation in the margin - everyone, and that means you - is invited!

This Just In: Mr. Peck Returns In Time For Bloggyland Tour

I've just gotten off the phone with our dear Mr. Peck! He called from the outskirts of Rome, where he has been "vacationing" since the Grape Escape.

His extended stay is due in part to serious injuries to his hand sustained moments after this picture was taken at the Bocca della Verita.


And also the unfortunate folding of his Vespa rental service due to the even more unfortunate damage caused to his fleet by inexperienced and over rambunctious Grape Escapists. His short lived company( financed by his father),Peck n' Paw, is no more. Mr. Peck has also been summarily disinherited from the family estate, and is free for yet another adventure.

For those readers not familiar with our long association with Mr. Peck, let me fill you in. Mr. Peck was a park ranger of some repute- ill or otherwise -at Bloggy International Park, the site of our infamous Indian Summer Picnic.

Unfortunately, his explanation to his boss that he'd "just seen his duty and done it" was not sufficient and fell wildly short - especially when paired with this photo (taken by ChaCha Security) of Mr. Peck "just taking a short break" with a certain LL. He was immediately set free of any further responsibilities and asked never to set foot in the park again.

So, needless to say, the mockingbirds are on their own now, as it was his duty to protect them. Shelly - ya gotta help these birds!


The ever expendable Mr. Peck tweeked his resume.

Gave dancing lessons for the Great Bloggy Ball at Willow Manor

Well, your honor, I er..a...em...uhm...

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Took care of a few legal nuisances that resulted from park "activities" as well as damage to the park picnic area caused by a certain buckskinned beauty who dropped a "teensy" bag of gunpowder too close to the picnic bonfire.

Dr. West's Seminar, Nervous Exhaustion 101, will keep you Spellbound

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Bolstered by a few of the Good Doctor West's seminars, Mr. Peck is ready, very willing, and certainly able to assist in our next adventure. I have assured him that we have all attended etiquette classes, inspiringly provided on this self same blog. And I have promised that we shall all maintain a certain amount of decorum during the tours.

This Australian Bygone Beauty Raspberry cordial is especially good with Mockingbird Pate', Mr. Peck

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With the fortuitous assistance of Debby, Sparky, Mim and Trish's borrowed credit cards, Bibi's passport, the blackmarket sale of Betsy's gourmet pretzels, Kat's poems and Margaret Ann's paintings, as well as Blicky's First Class Lounge credentials, Mr. Peck has secured a flight to Bloggyland's International Christmas Village and shall be at our disposal for the entire day and most especially during the late evening hours.

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News Flash: Also seen on this flight, but not in view of the camera are honeymooners Whitey and Pink and Senita and Joe! plus an odd assortment of Nannygoats wearing pink ruffled panties who claim to be limerik poets from Nantucket

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The most important traveler this season, however, is Devoted's son, Pfc. Jake Kyser, US Army who will be home for Christmas in just 5 - count 'em FIVE more days! Welcome home, soldier!

A Winter Poem And A Thank You Note

Hearing Snow

Snow falls softly
on a night so silent I
can hear it touch
the trees as I pause
amid black branches bowed
gracefully from
the weight of it then
close my eyes
and listen

just listen
to a sound as gentle as
His love

Cynthia Ann Conciatu
Christmas 2005

Trish of Nana'sLiving The Dream has presented Muse Swings with this beautiful Proximidade Award!

Nana Trish, a dear bloggy friend, is in the midst of her Christmas preparations which include wonderful stories of past holidays, making gingerbread houses and keeping her poor little broken foot elevated. I love visiting Nana's blog to see what she is up to and to share her joy in her granddaughter, Avery ,who is a frequent visitor on Trish's blog.

This is the presentation information that comes with this award:

This is the special "Proximidade" award. This award is a fine one because it focuses not on the glory and fanfare of blogging, but in the PROXIMITY to one another through this on-line world (kind of a Six Degrees of Separation sort of thing).

"Blogs who receive this award are 'exceedingly charming' say its authors.This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

I will present this award to 8 other bloggers in the very near future! Thank you so much Trish - it is beautiful and I love the proximity of this award!

A Butterfly Award landed on my blog! Margaret Ann of the beautiful as a butterfly Water Blossoms bestowed this upon Muse Swings last week! Thank you so much, Margaret.

If you have not visited Water Blossoms you must stop by - Margaret Ann's art is magical and if that were not enough for beautiful posts she has, over the past several days, posted amazing pictures of her visit to the Chihuly exhibit.

Here are the rules that go with the award :

1. Put the logo on your blog, you can right-click and copy it from above.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you

3. Nominate 10 other blogs for this award

4. Add links to those

5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

6. Give a reason why you consider their blogs cool.

I will present this beautiful award to 10 other bloggers in the very near future!

A Christmas In Bloggyland Tour!

Ho! Ho! Ho! My dear bloggyfriends and I are hosting a Christmas in Bloggyland Tour on Monday, December 15! Everyone - and that means you - is invited to participate and share your holiday spirit with your bloggyfriends - however you wish - on the 15th.

Show your decorations, your memories, stories, pictures, recipes, music, art, poetry, nature - anything -whatever you like on your Christmas in Bloggyland post for the 15th.

1. Leave a comment on this post saying you'll be there!

2. Make a copy of the invitation and post it on your blog!

3. Add the HTML back to this post

4. Tell your bloggiebuddies!

I will post the names of all of the participants on the 15th so everyone can take the Bloggyland Tour and visit all of the wonderful Christmas in Bloggyland posts!

Travel from blog to blog to see what wonderful things our bloggyfriends have done to celebrate the holidays. Leave comments! Have a wonderful adventure!

As always, the tour lasts all day and evening and covers every time zone and country!

More to follow!

I have to check some of my older comments to include all of the bloggiebud hosts who have suggested a Christmas adventure. Those I recall at the moment and those who have commented on this post include :

Muse Swings
Stevie Wren
Lavinia
Blicky Kitty
Debby
Sparky
Imere
Janeen
Trish
Shelly (Log Cabin)
Mim
Soulbrush
Devoted
YaYa
Petra Michelle
Lily Hydrangia *
Linda
Kat
Elizabeth
Bibi
Fastfingers
Tova Darling
Buttercream Cottage
Larry G
Patty
Snarky Much?
Margaret Ann
Nan
Alex and Alicia
Joanne
Alvn
Expressions by Devin
Angi
Call Me Cate
Jane
Martha

(I am updating this as folks reply)

My Christmas Tree Ain't Got No Theme

The Magic of a themed Christmas Tree

My Christmas tree is not one of those beribboned beauties you see occasionally in other people's homes. It doesn't match the decor, doesn't say anything in particular about us - or does it?

Someone has a White Christmas theme going on here, but blue poinsettias? Pah-lee-az!


Our first Christmas tree was covered in newly purchased lights and colored glass ornaments and a pretty string of star lights that still lights up 38 years later. At least I think it does. I'll find out later today.




Kind of a Fruit Basket Thingie


Any hope - if I ever had hope for one, which I doubt I did, because I'm not a themey person, bit the dust on our second Christmas. My parents had moved to Florida earlier that year taking all of my brothers and sisters with them and leaving me all ALONE except for brothers Joe and Jim who couldn't make up their mind what they wanted to do so they camped out in baby Jennifer's nursery for several months with their shoes, the size of coffee tables, and themselves strewn about in the pretty little apple green and white room till they decided to go get some of Mom's home cooking so they moved too, leaving me really ALONE.

But that's not what this is about, having my entire family move to Florida and leave me ALONE. Well, of course I did have Jennifer, and the Mister, but when you grow up with 6 brothers and sisters and then your parents pack up the wagon and light out to Florida with them, you are ALONE. A-L-O-N-E. But they did send me the pretty felt orange (it is an orange -you know, the fruit, as in "we moved to Florida and you are ALONE but here's a pretty Florida orange -just a small reminder of where we are as opposed to where you are") ornament which I hung on our 2nd Christmas tree and still do 38 years later. I put it on the very bottom of the tree now. In the back. Because it still says A_L_O_N_E and I don't want that to be the theme of my tree.
You mealy-mouthed boot snatchers! So what if her tree ain't got no theme?

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The next year they sent a little bird in a nest. It was very different from, but reminiscent of one they had on their tree for a zillion years with feathers on the tail and the slightly broken beak. So I put that on my tree along with the orange that might have well had A-L-O-N-E stenciled on the side.


Each year at Christmas we would purchase a special ornament for the tree and we often received others as gifts from family and friends. I especially love the blown glass and pressed glass ones - you can see right through them and they don't have the word ALONE stamped in flashing letters on the side of them.

So, as often happens when I sit down to write, without anything in mind at all, this post started to be about all the pretty ornaments we've purchased and received as gifts over the years. All beautiful shapes, sizes and colors that turn our tree into a wonderland of remembrances. And how I lift each out of the box and admire it and remember how it became part of our Christmas. And how I place it carefully on a branch so that each seems to have a specially chosen place of honor. And how I remember the kindness of those who know I love new Christmas ornaments. However, I seem to have unexpectedly gotten stuck on that other remembrance - the ALONE one. Go figure. But later today I will get back to remembering all the years since. The comings and goings of family and friends. The fun and laughter and the addition of a little sparkle to the tree each year. Until my fingers touch that fuzzy round ornament, wrapped in tissue - the one that goes at the bottom of the tree and a little to the back but not quite out of sight. Because ALONE is not the theme of my tree.

The Fine Art Of The Dinner Party

" We are glad to say that the English habit of gentleman remaining at the table, after the ladies have retired, to ind ulge in wine, coarse conversation and obscene jokes, has nev er been received into popular favor in this country. The very words “after-dinner jokes” suggest something ind ecent. We take our manners from Paris instead of London , and ladies and gentlemen retire together from the dining-table instead of the one sex remaining to pander to their baser appetites, and the other departing with all their del icate sentiments in a state of outrage if their pause to think of the cause of their dismissal." R. A. Wells

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Did you hear the one about the ....oh, never mind.
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According to Dr. Well's rules of etiquette, dinner has been pronounced to be, in civilized life, the most important hour of the twenty-four. The etiquette of the dinner table has a prominence commensurate with the dignity of the ceremony. Like the historian of Peter Bell, we commence at the commencement and thence proceed to the moment when you take leave officially or vanish unseen.
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I'm not sure exactly what was just said here. I am, however, quite concerned - frightened actually - about the "vanishing unseen" part.

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Dr. Wells highly suggests that the first requisite to attending a dinner party is being invited. Seriously.

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He recommends, that once invited, you reply immediately in the most direct and unequivocal terms. No sashaying around the parlor waiting for a better offer.

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He also warns against arriving too early.

You dastardly nincompoops you have arrived ten minutes early! Now see what you have done.

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And you must guard against being late:

You wizened old numbnuts! You have arrived ten minutes late! Now see what you have done!

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Other rules ( I pick and choose as I please) include:

Don't wear wide hair. It will only get mashed on one side or the other before you have even finished the 3rd course. This rule is my own. I thought it made sense.

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• Arrive neatly dressed and freshly bathed
• Remain at least one hour, in the parlour, after dinner (even if you are the only one in the parlour, I suppose
• be congenial
• Provisions should be made for a servant to announce guests as they arrive
• When the domestic announces dinner, rise immediately and wait for the master of the house requests you to pass into the dining room. He will give his arm to the lady of most distinction.
• The lady of the house will guide the guests into the dining room.
• Male guests should offer their arms to the ladies of less or no distinction whatsoever and will wait for the ladies to be seated before respectfully bowing and then seating themselves.
• The two most distinguished male guests will be seated on either side of the mistress as apposed to their own mistresses)
• The two ladies of most distinction will be seated on either side of the master. ( Your best bet is to push your way to the head of the table and seat yourself - preferably to the right as it is the place of honor - of the master of the house
• Husbands and wives should be separated and placed as far from each other as possible. They ought not converse amongst themselves at the party
• Do not be rude to the waitstaff
• Do not praise every dish nor be seemingly indifferent. I'd say just smack your lips a few times, nod knowingly at the hostess and roll your eyes in appreciation.
• Avoid picking your teeth at the table even if you would place a hand, napkin or your hat over your mouth.
• The host and hostess should be served last. This way they can keep an eye on the waitstaff.
• A gentleman should never pare an apple or pear for a lady unless she desires you to do so then be careful to use your fork to hold it.
• Do not dip your bread in gravy or clean your plate with it.
• Dr. West would approve of making a volcano out of your potatoes and pouring graving into it. Go ahead and do that.
• Soup is served first. Take some. If you don't like it, pretend to eat it until the dishes are removed. (I did not make this one up)
• Fish follows soup. Fish may be declined, but do not call for a second serving. It doesn't say anything about Rice-a-Roni, so go ahead and ask for seconds if you like. Tater Tots too.
• Never eat asparagus with your fingers and don't say "fingers were made before forks" as an excuse.
• When you are served, begin to eat without waiting for the others (this I can understand, because the Mister makes an art of putting cream cheese on his bagel and if I were to wait for him to plaster it on just so I would probably starve to death. So dig in. When you are finished eating ask lots of questions of those who were served last so they will have to talk with their mouths full.
• Do not scrape your plate.
• Never play with your fingers upon the table (?)
• If a gentleman should (be forced to) sit next to an elderly woman, politeness requires him to save her all the trouble of pouring out drinks or procuring anything to eat. Just tell her it's too salty or cold or whatever after you are tired of bouncing around serving her.
• After retiring to the drawing room the guests should intermingle in a social manner and the time until the hour of taking leave may be spent either in conversation or in various entertaining games.
• It is expected that guests will remain 2 to three hours after dinner. I'm confused - earlier he said one hour. Taking my leave will depend entirely on how many games of Blind Man's Bluff I am required to play.

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Following these rules should get you safely through any dinner party.

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I appreciate your kind attention. I took note that you sat straighter in your chair for this lesson. You neglected, however, to bring light work to do.

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If you forget again I shall provide you with some crewel work as I have a tapestry in need of completion for my dining hall.