Do I say Happy New Year again?

I feel that, since it is the first post of the new year, I should start again with “Happy New Year!”  We had a lovely and chilly first day of 2009, followed by a gloomy and damp second day of the year ~ but we’re traveling in hope! 

We are taking our first poll on the blog today.  When does your Christmas tree come down??  I’ve known people who keep a tree up year round – some in pleasure, some out of sloth.  This year, although I purchased a selection of ornaments, and I really wanted to see the ice blue ones on display, I never got around to the part where you actually hang them on a, you know, Christmas tree.  Well, it makes the post-holiday cleanup a breeze, and I have enjoyed visiting other people’s Christmas trees instead.  I faithfully turned on my little ceramic tree every morning and evening, so I was not entirely without glow.

Wow – we have some fantastic pricing on Christmas trees right now – as I am writing about them, I just checked the shopping site, and it looks like they’ve all been marked down twice- I think they’re only this way online, not in the store. 

I hope your year is off to a splendid start!  We have exciting plans for 2009, and hope you’ll check in to see what’s happening both here and in the area, and get involved in some of our new adventures.

Life is good in 2009!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Cowboy Sky Off Fish Week

I participated in a youth leadership weekend recently (see Key Leader- it’s a great, great thing!).  Teams had to name themselves, and our fav was “Fiesty Baby Chipmunk Cookies” – this brilliant group of future leaders put a whole bunch of words into a hat and pulled four out - and we love love love the results.  I think this is how I will name all future posts.  [I think this could be how a lot of things should=can=do get named!  Have you seen any of the business-speak-generation web sites?  BRILLIANT!]

So, we’re half-way through Cowboy Poetry Week, Sky Awareness Week, Fish Fry Week, and TV Turn-off Week.  On top of all that, it’s Bill Shakespeare’s birthday today!  How many more excuses do we need to put on the pointy hats and eat cake with butter cream icing?  Sugar-high line forms behind me…I’ll take a corner slice, with flowers, please…

Okay, Cowboy Poetry ~ I recommend “The Night Before the Jackalopes Saved Christmas,” a rousing tale from David Althouse.  Not only will you find a wide-ranging selection of poetry at the Cowboy Poetry site, they also include a really cool selection of cowboy art and old ~ and new ~  photographs like this one.  I could spend some time here.

Sky Awareness Week ~ subtitle, “Chicken Little Was Here”?  Turns out this is serious stuff.  Now, the biggest sky of which I am aware is found in Montana, where I have many friends.  They have confirmed that yes, indeed, they are fully aware of the sky, and have particularly noted its presence above them this week.  Here’s an important take-away from SAW ~ there really is a difference between “partly cloudy” and “partly sunny.”   Take that to your next party and stop standing in the corner by the window – get out there and wow them with your clever banter and weather knowledge – you’ll be on everyone’s guest list by Christmas.  If you really want to rocket to the top of your social ladder, of course, you’d better nail your nephelococcygia.  Crucial for garden parties, weddings, barbecues, shrimp broils and what not.  I also think this is a great time to practice flying airplanes.  I mean the ones like this.

Oh, and Fish Frys, too – check out the Ultimate Fish Fry guide here.  My diligent, exhaustive,  and comprehensive search of the entire first two Google pages on “Fish Fry Week” failed to return a home site for this celebration, however – which means one of you opportunists out there can still grab “www.fishfryweek.com”, “www.fishfryweek.org” or “www.fishfryweek.net”.  Dude – fishfryweek.wordpress.com – start the blog!

As an avowed -though selective- TV-enthusiast, I cannot bring myself to say anything more about TV Turn-off Week.  Please take my actual mention of this so-called celebration in this column as the first of 431,567,908.2*{√π} steps to conquering my addiction.  Let’s move on.

Finally, The Bard’s Birthday!  I know you’ll make time today to reread a couple of plays and poems and insert a few pithy quotes into casual conversation.  It’s so easy.  “To be or not to be” “a rose by any other name” “is rotten in the state of Denmark.”  See??

“When you do dance, I wish you
A wave o’ th’ sea, that you might ever do
Nothing but that.”

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

P.S. Watch for it Saturday ~ Hug an Australian Day!

Two for Tuesday

A quick highlight of two delightful items I found while wondering the shop this morning:

Look at this gorgeous angel figurine ~ available for Mother, Grandmother, Sister, Daughter, Friend, and even You’re Like a Daughter to Me and You’re Like a Mother to Me.  These figures are about 9 inches tall, have a hand-carved appearance, and are painted in delicate pastels.  They have a light dusting of glitter, just enough for a gentle sparkle.  Fortunately for me, the morning sunlight was streaming in through our stained glass windows, casting a beautiful glow across the angels – what a sight for 9:00 a.m.  An angel like this would be a very meaningful Mother’s Day gift for any of the mothers in your life.

To highlight an angel on your tabletop or mantle, place an embroidered doily beneath it.  I particularly like the delicate pattern of this snowflake.  Doilies are available in a wide variety of styles and sizes, and they are so inexpensive you can afford to keep a stack on hand for many different uses ~ highlight a live or silk floral arrangment, protect an antique end table from a miniature Christmas tree, or add charm and elegance to any of your chachkis.  They deserve some lovin’!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

Bird Nerds??

Do you think there are nerds in the bird world?  Geeks?  Rebels?  Social misfits of feathered society?  I do.  I think there is one living in my neighborhood.

 

This little twit gets up at 4:31a.m.  Every morning.  In a good mood.  A Really Good Mood.  I mean a FANTASTICALLY. GREAT. MOOD.  Singing, twittering, chirping, tweeting, peeping.  I imagine his nearest neighbors are just longing to smack him up side the beak with a few stiff feathers.  The rest of the gang has the decency to sleep in until at least 5:30 or so.  What’s with this one birdbrain??  And where’s the Owl Patrol to put a beat-down on Twitternut until a more reasonable hour?  For crying out loud, Mr. Sun isn’t even up until about 6:30, what’s with the whole “HELLO WORLD!  HERE I AM!” pre-dawn siren??  (I will NOT call it a serenade)  I think maybe his egg was dropped out of the nest a few months back, or he tried to fly before he had feathers…

 

Anywho, my little Bird Nerd friend has me thinking about what the world – or at least East Tennessee – sounded like back before humans took over the landscape.  How many songs are we missing now because we’ve taken out so much forest land for farms and homes and boat ramps?  Not that there’s anything wrong with boat ramps!  I’m sure my bird-brained little neighbor might not have been singing so solitary a song a few decades back.  No wonder American Indians and the first settlers got up so early – they couldn’t possibly have slept through an entire chorus of Twitternuts!  I think that was before we had ocean wave and tropical forest sound machines, right?

 

~Janet @ The Christmas Place (not an early riser)

My first parade!

What a blast!  On Friday, I walked with The Christmas Place float in the 2008 Dollywood Parade – Santa’s sleigh with Santa, 9 reindeer (you didn’t forget Rudolph, did you?), Uncle Sam, and a few elves and junior elves – three miles through Pigeon Forge, Tennessee – my first parade ever.  Three miles of grinning and waving like a nut at the plastic-wrapped crowds as I called out “Merry Christmas!” to the kids and bikers and grannies and teens.

But I confess, I really, really enjoyed it!  Even in the rain, and even when people returned quizzical looks and raised eyebrows at hearing that particular greeting on the second Friday in April.  (Hey, the Big Guy was, like, 20 feet behind me ~ what did they expect me to say??)  I threw out a few Feliz Navidads and Mele Kalikimakas, too.

The best thing of all was the stunned looks on the faces of children still at that age to be in awe of Santa.  Here’s our Singing Santa with his own granddaughter, Emma.  You can see why he’s such a popular guy!

 Here are Tristan, Tyler, Christopher, and Christian, our own Christmas Place junior elves, ready to get under way.  Back when we were dry.

We were accompanied by our own personal tribute to Porter Wagoner, and Uncle Sam made an appearance on our float.  Before the show, we were greeted by King Red the Lion.  In front of us was a float full of Little Miss pageant winners, and behind us was the Wells Fargo stagecoach pulled by a beautiful team of matching horses.

 

We caught a glimpse of the diva Dolly Parton herself, as she made sure to greet all the participants just before we took to the street. 

I say that, if you ever get a chance to be in a parade – take it.  You’ll be glad you did – and it’s really a ton of fun.  (Next year, though, I’m riding on the float – even if it means wearing striped leggings and a fur hat liberally adorned with bells!  It’s not like I don’t already have that stuff in my closet…)

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

April Showers – April Flowers!

While Christmas is our theme all year ’round, we take pleasure in celebrating every season of the year.  One of the promises of Christmas is the hope of new life, and spring ushers in the joy and beauty of this hope.  The Floral staff at Christmas Place are busy creating breathtaking arrangements in silk, highlighting the brightest and freshest spring colors.  Here is a sampling.

 

Customers can purchase floral stems, ribbons, greens, and vases to create their own arrangements, as well as taking advantage of our own designers’ creativity.

Our Floral team also works on Christmas arrangements throughout the year, using an outstanding selection of the most popular silks and velvets, ribbons and greens, and glittering garnishments in new color themes each year.  Here’s an arrangement of platinum crushed velvet poinsettias with gold and blush pink accents that will add elegance and glamour to any table or mantle.

The Floral Design team also creates many personalized arrangements for customers. Call or come in to order a wreath, vase or swag designed to match your own decor.

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

 

She’s Funny That Way, and other reasons to celebrate today

You will figure out that I like to look for funny dates on the calendar to celebrate, and this one seems just right – today is National “She’s funny that way” Day.  Here in the South, we might tweak it to be “Bless her heart, she can’t help that she’s funny that way” Day.  If you have a great “funny lady” in your world, send me a note about her.

It’s also Tater Day in Benson, Kentucky, celebrating the sweet potato.  Now, and this is important and you need to remember it, according to a story I heard on The Spendid Table, a wonderful radio program about food that is broadcast on NPR, we only have sweet potatoes here in the U.S., not yams – yams are grown in Nigeria, a place I happened to live in my youth, and other parts of Africa and Asia.  Yams are white.  Yams are different from sweet potatoes.  Whether they are more red or more yellow, here in the States they are all sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas).  Ignore any signs to the contrary in your local grocery store, and enjoy them in any color.  You’ll find some wonderful recipes at The Splendid Table.

And, in a seemingly unrelated note, though I’m not so sure, it is also Bunsen Burner Day, a day to celebrate the birthday of German chemist Robert Wilhelm Eberhard von Bunsen, who invented the little plastic caps on the end of shoe laces.  NO, of course I’m kidding, he improved the design of the Bunsen burner, used by scientists and bored school students around the world  to melt ink pens.  Really,  I don’t believe I ever used a Bunsen burner to create any heat or chemical reaction other than breaking down plastic particles.  Could this be why I am not today nor have I ever (yet) been a rocket scientist??  I have, however, found some funny e-cards you can send to your friends in celebration of Bunsen Burner Day.  Sweet!

~Janet @ The Christmas Place

P.S.  I learned this on the radio yesterday – the plural of “y’all” is ”all y’all.”  I really should not be allowed to tune my radio away from NPR.

Busy Spring in East Tennessee

Already here in East Tennessee, the frosty crystals of winter mornings are being supplanted by the white and pink petals and green leaves of early spring – and none too soon for those of us longing for more hours of sunshine in the day.  (And just who thinks this “daylight savings” is a good thing?  Why am I once again getting up before dawn?  What I’d like to be saving is darkness for sleeping and daylight for getting up!  Who’s with me on this?!)  Wait, where was I?

March 12th thru June 8th join us for the annual Springfest celebration here in Pigeon Forge - after winter in the mountains, we know how to make the most of spring.  On Friday, April 11th, Dolly Parton serves as grand marshall for the Dolly Parade, kicking off activities throughout the area.  March 21st thru May 5th, check out Dollywood’s Festival of Nations, an annual event showcasing music, dance, art, and foods from around the world.  In April, there’s the Spring Grand Rod Run, the annual classic car, truck, and motorcycle pilgrimage to the valley.

Here at The Christmas Place, we welcome back our Singing Santa for appearances Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays starting March 22nd!  And don’t forget that the Easter Bunny will be here on Sunday, March 23rd, posing for pictures and handing out treats.

In April, we have a special week-long event on our calendar - Department 56 Village designer Bryon Shroats will be here in the store to rebuild our villages and showcase new pieces the week of April 7-11.  We’re hosting a reception for Bryon on April 11th.  Watch for more information about this event in the coming weeks.

April 25th thru 27th Tennessee offers up a tax-free shopping weekend, a great time to come by the store and stock up on goodies for next Christmas, as we are already displaying new 2008 products on our shelves.

Just up the road in Knoxville, the Dogwood Arts Festival takes place April 4th thru the 23rd.  The calendar is crowded with events and art shows, contests and concerts, a parade and garden shows, and opportunities to experience the beauty of the area on neighborhood Dogwood Trails.

Jump in the car and come to East Tennessee!  We’re “bustin’ out all over” for the chance to meet you.

~Janet @ The Christmas Place