Merry Christmas!!!

 I woke up this morning to let the dog outside and be hold there was snow on the ground. There was none perdicted for this weekend so it was a surprise. Much of it has disappeared by tonight by it did put us in the Christmas mood.

This week I did a search for vintage Christmas photos. I came up with some really great photos from the 1920's that I would love to share with you.

 It is rather amazing to me how bushy trees were back than. I wonder when we got the idea that they all needed to be trimmed to be pointed.

 Cj and I both wish you all a very Merry Christmas this season and hope you all have wonderful holiday. We are grateful you all you you that are friends, for reading our blog and supporting us. Thank-you!

Creating Christmas

 We picked up a copy of the new Mathew Mead Holiday magazine in the last week. It is full of alot of great recipes and holiday creations. Creating is important to both of us doing the holidays. We are grateful that our occupation as antique dealers and as an interior designer allow us to be creative.  We love both receiving and giving handmade creative gifts. There are some many wonderful creative people on Esty these days. Our hope is that if you can't yourself create that you will be supportive of those who do so by purchasing from such people on Esty. and artists that live in your community.
Cooking from scratch has to be one of the most wonderfully creative acts in the holidays. Try making a pie from scratch, make your own fudge, or gift wrapping. It will enrich your life and lives of those around you.

I week or so ago we went to our annual tree cutting party. My son,Eric and his wife, Angela went with us. We had already cut our tree so we accompanied them on their quest for the perfect tree. After the tree had been cut we headed back to the parking lot for all the homemade goodies that had been loving prepared for us by our good friends Dave & Pat.

This is not a feast to miss. We are always grateful to be invited to this celebration and make it a part of our holiday celebrations. It is a wonderful example of how creatively prepared food can be a real gift.

 CJ has been busy with design work this whole Fall and Winter season. We have are having one of the best months we have ever had at Bluedoor this month. It is a season to be grateful.

Our Vintage Christmas

I can't resist sharing a few pictures with you of our house after CJ spent most of last week putting together Christmas at our home. We had a neighborhood party at our house on friday that we wanted to be ready for. So alot of effort on CJ's part went into cleaning and bring Christmas up from the basement. We always have a great spot for our tree in our large front living room window. I few years ago I built a box to elevate our tree. After we mounted the tree in it's stand and put it on the box, CJ covers the box with vintage fabric and then the whole tree gets decked out with our collection of vintage ornaments. It than gets topped off with an angel from my childhood. This vintage plastic angel tree topper dates to the 50's or early 60's . I remember as a child my parents putting an angel just like this on the top of their tree. So a few years ago I found a duplicate of it on ebay(don't you just love ebay).

                                                               The fireplace mantel got the white treatment this year. We brought in greens and pine cones salvaged from outside. A chippy white mirror off an old vanity became the focal point. Candles, mercury glass, a vintage porch spindle with candle on top, cake plate with glass dome were all added to the mix. It is takes on a magic of it's own when we light the candles and fireplace at night and turn out the lights.

                                                                      The side table next to the sofa has our collection of choir candle people. The vintage church sitting on the table is a duplicated of a church that my German Grandmother had set up in her living room every Christmas(again another ebay find). The church winds up and plays Silent Night, Holy Night.

                                                              Our old chipped green paint cupboard between the kitchen and the dining room has CJ's collection of glass tree toppers on it along with a collection of vintage Christmas houses I have collected and given to CJ over the last few years. My criteria for buying a house is that it has to have both a Christmas tree and a snowman on it. Houses that have both are not so easy to find.

We got our first dusting of snow this week and because it turned colder it has stayed around. We are beginning to catch most of our favorite Christmas movies on TV. CJ managed to fill almost every nook and corner in out place with Christmas. Most of our shopping is done. We have successfully had our first Christmas party and downed our first glass of eggnog for the season. So I think our Christmas season for 2011 is off to a great start. It really is a wonderful life isn't it.

Christmas, Bluedoor and Elements

I needed to add this wonderful picture of this 54 Chevy with christmas wreath and snow to our blog. I once owned a 54 Chevy and when ever I see one it tugs at my heart strings. This old red truck with wreath all covered in snow appeals to my holiday mood. I even noticed that the latest Sundance catalog that just came in the mail yesterday had a red 54 chevy pick-up on the front cover.

Speaking of Christmas, we have Bluedoor looking ready for the holidays. CJ went in last week and bought a great christmas look to our booth their. We have lots of handmades from vintage and have been making a real efforts to increase the volume of our vintage small items. So we have plenty of product for the holiday shoppers.

One of the things we realize about our business is that you can never have enough small vintage items. They seem to be the bread and butter of our business. Over the last few months we have been looking for markets were we can find more vintage smalls and as a result we have been able to offer alot more smalls in our markets.  We have been delighted with the results and the response to our offerings.

                                                                               We have also been putting more product at Elements here in Grand Rapids. This wonderful store is owned by our good friend Patrice(see our side bar for Elements blog). The store is located in an old brick furniture factory. This setting gives the store a great funky vintage feel.
Patrice main mission is to be a gift and home accessory store that emphasizes vintage. In the store there are two spaces rented out to other dealers that compliment the look of the store. We are providing Patrice with vintage furniture items and architectural items that she mixes in with her own product.

 We like the look and feel of her store and encourage all of you to check it out over the holidays. Patrice also just opened her store Wednesday thru Sunday. She intends to make this permanent and so she will only be closed on Monday and Tuesday.

We hope all of you are enjoying the holidays. It really can be such a beautiful time of year. Blessings to all of you!

Happy Brithday CJ!!!

I can't let today go by without mentioning that it is CJ's birthday today. The above picture is one of my favorite pictures of CJ and was taken when she was somewhere between 15 and 17 years of age. At the time she had an art teacher who inspired her to get into pottery and so her dad made her this potters wheel that she is using. The picture was taken at an art fair in downtown Boyne City. So you can she that her creativity goes back along way.

She has a love of the creative and encouraging creativity in others including me. This past summer one of her friends that has known her since they were girls together said that she had never known a more authentic genuine person. These are qualities that I am blessed to live with. So Happy Birthday CJ and thank you for sharing your life with me.

Computer problems and Christmas at Blue door

We are back on line as of a few days ago and are just now getting time to blog. Our computer crashed two times in the last couple of weeks and than seemed to develop other problems that tied up it up in the repair shop. So we are so sorry that we haven't been communicating by blog. It really is wonderful time of the year and there is so much to tell but won't try to do it all in this blog other than to tell you all we are back in the land of computers.

The holidays are in full swing at the various locations we do business at. We will post pictures of our very Christmas like locations for all of you soon. In the mean time I am posting some holiday creations of our good friend Connie Maitland at Bluedoor here in Grand Rapids.

We value Connie's friendship and have always been inspired by her creativity. So we hope you enjoy these few photos of her work until we can post again.

Happy Holidays to all!