Merry Christmas!

Yeah, I know. Original title for a blog entry on December 25, but hey--it fits!

We're on leg two of our traditional Christmas celebration at our luxury lakeside condo (heh!), as Christmas Eve is always spent hosting the stepkids. We had a great time hanging out, watching a DVD of early episodes of "Arrested Development" courtesy of Greg and taking in that classic Christmas movie Shaolin Soccer, courtesy of a guy Jeff works with. Many sweet things were consumed as well as the traditional Christmas Eve make-it-yourself pizzas. We were so stuffed that we had to pack the pies (vegan pecan for Rachel and French silk for Greg) for the kids to take back to their mom's house.

This morning Jeff and I awoke to open our presents to each other (books, CDs, DVDs, a Sonicare toothbrush for me to maintain good dental hygiene during my current bout of orthodondia, among other cools stuff), and in a few minutes we'll head upstairs to our neighbors' unit to have Christmas dinner. We usually just cook ourselves a small ham and veg all day, but it's always nice to be sociable on Christmas, huh?

So... let's talk Christmas traditions. One thing that my friend Laurie and I are trying to establish as a holiday tradition is an antiquing trip up to Racine and environs. We first did this a couple of years ago--we took the train up to Kenosha, where our Racine friend Mary picked us up and squired us around to such wonderful places as School Days Antique Mall and The Castle Antique Mall in Sturdevant, Wisconsin. We found many wonderful things on that trip--then we returned to Mary's lovely Victorian home in Racine for dinner. Just a few blocks from Lake Michigan and situated on a street still paved in bricks, Mary and her husband's place is a work in progress--but such a wonderful home.

This year, we headed up there two weeks before Christmas. Alas--we found that the Castle had closed a mere two weeks before, after having been there for 14 years! Wah! The proprietor of the coin shop that shared the building said that he (as the building owner) was negotiating a lease for another antique mall in the space, so fingers crossed. That left us with more time at School Days, though, and we used it well!

School Days takes up most of an old school house, and the halls and classrooms and gym are chock-a-block with treasures. They were decked out in Christmas finery! This particular booth had tons of very cool Christmas-belia, but it was way, way overpriced. Drat. Still, the place has something for everyone!


Here's a basket of sleeping beauties to entice the doll collector.


Just the title for a nice, cozy, Christmas of reading.


For the salt and pepper enthusiast, what could be better than this engaging couple?


And this pair are just the thing for your retro bathroom redo--I would have scooped them up, but I already purchased a chalkware Mary here a couple of years ago for my bathroom redo (I swear--it will happen one day!), and even I can't flank the Blessed Virgin with a couple of outsized fish!


And here's another couple sure to warm anyone's heart--as long as they are old enough to identify good ol' Ike and Mamie.


Are you a Moolah fan? This cardboard Shriner fan is just the item for you, then, although it is a tad overpriced at $11.00!

Some caveats to certain booth owners, though. First, this is an amusing look, but not one that really draws folks in to browse:



Kind of scary, really.

Then there are those dealers who just don't get why people come to these places. It is not to buy scary stuff like this:



Or, worse, like this assemblage of nightmare inducers:



Although THIS scary thing actuall DOES work, kind of:



And this scary thing, out of the tres expensive booth mentioned earlier, actually won my heart... I had one of these when I was a kid. Still, I was not about to pay $35 for the thing. I love it, though!



Merry Christmas!