Come along with me to the Dickens Festival in Holly, Michigan

Over Thanksgiving weekend while we were visiting our daughter and her family, I was thrilled to
 attend the Dickens Festival in Holly, Michigan. We didn't take the time to go to any of the plays,
but I was happy just to be there and walk the streets for the atmosphere if nothing else.

Holly is a beautiful little town, especially when it is all decked out for the holidays.

Carolers serenading us with beautiful music. 

You could take a ride in a horse and carriage if you so desired. With hubby just losing his job,
we opted not to , but it was fun watching.

There was even a free wine tasting for all who wanted to partake.

I LOVED this storefront, but somehow I never made it into this store!!
I can't believe it.
I told hubby I must have walked past it three times. Next year...

We did go into this beautiful antique store. I just love old buildings, don't you?

The famous and historic Holly Hotel. My daughter took her daughter and me here a few years ago
in the summer for a proper tea. It was very nice, but they served liver pate which neither one of us
could eat! ha! 

St. Dominic's choir was found strolling around town singing and it was beautiful! It was so nice to leave
the hustle and bustle of the season behind us and just relax in this beautiful atmosphere.

I found a link online that tells about this choir. If you are interested
you can click here.  They are trained and directed by the Dominican sisters of
the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

We even happened to see a wedding party that was strolling down the street! What a perfect place
for a Holiday Wedding!

This Santa greeted us right inside the antique store doorway.

Our oldest granddaughter Allysha...she was sick by the time we left to go home.  I felt
so bad for her. She had a terrible headache and quite a fever by the time we got back
and it came on fast.

This was actually a photo of  the rest of our family just entering the festival , but we will
pretend that we are leaving since I am at the end of the post. lol.

I highly recommend this wonderful town if you are ever in the area.

There is a store there called Pigeon in the Parlour that I love!!

I will add those pictures soon.

Happy holidays and God bless us everyone!!

{P.S. my daughter decided that this really wasn't the place for three little boys so she left before
we did and our oldest granddaughter stayed behind and rode back with us}

Just a note: I am having an online garage sale a couple posts previous to this one and I just added
two Jeanne D Arc scarves. They are gorgeous!!

My home is dressed for winter

Do you *dress your home* for winter? As in, replacing summer curtains with winter ones
and changing out tablecloths? I do. I really only change my bedroom curtains, but I adore
this vintage chenille bedspread for winter used as a tablecloth.  I just love the rose pattern.

Isn't it just gorgeous?  I also have a light blue bedspread like this one. They are keepers for sure!

I stuck this holly on today because I thought it needed a pop of color , but it could change
at any given moment. *smile*

This is as far as I have gotten with my winter decor, but I say , BRING ON WINTER!

{without the tons of snow}


I am still running my sale in the previous post and I am also having an Etsy sale at 20%
off so please pop on over and visit.

We were kinda thrown for a loop last week...hubby's factory is basically shut down. No
warning or anything so it is back to the unemployment line for us. ugh. What a time of
year to have that happen, but God is good! He went to the factory yesterday to pick up
 his toolbox and to get his pay stub and he was told they are holding the checks. WHAT??
Well, thankfully his was deposited today into our bank account so we thank God for that!

Happy weekend dear blogging friends and have fun dressing your home for winter!!

My week in 80 words...more or less!

Packed, traveled, ate, restaurants,daughter, grandchildren,cut finger, burned hand,
cleaned, laundry, kisses, ate, shopped, lost daughters debit card, crawled, Meijer,
son-in-law, homemade cookies, washed dishes, swept floors, ate, high speed computer,
TJ Maxx, car accident, police, laughter, tears, more kisses, camera,
 Home Goods, hugs,dinner, homemade potato soup, Jo-Ann Fabric, Michaels, Halloween,
Holley, Michigan, candy, pizza, missed hubby, goat {in the middle
of the road!}, Christmas,Target, Chiles, Home sweet home, and after all that...
No baby!! {yet}

My friend Nicki Winkles shout out in the new Holiday issue of Romantic Homes...congrats Nicki!!!

First three photos were taken at Pigeon in the Parlour store in Holly, Michigan.
Beautiful store!! I hope to share more soon. Also we are very thankful that we
didn't get hurt in the accident which happened on the way home about 15
minutes into our trip. Not our fault. Crazy drivers out there. lol
Blessings~

More Vintage Christmas Cards ~

a few more beautiful images to share from

my vintage greeting card collection.

i was going to share more, but my internet

connection is just too slow today.

i hope you enjoy~

original color is below

i tweaked the color on the top photo~

blessings~

Gorgeous Collage ~

I was browsing the internet the other day and found this

beautiful collage made on Lorajeans blog.

She was kind enough to tell me that I could post it

here to share with you.

The door in the photo is the same one that Tracey at French Larkspur posted last week also.

Just so beautiful~

I am so busy these days I don' t know which end is up.

{at least that is what I tell myself...and my house

is suffering the ill effects too. Creating things

all over the house again! I must get a handle on that}

I can certainly have a new appreciation for those of you

who work a full time job outside the home and then

come home and make pretties and blog.

Where do you find the time??

Happy Tuesday and Blessings~

Unique Antique Shop ~

I instantly fell in love with this unique antique store in Holly, Michigan. It is called Battle Alley Arcade Antiques and if you ever get up that way it is a MUST see! We stopped here after our Victorian tea on Saturday and I could have spent the rest of the day there.

"The interior of the store has been restored to look and feel like you are walking down a quaint 19th century street of shops that is home to 25 dealers of a wide variety of quality antiques and fine collectibles".

It has these gorgeous victorian corbels and windows just like you are looking inside another building. I was speechless (and that does not happen often. LOL)

I love this look of the lace in the windows and the antique corbels~ One of the many, many rooms inside this wonderful store~ Goodies galore as far as the eye can see~ This is just a small glimpse of the *hallway* with rooms off to the right side~ My sweet granddaughter walking down the hallway~ Another room jam packed with wonderful antiques~ I just had to take a photograph of this display~

More old victorian trim~

Lovely display of antique baby goodies. Aren't they precious...

Now I wish I had taken more pictures, but I didn't know how many my flash card on my camera would hold so I stopped snapping. I will most certainly be taking more next time I am up that way and hopefully I will have more time to spend there. DD is 7 and 1/2 months pregnant and has had some problems so we didn't stay long, but I am so glad we found this wonderful and unique place. I just loved gazing at all the antique lovelies and I hope you did too.

Blessings ~

Christmas Longing ~

I wanted to take the time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas since I will be a busy little beaver and I may not be able to post for a few days. I want to leave you with a saying that I love : "We long for a way of life that embraces more than possessions and ambitions. Our hearts search for meaning, yearn for peace, live for hope...And so, amidst the happy celebration, we welcome again, with awe, God's newborn Love. Christmas morning, may the Son rise in your heart...may He warm you with His love and light your pathways in the new year." Blessings!

Sweet Holiday Images

I have no profound words today...(LOL) as I have been busy doing "this and that" after arriving home from church today so I just thought I would share a couple images with you . Aren't these just the sweetest ever?? I just love the girl picture! This is a very old card with a few spots on and above her hat, but I love it anyways. I also don't think I have ever seen a pink rose Christmas postcard quite like this one either. I love it as well and I hope you do too. Enjoy and blessings!