The Words of Christmas

    My husband once bought me roses for Christmas.  He learned that while at most any other celebration roses are great but that at Christmas we want poinsettias---that's the symbolic flower or "bract" since the showy part is called a bract.  Merry Christmas!

    Below find a camellia.  It will bloom at Christmastime and it is the name of one of my grandchildren.

Symbolic images of Christmas are all around but sometimes just the words evoke as much feeling as the images.   Why is it that so many enjoy learning how to say "Merry Christmas" in every language?  We are social beings and we use words to communicate with others.   It seems that our souls need the spirit of Christmas. We need to see the symbols of this spirit along with the words to communicate what we feel.  So I am paying homage to the symbols and the "words" of Christmas!

 

 

  

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful." -- Norman Vincent Peale

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!”    Dr. Seuss  

 

 

“Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then smile and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven's making. ”
― Leigh Hunt

 

 

My attempt at making my own

hand-carved and painted Vintage Santa:

"A Christmas Day, to be perfect, should be clear and cold, with holly branches in berry, a blazing fire, a dinner with mince pies, and games and forfeits in the evening. You cannot have it in perfection ---Leigh Hunt

 

 

"Was there ever a wider and more loving conspiracy than that which keeps the venerable figure of Santa Claus from slipping away, with all the other old-time myths, into the forsaken wonderland of the past?"

 -- Hamilton Wright Mabie, My Study Fire

 

 

 

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas, how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith, then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished." -- editorial in the New York Sun, December 1897, in response to an 8-year-old girl's inquiry letter

 

 

 

"Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveler, thousands of miles away, back to his own fireside and his quiet home." -- Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, 1836

 

These poinsettias were from  Bob's Garden Center in Egg Harbor Township.  Met the owner in a visit in 2013----a beautiful woman with real Christmas Spirit.

 

 http://www.bobsgardencenter.com/

 

Partial view of my own tree:

 

Angels we have on heard high
Sweetly singing ore the plains
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains

Gloria in excelsis Deo
Gloria in excelsis Deo

 

At Bob's:

Christmas Words:

At the Love Park in Philadelphia:

 

Have you been naughty?  Yes, I remember when a young

 relative of mine actually got a lump of coal and

then a delayed single gift---must have been traumatic.

 

Vintage photo of me under the tree in the 60's:

Sharing my friend's blog here.  You will find a photo below of the

 delightful owner of Bob's Garden Center.  The photo was taken by my friend Peggy Sooy.

http://peggyinthepines.blogspot.com/

A Farm Market---Route 206

    My cousin Anthony Tassone and his wife Lillian had a small farm market on Trenton Road better known as route 206. This two lane highway has the community of Hammonton, NJ at its southern most end point.  Anthony's father was my father's oldest brother Domenick Tassone, Sr. of Hammonton.   I previously have written about my father's family of whom I affectionately called "Piney Italians".   Most often Italian immigrants sought the comfort of living with other immigrants in cities and some in farm communities like Hammonton, NJ.  Many Italians found work on the railroads which brought my grandfather to Atsion, NJ because of the train station there.  In the 1900's my grandfather, another Anthony Tassone, eventually bought about a hundred acres of land and began to grow blueberries and cranberries on the sandy soils of the Pinelands.  Three brothers eventually left the Pinelands to make their homes in Hammonton, NJ.  I will post a video of my parents talking about their marriage.  They have since passed away.  My mother tells how she wound up marrying my father. In the late 70's my parents built a home on 206 connected to land on Middle Road that had belonged to my mother's family the Baglivos.  One day last year my youngest sister and I had a chance to make a last visit to the land that was so much a part of our history.  It is with sadness that I say we have lost so many relatives that had connections to the Pinelands, Middle Road and route 206 in Hammonton.

My parents interview before their 60th wedding anniversary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dL7EtXzSqo

 

 

     Lillian's and Anthony's market was a real farm market not one where much of the produce was grown some other place. The fruits and vegetables were grown on the land behind their house.  I just feel that because it is so easy to make a blog that someone in the family must do this.  I feel compelled to document what I can.  I am not a journalist of any kind of merit but until someone else steps up to the plate,  please accept my best effort here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These signs behind me were for the other farm market----- 206 Farm Market (Monzo's ?)  further north but near my cousin's smaller market.

This is the side view of my mother's home which now belongs to a Castone family:

 

Lillian and Anthony's home: 

 

Looking towards 206 with the view of my mother's home on the left and my cousin's home on the right. I was able to view the car port where we were used to enjoy so many memorable summer get-togethers:

My sister pausing to reflect on Anthony's tractor:

Pinebarrens Yard Sales and more...

   The main event for the day was to take in a beautiful day at the 30th annual Cranberry Festival in Chatsworth, NJ.  Hitting a few yard sales in the area prior to the festival was just to be a a little early morning activity.  I think I turned it into the main event!  People that live in the area often find it worthwhile to hold their yard sales on the day of the festival.  Last year we had done the same thing so we knew which homes to hit. Our first stop was the Mount Royal Gunning Club and their next door neighbor.  I suppose the gunning club uses the day to earn money for the upkeep of the clubhouse.  The main greeter had told us the previous year that he was the former mayor of Clementon, NJ.

      Then I got so excited that I can't remember if it was at the gunning club or at their neighbor's place but a man was getting out two vintage sewing machines. I blurted out, "How much?" I think he said 3 dollars for the desirable Singer Featherweight machine. Then I asked about the other Sears machine and he said both for 8 dollars. I said, "I'll take them."  I did not ask if they worked.  Old black machines with golden decals just speak to me.   When I got home I found out that the Singer Featherweight worked great.  On Ebay these machines go for $250 up to around 600! Quilters love them. The other machine was missing the bobbin case and bobbin. I found a site that sold vintage sewing parts and for 25 dollars I hope to get the other one working---new bobbin case, bobbin, and a new drive belt. 

 

    

    I think before I left I purchased a slickly finished bald cypress "knee" Don't know where the "knee" came from but the woodworker's name was Ed Waugh. There are a few bald cypress trees growing in swampy areas of New Jersey but many people think they were planted there and not native to the area.

 

 

 

 

     We then headed for route 532.   At one homestead I spied two pillows with "molas".  I recognized the unique quilting from the South American Kuna Indians.  My son had two of these quilted designs framed after his trip to Panama a few years ago.  The bold designs often feature animals like lizards, eagles and turtles.  These pillows were a bit soiled but in good shape.  I took them home and de-constructed the pillows and washed the quilted piece and they came out looking as bright as the day they were made.  Now I will frame them myself instead of paying a professional framer like my son had done:

Washed and ready for framing:

 

I could not resist these yard sale purchases:

 

 

I have craft plans for these natural sponges:

 

      

So then we went to the festival.  You can always count on South American or Mexican vendors selling 60's styled striped hooded pullovers, blankets, scarves, and wool sweaters.  But one vendor had a additional draw as a musician.  He had a mike and was outstanding on the natural reed pan flute and traditional reed flute. Patrons could purchase these flutes and also cd's of his music.  

A true Piney enjoying the festival:

 

 

 

   

    I also purchased  "Jersey Fresh"  hot pepper jam and blueberry preserves.

 

      Not a great bargain because a similar bag was bought from a China town vendor in New York for $10 but I paid $18: