I’m hoping today is my last “crummy” day… this cold wasn’t very nice! :o( But Laura came to the rescue for me today… she sent the pictures and commentary below… I should be back in full force tomorrow! I found myself in my sewing room working on something… I’ll show you tomorrow, but enjoy Laura’s pictures today.
The two pyramids (the angels dancing in a circle and the Nativity one, as well as the angel with the animals and chapel bell music box, were my grandparents. They are from no later than the 1930s. the boy and girl with the church and tree music box was a gift from my great aunt to me when she visited our relatives in Germany and Switzerland in the early 1970s.
The German gristmill with water wheel is a music box. It sat on my grandparents coffee table as long as my mom and I could remember. My grandfather may have brought it from Germany with him in 1927, but we don’t know for sure. The little figure in front is a chimney sweep. He was always out at Christmas as well. The Hummel’s were my grandparent’s or my mom received them as gifts in the 1940’s
We always put the little girl with the red candle and nosegay out with the Christ child and angel. the boy with the horn is called “Hear Ye, Hear Ye”. I know he was always out as well. It makes perfect sense as he is announcing the Savior’s birth.
This soldier band and angel bands sat on either side of my mom’s piano when it was at my grandparents. We still have that piano, but I have to put things high now to avoid curious kitties. 🐱
The man with the birdcage is a smokeman. He takes incense cones and they smolder and the smoke comes out his mouth. The angel chime turns around from the heat of the candles All these are from the 1930s or before. They’ve held up beautifully.
I actually have three dolls dressed for Christmas. Here is my Milargos ready for Las Posadas in a few days and then ready to attend church and celebrate La Noche Buena (literally, The Good Night which is Christmas Eve)
Samantha and Gilead are enjoying Christmas together with their pets Lily May (aka Coconut) and Elley Lou, the sweet Yorkie! They are enjoying Felicity’s Noah’s Ark because Felicity isn’t going to be dressed in her blue Christmas gown as I don’t have any more time for doll dressing. Also, time periods don’t apply to Christmas so Samantha is Edwardian (I didn’t want her Christmas dress, so I use her meet) and Gilead is 1930’s. Look closely, I do have the magnetic Scottie pin, but she prefers wearing her kitty face pin instead.😸
Merry Christmas !! Does anyone want to guess what the gingerbread boy is? (Guess from Jeanne… a stuffed kitty toy?)
Thanks Laura!
See everyone tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
I’m glad you’re feeling better, Jeanne, and spending time in your sewing room! Congrats on the successful auction; well done!
Laura, I so enjoyed your pictures! You have some lovely things, and some really special pieces, having come from family members!
My mother loved Hummels, and she had one or two of them. I did get her a small one one year, and now have it back again. I have one cousin who has a large collection of them, and has even been to the Hummel factory on one of her many trips!
We had angel chimes when I was growing up, as they are very much associated with Scandinavia! When I got married, I was given a set. Although I like them, and they are beautiful, after about 3 minutes of “ding ding ding ding”, I blow the candles out!! LOL (My dad used to remove the little things that hit the bells, so he could enjoy the angels going around without the noise!)
Your dolls look love, all dressed and ready for Christmas! The gingerbread boy looks familiar (he’s about the same shape as my childhood cookie cutter, which is made of blue celluloid–shows how old I am!! LOL), but I can’t think of where he may have come from.
From yesterday: Barbara, I totally agree. People who do not create things have no idea of the time and work that goes into them. I remember about 20-some years ago, a lady picked up a doll dress I had made (although she didn’t know I had made it) and said, “$30 for a doll dress?!” and I told her, there are just as many pieces in a doll dress as there are in one for a person, and it’s more difficult sewing because of the sizes of pieces! I don’t think she bought it! (On the other hand, we had one or two customers in the doll shop that always Looked for my things, because she knew they would be well made!)
I had to laugh at your comment on the Angel Chimes. I wanted some for years and finally bought them. Now they’re lucky if I put them out but never light the candles. The grandkids used to like watching them – for a minute or two. I love the concept but not the noise. I like your dad’s idea. I was afraid if I did that it would not balance properly so you’re saying that works? Sounds like a win-win to me.
Thank you so much, Charlotte! Nice to hear you have a Hummel to enjoy. My mom likes them also (I don’t think you can be German and not). We have eleven total (the four you see and seven I put out at other times. One is “Doll Mother” and I’ll make a note to share that one in the spring along with “Farewell”.
Yes, the angel chimes ding ding might get to you after awhile. I don’t light mine very often, mainly Christmas Eve after church.. The “dingers” are easily taken off and put back on. I do light the candles on the pyramids to watch the windmill tops go round.
How nice you still have your celluloid cookie cutter. My grandmother had a few of those, Thank you for the dolly compliments.
Laura, you have some lovely treasures, and they have just the person to have them! I too, am mostly German, but don’t have all the little wooden figurines you do, lucky you! I do have a smokeman though, almost the same as yours, and I do have him out all the time on a shelf in our family room. I got him in a local shop that has things from Europe, and I felt that he was a good representation of my German heritage.
As far as Hummels, I do have Apple Tree Girl that I gifted my mother-in-law, but now is mine to keep.They say they aren’t as valuable as before, but it’s the memories that make it valuable to me.
Your dolls are perfectly dressed. My Josefina is also wearing her Christmas dress just like that, and holding her doll. I love that outfit and it is so representitive of her.
I also have Kit’s original Christmas dress, and Ruthie will be wearing it this year. I have the Scottie button, not the magnetic pin, but it works for me!
Felicity also has her Noah’s Ark here, but those little animals are a beast when it comes to setting them up. The first ones fall over just as you are getting the last ones to stand!
Thank you for sending the pictures to Jeanne, and Jeanne, I hope today is the turning point for you. Take care of yourself!! Sending you love!
Thank you so much, Linda! My grandfather loved being American, but he also loved his German heritage and kept that alive when he immigrated in 1927. My grandmother was German as well, but she was born here. Christmas is Christmas Eve to us with presents after church. Christmas Day was dinner with my maternal grandparents and two great aunts.
Apple Tree Girl is a sweet Hummel. I have her as well, but mine is a lamp. I told Charlotte we have eleven Hummels and that is true if you count just the figurines, but we also have four lamps and a pair of bookends. All family treasures too dear to part with.
Thank you for the doll compliments.Josefina’s Christmas dress is one of my favorites. I love the one piece pantalettes she wears underneath. I did notice you have Felicity’s doll and to have Josefina’s Nina (don’t know how to add the tilde on here) is wonderful.. The doll’s dolls are sweet. i only have Samantha’s Clara Nutcracker and my daughter has Sari for her Kirsten.
Yes, the Noah’s Ark animals are tiny, but very cute.
Dear Jeanne, I am glad you are on the mend. I think you just needed to rest a bit as you have been doing so much over the last few months.
Laura’s keepsakes are lovely. She has such wonderful memories to accompany them.
Her dolls are definitely ready for the holiday festivities.
Thank you so much, Dorothy! I appreciate your kind words.
Loved seeing Laura’s fun German pieces. My favorites are the angels dancing around the tree and the soldier and angel bands. So cute. 🙂
Milargos looks so nice with her special mantilla. And the girls and their pets are adorable. What a great Christmas scene.
Jeanne, most all drug stores carry home test kits now that can let you know in minutes if you may have contracted the virus. I would suggest picking up one as this cold has gone on for quite awhile. Dr. Joy speaking. Hope you are feeling better soon.
Well, I couldn’t help but order a RRFF Freida this morning. I love her dark braided hair. Will be a happy new year present. 🙂
Stay warm everyone. It’s cold here in CA this morning. Had to cover my jade plant last night. Hope it survives.
Thank you so much, Joy! On which side of my grandparent’s piano the bands sat was always up to me as a young child. When we arrived for Christmas i would move them from one side to the other and rearrange the soldier band a few times. My grandmother also knew the Nativity pieces would be changed as well.
Thank you for the dolly compliments.
Congratulations on ordering Freida. She is a real beauty. You and sally both have lots of friends for her to play with.
After reading Sally’s comment I had to come back and comment again. I didn’t know you had a few Rubies coming. You really need to devise a plan to get all those new family member safely inside. It will be fun to hear how you manage each one.
Well, I didn’t do too well the other day when a green AG bunk arrived. Other person went to get the mail and about tripped over the huge box. The item was about a third of the chosen box size. Made it look like some big thing instead of a bed in taken apart pieces. Oh well, I hid it and haven’t heard another word. 🙂
Laura, love seeing your wonderful treasures! I’m sure the memories are what you appreciate the most, however, they are so unique and obviously well loved and care for. My favorites are the little girl with the forest animals and the choir and soldiers. The nativity set is beautiful!
And it looks like your girls are ready for Christmas dressed so pretty. Love the kitty pin. That is so you!
Thank you for sharing – love to all of you and the kitties!
Jeanne, get better- especially with Christmas literally right around the corner.
Thank you so much, dear Paula! It maybe doesn’t show her green wings with the tree so close by, but the little girl with the forest animals is an angel. I love that music box as well Thank you for compliments on the Nativity. I also have a traditional stable one that was my grandparents for under the tree, so two here. 🙂
My girls say thank you for complimenting their Christmas dresses. Yes, had to have a kitty pin. Actually, that is one of two human earrings that Gilead normally wears in her ears. Love to you to, dear friend!
Hi, Laura,
Seeing your family treasures and hearing about the past connections really warms my heart. We have many similar treasures but they have “sunk to the bottom of the storage heap” and I have less energy to yank boxes around and sift through stuff even though I was good at labeling the boxes. By now, my decorations that I use are like my bureau drawers…I use what is at the top over and over and over. It really makes me happy that you keep your traditions and share them with us. And of course, your girls look so ready for the holidays. Bravo!
Joy, glad you ordered Freida. She is perfectly lovely AND will afford the sofa sisters with another “mail delivery tale”! Let’s see…there are many of these occasions coming soon for you….two girls from Russia and Northern Lights or as some call her, Winter Wonderland, and now Freida. Joy, you must love the adrenaline rushes! 👍😆
Jeanne, Joy might be right…get tested. Way too many people don’t know they have the virus and unwittingly pass it along. Did you order a Freida? 😝 A little retail therapy? Might not be a bad idea. Just saying.
Yesterday I got some long awaited great news: Marianella, the exclusive doll to the Spanish shop that was sold out in one day in early July and was supposed to arrive in September, finally has a UPS tracking number. Hallelujah. On the other hand, Alice in Wonderland, a late July order, has been on a ship for a long time waiting to dock and unload. It was supposed to unload late November (though RR had projected an October delivery at sale time) and then got bumped to early December, then mid December, and now hoping , yes “hoping”, for unloading on the 20th. THEN the US Ruby Red team has to get them to the warehouse which I think is in TN? That may take up to two weeks beyond unloading from the ship we were told. Samantha, who doesn’t respond to my emails, has to get the balance invoices out. So…October will easily be January. Over 5 months from ordering time. I think I am learning something here beyond the fact that space is so quickly shrinking here. Ordering a special doll like a MM or LD…you know there will be a long wait time. Shouldn’t be 5 months for a Ruby Red doll in my opinion. The ends are in sight for these two, at least, and I am getting excited again.
Well, I am sure I bored most of you to tears. Hope your day improves. It can only go up, yes??
😄🥰❤️
Thank you so much, Sally! Well, these treasures are easy to get out as they “live” in that antique bookcase they are on year-round. I love that I can see them all the time although they take on that “special glow” at Christmas when then come out for those weeks. Maybe you need to put yours in a bookcase or curio so they are more accessible and you can use your special things as well. Still looking forward to seeing your Steiff tree.
Sorry about your Ruby Red troubles. At least you received Freida more quickly than I would have thought. I guess it was good I fell for Anaelle as she came quickly. I understand the foreign ones being delayed, but the U.S. ones? I think the UPS and Fed Ex are overwhelmed. Even my pet supplies I get online that use to come in a day or two tops now sometimes take close a week and that is when it’s shipped from PA, right next door.
Hi Sally, When I called Samantha to give her my new address she told me that Alice would ship from her new location in Kansas. I don’t know if that is adding to the wait or not. I think my Northern Lights is stuck in a FedEx holding pattern one hour from me. I do feel bad for all of those in the delivery business. It is too bad that our October Alice’s are adding to the misery. I am afraid to get excited too early. I am glad to hear your have got the “Dolly Jollys”.
Debbie
Hi Jeanne, I hope you are feeling better and get to feeling better before Christmas. I wish to thank Laura for posting all those wonderful German collectibles on the blog today. I too have many many collectibles from W. Germany but I don’t know how to post them for all of you to see. I am not really good with computers. I wish to also thank you for posting the photo of Kit and Samantha because you had Coconut and she is a Westie like my dog was that died on Thanksgiving and you named her Lily May. My dog’s name was Lilly and I called her Lilly Pup. I was very touched by that scene and it made me feel better. I went to Walgreens on Monday to get some more Christmas cards and found two box sets of a Westie Puppy on the front of these cards. I felt very blessed indeed because my husband and I plan to get another Westie but she has to be born. We picked out the parents online from photos and weight and put a deposit on a girl pup for next year. So in August or Sept. we will have our newest member of our family and we plan to name her Ellie which in Scottish means Bright Light. Just like you named your Yorkie pet for Samantha. Too much in common! Loved it so much. Thank you. Merry Christmas and Frohe Weihnachten und Gluck Neu Jahren. Which means in English, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with much luck. Elaine
Thank you so much, Elaine! The things made in West Germany really do look different than things made later. It’s very subtle, but I can see a slight difference in the painting etc. from all the other wooden items and the music box I received in the 1970’s.
I would absolutely LOVE to see yours as I have even seen two identical pieces in which only the colors of the paint are different. I also have the glass Christmas ornaments with the angel hair inside and the gold braid and Dresden paper stars.
The way I send my photos to Jeanne is to email them to myself from my phone and then forward them to her after I type my comments into the email. As long as your phone can access the internet to send it to your email you should be able to do the same. I sure hope so.
I hope you’re doing okay and I’m so glad my doll photos made you feel better about your sweet Lilly Pup. She’s in heaven with my pets waiting for us. What a coincidence about the pet names. I’m sure Ellie will indeed be a Bright Light. I’ll look forward to hearing about her next year. The reason Samantha has a Yorkie is because I’ve had two precious Yorkies, Loved the German Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I know just a tad of German and those are two things I do.
Jeanne I do hope you are right and you feel better today (or is it still yesterday).. Linda I loved seeing all your lovely doll pictures, I didn’t have time to look yesterday so checked the post out this morning.
Laura I did look back at your mesg to me it did come up and I saw all the links. I haven’t checked them all out but Sam says Rescue Remedy is available here in the Chemist (apparently it is for humans as well!). Luna is starting to come back in I really hope she keeps on improving. She doesn’t think much of me at the moment, I think she blames me for bringing all these animals in! The weather here has been appalling, really unusual for the East Coast in December! We have had two months worth of rain in two days on top of cloudy humid weather for the last several weeks. It isn’t raining this morning but everywhere is very soggy (flooding in some areas) and it really has upset me that Luna stayed outside and got very wet! I even have a covered deck but she wouldn’t come on there either. However at the moment she is sleeping on the back of the couch (Gizmo is too old to jump up on the couch) and she and Snowy are ignoring each other so i guess that is progress.
Ashley only has today and tomorrow morning to go before school ends for the year. No school then till end of January when she will be going to Intermediate (which I guess equates to your Junior High).
I really hope all the sofa sisters are safe after the dreadful tornadoes. I saw the pictures on TV, it looked like Hiroshima after the atomic bomb. Darwin (in Australia) had a similar thing happen Christmas Eve 1974. That was a cyclone (Tracy) but the damage was similar. It always seems worse at Christmas, though there isn’t a good time to lose everything!
Sam and Ashley put up the Christmas tree last night. They want to put another on up outside, not sure how it will survive. It will be under cover but could blow over if we get a Nor West wind! Sam plans to decorate the house today. hopefully, Caitlin will help but I wouldn’t count on it.
Stay safe everyone.
Hi Anne,
Yes, i was relieved when my post showed up. Rescue Remedy is for humans, but there is a specific one for animals. I think the ingredients have to be different. I’m glad to hear Luna is improving.Poor girl to get so wet.
I’m sure Sam and Ashley are having a wonderful time decorating the house and you can just relax and enjoy it.
Thank you Laura for sending the pics of the wonderful German treasurers for us to see. The little painted wooden characters bring back memories and we have lots of them on our tree…the 2-3 inch size. So colorful and well made. The Hummels were always so dear…they capture the innocence of children in a much treasured simpler lifestyle. A shame their value has dropped but things cycle so they may be prized again one day. The Quality of them has always remained the same.
Had our Doll heist as party …everyone came and had a good time..such sweet ladies,,,similar to the Sofa Sisters 😍 Freida is giving me the “Dolly Fever”.. luckily I have a Birthday coming. Hummm….how to give a BIG hint?
Hope the cold symptoms are getting better….so maybe having had your Christmas already was not such a bad idea🎄😉
Thank you so much, Kathie! I know the ornaments you mean as I have some for the tree as well. We do have the German glass one, but also small wooden ones of angels on stars and a crescent moon and little wooden rocking horses etc.
The value of Hummels never matters to me since they are family treasures, but I do know what you mean. I saw two huge cases of them for sale at our antique store once. Obviously, a collection of maybe 200 or so that had gotten out of hand. I, too, love their sweet faces, but have all I need.
Laura, what lovely treasures you shared with us. The wooden pieces are so cute. When we lived in Ohio we went to a park for a 5k run and there happened to be a Hummel Museum. Someone had collected every Hummel that was ever made, but most remarkable was it included each one in every size, some well over a foot tall. . I’ll have to look up to see if the museum still exists. Thanks for reminding me of an extraordinary thing. You are fortunate to have such wonderful memories attached to your treasures.
Thank you so much, Susette! I will have to hunt for that Hummel museum. There is a doll museum in the next town, but I don’t know of the Hummel one. Sounds neat!
It was so long ago that it might not longer exist. The people at the doll museum might know or remember what I’ve been going on about. Ha, ha! Glad you keep your treasures out where you can see them all the time.
Feel better asap, Jeanne! I have a number of stuffed dog toys that I use with the dolls, etc. They are just too cute to let our doggo kids destroy them. 🙂
Thanks, Melody, I borrow the toys and then give them back. :
Hi Jeanne,
Thank you so much for sharing my photos. I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them. I’m looking forward to seeing what other sofa sisters have to share.
I hope you feel better soon. A cold isn’t nice anytime, but especially not near/at Christmas.
Laura, I love that you have those treasures from your grandparents and include them in your Christmas decorations each year. They are very special treasures!
Hi Jeanne,
I’m glad you felt a bit better and had some sewing studio time. Continued prayers for you. Thank you for sharing Laura’s photos.
Hi Laura, I really enjoyed your photos. Thanks for Sharing. Your girls are all so cute. I too have Noah’s ark, those animals are really tiny. They are so fun though aren’t they? The German pieces are so much fun to look at. I can imagine them spinning and the pieces coming alive. I can tell how much they mean to you because of all the family memories they envoke. So very special.
Hugs to everyone
Ingrid