Hi everyone,
Cindy and I had a fun and busy day, but most of it was just hunting for bargains while we looked for clothes. She had saved something special for us to do tonight before they go back home.
You would never be able to guess this if I gave 100 chances…
Just a little background…Cindy’s hubby, Tom was the town Santa Claus in his hometown back when he was in his 20’s. He was a good listener as kids would tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Since then he’s been Santa for many occasions in many locations. He has a fabulous personality and makes a really great Santa. He told me so many funny stories about his secret life as Santa… but I’ll have to move on to what my post today is really about.
Here’s a quick poem Tom, rattled off for me to use.
Snip snip here and a snip snip there
And a couple of La De Da’s
That’s how we trim the beard and hair
Of good ‘ole Santie Claus
Cindy brought Tom’s beard thinking because I shampoo and style and sometimes cut my doll’s wigs, I might be able to do something to fix his Santa beard.
Well, let me tell you, it was pretty ratty looking…
We decided it looked like Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean…
…or maybe a sickly octopus…we couldn’t decide…
Anyway, we just started trying to get the tangles and matted parts combed out a little.
We weren’t sure we were making much progress…
…but we just kept combing…and laughing all the while.
…and doing a little trimming.
When it wasn’t “responding” the way we wanted it to, we filled a cake pan with water and added some fabric softner…
It still needed help, so we decided maybe it needed to be shampooed… so we used some of my “purple” shampoo…
We rinsed out the purple suds, laughing our heads off as we did.. the wig was made of some synthetic fiber that seemed to stretch as it got wet. Now the wig had long strings with rats nest at the ends… we trimmed them off the strands we knew would never stay connected if we left them alone.
We decided to dunk the wig into the dishwater, saying to ourselves, “What could it hurt?”
We got the wig out of the dishwater and rinsed it off one last time. Laying it on a towel, we decided to try and take small sections of the strands that were left and twist them sort of like long stringy banana curls.
Somehow, miraculously, it looked a little better. It looked whiter, and actually had a little bit of sparkle to it.
We let it dry a few minutes and then called Tom over for a try on! It looked better… at least we thought it did. It could have been we had run out of ideas…
When he took it off, Cindy laid it on the table and sort of curled up the ends. We thought maybe a diffuser may have worked…
She said she’d take it home and maybe work on it some more… or get a new one. But Tom wasn’t too keen on that idea.
Just for fun, Cindy shared these pictures of Tom in full dress so you could see his beard in better days!
Well, Merry Christmas!
I’ll see you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Bonjour.Quelle belle barbe ! Cela me rappelle ,que mon mari,a aussi fait le père Noël ,de nombreuses fois ,avec une fausse barbe. Pourtant il est barbu et sa barbe est toute blanche . Comme il est bénévole dans une association,ses collègues l’appellent souvent ” papa NOêl “. Belle journée à vous toutes . Georgina.
Hello. What a beautiful beard! This reminds me that my husband also played Santa Claus many times with a fake beard. However, he is bearded and his beard is completely white. As he volunteers for an association, his colleagues often call him “Santa Claus”. Have a nice day, everyone. Georgina.
So now we can add “barber” to your many talents, Jeanne? (laugh) Actually I do think the Santa beard looks somewhat better, but there is a point where it might be beyond saving. At least it will have a little bit more life to it, and buy Tom a little time to look for a replacement.
Thank you, all, for your kind comments. Yes, I will try to remember to take the camera along when I put flowers out for Easter, so you can all see the marker. I need to bring something along to clean the marker on my folks’ grave, too, as they are buried right next to our plots, and at the moment, their marker is badly in need of cleaning. Maybe when Daniel is with me, he can help me with that, as it’s hard for me to get down (and back up!) on my knees to do that sort of thing these days. (And yes, Sissy, Ron is definitely in heaven. He loved the Lord, and was saved a number of years ago.)
Joy, I don’t think we have any of the old metal film cannisters, although I do remember them. Ours are the plastic ones. When one is full of pins and needles, it is Heavy!!
Barbara, that is really nice of Beth and her husband to take good care of your mom’s final resting place. Do they use artificial flowers there? At our cemetery, they don’t allow artificial ones (although occasionally someone disregards that and put something out). On Memorial Day, the VFW go around and put flags on graves of veterans; our marker has the USMC emblem on Ron’s side, so they will no doubt add a flag this year. (I’ll bet you don’t know what is on My side!!)
Dorothy in PA…. thank you. Sometimes those “firsts” can be hard.
Linda, I think the problem is, there’s no night-before email to remind me to look at the blog. Monday’s early-morning email doesn’t often hit my inbox until after I’ve gone to bed (and I am a night owl, so I’m much more likely to be on the computer late at night than any other time of day). I don’t see it until Monday evening (my time), at which time I click on it and discover that I missed looking at it before I went to bed the night before! So I read thru it, and then click the link to the newest post. Kind of an awkward explanation, I’m afraid, but I do read “tomorrow’s” blog before I go to bed “tonight”!
And to answer your question, yes, a marker is basically a tombstone, but out here, most of the cemeteries require FLAT markers, so lawn mowers can roll right over them. If you want an upright or raised marker/tombstone, you have to be buried in one special part of the cemetery (at least in our cemetery it’s that way; some are more traditional with a variety of markers), and it’s a whole lot more expensive because the mowing must be done with a walk-behind mower that can be maneuvered between the stones. And it could just be that “marker” is a regional thing, too, like some areas calling soft drinks “soda” and other areas calling them “pop”.
Thank you Charlotte, this is a lovely explanation.
I know it will be lovely
Hi Charlotte, I’m sorry I didn’t comment to you about Ron’s marker yesterday. I popped on for a minute while in the middle of putting groceries away and then I forgot when I was back on later to comment about snaps to Barbara.
My grandparents have a flat bronze marker as well with a vase that comes up in the middle. Only real flowers except at Christmas when artificial wreaths, small trees, and ornaments are allowed.
I know it will be hard, but it’s good it is ready in time to lay flowers for Easter as you think of your Ron in Heaven.
One more comment, Charlotte. Yes, here the VFW go around and put flags on the markers as well. We have two cemeteries with graves that date to 1803 (Ohio’s founding) as well as a huge back section of one that is nothing except Civil War soldiers graves. There are underground railroad houses in my town as well two places that were soldier encampments. No wonder I find that era fascinating.
I live in a town with two cemeteries, one for Catholics and one for others. The town was founded by Czech Catholics and German Lutherans and they just naturally, for the time, wanted separate cemeteries. Just some history there. But no matter which cemetery you visit, you can pretty much tell the old from the new because most people have gone to the markers these days rather than tombstones. I never thought about the mowing thing but the markers are less expensive. Also I think the flowers for my mother are artificial since my sister needs them to last through the season, but I’m not sure so I’ll have to ask her because I’m curious now.
Yes, I do see an improvement in the beard after you worked on it, Jeanne! I guess it’s worth working on it before deciding on getting a new one, but I have no idea what the cost of a new Santa beard might be! Ot everybody has someone like you to work wonders on just about anything! That last picture looks just like a Christmas card! I have heard of Christmas in July, but never In April! You nailed it there!
Thank you, Charlotte for explaining why you forget to comment on Monday’s blog frequently! I’m up early, when you are up late! You are probably tired at the time I am raring to go! What I do is sort of have a”program” on my computer of Favorites listed. I go down the line of favorites, Jeanne’s blog, AGPT, AGDollhouse, Facebook, EBay and Etsy, plus a few others, so I never forget to check anything out and see what’s going on. By 6 in the morning, I have gone through just about all of it, plus some news sites too, and then am ready to start my day. You could even just put a list in pencil or pen next to your computer, so you don’t forget anything.
Oh, so markers are just like tombstones here! We do have both kinds. My family has a beautiful pink granite one that we put flowers on. It is a very old cemetery, so anything goes as far as what kind you have. Some people even have their own mausoleum.
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Oh Jeanne, well, that was a fun April Fools Endeavor, working on a beard, of all things.
It looks good now and it might hold out for another year, but it was wise to start on it now, good idea.
Yesterday, my daughter and her two girls 7 and 9, went to Tyson’s Corner mall.
The place is massive. Hubbs and I used to live in Arlington Virginia… and Tyson’ corner was a quiet little shopping center with about 5 stores in a row. Hubbs says he has a few pictures of that scene, but I remember it well because we were newly married and this is where we did all of our shopping.
So, today Tyson’s Corner mall is three levels, and the size of about three malls. The American Girl Doll store is two levels! It was overwhelming, and perhaps I have matured or something, but a few of the items I did not find that great. I forgot that Mattel and Disney bought Pleasant Company. I did not like the multicolored hair of many of the dolls, and the curly hair looked way too difficult to manage.
It was an interesting adventure. Fortunately, the schools are still in session here (Easter break is next week in Northern Virginia) So the store was not mobbed.
Everything was displayed in plexiglass cases, cute scenes. and there were a few dolls here and there that you could pick up and hold and touch.
So, I came home beat! I am pretty sure I walked 5 miles or more.
Today the girls are coming over for a while to play and then they are going back home. I believe they are going to go to Williamsburg for a day. My daughter and her family live in South east Richmond area.
Happy Wednesday dears. I hope all of you are feeling good
Hi Rosemary, I’m sure the American Girl Store was quite the shock. So little is left for the historical in general. All the eras my daughter loved and what I collected are now gone as well. My daughter got her first in 1993 and then we went to the Chicago store back in 2004 during a vacation when Felicity was still on the floor. Caroline was the last historical that our Columbus store had that I was interested in seeing.
Williamsburg is wonderful! We’ve visited there also. I would love to go back.
It’s actually sad what has become of the American Girl philosophy. My daughter was born around the time the Pleasant Company dolls came out. She was never interested but I wish she had been. I would have been glad to take them over. So much has changed now that their reason for being seems to be gone and they are becoming just another doll store. It’s no wonder most of the AG stores have closed. But it’s not surprising when you see who took over the company.
Rosemary, you are finding out what so many of us have found with the way American Girl is going lately. I and a lot of others loved American Girl for their historical dolls, all the books that carried tidbits of life in the times of the dolls, and their period correct clothing and accessories. That does not seem to be the focus anymore, much to my disappointment. They were pieces of history. Now the emphasis seems to be for 5 and 6 year olds, with crazy hair colors and bright colored clothing and plastic everywhere. It certainly isn’t the company it used to be!
Well, that is one clean Santa beard. When observing the before and after photos, the change is miraculous. However, it looks like the beard needs some hair plugs inserted. I always think of Santa’s beard as very full and curly. Like the photo of Santa by the door. Maybe this one can become a framed memento with a photo and a beautiful lush new beard purchased? It was fun watching the progress though.
Here, we have clear skies and some sun peeking over the hills. Finally, it might start to dry out around here. Then it will be back to yardwork.
Still working on the second set of doll shorts after my big flub. Need to sew on the pockets. Maybe Jeanne has a tutorial on pockets? It is always so hard to sew them on, so small, and make them look presentable. It’s not like sewing for people for sure. Anyway, can’t wait until I’m done with this and can get on to something more exciting. Still no snaps sewn, but buttons are coming along. 🙂
Hope everyone has a lovely sunny day.
Sorry to hear of your shorts dilemma. I’ve had a few of those myself. It’s always good when you have a doll other than the one you planned for be able to wear the “mistake”, so your efforts are not in vain. The jumpsuit I just finished for my Gotz Hannah fits a bit snugly so the shirt I was planning to make to go with it won’t work. It needs something very thin so I’m still looking. I will make a pair of jeans to go with the other shirt.
Tom makes a great Santa Claus. If his beard ever gets completely unusable it should be framed. It would be like the Cheshire cat’s smile.
Bad storms here this morning, but it now clearing off.
Wow, Jeanne and Cindy, what a workout on that beard. I saw one of the photos had it in lots of curls. Is there any kind of liquid that you could put on it to make more curls on it? Just thinking.
Rosemary, I would never have made a day in a mall like that. It sounds wonderful,but I would like to take it in bits on several days, LOL! It is more fun when you have family with you, especially grandgirls.
Just came back from a walk around the yard. The sun was shining, the scent of the marsh was on the breeze, the river is coming in, and I found 3 yellow roses on our 25 year climbing rose bush. We do love it here.
Have a great day, Y’all.
Interesting post today. I really don’t think I would have gone to this much trouble for a Santa beard. It looks to me like a new beard is in order. The beard used to look great and Tom makes a wonderful Santa Claus. His suit is beautiful. I think he needs a new beard to compliment the suit.
So, would tshirt fabric work for something to wear under that jumper for your Gotz? I really should try to make a tee, but the knit is not my fondest fabric. And my machine is making a strange sound too. Drat. Sorry about the pin jab. Hope it heals soon.
My plan was for a long-sleeve t-shirt but regular t-shirt fabric is too bulky for this outfit. She came with a t-shirt that is like very lightweight lycra and that works but it has a design on the front that doesn’t really go with the outfit. There is a blouse pattern that goes with the jumpsuit so I may go that route. Then she can wear it with the skirt pattern from the same designer. The things we go through to see our dolly people are property attired.
Dear Jeanne, hey wait, uh, what happened to May? Did I miss it? How did we get to Christmas so quickly (laugh).
Just kidding. The wig looks so much better. Tom looks quite presentable in his Santa ensemble. Ho, ho ho!
Dorothy you must have suffered apoplexy when you read this. Sleeping through May would definitely not be high on your priority list. I got the invitation to your talk and would really love to be there, but it’s during my Chorale dress rehearsal for our concert Sunday so I really can’t miss. Will there be a way of seeing it later?