I have been taking my good sweet time to get ready for the holidays this year. On Tuesday of this week it was 41F and sunny. I decided it would be a good day to go out and dig horseradish for my popular home made cocktail sauce. Several times the New Year has found me out in the snow with a bucket of water (to thaw the ground) and a muddy shovel looking for roots while snowflakes drifted down my collar and into my ears.
Digging this year was pleasantly dry and I found a couple of perfect roots. I got my tools cleaned up and wrapped the still muddy roots in a plastic bag and stored them in the hydrator for later. And it was a good thing I got it done.
Because Wednesday afternoon it did this.
I finally got around to making my Christmas wreaths. I did this out in the heated garage on a table where I could scatter fir needles everywhere. The one for the roadside fence is about 15 pounds. Last year I foraged for my greens but this year when I got into the mood to make wreaths there was two feet of heavy snow on the ground and I couldn't imagine trying to find enough greens under those conditions so I bought some instead. This has the added benefit of being able to include berries and textures I can't always find on our property.
My husband's father grew up in this house and we still have his runner sled. I retrieved it from the chicken coop and plonked it down in the still soggy planting bed where it can freeze into place. This wreath is made on a simple coat hanger base. Behind the wreath there is one of his vintage wool scarves that buttons instead of tying.
I always manage to have a touch of Christmas in every room, but it seems like we spend a lot of time together at the dining room table so the tree goes there. I actually got the Christmas Tree up on Black Friday. I keep several boxes of Winter/Christmas items in the basement now mixed in with my other seasonal decor so I began exchanging summer items for winter around the first of November.
This table centerpiece gets changed several time throughout the year. I made candle rings for each season and I change from Apple Blossoms to Summer Berries to Ivy and Acorns so the Winter Evergreens are ready to go and just needed some color added. I only had to get two boxes down from the attic: the tree, and the tree decorations.
Christmas trees are so difficult to photograph. This tree has always been some variation of gold but this year I needed to replace the cheap gold balls that were losing their color and I started running across ornaments sets in shades of "tonal blush". So I upgraded to a burgundy/pink/gold color scheme which blends with the salvageable gold ornaments as well as the large burgundy ones I had on our all red living room tree in 2016.
The ornaments range from a dark burgundy which looks almost black through creamy cherry, dusty rose to rose gold, pink and plain gold which I think looks very up to date and classy. Yes, Pink and Dusty Rose... They look really nice against the drapes that I put up in 2023.
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| I searched for a new topper but didn't find anything I liked |
Next to the tree is my Hoosier cabinet which has lately been featuring my collection of Uranium glass under black lights. This didn't need much additional decoration so I just added bubble lights and a mistletoe garland.
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| I added a Santa here |
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I brought out all of my Christmas themed kitchen collectibles from Snowflake Crackers and Jack Frost Sugar to Yummy Cocoa mix and Nabisco Sugar Cookies. We're ready for a Holiday baking session.
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I always have a vintage Campbell's Soup ad hanging here in the kitchen.
I change it out now and then and recently purchased a Christmas themed one. I enjoy looking it while I prepare our meals.
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| Saturday Evening Post 1929 |
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| My horse drawn sleigh theme lasts all winter |
I enjoy shopping for a few Christmas themed items to add to my collections each year. A few years ago it was rounding out my collection of Reed and Barton carousel horses for my ornament tree. This year I finally chose a beautiful set of saddle mounted sleigh bells.
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| I made the mini wreath out of a single fir tip |
I remember an old family friend had a pair of these displayed on her coffee table each Christmas. They had belonged to her family back when sleighs were the only available form of winter transportation. This style of saddle chimes is readily available online. Many of them come already mounted on a wooden stand, but someone took the time to have these beautifully mounted by a harness maker who included the appropriate harness hardware and an accent layer of patent harness leather. This display elevates these bells above any I have ever seen before.
There are many types of sleigh bells from body bands and hip mounts to shaft mounted bells. People have been using bells on their horses for millennia but they became associated with sleighs because of their use as a safety device. Those of you who live in snow country know how quiet the snowy landscape can be with all usual sounds muffled. Traveling by horse and sleigh there would be no tell tale hoofbeats and the sleigh glides silently over the snow. It would be sort of like cruising silently through a parking lot with a hybrid or electric car before they started adding the fake vroom-vroom noise to warn pedestrians. Bells were required so both pedestrians and drivers could hear sleigh traffic coming in the snow.
These saddle chimes would be mounted on the harness saddle and screwed down with the rein terrets. I have only seen saddle chimes depicted on pairs of horses. There was probably a protocol for what type of bells were appropriate to your rig depending on whether you had a one horse open sleigh or a pair, or draft horses with bobsleds. If there was, that tradition has been virtually lost to time.
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| Centerfold engraving from Harper's Weekly 1888 shows saddle bells with a feather plume fastened on top |
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| Full engraving Sleighing in Central Park, NY |
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| Sleigh and pair of Standardbreds in front of the Ahern Mansion Jamestown, NY Showing appropriately sized Body Bells |
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| Shaft Bells and Shoulder Bells |
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| Hubbard, Spencer, Bartlett and Co 1895 |
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| Hubbard, Spencer, Bartlett and Co 1895 |
Have you ever given any thought to how roads were maintained before the age of automobiles and plows? Both horses and sleighs require a fairly firm surface to travel on and this was achieved by packing the loose snow with a roller.
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| Oxen 1907 Now that would be slow going! Oxen are never in a hurry. |
The above photo comes from an interesting collection of snow roller photos
Growing up I had a couple of sleighs and used my great grandfather's sleigh bells many times.
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| My Great Grandfather's Bells We had them riveted onto a new strap by an Amish harness maker |
Good sleighing weather was single digits when the road salt stopped working and you could get a good hard packed road with a layer of fresh snow for hoof traction and no bare spots. If we had a snow roller we could have packed paths in the open fields because without packing the going is either too deep for the horse or the sleigh breaks through to wet ground which freezes ice to the runners.
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| My sister and I and Dandy Christmas Day 1985 |
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| Dusty and I at the Chautauqua Institution Sleigh Rally 1986 |
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| A few years later we purchased a calendar produced by a local artist and found she had used the exact same shot and changed the background to one of the quaint Victorian houses that the Institute is famous for. During the sleigh rally participants were encouraged to make use of the unsalted roads in the village. |
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| Oliver Christmas 1989 or 1990 |
At this age I am grateful for my remote car starter and am glad that I don't have to bundle up under a buffalo robe and travel to town by horse and sleigh. But nothing compares to the memories of gliding across the silent snow with the mellow sound of sleigh bells. Tomorrow is the winter Solstice. In merry olde England this was referred to as "midwinter" even though it is actually the first day of winter. Here in Western NY we feel like we have already had our share of winter weather. It is a good time to snuggle up with a warm drink and watch the snow falling gently outside. In the weeks to come we will begin thinking forward to spring and starting seeds and looking forward to warmer weather.
Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring tingle tingling too...
Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you!
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| Dashing Through The Snow by Jeanne Newton Schoburg prints available at Fine Art America |
There’s a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy
When they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie
It’ll nearly be like a picture print by
Courier and Ives
These wonderful days are the things we
Remember all through our lives!
