Stocking Stuffers

I'm not sure what converted me to the Christmas Spirit this year.  I'm thinking it might be the "Christmas Magic movies" (my sister's term) I was watching the week before Thanksgiving. 

This year, I'm in the mood for an old fashioned Christmas.  Budgets this year have been stretched thin and gift lists are getting more and more expensive.  I think I remember when my parents started to go through the same thing.  I remember fondly when my elder sister and I begged for our first "stereos."   No way, no how.  We didn't need our own turntable.  We could always use my parents' in the Living Room.  Fast forward to Christmas, they were there on our "Santa pile."  What a great surprise!

For my kids this year, it's the electronics that are killing me.  Despite those requests, I want them to experience some gifts that are old and nostalgic. Those toys I could play with forever.

So to bring that to our house, I think I'll pick some of these up -- hopefully at our local stores, and I'll skip the socks and undies in the stocking that my husband keeps threatening!  My mom never did that to us, that I recall, but I did get a tangerine in the toe of my stocking!

Here are some oldies but goodies you can still buy.  What toys do you remember?
 





Jacks!

Slinky!

Fortune Telling Fish!

Tiddlywinks

Balsa Wood Airplanes!

Amazing Elastic Plastic!

Pick-up Sticks!

Parachute Soldiers!













Wind Up Pecking Bird!














Gymnastic Monkey Sticks!

Collapsing Animals!

Flipping Spin Top

Clackers

It's me!

I have had this blog for years, but never put anything much on it.  So today I introduce myself.  I'm a mom who works full-time with three children and a pretty great husband.  My life is a mess, though...literally.  I'm not organized like I would like to be and I can think of a million things that need to happen before housekeeping does.  I love organization, but I just can't seem to develop systems that work for me and my family.

I travel with my job, so when I'm away, things get even messier with all of the household duties falling on my husband, who is amazing at keeping things together.  I love old fashioned things and doing things the old way...but I sometimes cheat! 

When we bought our 1920's house, we filled it with some antiques of the time along with modern conveniences that seemed to fit.  I never really want my house's contents to look like it doesn't belong in its bones, but I also don't want it to look stuffy or uncomfortable.

I have three children...14 year old twins with a cheerleader and a football player, and a 12 year old sports statistician in the making!  Anyone who knows me from school is probably laughing, because I was always more a sports spectator than participant.

I'm hoping to use this blog to store my ideas, my favorite recipes, and my projects.