April Rudolph Day

[SparkleNana]

Hi. Today is Easter 2012! And.... Easter is a big family holiday...... which gets me THINKING about "family holidays"..... and.... CHRISTMAS!

So... it is a good time.... to start our April Rudolph Day thread. Have you been celebrating Rudolph Day... for a while? For months? For... years? It is.. years... for me. And.... the Rudolph Day activities have changed, a lot, over the years.. Things have, gradually, become more.... "simplicity oriented".... for me. Probably.... that is... because dh and I are in our 70's... and our children are grown and have established their own families. The grandchildren are having more of their own school-and-friend activities. So... dh and I... naturally... try to accommodate everyone's activities. Dh and I have far fewer demands on our time... than anyone else in the family.

Rudolph Day... I think... carefully... about financial demands..... "Real life" financial demands.... as well as the special extra things for Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years celebrations. I have time to think about my and dh's winter wardrobes.... because... we are NOT going to try to be "up to the minute" in fashion... at our age. And.... we had better NOT grow.... because that would be growing "out"... not "up"!!!!!

It is very fun and happy to think about Christmas 2012 on Rudolph Day.. AND... throughout the month. It is a different stage of life..... from the "working and raising children" stage.

OK, enough about me. How about you????

 

[MaryE]

Hello SparkleNana

Happy Easter to you, too. We had a fun family day, but now we are back home and hubby and I are having our own "down time." I did a little quilting--working on piecing a Halloween quilt for my dining room table--and thinking about Christmas and Rudy Day in April. What's a Christmas lover to do?! I see April Rudy Day's theme is "Christmas Dishes." Now that's a fun topic! I love to take a picture of our dinner table each year, It's fun to change it up a little even with the same set of dishes. Enjoy your week--it's spring break time here--and come visit my blog if you get a chance. www.scraps-and-quilts.blogspot.com .

 

[Saquilla]

Happy Easter ladies!

I have been vaguely thinking about April Rudolph Day. It is the month to consider Christmas dishes, and for me it's not just about the dishes - it's about the whole setting.

I would like to get a set of white dishes, which I can use for multiple events. I would also like some new cutlery. I do have some nice cutery, but it is not enough.

Also, I would like to think about my colour scheme for the table setting. I am going to try to have Christmas dinner outside this year. My back garden should be in a condition to do so by then (hopefully!), so I will take that in to consideration.

 

[AuntJamelle]

Hello all!

I have recently had the recurring thought that I want to be working on Christmas things by Easter time and Easter things by Christmas time.

There are a lot of crafts and things to plan for both holidays!!!

Christmas dishes are not as much of a priority for me right now. I think I've given away most of mine to Goodwill - but I really couldn't say. If not, I'll try to sell them in May's garage sale.

Plain white dishes are the way I want to go too! Just not in the budget right now. Except, it does occur to me that I love the look of "mismatched" white plates. I've got 6 right now in a couple of different patterns - just the raised embossed patterns on the plates vary a bit.

Most of them came from the $ store and I might try to browse for more as I visit periodically to stock up on cleaning supplies and other things I go there for.

We have a beautiful wooden dining table that DH built which I don't like to cover - although I may try my hand at making a runner this year...I would probably cut down one of the never used holiday table cloths to do it.

I have chargers I never use but it might be fun to get those out this year. At least for one event. Maybe I'll set a nice little table for my wrapping party guests this year, leaving the big table free for wrapping presents.

I've trimmed down my dishes supply so much, trying to simply things.

My remaining April Rudolph Day focus will be crafts, Crafts, CRAFTS! I have the tools, in most cases I have most if not all of the supplies and I just need to make them!!!

Instead of sitting and watching TV every night after DS goes to bed (bad habits!) I am trying to sit in my craft room and work for a while. So far so good!

 

[Ahorsesoul]

Some very good ideas here.

Christmas dinner outside sounds like so much fun.

 

[luludou]

No way dinner outside over here!! it'll be too cold

I'd love to do some napking rings though. I too will focus on crafting this month. I have to look in my Christmas notebook - I know I wrote tons of things for each Rudy day.

 

[Saquilla]

LOL! My main motivation for an outdoor Christmas dinner is keeping the living area relatively organised! I only have a small house, and lots of people in a small area can be quite stressful to me! Especially considering the dinner table, kitchen and tv area are joined together!

 

[Colleen in PA]

I am determined to actually CELEBRATE Rudy Day this month! For my holiday dishes, I purchased salad/dessert plates from the Portmerion The Night Before Christmas set a few years ago after the holiday at 75% off. I love them! Each plate has a line from the poem on it and a beautiful picture from the story. My regular china has a green band with gold edging around the dinner plates, so they look great together. Since I got married late (in my 30's) my husband and I already had everything we needed to set up house, so most people gave us china, crystal or silver...and we use them all. My mom always said that precious things are meant to be used and enjoyed, not just gathering dust in a cupboard!

For Christmas Eve the table setting is a navy tablecloth with a white lace overlay in a snowflake pattern...and all white dishes. these are actually our everyday dishes from Crate-n-Barrell. DH and I both had a set before we married. They are slightly different, but I just alternate the settings.

One thing that I'm always on the lookout for at places like Goodwill, Homegoods, TJ Maxx etc. are one off holiday dessert/salad plates. I use them to give cookies to friends and family...a little something extra with the goodies. Sometimes I can find really nice platters, too...cheap!

OK, I need to give some thought to HOW I'm going to celebrate this month...I think a good movie is in order!

 

[aggy]

This month Rudy Day is the same day as Administrative Assistants Day. So whatever gift my boss decides to give me this year, I'm going to treat it like a Christmas gift.

I have been thinking about Christmas these past few weeks but am not sure what I'm going to do. For the last two days I have been listening to Christmas music on my PC at work. Yesterday was so blazing hot (90 degrees) that listening to Christmas music helped to take my mind of the heat.

 

[housewife2]

i watched charlie brown christmas to feel the snow because it was so hot yeterday too. even though i like getting a tan when im though dont want to be hot.

 

[MaryE]

hmmmm..I'm also thinking about Rudy Day as it's a week away. I like the bare wood table with Christmas table runner idea. I love my wood table! My DIL had very festive Easter napkin rings, and new napkin rings would be a very fun idea. I wonder how my Byers Carolers would look down the center of the table. Would it be odd to have those little faces staring at you through dinner? I'm in a quandry!

 

[missjane]

I have three sets of Christmas dishes. Last year I set a much simpler table. I need to decide what I will use this year and what I need to fo with it. Setting the menu will also help me decide. We celebrate Christmas with our children and grandchildren on Christmas morning, so we have a brunch-type menu.

 

[Saquilla]

I'm celebrating Rudy Day early today, since I'll be working on the 25th and I'm home all day today (love those days!)

I'm about to stocktake my Christmas Dishes, and I'll write down the measurements. It will be easier to plan what goes in each that way, when I get to menu plannnig

I'll also check my cutlery and crockery to see how many place settings I have, so I know what needs to be bought when I know how many people I'm having over for Christmas Dinner. Last year I had some mismatched plates other things. It would be nice to have everything matching.

 

[SparkleNana]

RAin.... rain.... rain.... is predicted for this weekend! A very cozy time.. to celebrate April Rudy Day! I'll work in the guest room/office and think "winter thoughts"!

 

[luludou]

Rain-rain-rain here too SN
But I guess housework & springcleaning will take most of my time. I'll try to get in som RD fun.

 

[aggy]

Couldn't get in the mood yesterday. The sun was so bright and warm. Also tree cutters were directly behind my apartment cutting down trees. Now I have a clear view of the street and homes behind my building.

Today is a different story. I woke up very cold and had to turn on the heat for a bit. I pulled out my Christmas notebook and will make a cup of hot chocolate and see whats.

 

[MaryE]

April Rudy Day

Well, I typed up my draft for Wednesday's Rudy Day post. Guess I could stay up until 12:01 on Tuesday night to post it....I want it to have the 25th on the post. I actually found photos from Christmas' past of my table, one of the breakfast table set for 2, and another for a Christmas tea set for 6 ladies. And I actually have my dining room table set for 4 for Christmas dinner now. Hubby thinks I've lost it ;-).

My theme is Williamsburg Christmas, and I might go out and buy some bright red apples to make my apple cone. It's simply not a Williamsburg Christmas without it!

I'm sure hubby and I will watch a good Christmas movie too. Oh, and I've been making Christmas cards!

Looking forward to Wednesday, I'll post again with the link when it's up and ready. Mary in VA

 

[luludou]

MaryE would love to see those pictures. You certainly are in the spirit of things

 

[Minta]

Yesterday was very chilly, over cast with scattered showers. Had to turn the heater on! Felt very much like a fall day instead of spring day. I had an unexpected day off from work due to a flat tire. I made perfect use of the day. Popped in an orange spice tart in the tart warmer and watched Home Alone 2. Also tried a new recipe for Chicken corn chowder for dinner last night, tweaked the recipe a bit but it turned out really good so I added that to my recipe book.

 

[MaryE]

I saw santa today!!!

Yes, I know I'm shouting, but you won't believe this...I was sitting at the doctor's office, in front of a roaring fire (it's 59 degrees here today near Richmond Virginia) reading my December copy of Christmas Cottage magazine, waiting for my dh....when in walks Santa (on his day off, obviously!)! I could NOT believe it! He was wearing blue jeans, a light denim color t-sheet (maybe he's a little tired of the red?) and had that gorgeous head of long white/gray hair not to mention his gorgeous full white beard!

And yes, it is April 24th today!

I suppose he must be here visiting relatives? In my imagination, I'm thinking, rats, I forgot the camera, or I would ask if he would come sit by the fireplace and pretend he was reading my magazine so I could snap a quick photo. Hubby says, not to worry...we can set the photo up and he'll play with photoshop a little bit and swap heads.

By the way, Santa wasn't there long enough to see a doctor, so he wasn't sick--not to worry!

And then, in the parking lot near Benjamin Frankin is a trailer with all sorts of cast aluminum figurines on it marked "for sale" including a REINDEER!

A Santa sighting AND a reinderr sighting all in the same day! How fun was that!
Mary in Richmond VA
who is getting ready to assemble her Williamsburg apple cone