#to the antique store by my house... mwah...

[prettyvacanttt]

21 23 30 39 for the horror asks! mwah🖤

Ian!!!! Thank you so much omg these are so good ok

21. is there a scary story that really frightens you or that just really stuck with you? a legend, a myth, something purely fictitious?

So my family is full of crazies(as you know) who can talk to God and ghosts and see visions and so on so growing up spirit/alien/creature stories were told frequently and by both my mother and father's sides of the family. I'm gonna share two, starting with when my mother was a child. Her and my aunties bedroom had huge twin windows and they had a light on the front porch, so when someone walks by at night you could see the shadows from her bed. Usually nothing out of the ordinary walks by, some drunks or late night joggers, whatever. Well one night she can't sleep cuz the porch light keeps flashing on and off but nobody walks by...after this happens a few more times she has sworn on her dead father she saw a huge man with massive horns walk right past her house. Says she even heard it laugh in a deep voice as it walked by. She has soooo many good stories and she tells em better and spookier cuz it happened to her but this was the jist of it lol. My other favorite is when I was little and lived in North Carolina with my cousins my Uncle Kenny and their dad got chased by the devil that lives at the Devil's tramping grounds by bear creek!

23. what are some things that give you the total creeps? places, items, even certain times that you try to avoid whenever possible?

I mean I'm kinda weary about what I pick up at antique/thrift stores but that's rarely something I'm legitimately worried by. If I'm honest I know this is spooky themed but what I'm truly most weary about and what comes to mind first is being approached by a group of men when I'm alone. I'm sure you hear about all the crazy shit going on around town the last few years(not to say it was never a problem before, plus we're older so active consuming news daily sure helps lol) but I really don't wanna be fucked with while I'm just trying to shop or get gas that's why you gotta stay strapped!!

30. what have you always wanted to dress up as on halloween but never had the chance to do?

Ya know I've always thought I'd be a wonderful Morticia but I've just never put any effort into it...maybe this year though...

39. what do you think of modern horror? in general, but also in comparison to horror of the past?

So funnily enough I haven't seen a lot of the more popular newer horror movies like Us, Midsommer, Hereditary, Get out, etc. BUT I would very much like to watch them all at some point so most stuff 2018-present I'm not super familiar with atm but hopefully in the near future. I've seen plenty of wonderful horror films from all different time periods and I think they all have their own unique charm and tropes but what I really miss is beautiful horror films!!!! I loooooove the sensuality and colors and blood(and frequent lesbianism) in lots of movies from around the 70's but I also never get sick of 80's body horror! I'd complain about the constant and casual sexual assault/rape plots or scenes but realistically that part hasn't really changed much. I enjoy campy 90's, early 2000s horror and then the nasty age when they were pumping out Saw, Hostile, Final destination, the human centipede and so on. Every decade of horror has its pros and cons and you always wade through a few medicore ones before you find one that actually takes your breath away, but I think they're all enjoyable! When I was a kid I considered Alice in wonderland horror because imagine you are 8 and fall down a hole, no guardian to comfort you, and end up in a world where everything is terribly different and frightening and you can't do anything about it! Doesn't that sound scary?? Same with Labrinyth!! I feel like I'm just rambling at this point, I just really like the genre and grew up on it and both my parents love horror and it's just good lol

Thank you so much for choosing such thought provoking questions!! I actually had to think about these ones and I feel I didn't quite articulate as elegantly as I wanted considering how fast I typed this out but it was a lot of fun! So thank you and I hope everything in your life is good💖✨🔮

[reddirtramblings]

All around the house, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Although we Catholics are still technically celebrating the season of Advent, Christmas is right around the corner. Bill and I are throwing a party for some friends tonight. I haven’t had a Christmas party for anyone other than family in years. I’m pretty excited, so I decorated the house with almost everything I own. It’s been a blast to uncover all of my decorations and to pull growing bulbs from the greenhouse.

So far, I have amaryllis, orchids, hyacinths, non-stinky paperwhites and lily of the valley because blooming plants beat the winter blues. Only the amaryllis and orchids are actually blooming. The others are growing and will probably be ready by January’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day.

Lit-up 1960s Santa Claus with double-flowering amaryllis and paperwhites. I like to force bulbs indoors.

Our family party will still happen, as it always does, on Christmas Eve.

Shiny old International Silver punchbowl. I’ll dress up the table with a festive tablecloth. I hang my tablecloths in my spare closet to keep them from creasing so badly. My mother-in-law taught me that. I also now buy tablecloths with some polyester. I throw them in the dryer on refresh instead of ironing.

Bill and I found this silver-plated punchbowl at one of our local antique stores in Guthrie. The store is Magnolia and was named years before Chip and Joanna Gaines took their company to the national stage. The punchbowl belonged to a young woman’s grandparents. She didn’t want to polish it so it was languishing. I bought some amazing Wright’s Silver Cream, and Claire and I fixed it up in a jiffy. I’m going to serve Martha Stewart’s eggnog in it. Won’t that be splendid?

[Click on the photos in the galleries to make them larger.]

The Christmas tree is fully loaded and lit. This view is from the kitchen.

The Christmas tree from the front door.

The table behind the sofa has a poinsettia and a Tiffany-style lamp. The framed image says, “Joy.”

Poinsettia and indoor Christmas decor. Poinsettias are probably my favorite Christmas flower with amaryllis (hippeastrum) a close second. Isn’t it interesting that my two favorite holiday flowers are tropicals?

Christmas cactus, amaryllis (Hippeastrum) and paperwhites for natural decor next to the window.

I love poinsettias. My mom made the bowl, below, when I was in high school in the late 70s. It’s one of my favorite things, but I’m taking it to her apartment this week. When I helped her move a couple of months ago, I took her Christmas decorations and put them in a separate place in my closet. I accidentally didn’t get this one to her because it was in a different box. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Ha!

My mom was really talented at ceramics, and I’m grateful I have a Santa and a bell she made. I’ll need to give her bowl back.

Fun Santa pillow I found at Target.

My Mom’s Christmas poinsettia bowl she made in the late 70s.

Silver bell nativity scene a dear friend gifted me. I love polishing the bells and setting them out each year, and I say a little prayer for her family as I do.

Christmas tea set Mom bought me when my children were small.

Santa Claus made by my mom in the 1970s. Isn’t he adorable?

For the food, I made David Lebovitz’s spicy pretzel and nut mix, his green olive almond tapenade. I also took a play from his book L’Appart: The Delights and Disasters of Making My Paris Home. In France, hosts rely upon good food prepared by locals instead of making everything themselves which is a brilliant idea.

David Lebovitz’s nut-snack mix. The pretzels are gluten free, but you’d never know it. This stuff is like crack.

I bought a wonderful selection of hard and soft cheeses including a lovely brie that I’m going to top with honey, almonds, and amaretto on advice from my friend, Gabi. With it, I’ll serve the best gluten-free crackers, Simple Mills naturally gluten-free seal salt/almond flour crackers. All of Simple Mills’ flavors are great, but because I wanted the cheeses and olive tapenade to shine, I chose the sea salt ones, along with rosemary & sea salt ones. If you ever find their barbecue ones, get them.

My daughter, Megan, is making cherries in the snow, one of the prettiest and easiest Christmas desserts out there. She’ll make the angel food cake gluten-free with Kinnikinnick gluten-free angel food cake mix. Angel food cake is one of the easiest cakes to make gluten free because it is mostly egg whites and sugar.

This is our original nativity scene that I collected over several years when our children were young. Do you remember these?

Fitz and Floyd Santa from our daughter, Ashley, many years ago.

Swarovski crystal poinsettias Bill bought in New York. He fell in love with their sparkle.

My best friend, Aimee, is making gingerbread cookies. Yum. I have See’s almond covered toffee if I don’t eat it all beforehand. There are also sausage balls which I need to figure out how to make gluten-free. If I accomplish it, I’ll try to post the recipe here. We’ll also have a vegetable tray so we’re healthy. Insert laughing here.

Hyacinth bulbs starting to grow. They will smell so good after Christmas.

I’m serving some sparkling wines, iced tea, coffee, Coke and Sprite bottled in Mexico (with real sugar) and of course, eggnog. If anyone else wants to mix a drink, they are welcome to do so. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

What kind of parties are you having in the next few weeks?

This post is part of Carol Michel’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. Thank you for again hosting Carol. MWAH!

Also, this post does contain a few affiliate links from Amazon to help me pay for disk space to host the blog. I recently had to update hosting, and it does cost me monthly to maintain the space. After ten years of blogging, this little blog has become quite bloated, and I may be too after tonight’s party.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

  A little Christmas Bloom Day Decor All around the house, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Although we Catholics are still technically celebrating the season of Advent, Christmas is right around the corner.

#Holidays #Indoor decorations