Workshop Words

Let it Glow! Let it Glow! Let it Glow!

Ten days until Christmas! We’re due to have a Nor’easter tomorrow. That’s Maine-speak for a huge winter storm. It’s been snowing very steadily all month, so the entire Portland area is a winter wonderland. The weather can be very frightful, though! Thankfully, I put four brand-new snow tires on my little car. I can definitely tell the difference!

We are also fast approaching another late-December holiday of both scientific and spiritual origins: Winter Solstice. Next Saturday night, December 22, is the longest night of the year. The Winter Solstice is a special time of year celebrated by many cultures throughout the world. Many countries' modern winter holiday traditions have their roots in ancient Winter Solstice celebrations. Does your family have a special time set aside for celebration during the winter? It’s never too late to start a fun tradition!

Solstice means: "standing still sun." Such precision we have about it now! Winter solstice is when, because of the earth's tilt, the Northern hemisphere is leaning farthest away from the sun, and therefore: The daylight is the shortest. The sun has its lowest arc in the sky. A scientific reason for a much-revered phenomenon!

There are many things to do to celebrate the Winter Solstice and the holidays this year. Strengthen bonds with family and friends by visiting and/or exchanging gifts and greetings. Decorate your home with lights, greens, and holiday colors. Bless your home with a Yule wreath on your front door and sprigs of mistletoe inside. If you are part of a group, take up a collection of food and/or clothing at your Yule gathering and give what you collected to a social service agency to distribute to those in need. Place sunflower seeds outside for wild birds to feast upon. Greet the sun at dawn on Solstice morning by ringing bells. I’m sure you can come up with many other ways to honor the darkest night of the year.

Here at Sturbridge Yankee Workshop, we thank you for choosing our holiday gifts. Light the Angel Gourd Lantern or the Santa Gourd Lantern on December 22, to bring light to the long night. Our large Snowman Gourd is lighted from within, but don’t worry – he won’t melt! For a romantic solstice dinner, use our fun Wine Topper with two candles. And, toast marshmallows with our Iron Fire Fork, waiting for your mittens to dry on our Iron Drying Rack. It’s going to be a cold night.

But, I love the snow!

Counting Down to Christmas!

I hope you’ve been keeping an eye on the Weather Channel lately! Especially if you’re a fellow New Englander, we are receiving lots of snow. It was barely another inch of dusting last night, but it did make the roads slippery. I have yet to install snow tires on my car, which is not very smart! But my goodness, the snow makes our neighborhood very festive! My neighbor across the street has draped pretty white lights around their front door, and it’s fun to look at through my living room windows.

When England’s Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840, the handsome German royal brought with him some wonderful traditions from his native country. Setting up a Christmas tree and putting packages beneath is a German custom, as is following the fun Advent Calendar. Both of these practices have become part of the holiday celebrations, with the Advent Calendar being one that is particularly amusing.

The origin of the Advent Calendar can be traced back to the 19th century. Religious families made a chalk line for every day in December until Christmas Eve. The first known handmade calendar dates from 1851. But the colorful cardboard ones are from one hundred years later, in the 1950’s. The original scenes are very pretty, with idyllic snow-covered Swiss chalets, little towns, and special religious paintings. Behind the little doors, you might read a Bible verse or see a tiny hand-drawn picture. There are only twelve days to go – we’re halfway through the countdown already!

Did you know that World War II stopped the printing of Advent Calendars? The cardboard was one of the items that were rationed. Thankfully, production started up again in 1946, as soon as the war was over. Do you know what other items were rationed during World War II? Take a look at a list here. Hmmm – I think chocolate, butter, sugar, and flour were on that list. It’s a little difficult to make Christmas cookies without those ingredients! If you can, ask Grandma and Grandpa what Christmas was like during the war. It might put current holiday craziness in perspective!

These days, Advent Calendars are a fun family-centered tradition that kids especially love. It’s fun to open the little doors (or drawers) and either take out a special treat to eat or smile at the little picture. If you are handy with a needle and thread, then a homemade calendar would be cute, with little pockets to hold various trinkets. Or, test your knowledge of other cultures with this online version. And hey, who says the calendar is for Christmas, only? It might be fun to countdown to a special vacation, a milestone birthday, or the last day of school!

Our fabric Christmas Tree Advent Calendar has 24 little pockets for ornaments, and they stick on the tree with Velcro. By now, you should have twelve ornaments on the tree. Have you set up and trimmed your full-size Christmas tree, yet? We always had way more than twelve ornaments on ours!

Thank you for gift shopping with Sturbridge Yankee Workshop this holiday season!

Deck the Halls with Boughs and Bows

Whew, a very strong wind nearly blew me away this morning! December dawned cool and crisp, the ground frosted and the trees completely bare. Winter has come! We only had one tiny snowfall about two weeks ago, but nothing major yet. I need to make sure I have enough ice scrapers – those early Monday mornings can be brutal!

Many of my neighbors have put out fun Christmas decorations and lights already. My roommate came home with two gorgeous real balsam wreaths and we also set up the little plug-in Christmas tree. It’s so cute – three feet high and even has fiber-optic lights. I put it on a side table in the living room and draped a square of Christmas fabric as a tree skirt. Very festive! My mother was allergic to pine trees, so we never had a real tree growing up. It was kind of fun to go digging around in the cellar every year for our artificial tree, then set it up and straighten out the wire branches. No pine needles to clean up!

People have been celebrating with wreaths for hundreds of years. The traditional circle shape was originally a head adornment made of laurel leaves to celebrate Olympic winners in Ancient Greece. The Advent wreath has origins in pre-Christian culture as well. The practice of putting lit candles on balsam circlets came about as a practice to ancient deities as an offering to bring about the sunlight of warmer days.

The different types of greenery each have their own specific meanings in the origin of ‘holy days’ (holidays). Pine, holly, and yew symbolize immortality and cedar represents strength and healing. Pinecones, nuts and seedlings are about rebirth and life, popular themes this winter month! Ancient cultures celebrated the darkest night of the year with festivals about light and rebirth.

So, the tradition of decorating with a wreath, whether a bright green one wrapped in red velvet bows for your door, a fun one on your car’s front grill, or one as a table centerpiece with candles goes back a long way! Oh, and when the season has passed, use the old branches as protection for your garden. Your plants will thank you!

The Wreath Hangers are popular as well – choose the star, cardinal or tree for a decoration you can use year after year. The Cardinal Wreath is handmade as well with real dried flowers. The Magnetic Wreath Holder is also useful and holds up to 8 lbs. They are a festive way to display the natural beauty of the season!

Game On!

Good day! How was your Thanksgiving? I hosted it at my house this year for the first time, and I was exhausted! We had a great time, though, and the food was spectacular. Now, with ‘Black Friday’ behind us and the radio stations playing Christmas music, we’re less than one month away from the big day.

A fun holiday tradition for kids is to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. I will bet that many of them will ask for games! Let me know if you have ever heard of this phrase: “Do not pass Go! Do not collect $200!” Or how about this one: “It was Colonel Mustard in the hall with the wrench!” And this one is very popular, too: “King me!”

All of these familiar sayings come from board games. The above examples were from Monopoly, Clue, and Checkers. One of the most fun ways to spend time with your family during the holiday season is by playing a game together. My sister and I got the game Mouse Trap for Christmas one year, so we ended up playing it under the tree after we opened all our presents That was fun! Games are creative, challenge your brain power, teach life skills, and encourage learning without it being too ‘boring’ or ‘pointless.’

What is your favorite game? Is it a board game, an outdoor game, a card game, a game played on the TV, or a video game? Did you know games have been played for thousands of years in every culture? The game of checkers is one of the oldest, and its original name was Draughts. Cribbage and other peg board games have also been around for thousands of years. Some card games you can play by yourself, like Solitaire or Freecell (which are found on your computer, by the way!). Or you could grab a pen and paper for a quick bout of Hangman or Tic Tac Toe – both fun to play while waiting at a restaurant or doctor’s office.

So, if you have a task or chore ahead of you that you just don’t want to do, try making a game out of it. Using your creative thinking could turn it into something fun! And that’s the beauty of playing a game. For special game gifts under the tree this year, Sturbridge Yankee Workshop has you covered! Our Wahoo and Chinese Checkers games are patterned after 1800’s game boards. The State Fair Bingo Game is a winner, too, and it’s fun to turn the handle of the ball cage. Grab a high score with our baseball pinball games – are you a Red Sox or Yankees fan? Hang up our Billiards or Game Room signs for extra encouragement. Winter is coming and there will be plenty of chilly nights for playtime.

Tag – you’re it!

Sweet Holiday Scents

Amidst the mad rush of shopping, wrapping, and partying, it’s soothing and comforting to curl up with a mug of a warm, spicy-scented drink. The holidays would definitely not be the same without its lovely hot drinks. Spiced cider and mulled wine both owe their warm, cozy flavors to a group of spices known as mulling spices. Mulling is actually a centuries-old practice of infusing fruit and spice essences into heated drinks.

Have a tough decision to make? Try ‘mulling it over’ for a while, or ‘let it stew’ in the back of your mind. Both of these common phrases have been traced to the practice of mulling spices. You can find many recipes for mulling spices, but the most common include allspice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, star anise, and different dried fruit peels. Take a look at this page to see more choices: Mulling Spices.
There are actually a couple of ways you can infuse the beverage of your choice with the spices. One of the easiest is to gather them in a cheesecloth bag and simmer them in wine, cider, or fruit juice. The essences of the mulling spices create a complex undertone of spicy and citrus flavors, which complement the basic fruit elements of the mulled beverage. Once the cheesecloth bag has been removed, serve to your guests. A cinnamon stick stirrer adds a festive touch!

You’ve probably heard of the Christmas carol “Here We Go A’Wassailing.” It’s actually a drinking song! Wassail is one of the earliest spiced beverages, and the English would toast to good fortune in the new year. The traditional recipe included alcohol like wine or brandy. Another way to enjoy the same wonderful scents is to make a pomander ball. Push whole cloves into an orange until covered, roll the fruit in a dish of cinnamon, wrap with cheesecloth, and let it dry in a cool, dark place for about two-three weeks. Tie with festive ribbon and hang for an old-fashioned holiday decoration!

Here at Sturbridge Yankee Workshop, we have potlucks and parties to celebrate the holidays. It’s fun to bring in a crock pot and let the cider simmer for a few hours, filling the whole house with the rich, warm scent. I am hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year and can’t wait to try this! Keep the cider warm and add the spices in the cheesecloth. Your home will smell so inviting! Click here to see our Mulling Spices.

For even more wonderful scents, try our Home Scent Diffusers. The Balsam Tree and Pumpkin Pie scents are already popular. The Corn Cob tapers smell faintly of Chestnut, Cinnamon or Vanilla and would look festive as part of a centerpiece. Our Gift Basket contains scented starters for starting a fragrant fire in the hearth. For wonderful sweets to go with your spiced cider, try our Gingerbread, Sugar Cookie, and Cake gift sets. Don’t forget to enjoy quiet times with a Holiday Mug of cider!

Slainte – Gaelic word for Cheers!

Thoughts on Giving Thanks!

The story of the first Thanksgiving, a humble meal of root vegetables, oysters, and venison offered by the Native Americans to the hungry Puritans is amongst the most familiar tales told in America. It has been an indelible part of our country’s heritage, and was even recognized in a proclamation made by George Washington in 1789:

“Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States . . .”
George Washington, 1789

In his first year as President, Washington realized the unifying effect of having a national holiday unique to our fledgling country. But it would take another seventy years before it became official!

Thanksgiving in the early 1800’s was mostly a New England holiday, resembling something very similar to today. The ‘three sisters’ – corn, squash, and beans – were served alongside a typically bounteous harvest meal. This echoed earlier observances of Thanksgiving as a festival celebrating the autumn crop, represented by the cornucopia overflowing with fruits and vegetables.

During the Civil War, a woman named Sarah Josepha Hale wrote continuous letters asking for Thanksgiving’s recognition. Finally, President Lincoln honored her request and our first Thanksgiving Day was celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863. Incidentally, in the same month he traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to read a short address about the great battle.

“The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.”
Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863

May we all remember and be thankful for what we have. If you’d like to celebrate this wonderful holiday with festive décor, take a look at some of the things offered by Sturbridge Yankee Workshop. Our Cornucopia is bursting with fun colors and harvested grains. The Pilgrim couple is dressed in their 17th-century garb, cheery and fun to set up on your table or mantel. Display our Peacock platter proudly, a bird of plenty for the gathering of friends and family.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Gobbling up Turkey!

When Benjamin Franklin proposed in a letter to his daughter that the turkey was a more majestic national bird than the eagle, he could not have foreseen just how intricately tied to our American holiday the silly fowl is! But the birds in his day were wild turkeys, much different than the large, round fellows stomping around farmyards and woods.

Have you heard of the term Turkey Trot? According to history, this describes an annual English event that took place in the 1700’s. Turkeys were lined up and driven to market. Some intrepid owners even put little booties on their feet to protect them from the long journey. Later, it was adopted as a ragtime song my great-grandmother likely danced to. Read all about how to kick up your turkey feet and ruffle your turkey feathers at: Turkey Trot

I have a funny story that illustrates the ‘majestic’ personality of this quirky bird. I used to work at a gift shop on a farm. One hot summer afternoon, I left for just a short time, and when I came back Tom, the huge male turkey, had come into the shop! He’d pushed in the door all by himself and was waddling around, pecking at the gifts. Startled upon seeing me, he squatted and left a mess on the floor! Then he approached me, thumping his feet and bristling those ubiquitous tail feathers. I was not impressed, however. I opened the door and luckily, he took the hint and walked out. Nothing like shooing a 30-pound aggressive male turkey out of your shop to start the day! Tom roamed free on the farm, but turkeys are not very intelligent. In fact, the young poults will sometimes drown themselves when it rains. They point their heads skywards, open their beaks, and don’t have the sense to quit drinking! Pigs are much smarter, let me tell you!

In honor of our American holiday, hang the Benjamin Franklin print high above the Thanksgiving table. Our Large Turkey looks more inquisitive than the real bird, so set him up near the bountiful feast. Folk artist Laura Megroz has created another timeless design for the Turkey Pillow. You can put this one in your home, safe in the knowledge that he won’t mess on your floor.

Gobble gobble!

Fright Night Lights!

In my house, we actually don’t use our dining room table! Instead of a place to share supper in the evening, it has become a very convenient catch-all for all of the ephemera of daily life – papers, miscellaneous dishes nobody feels like putting away, the dog leash and credit card offers that flood our mailbox. Consequently, this poor table becomes a neglected eyesore, shoved in the corner of the dining room presenting a chaotic array of reminders that nobody ever has any time for.

This past weekend, I decided once and for all that I had had enough! I pushed back the curtains in the dining room and instantly flooded the room with October light. I opened the window to let in some unusually warm breezes. We are having a late fall heat wave here in Maine! I also dug out a stray garbage bag and purged the top of the table like my life depended on it. In a way, our inner lives DO depend on a tidy and thoughtfully decorated home. How else can we wade through all the clutter?

After I cleared off the table, I found a pretty placemat striped russet and green. I rummaged through our Halloween things in the cellar and pulled out dangling rubber skeletons, a glass hurricane lamp with a candle, some dried apple rings, little candles in cups, and a big orange bowl. A quick trip to the grocery store revealed fun and cheap finds, including four tiny round pumpkins, dried cranberries, and old-fashioned candy treats.

My errand complete, I arranged the candle cups, skeletons and bowl into a pleasing arrangement on my autumn placemat. I filled the candy bowl, lit the candles and turned off all the lights in the house. Now, I could truly celebrate the spooky, ooky, oh-so-gooky season. I love Halloween.

Care to mosey on over to our Halloween items and create your own centerpiece arrangement? Hang our Autumn Wreath (a bestseller!) indoors to keep it fresh and fall-ish year after year. The Corn Cob tapers and Skillet holder bring an old-fashioned charm to an All Hallow’s Eve table. Fill our Frankenstein Candy Dish with treats, and set him up near the Gourd Lantern Witch for company. Then, Turn out the lights and smile a jack-o-lantern smile at your decorating skills.

Oh, I can’t wait for the trick-or-treaters!

Grinning Gourds and Happy Jacks!

As the jeweled leaves sprinkle onto the grassy lawns everywhere, I am looking forward to an annual tradition that I’ve been participating in since before I can remember – heading out to a pumpkin patch to pick the perfect pumpkin! As kids, my sister and I noticed there were two distinct shapes of pumpkins – the ‘Bert’ and the ‘Ernie.’ You can tell we were fans of Sesame Street! The ‘Bert’ shape is tall and narrow, and the ‘Ernie’ shape is short and fat. ‘Berts’ are good for carving skulls and owls on branches, while the ‘Ernies’ are great for harvest moon scenes and really wide grins.

This is the perfect time of year to pick your pumpkins. Did you know the pumpkin is actually a very tender vegetable? The seedlings can be easily damaged by a frost, so don’t plant them until you’re sure they won’t freeze. Some actually make it to giant-size, lolling about in the green-stalked pumpkin patch. Have you seen them at a county fair this fall? The blue ribbon winner this year at the Cumberland County Fair, held just north of our location here in Portland, Maine, weighed over 1130 pounds and won $500! That’s some vegetable!

I could not pass up the chance to go see a beautiful field of yet-to-be-carved grinning orange beauties this year! Pumpkins come in all kinds of colorful varieties – have you seen the ghostly white ones? They would look great grouped next to the orange faces on All Hallow’s Eve. The Jack O’Lantern has an interesting history – the original carved vegetable was actually a turnip. Read about the story here.

Gourds, the jack o’ lantern’s distant relative, are part of the cucumber family! Not hard to see the resemblance with all those knobby bumps. Definitely the wackiest members of fall’s harvest, gourds have been hollowed out, dried, and used by Native Americans for centuries. They’re waterproof, which makes them great for storage containers. Take a peek at the local farmer’s market and see if you can find the Cannon Ball, Crown of Thorns, White Egg, Aladdin’s Turban, Striped Pear, and Orange Warted varieties.

Our large and small Ghost Gourds combine both the pumpkin and the gourd in funny spooky shapes. Laura Megroz chose a black background and a fuzzy wool-hooked design for the Pumpkin Pillow, a Sturbridge Yankee Workshop best-seller. Hang up our funny-faced ceramic Jack o’ Lanterns with matching flickering tealights. I love their kooky expressions! Check out our new reduced prices!

See you at the pumpkin patch!

Fall’s Harvest Bounty for Your Table!

Welcome to October! This is my favorite month of the year. I detect a certain spookiness in the air, a ghoulish howl of the evening wind, empty branches tapping against the glass. Thrills and chills for the month of All Hallow’s Eve!

Passing through the country roads of Maine, I see a lot of hand-lettered signs for “Pick Your Own Apples” and “Pumpkin Patch Up Ahead”. These remind me that it’s a perfect time of year to both show off your culinary skills and use local ingredients for your table. Even at the neighborhood grocery store, I see apple cider stocked on the shelves, fresh doughnuts from the town bakery, and cans of pumpkin for pies.

It’s fun to pull out the traditional family fall recipes and go gather the ingredients! The best part of the meal is the dessert, of course! Have you made your first pie of the season? Pumpkin is my favorite, but my family also dishes out pecan, apple, and even squash pie! Here is a recipe for it. Does anybody else have a sweet tooth like me? Did you know Sturbridge Yankee Workshop sells bakery mixes from Lollipop Tree? Click here for our complete selection of all natural mixes from one of New Hampshire's premiere kitchens.

Decorating your fall table for entertaining and celebrations has never been cheerier than with our Quilted Leaf Placemats. You get a set of four, one each in burgundy, green, ochre, and rust. Hang the “Eat, Drink & Be Merry” sign so all can toast and give thanks around the table. Our Harvest Colander, perfect for holding washed fruits, is sweet enough to use as a centerpiece. Fill our Berkshire Iron Basket with crisp Macintosh or Red Delicious apples to whet your appetite for the pies to come! Bon appetit!