A NEW ADDITION TO MY COLLECTION

 I haven't begun my Christmas decorating yet, but thanks to three things that arrived today, they gave me a little push…starting with a Christmas Angel that I have temporarily put on the mantle with my other collection of dogs.  The dogs were a gift from son many years ago (you may remember this story as I have mentioned it before).  He bought them while away on school trips (two different ones) to England when in high school.  We both love dogs and these are dressed in costume.  I added the King Arthur dog on the right, and the Guardsman on the left, and that was the end of my collection, unless I see something that really jumps out at me when I am looking around.  Angel is in good company at the moment.  

She is holding a sign that says, "Peace on Earth", which is why I wanted to have her on the top of our tree.  I forgot to mention she is a tree topper.   We need her message for everyone's sake, and for our children and for our children's children.  Time to sow some love into the air and spread it wide.

Of course, I had a little playtime.  The country scene background is actually the village I lived in when I met Gregg (also mentioned before).  The church you see is the one where we were married.  I found a lady online who lived in that village.  She painted the most wonderful scenes from my area, and I contacted her and bought a print.  She sent it to me in one of those heavy-duty packaging rolls, I had it framed and it has been over our mantle ever since.

I used my ArtCard app next but not too much of a change.

I have a painting in another room, also showing the English countryside, and a small village, but have no idea where this particular one is located.  I also bought it many years ago, from a shop that sold British items in a nearby town, long since closed.  There's a bit of a story to it.  A couple of years after I had bought it, I was offered a job in a small British tearoom in yet another town several miles away, and a wonderful lady we all thought the world of, was the owner.  

One day she and I were talking art and I told her about the painting I had bought a couple of years previously.  She laughed when I described where the shop was located, as she and her brother were co-owners.  It was miles away from this place.  She also remembered my painting.  Talk about a small world story.  She passed on a few years ago but I remember her fondly and I think of her when I look at the painting in the front room.  My little Angel shows some of that particular painting in the photo below.

The next photos show two new Christmas Tree ornaments.  The first one portrays Clara holding the toy Nutcracker that comes to life in her dream.  I would dearly love to see that ballet live, but content myself with watching it online these days.

Next is a ballerina from The Nutcracker's Walz of the Flowers.

I haven't started a new collection in a long time, but I will be buying another couple of Nutcracker ornaments next year.   

I will be sure to take photos of these when the tree gets decorated properly.  Gregg will be bringing it up from the basement tomorrow.