"White Christmas" -- Rosemary Clooney

"I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, just like the ones I used to know . . ."   Everyone knows the lyrics to that song written by Irving Berlin in 1940 that was introduced in the movie "Holiday Inn" two years later.  Bing Crosby recorded it on Decca Records and it became the biggest selling single - ever!  In 1954, the movie "White Christmas" was released and starred Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen.  In December of that same year, my parents and I went to New York City by train.  It was the first time for all of us to go there and we did all the "tourist" things even though it was the coldest we had ever been!  Staten Island and the Statue of Liberty, Chinatown, the tree at Rockefeller Center, the Empire State building, the subway and lights, lights, lights everywhere!!!

One of my fondest memories of that trip was our visit to Radio City Music Hall and watching the Rockettes dancing across the stage dressed in red velvet outfits with hats made of red petals and green leaves so that they looked like poinsettias. The movie playing -- "White Christmas" of course.  It was magical.  The lights, the sounds, the music -- I was in awe of everything!  And as a young child I thought that Rosemary Clooney was so beautiful and I became a life-long fan of hers.

As a collector, it seemed only natural that I save and keep all kinds of pictures, articles from the old fan magazines, records, etc. and I placed them in scrapbooks. Many years later, I was able to meet Rosemary and we became good friends.  She was funny, honest, sensitive, a good judge of character, loyal to her family and friends and her career continued through the years and latest over 5 decades.  I was so fortunate to know her.  One night at dinner I told her of my extensive collection of her memorabilia -- she found out that I had some items that even she didn't have and was delighted when I gave them to her.  One thing in my collection was an original vintage movie poster from "White Christmas".

This framed poster now is one of the first items that I bring out for Christmas no matter where we have lived or what the decor style.  It is such a huge part f my childhood memories and my friendship with Rosemary.  She signed it "And may all your Christmases be white -- With Love, Rosemary"

Vintage collections, Ottawa, IL

Today, a friend and I played "Thelma and Louise" (without the packin' heat part) and took a road trip to our farm. I consider myself an avid collector -- a collector in the first degree -- C1.  She, however, is 3 times better (or worse depending on your perspective) than I am so I would put her at the C3 level.  She "gets me" and my addiction and never questions my love of old primitive items or my desire to go look at "just one more thing".  Since C3 had never been to the farm, it seemed that a grey rainy day was the perfect time to go.  I don't think either of us stopped talking long enough to take a breath during the entire trip!  As I drove into the farm, the mailman pulled in behind me and told me that I had 2 years worth of mail that they had been holding for me.  What?  I sent a change of address notice when I moved 2 years ago but they swore they had never received it.  Now I ask you, how ironic is it that the post office lost the mail I sent to notify them of my move? After the house tour, we went to the post office and picked up the first class mail that had been saved -- Christmas cards from 2011, several bills that were past due (obviously!), 2 birthday cards from last year (apparently not close friends since they didn't know I had moved the year before!), and numerous other things that were out of date and long overdue.

Then the fun began.  I took C3 to a little sandwich place in Ottawa, IL called The Cheese Shop.  Someone stayed up all night thinking up that name because . . . it was actually a place that made cheese on the premises many years ago.  Duh! When we walked in the door, C3 went nuts!  We were both starving but she completely forgot about food when she saw all the collectibles in this place.  The owner was a huge collector and took the dining tables, covered them in green felt and placed his collections inside then built a frame and covered it with glass.  What a unique dining experience to sit there and see and discuss the memories these items invoked.  Nostalgia at its finest!

My husband was an avid fisherman so I was immediately drawn to the vintage reels and lures.  The orbs are from the overhead lights and I had trouble getting the shots without the reflection.  Sorry.

There were hundreds of milk bottles in all shapes and sizes.  We were interested in the cases that had been built specifically to hold the cream pitchers -- each marked with the name of a different creamery.  Most of these were from IL and neighboring states but others were from much further away.  I had not seen this type of labeled pitcher before and they were almost all in brown with a sponge ware affect.  You can be sure that I will look for these from now on!  I love the size and colors and the history -- wonder how many I have passed up because I didn't know what I was looking at?  And if you are in the area, the food was delicious and they had hundreds of unique spices and edible things for sale.  The fudge was tempting but we were good and left it for someone else to enjoy.   I had a great time and hope that she did too!