Merry Christmas To One & All 2014

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!!!

Silent Night

I have been working on this Santa for months and that doesn't count the many times over the years I have tried to do this project.  My knitting skills were not there to do the legs and arms with 7 stitches on 3 double pointed needles.  Yikes!!!  I had a friend get me started on one of them, but was able to do the rest of them myself.....not even sure how I was able to do that!

Then his little coat is done with two yarns called fair isle.....that was a first time for that as well.  But all in all, I learned a ton doing this project and he turned out pretty cute!  I need to find some "smalls" to fill his bag!

I have an open trunk with a tray in my living room, which I have set up with a little scene.....some vintage pieces and some new.

I was trying to take some pictures in the AV setting on my camera, where you focus for example on the church and it makes the background blur.  All I can say is epic fail!!!!  The pictures are lovely, just not the effect I was going for.

Quilts, dolls, Santa's & ornaments!

Lots of vintage toys under the tree, most came from my Grandma's.....the train was Jeff's as a boy.

The Nativity was my mother's and the figures are made out of chalk .....the little shed has straw glued on to the roof.  Love the Shiny Brite box in the background!

Toys from my Great-Grandma Rose Weaver....my dad remembers playing with them....

The Santa pop-up book came from Marian Spence's antique shop back in the day.  One of the many things I bought from her.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Battle of Franklin Tennessee

This fall we were able to visit the Franklin, Tennessee Civil War Battlefield. November 30, 2014 was the 150th Anniversary of this battle, so the whole area was geared up for that event.  We were not able to be there in November, but it was a great time in September to take in all of the sights and tours they had to offer.  I would highly recommend visiting Franklin if you love CW history.  Just one thing to know.....this battlefield is not supported by the National Park Service.  The locals have done all of this themselves through the The Battle of Franklin Trust.  So there is a cost to touring each site, but we were so pleased with everyone of our tour guides.  They had a passion for their local history and they wanted to share their knowledge and enthusiasm with us, as visitors.

Just to warn you this is a longer post with lots of links to read and check out.....if you like CW history, trust me you don't want to miss these stories they are all wonderful.  You might want to bookmark it so you can return later when you have some time to take it ALL in!

Tod Carter

Tod Carter has the distinction of fighting on the land of his father a few feet from the house he lived in prior to the war and where he was mortally wounded.  His family heard about it during the night and went looking for him on the battlefield.  He was found and taken to his home where he died a few days later surrounded by his family.  He was probably the only one during the war that was able to be with his family and die in their care.  Here is his story.

The battle lines were right through this area......it was hand to hand conflict, in the most horrible ways that come to mind where you read these words.....it was worse!

The buildings are riddled from shelling.....

This shows the battle line through the Carter farm.

 Carter House where the family and neighbors were all huddled in the basement....

I just found another great story from the Battle of Franklin on one of my genealogy lists.  It is a story of a half civil war boot!  Got your curiosity???  It did mine and I had to check out this story.  I love it how these things come to me, when I am planning on a posting!!!!

Carnton Plantation

This battle was so costly for the Confederate army, there were 4 generals bodies laid out in death on this porch in the aftermath.

There is a wonderful historical, fictional account based on the experiences of the family during this time by Robert Hicks, called The Widow of the South.  This house bears the blood soaked floor marks to this day in the upstairs bedrooms where they sawed off limbs and did surgeries for hours.

The largest privately owned confederate cemetery....where grave after grave are lined up.....many of them unknown.

Schofield marches his army up the main road, which is the highway into town now. 

At the end of these few hours over 9000 men were dead........

Another Dear Jane challenge for my Janiac followers....

I chose H-13 a super easy one for this time in December.

Writer's note the Dear Jane site is down at this time, I will link this block to the directions when the site is up and running again.