My final two ornaments for 2024 and a visit to the Black Forest

And here we are... nearing the end of November already! I just wanted to pop in and wish all of my U.S. readers a very Happy Thanksgiving. Are you ready for the big day? I have one more pie to make (I've already made a pecan pie and apple/cranberry pie and will make a crustless pumpkin pie tomorrow). I also made a few kinds of cookies as well as pumpkin cranberry bread and applesauce mini-muffins. That is my favorite thing about the holiday season (besides getting together with my family!)--baking, baking, baking!

This is such a busy time of year so I chose to make my final two ornaments quick ones. I just love this pair from the Prairie Schooler booklet "A Merry Mini Surprise," don't you? For both ornaments, I changed the colors a bit. I used the traditional PS red, DMC 221, and for the green, I used DMC 3362. Like the first ornament I made from this booklet, I chose to finish them into rounds so I added various snowflakes to form a circular shape.

Two more mini Prairie Schooler Santas for 2024

I chose the Santa carrying the bag of Christmas greens to stitch for my November ornament. The little embellishment on the ribbon is made up of some small leaves that I removed from my dried boxwood wreath, three artificial berries, and a solitary jingle bell. I just glue them on to the ribbon one piece at a time using Aleene's Tacky Glue.

My November ornament

And finally (hard to believe another year of ornaments is over), here is my December ornament. Good Old St. Nick has certainly earned a rest after a busy night of delivering toys to all the good little boys and girls and has taken off his cap. Have you ever seen Santa without his cap? I thought he might be bald, but no--he has a full head of beautiful white hair! I imagine him as waving goodbye to the old year. A very fitting December ornament, I'd say!

And my ornament for December--farewell 2024!

I'll be writing my annual "Parade of Ornaments" post soon where I'll show each of my monthly ornaments for the past year--hope you'll come visit me then!

The next leg of our Rhine River cruise finds us in the beautiful...

Black Forest area of Germany

Oh, I just loved this day; after all, I was in my happy place--the mountains! Once again, it was not the best weather--the day was chilly and foggy with a bit of rain, but we still enjoyed our day in the fascinating Black Forest Open Air Museum at Vogtsbauernhof. To give my U.S. friends an idea of what this was like, it was similar to visiting Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia--only much older. The buildings that had been assembled on the 17 acre grounds were moved from various parts of the Black Forest to represent different time periods and building styles. There are lovely little cottage gardens and farm animals spread throughout along with educational displays and exhibits. Here are some of my favorite sights--hope you enjoy them! If you click on the names of the various houses, you can see more photos of the interiors of each one. And, as always, the photos themselves are clickable for a more detailed view.

The bus driver told us that this was one of the very oldest homes in the Black Forest. It is still inhabited after centuries of use and he said the old man and woman who reside there will sometimes come out to wave to passersby.

I thought this photo that I took from the bus window on the way to the open air museum resembled a watercolor landscape.

The inviting entrance to the open air museum at Vogtsbauernhof

The idea for the open air museum began with this  farmhouse called the Vogtsbauernhof. It is the only building still standing on its original site and dates to the year 1612. The interior decor was left much the same way as when the last owner moved out in 1965. Not exactly what one expected to see when entering a 17th century home!

This trio of geese was quite entertaining as they honked at us tourists!

The "Little Castle" from Effringen is the oldest of the buildings dating back to 1407. It is quite shocking to wander inside and see that the home is decorated in the style of when the last owner left in 1972! Imagine the harvest golds, oranges, and greens that were popular back in the '70s and you can picture it quite well.

I love everything about this scene--the ivy covered walls, crumbling stone, potted red geraniums, and the watering trough. Memories from long ago.

Such a sweet scene from the white-curtained window. I imagine it is much as it has appeared for centuries.

The Ortenauhaus built in 1775 is the only building built strictly as a dwelling place for families. In the other buildings, the farm animals occupied the lower floor! Can you imagine the sounds (and smells!) that must have drifted upward into the family's living quarters?

What a tidy little garden. I imagine it must have been very pretty when it was in bloom.

A view of the Ortenauhaus outbuildings through a massive wooden door.

The Leibgedinghaus, built in 1652, was what a typical retirement cottage would look like. The farmer's children were obligated by law to house their parents when they became too old to work the farm and would move them into a home like this until they died. You can see some of the interior shots above which included an eating area and a bedroom.

The bright red geraniums found on many homes added  spots of color to the cloudy day.

The Hippenseppenhof represents the oldest type of Black Forest home with the steeply pitched roofline. Note the crucifix displayed on the exterior. We saw similar scenes on many of the homes in this area.

The upper floor of the Hippenseppenhof building had several display areas illustrating the history of this particular section of the Black Forest. The interesting hats pictured above are called Bollenhut which translates into "ball hat." The red balled hats were worn by unmarried Protestant women beginning in the mid-18th century. Married women wore the ones with the black pompoms. The hats consist of 14 of the fluffy balls arranged in the shape of a cross. There is a short 20 second video right here, if you'd like to see them (and the rest of these fascinating costumes) up-close.

The upper floor also held a collection of carriages from years passed.

Just a few of the farm animals we met on our walk that day.

The Hippenseppenhof even had its own tiny chapel where the farmer and his family would gather to recite their daily prayers.

I so enjoyed walking the grounds of the open air museum at our own pace and not following a tour guide. I honestly would have been happy to spend more time there, but, as always, we needed to be back on our ship in time to sail for the next port. Before we left, we were treated to a wonderful lunch complete with the famous Black Forest Cake! We also spent some time in the gift shop selecting presents for our family and admiring the spectacular cuckoo clocks which lined the walls. I was tempted to purchase a small one as my mom and dad always had a tiny one in the corner of our kitchen that I fondly recall. But, in the end, I decided to simply remember theirs...

Just a tiny portion of the the hundreds of cuckoo clocks that were for sale.

It was such a lovely day in spite of the gray misty weather! The mountains always bring me a sense of peace not unlike the times I sit down to stitch.

Farewell Vogtsbauernhof--we certainly enjoyed our visit.

Did you enjoy the Black Forest visit today? I hope so! I may take a break from my river cruise posts and get back to them in January. The coming month is just so very busy, isn't it? I still have posts set in Switzerland and Italy to share with you--it was a very busy 2 1/2 week tour for sure! The main reason I write about them is so I'll remember more of the details in my old(er) age, but I hope you get something out of them as well.

And now we move on into December! Are you ready for the big day? I'm way behind having had Thanksgiving hosting duties, but I can't wait to pull my decorations from the attic and get started decorating on December 1st. I'll be simplifying things this year as my sons will all be with their significant others (although I'm sure my middle son who lives locally will stop by for a while with his girlfriend so we won't be totally alone). I may even get a new Christmas stitching start going! Who knows... Anyway, I hope your last month of 2025 is a good one (it seems like I just wrote that about 2024!). Thank you so much for stopping by, taking the time to leave such kind comments and write such nice emails--I appreciate each and every one! Happy Thanksgiving all! Bye for now...

Wishing each of you in the U.S. a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with friends and family!