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Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
For nearly a year Lettice has been patiently awaiting the return of her beau, Selwyn Spencely, son of the Duke of Walmsford, after being sent to Durban by his mother, Lady Zinnia in an effort to destroy their relationship which she wanted to end so that she could marry Selwyn off to his cousin, Pamela Fox-Chavers. Now Lettice has been made aware by Lady Zinnia that during the course of the year, whilst Lettice has been biding her time, waiting for Selwyn’s eventual return, he has become engaged to the daughter of a Kenyan diamond mine owner whilst in Durban. Fleeing Lady Zinnia’s Park Lane mansion, Lettice returned to Cavendish mews and milled over her options over a week as she reeled from the news. Then, after that week, she knew exactly what to do to resolve the issues raised by Lady Zinnia’s unwelcome news about her son. Taking extra care in her dress, she took herself off to the neighbouring upper-class London suburb of Belgravia and paid a call upon Sir John Nettleford-Hughes.
Old enough to be her father, wealthy Sir John is still a bachelor, and according to London society gossip intends to remain so, so that he might continue to enjoy his dalliances with a string of pretty chorus girls of Lettice’s age and younger. As an eligible man in a aftermath of the Great War when such men are a rare commodity, with a vast family estate in Bedfordshire, houses in Mayfair, Belgravia and Pimlico and Fontengil Park in Wiltshire, quite close to the Glynes estate belonging to her parents, Lettice’s mother, Lady Sadie, invited him as a potential suitor to her 1922 Hunt Ball, which she used as a marriage market for Lettice. Selwyn rescued Lettice from the horror of having to entertain him, and Sir John left the ball early in a disgruntled mood with a much younger partygoer. Lettice recently reacquainted herself with Sir John at an amusing Friday to Monday long weekend party held by Sir John and Lady Gladys Caxton at their Scottish country estate, Gossington, a baronial Art and Crafts castle near the hamlet of Kershopefoot in Cumberland. To her surprise, Lettice found Sir John’s company rather enjoyable. She then ran into him again at the Portland Gallery’s autumn show where she found him yet again to be a pleasant and attentive companion for much of the evening.
Sir John also made a proposition to her that night: he offered her his hand in marriage should she ever need it. More like a business arrangement than a marriage proposal, Sir John offered Lettice the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of his large fortune, be chatelain of all his estates and continue to have her interior design business, under the conditions that she agree to provide him with an heir, and that he be allowed to discreetly carry on his affairs in spite of their marriage vows. He even suggested that Lettice might be afforded the opportunity to have her own extra marital liaisons if she were discreet about them. Turning up unannounced on his doorstep, she agreed to his proposal after explaining that the understanding between she and Selwyn was concluded. However, in an effort to be discreet, at Lettice’s insistence, they are not making their engagement public until the new year: after the dust about Selwyn’s break of his and Lettice’s engagement settles. So, Lettice and Sir John have gone on about their separate lives, but in the lead up to Christmas they invariably ended up running into one another at the last mad rush of parties before everyone who hadn’t already, decamped to the country to celebrate Christmas.
Today we are at Glynes, the grand Georgian family seat of the Chetwynds in Wiltshire, and the home of Lettice’s parents, the presiding Viscount and Countess of Wrexham and the heir, their eldest son Leslie and his wife Arabella. Lettice is visiting her family home for Christmas. She motored down to Wiltshire with her old childhood chum, Gerald, also a member of the aristocracy who has tried to gain some independence from his family by designing gowns from a shop in Grosvenor Street. His family, the Brutons, are neighbours to the Cheywynds with their properties sharing boundaries. That is how Gerald and Lettice came to be such good friends. However, whilst both families are landed gentry with lineage going back centuries, unlike Lettice’s family, Gerald’s live in a much smaller baronial manor house and are in much more straitened circumstances.
It is Christmas morning 1924, and we find ourselves in the very grand and elegant drawing room of Glynes with its gilt Louis and Palladian style furnishings where the extended Chetwynd family is gathered around the splendidly decked out Christmas tree. Present are the Viscount and his wife, Lady Sadie, Leslie and Arabella, Lettice’s elder sister Lalage (known to everyone in the family by the diminutive Lally), her children, Lettice’s nephews and niece, Harrold, Annabelle and Piers, the children’s rather crisply starched nanny, and this year, Arabella’s mother, Lady Isobel and her brother, Nigel, Lord Tyrwhitt who have come the short distance from the neighbouring property adjoining the Glynes estate to the south, Garstanton Park, the grand Gothic Victorian home of the Tyrwhitts. The only members of the family not present are lally’s husband Charles and the Viscount’s sister, Eglantyne (known affectionately by the Viscount’s children as Aunt Egg) who have gone to enjoy the elicit pleasure of a cigarette together. Lady Sadie does not approve of men smoking indoors, much less her emancipated sister-in-law, so she will not counternance either of them smoking in her drawing room, even on Christmas Day. None of the family’s faithful retainers are present, as the tradition is that servants are given Christmas Day off after breakfast until the late afternoon, when they return and prepare to serve the family’s Christmas dinner in the Glynes dining room.
“Oh I am glad that Pater invited Nigel and Aunt Isobel over here for Christmas.” Lettice says with a smile as she watches Nigel help clear space on the Chinese silk drawing room carpet for he and Lettice’s nephew Harrold to play.
Last year Lord Sherbourne Tyrwhitt died suddenly, thrusting his wife, Lady Isobel into the role of widowed dowager and catapulting his unprepared eldest son, Nigel, into the title of Lord Tyrwhitt, and the position as a lord of the manor, one that Nigel felt quite ready for.
“Well, with just the two of them rolling around that big, empty and cold mausoleum over the knoll,” Leslie replies, referring to Garstanton Park as he waves his hands in the house’s general direction. “And Bella here with me, it only stood to reason. Bella can be with her mother,” He looks lovingly over at his wife who sits at the feet of her mother, Lady Isobel, resting her head on her knee like a child and smiling contentedly as the pair of them watch Nigel play with Lally’s children, Lady Isobel unconsciously stroking Bella’s raven waves. “And besides, Garstanton Park is too full of sadness for them to actually enjoy Christmas there this year. Better they be here with us where there is plenty of cheer and the sound of children’s laughter to distract them.”
“Agreed, Leslie. And we do have fun every year, don’t we?”
“I always look forward to you and Lally coming home for Christmas every year.” He sips coffee from the dainty gilt demitasse in his hand.
“What, even now that you have a beautiful and captivating wife on your arm, Leslie?” Lettice asks in mild disbelief.
“Of course I do! I mean, Bella is my wife, but you are my sisters, and that makes your homecoming pretty special, Tice.”
“Oh, don’t let Bella hear you say that too loudly, Leslie.” Lettice giggles. “She’ll get jealous.”
“I say Tice old girl,” Leslie remarks quietly with a solicitous tone as he takes a seat beside his little sister on one of the elegant gilt upholstered Louis Quinze drawing room sofas, cradling his cup of coffee. “I hope you won’t mind me saying this.”
“If you start off the conversation like that,” Lettice replies warily. “I shouldn’t wonder if I won’t.” Her pretty blue eyes widen over the edge of her own larger cup as she takes a sip of tea.
“I was only going to say that I think you’re being remarkably brave and stoic about all that rather beastly business with Selwyn Spencely.” Leslie admits, giving his sister a guilty sideways glance.
“Oh that!” Lettice replies, lowering her teacup into its saucer and waving her hand dismissively.
“Now don’t be like that, Tice.” Leslie chides. “In this case, despite whatever advice Mamma may give you as a jeune fille à marier*, false modesty doesn’t suit you. I may be a little biased,” He blushes as he speaks. “But I just want you to know that I think Spencely is a fool to let you go like that. He hardly needs the money that will accompany this diamond heiress into their marriage.”
“Kitty Avendale.” Lettice interrupts, uttering the name of the only child of Australian adventurer and thrill seeker turned Kenyan diamond mine owner, Richard Avendale, which was linked to her former fiancée.
“Whatever her name is, I wish Spencely no joy from the marriage.” Leslie spits hotly.
“Shh, shh,” Lettice hushes her brother calmly, placing a hand on his left forearm and giving it a gentle squeeze. “You don’t mean that Leslie. I know you don’t.”
“Oh don’t I?” Leslie mutters.
“Of course you don’t, Leslie.” Lettice replies resolutely. “You are my kind and gallant eldest brother, and therefore far too good hearted to wish him ill like that. I certainly don’t want Selwyn to be unhappy with his choice of a wife. He has enough to deal with, what with his horrible mother, whom he doesn’t have a choice not to have.” She sighs. “Anyway Leslie, it doesn’t matter now.” she adds, unable to quite hide the sadness in her voice, or the half-hearted smile on her lips. “It is all in the past.”
“Well, all the same I think Spencely is a cad and a bounder, so there it is! I’ve said it now.”
“Then let us say no more about it, Leslie.” Lettice holds up one of her elegant hands delicately in an effort to put the matter to bed. “After all, it is Christmas, and Christmas is supposed to be about kindness and good will to all men, is it not?”
“I suppose so.” Leslie agrees begrudgingly. “Still, I do think that after your initial reactions when that harridan of a mother of his sent Spencely away, you’ve been remarkably calm and good about it all.”
Like she did with her sister a few weeks before, Lettice longs to confide in her elder brother about her recent secret engagement to Sir John Nettleford-Hughes. Of all her siblings, Leslie is the one she feels closest to, in spite of the fact that he is the eldest and she the youngest child of the Viscount and Lady Sadie. Leslie has always been her protector, especially when it came to their brother Lionel and his ceaseless teasing and tormenting of Lettice when they were children, and he is the one who understands her the best. However, she also knows that like her sister and the rest of her family, Leslie would consider her sudden engagement on the heels of Selwyn’s abandonment of her a rash reaction. Unlike Lally, Leslie doesn’t entirely dislike Sir John, but he is well aware that he is a philanderer and does have a penchant for younger women, having witnessed Sir John leave Lady Sadie’s 1922 Hunt ball with a much younger female party guest on his arm after Lettice spurned his romantic overtures. Lettice suspects that if Leslie knew about her secret engagement, he would pressure her to break it off, and at the moment she is still too emotionally fragile and raw from Lady Zinnia’s revelations that she would not be able to refuse him. She knows, deep in her broken heart, that her reasoning behind keeping her engagement a secret until after the dust settles on her break with Selwyn is wise and sound, so once again she keeps her own counsel and remains silent on the matter of her engagement.
“In fact,” Leslie goes on, not noticing his sister’s deeply ponderous look as she carefully turns her head and looks at the beautifully decorated Chetwynd family Christmas tree covered in gold baubles and tinsel. “I’d go so far as to say you have been rather sporting about all this.”
“Well,” She takes a deep breath. “As I was saying to Lally a fortnight ago when she came to stay with me in London, it was never a definite thing that Selwyn was going to come back to me after a year. And with Selwyn’s absence for that long, I didn’t feel this ending quite so acutely, as I did his departure.”
As Lettice takes another sip of her tea, she is amazed by how quickly she has become accustomed to lying about her true feelings for Selwyn and his abandonment of their engagement. Her mother, Lady Sadie, sitting across from her in her usual position in the armchair closest to the drawing room fireplace, has schooled her well.
“Now, I’d like that to be an end of the matter, Leslie.” Lettice goes on steadfastly.
“Well…”
“At least for today, Leslie.” Lettice implores. “It is Christmas Day after all, and I want it to be happy one for the children – for us all.”
“Alright, Tice old girl.”
“Good, Leslie, old chap.” Lettice replies gratefully.
Lettice turns her attention to the tumble of beautiful new toys and brightly coloured discarded Christmas wrapping that litters the floor around the gaily decorated Christmas tree. Amidst it all, Lally’s children and Nigel play with their new toys. Lettice’s eldest nephew, Harrold, guides his smart new racing motorcar over the terrain of books, boxes and gold wrapping with Nigel’s assistance, whilst Annabelle, Lettice’s niece, picks out characters to play with in her new puppet theatre. She smiles with delight as she takes up one of Little Red Riding Hood carrying a basket, frozen forever in a skipping motion. Piers, Lettice’s youngest nephew, at the age of two, is still very much more interested in the colourful and noisy Christmas paper, which he crinkles up with glee, although Lettice has noticed that he is developing an affinity for the large brown mohair plush bear with the big red bow that his mother and father gave him for Christmas.
“You win again, Tice my dear.” Lally remarks as she stalks across from the tea table where she has just poured herself a fresh cup of coffee.
“What on earth do you mean, Lally?” Lettice asks, looking up at her sister, still dressed, as they all are, in a suitably sombre outfit worn to the Glynes Church of England Christmas service a short while ago. They will all change shortly into lighter and happier outfits before luncheon in the dining room.
“That of course,” Lally nods in the direction of the puppet theatre. “Aunt Tice may not live with us, Leslie, but she knows how to win my children over in a trice.”
“Oh Lally!” Lettice says dismissively. “That’s not true! Look how much Piers loves the bear you… err Father Christmas… gave him.”
“That’s only because he is still too young and remains immune to your charming gifts.” Lally laughs. “He still prefers the boxes they come in.”
“Come now, Master Piers,” Charles and Lally’s nanny fusses as she scurries over from her place standing next to the Christmas tree, watching the children like a benevolent angel in her uniform of a black moiré dress and a white apron. She tries to take a piece of metallic pink Christmas wrapping from his tight grasp as he tears it. “Give that to me. Give that to Nanny.” she cajoles.
Lettice, Leslie and Lally all watch with concern as little Piers’ face screws up and suddenly starts to redden with anger as his nanny tugs at the paper.
“It’s alright, Nanny dear.” Lally says swiftly, quick to avoid the potential of a two year old’s tantrum in the Glynes drawing room on Christmas Day.
“But Madam!” Nanny exclaims, a disgruntled look crossing her face as she feels undermined by Lally.
“He’s not doing any harm, Nanny. Let him play with the paper if he fancies it. At least it keeps him quiet, and my father,” Lally points to the Viscount’s slumped figure nestled into the corner of another of the Louis Quinze sofas. “Is having a morning snooze. Let him do so in peace, please Nanny.”
“Oh! Very good, Madam.” Nanny replies with frustration, retreating to her place, muttering as she does so.
“Well done, Lally, old girl!” Leslie says with approval.
“Ahh, ahh.” Lally cautions her brother light heartedly. “Less of the old thank you.” She self-consciously pats her sandy blonde hair streaked with grey, still set, albeit not as smartly as it had been, in a style similar to that which the fashionable London West End hairdresser had set it a few weeks beforehand when she stayed at Lettice’s cavendish Mews flat.
“It’s all this new small talk, Lettice brings with her from London,” Leslie defends himself. “It’s ‘old boy this’ and ‘old girl that’. It’s… it’s catching to we provincial county folk!”
“I say!” Lettice pouts. “That’s jolly unfair, Leslie, blaming me for your choices of language,” She pauses and then adds for effect, “Old boy.”
Lally gives her brother a sceptical look and shakes her head slightly.
“Poor Pater.” Lettice sighs, nodding in her father’s direction. “Playing Father Christmas seems to have worn him out this year.”
“Well, he’s not getting any younger.” Lally opines. “None of us are.”
“I think Pappa’s tiredness has more to do with Reverend Arbuthnot’s dreary and long Christmas sermon this morning.” Leslie suggests. “Than his age.”
“Oh yes, he did go on rather, didn’t he!” Lettice exclaims, raising her hand to her mouth covering what started as an imitation yawn, but then turned into a real one. “I thought he would never finish.”
“Well, isn’t that what the Reverend is supposed to do, Tice?” Leslie asks. “Pontificate I mean.”
“You’re only defending him because he married you and Bella.” Lettice retorts.
“Well, pontification to excess is not a quality I greatly admire in our Reverend Arbuthnot.” Lally opines in a definite tone. “I think I might have screamed if I heard him say ‘love thy neighbour this Christmas Day’ one more time.”
“I should have liked to have seen that!” Lettice giggles. “Imagine Reverend Arbuthnot’s face!”
“It might have woken up a few of the parishioners.” Lesley laughs before sipping some more coffee from his cup.
“Including Pater.” Lettice adds.
“Well, Mamma managed to stay awake throughout the sermon this morning,” Lally remarks. “And she doesn’t usually rise before ten o’clock. Yet look at her now, bright as button.”
The three siblings look at their mother who, dressed in a smart navy blue and pink floral patterned georgette frock with a lace collar, sits and speaks earnestly with her granddaughter, twisting her long ropes of pearls cascading down her front in her hands as Annabelle discusses which characters are best to have in her puppet show cast.
“Well, to be fair, it was Pappa who did the hosting of the carol singers last night in the hall.” Leslie says.
“What rubbish!” Lally scoffs. “We all went in and hosted them. With Mrs. Maingot leading the carollers and riding high on the crest of success of her latest Christmas panto,” She rolls her eyes sarcastically. “We could hardly leave her for Pappa to manage alone.”
“She can talk for hours without taking a breath.” Lettice agrees. “In fact, I don’t think she would even notice if everyone walked out of the hall and she was on her own, she’s so self-obsessed.” She turns to her brother. “Now she’s a pontificator if ever there was one!” She gives him a knowing look and nods.
“I think Bramley enjoyed giving out the snifters of brandy to all the carollers.” Lally adds, referring to the Chetwynd’s faithful butler. “Just like he did in the old days.”
“By the way,” Leslie asks. “Do you know who decided to revive the tradition of having the second Christmas tree in the entrance hall?”
“What does it matter, Leslie?” Lettice asks.
“Well, it’s just that Pappa stopped doing it the year after the war broke out, and I didn’t authorise it.”
“Do you need to authorise it?” Lally queries, arching her expertly plucked eyebrow as she looks to her sister. “It is just a tree after all.”
“I’m just saying, it does create a bit of a mess.”
“I’m sure that Bramley, or more likely Moira as head parlour maid, sweep up the dropped needles and dried candlewax, Leslie, not you.” Lally laughs.
“And now the word has spread that its back again, all the village make a pilgrimage to see it every Christmas now, which means we’re forever hosting groups of visitors in dribs and drabs nearly every night in the last few weeks before Christmas. Even with their beastly head colds, the Miss Evanses trudged up from the village.” Leslie adds, mentioning the two genteel busybody spinster sisters who live in Holland House, a Seventeenth Century manor house, in Glynes village. “Snuffling and coughing all over the place.”
“Well aren’t we full of Christmas cheer, dear brother?” Lally remarks sarcastically.
“Didn’t you hear Reverent Arbuthnot’s sermon this morning?” Lettice adds cheekily with a smirk. “Love thy neighbour this Christmas, brother dear.”
“Now don’t you start!” Leslie replies, wagging a finger warningly at his sister, but the happy glint in his eyes betrays the fact that he isn’t really cross with her.
“As a matter of fact, I think, I did.” Lally says.
“Did what?” Leslie asks.
“Revived the Christmas tradition of the second tree in the hall. I mentioned it to Pappa after Harrold asked me about the red glass baubles amidst the Christmas decorations.”
“No, we both did, Lally.” Lettice defends her sister. “After Harrod asked us about the decorations a few Christmases ago. What, 1922?”
“No,” Lally corrects. “It was 1921, because we were talking about the Hunt Ball Mamma threw for you in 1922.”
“That’s right! It was 1921. Anyway, regardless of when we mentioned it, I for one am not unhappy about the resurrection of that particular Christmas tradition at Glynes.” Lettice nods. “I think it looks wonderful in the hall, all sparkling with tinsel and glass baubles and lighted candles, greeting guests and family alike. It’s good to bring some joy and cheer to the villagers, even the Miss Evanses and Mrs. Maingot.”
“I agree, Tice.” Lally adds with a smile. “It seems to me like the world is finally coming out of the shadows of the war, so we should do our part to make the world bright, especially at Christmas.”
“In fact,” Lettice giggles. “You could make the world even brighter, and have no candle wax for Moira to scrub off the marble floors if you bought those electric faerie lights Lally and I saw in Selfridge’s windows a few weeks ago.”
“You can’t have Little-Bo-Peep and Little Red Riding Hood in the same play, Belle!” Harrold’s voice complains, his whining tones piercing the siblings’ conversation.
“Yes! Yes, Sadie my dear.” the Viscount mutters with a snort, awoken from his slumber by his grandson’s cries.
“Why not, Harrold?” Annabelle cries petulantly.
“Because you just can’t, Belle!” Harrold spits back.
“Harrold!” Lally exclaims.
“Says who?” asks Annabelle, folding her arms akimbo and pouting.
“It’s ‘says whom’, Annabelle dear.” Lady Sadie, always the instructress, corrects her granddaughter from her seat.
“Says whom, then?” Annabelle glowers at her elder brother.
“Harrold!” Lally says again.
“Well it’s true Mummy!” Harrold retorts. “They come from different stories. Tell her!”
“Harrold that’s not the point.” Lally says sternly. “Now apologise to your sister.”
“But I…”
“Harrold Cosmo Lanchenbury!” Lally says sternly, using her son’s middle name, given in honour of his grandfather, the Viscount. “Apologise to your sister at once.”
“Shall I take him upstairs to the school room, Madam?” Nanny pipes up with eagerness from the shadows cast by the shimmeringly beautiful Christmas tree.
“No!” Lally snaps with steely resolve, causing the older woman to shudder slightly at the sharp rebuke from her employer. Lally recovers herself immediately and continues in a softer voice. “No, thank you, Nanny. That won’t be necessary.” She looks at her son seriously. “Harrold is old enough to know when he has spoken out of turn, and gentlemanly enough,” She emphasises the last two words as she speaks. “To know when to apologise.”
“What’s this?” Aunt Egg asks she and Lally’s husband, Charles, walk back into the Glynes drawing room after finishing their cigarettes in the library.
“Lally darling?” Charles asks, taking in the scene with his son standing next to the Christmas tree amidst piles of presents, red faced next to his sister who is obviously upset, whilst Lally stands over them and the rest of the family look at him from their respective seats. There is a tenseness in the air. “What is it? What’s going on?”
“Nothing that I can’t manage Charles.” Lally replies calmly. “It’s fine.”
“It doesn’t appear fine to me, darling.” Charles replies in concern.
“Harrold and Annabelle were just having the fiercest argument, Charles dear,” Lady Sadie adds a little nervously. “Weren’t you, my lambs? And Harrold was just about to apologise to his sister.”
On cue, Piers, who until this time had been happily playing without compliant by himself releases a loud and unhappy bellow.
“Oh. Take Piers up to the nursery, Nanny.” Lally hisses in frustration.
“Yes Madam!” Nanny says smiling with satisfaction as she scuttles and fusses her way noisily through the presents and wrapping to where Piers sits. She coos as she picks him up, sweeping him into her arms and carries the snivelling child towards the drawing room door.
“Come here my lambs,” Lady Sadie says, opening her arms and encouraging the two remaining children to come over to her as she sits on the edge of her gilt chair. “That’s it.” She envelops them, winding an arm around each of them as she guides them to stand facing one another to either side of her. “Now, look at Grandmamma, both of you.” Both children lift their lolling heads and downcast eyes and gaze into their grandmother’s face. “You know that Christmas is a time of traditions, don’t you?” Both the children nod, Harrold slowly and Annabelle more animatedly. “We have a plum pudding today, which Mrs. Casterton makes for us every year on the twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity*** with thirteen ingredients which represent Christ and the twelve apostles.”
“Yes Grandmamma.” Annabelle answers sweetly. “You and and Mrs. Casterton let us stir it.”
“That’s right, Annabelle.” Lady Sadie goes on. “You stir it east to west to honour the Magi****, and that is part of the tradition too.” She sighs deeply. “And you know that you receive gifts, as we all do, just as the Christ Child did when he received gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh from the Magi. That’s a tradition too.”
“Yes Grandmamma.” the children murmur, their voices the only things to break the silence of the room except for the quiet ticking of the clocks on the mantle and sideboard, the contented crackle of the fire in the grate and the distant wailing of Piers down the hall as Nanny takes him upstairs.
“And the carol singers come and join us in the hall just out there on Christmas Eve,” Lady Sadie points one of her diamond adorned gnarled fingers to the doorway which Nanny slipped out through with Piers in her arms moments ago. “And we sing beneath the Christmas tree. You restarted that tradition Harrold. Do you remember?”
Harrold nods. “Mummy says that Grandpappa stopped it when the war broke out, Grandmamma.”
“And so I did, Harrold my boy.” the Viscount concurs from his corner of the sofa. “But you restarted it, and by Jove we all enjoy it, don’t we?”
“Yes Grandpappa.” Harrold replies.
“And Mrs. Maingot delights us every year with a new Christmas pantomime.” Lady Sadie goes on, her words resulting in a smattering of stifled sniggers and quiet gasps of horror from the adults around her, all of whom witnessed the embarrassing scene of Mr. Lewis the church verger reprising his role Dame Trott***** in Christmas 1924’s performance of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ in the Glynes village hall a few nights ago. “You enjoy them don’t you, my lambs, because they are magical?” When both children nod affirmatively, Lady Sadie beams and rubs their backs kindly. “And every year, Harrold, she mixes up all the characters to make the pantomime as magical as she can, and that includes breaking a few rules and taking characters from some stories to add to the one she and the Glynes Village Players are performing.” She pauses for a moment and then looks at her grandson. “So, young man, when your sister says that she wants to put Little Red Riding Hood and Little-Bo-Peep into the same play she is performing with her lovely new puppet theatre, she is entitled to do so. Don’t you think so?”
“I suppose so, Grandmamma.” Harrold says somewhat begrudgingly.
“Now, correct me if my observations are wrong, Harrold, but could it be that you are just a teensy bit jealous that your sister is making all these plans for her grand play and not including you too?”
“Maybe, Grandmamma.” he replies very quietly.
“More than maybe, young man!” Lady Sadie withdraws her right arm from around her grandson and squeezes his chin, which is fast losing the fat of childhood as he starts to grow older. “Grandmamma knows your heart better than you do; I think.” She chuckles. “Now, I have a proposition for the two of you children.” She claps her hands together animatedly. “Annabelle, if Harrold apologises to you, will you let him help you put together your play?”
“Oh yes Grandmamma.” Annabelle exclaims, crouching down slightly before rising up on her toes in a gesture of pride and happiness. “I’d love that!”
“And Harrold, would you like to help Annabelle put on her play for all of us?” Lady Sadie asks her grandson.
“Yes Grandmamma.” he affirms with a beaming smile.
“Then apologise to her, and you can both get on with it then!” the old woman says matter-of-factly. “It will be no time at all before we go in for Christmas luncheon, and I for one, want a show before I do.”
Harrold apologises to his sister immediately, and as if a magic spell has been cast, the two siblings hurry back to the puppet theatre and begin pulling out as many of the characters that came with it as they can find amidst the paper and other presents, giggling and chatting as if nothing had ever been awry between them.
“There!” Lady Sadie says to her startled family around her as she rises from her seat with a dignified nod. “Crisis averted! Peace is restored. Merry Christmas to all, and good will to all men.”
“Mamma!” Lally gasps as her elderly mother starts to walk proudly and purposefully across the drawing room carpet.
“What, Lalage?”
“Well, you amaze me, Mamma.” she says in surprise. “I never realised that you were such a consummate diplomat!”
“Yes, I suppose my diplomacy skills are a little wasted here.” Lady Sadie replies with a sigh a she looks around at all the awestruck faces watching her. Then with a very straight face as she goes on, “I should have married the Viceroy of India whilst I had the chance, but I married your father instead, so that’s an end to it.” She walks through the audience of her family, all with eyes agog and mouths hanging slack as she moves amongst them. “Now, after that crisis aversion, I think I might be entitled to a glass of sherry. Charles!”
“Sadie?” her son-in-law queries.
“A sherry for me, if you please.” She pauses. “But just a small one, mind you.”
“Yes Sadie.”
Lady Sadie turns back to her three children present in her house this Christmas. “Anyone would think I’d never managed a squabble between siblings at Christmas before. I’ll have you know that when you three were little, even without the eager and willing assistance of your dreaded brother, you all used to fight and argue on Christmas Day!” She points her finger at them, her diamond and sapphire ring glittering as she does. “And that was a Glynes Christmas tradition too!”
“Mamma!” Lettice gasps in surprise.
Lady Sadie accepts the proffered small glass of sherry from her son-in-law. “Now, if you would all excuse me. I’m going to take my sherry upstairs and have a little lie down before luncheon. Your father isn’t the only one who found Reverend Arbuthnot’s Christmas sermon a little tiring this morning. If one of you would kindly send Baxter up to me when the children are ready to show their play, and I’ll come back down after she helps me change for luncheon.”
And without so much as a glance back at her surprised family, Lady Sadie walks out the door of the drawing room, smiling with amusement as she does.
*A jeune fille à marier was a marriageable young woman, the French term used in fashionable circles and the upper-classes of Edwardian society before the Second World War.
**A pantomime (shortened to “panto”) is a theatrical entertainment, mainly for children, which involves music, topical jokes, and slapstick comedy and is based on a fairy tale or nursery story, usually produced around Christmas.
***Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
****The Magi are also known as the Three Wise Men or the Three Kings, who are the distinguished foreigners who visit Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh in homage to him.
*****Dame Trott is the long suffering mother of Jack in the Christmas pantomime of Jack and the Beanstalk. She is outrageous, brash and loud, and traditionally played by a man in drag.
This fun Christmas tableau full of festive presents and wrapping may not appear to be all you think it is as first, for it is made up of pieces out of my miniatures collection.
Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
The books unwrapped for Christmas here are all 1:12 size miniatures made by the British miniature artisan Ken Blythe. Most of the books I own that he has made may be opened to reveal authentic printed interiors. In some cases, you can even read the words, depending upon the size of the print! I have quite a large representation of Ken Blythe’s work in my collection, but so little of his real artistry is seen because the books that he specialised in making are usually closed, sitting on shelves or closed on desks and table surfaces. What might amaze you is that all Ken Blythe’s opening books are authentically replicated 1:12 scale miniatures of real volumes. Not only did Ken Blythe create books, he also created other 1:12 miniatures with paper and that includes the wonderful puppet theatre you see here. The theatre includes scenery like cottages, hills and trees, three different backdrops and over a dozen characters including Little Red Riding Hood, the Big bad Wolf, Little-Bo-Peep, Cinderella, Prince Charming and the Faerie Godmother from Cinderella, Jemima Puddle Duck and Mother Goose. To create something so authentic to the original in such detail and so clearly, really does make them all miniature artisan pieces. Ken Blythe’s work is highly sought after by miniaturists around the world today and command high prices at auction for such tiny pieces, particularly now that he is no longer alive. I was fortunate enough to acquire pieces from Ken Blythe prior to his death about four years ago, as well as through his estate via his daughter and son-in-law. His legacy will live on with me and in my photography which I hope will please his daughter.
The beautiful teddy bear with his sweet face and red bow, the boxed doll, the toy motor car and the knights jousting all come from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop in the United Kingdom. The lead knights have been painstakingly painted by hand with incredible detail and attention paid to their livery.
The Chetwynd Christmas tree in the background, beautifully decorated with garlands, tinsel, bows and golden baubles is a 1:12 artisan piece. It was hand made by husband and wife artistic team Margie and Mike Balough who own Serendipity Miniatures in Newcomerstown, Ohio. Margie and Mike Balough also made all the beautifully wrapped Christmas gifts gathered around its base.
The discarded pink and gold Christmas wrapping on the carpet of the drawing room are in reality foil wrappers from miniature Haigh’s Chocolate Easter Eggs.
The gilt salon chair is made by the high-end miniature furniture maker, Bespaq, but what is particularly special about it is that it has been covered in antique Austrian floral micro petite point by V.H. Miniatures in the United Kingdom, which makes this a one-of-a-kind piece. The artisan who made this says that as one of her hobbies, she enjoys visiting old National Trust Houses in the hope of getting some inspiration to help her create new and exciting miniatures. She saw some beautiful petit point chairs a few years ago in one of the big houses in Derbyshire and then found exquisitely detailed petit point that was fine enough for 1:12 scale projects.
The three piece Louis XV suite of settee and two armchairs was made by the high-end miniature furniture maker, JBM.
The Persian rug on the floor has been woven by Pike, Pike and Company in the United Kingdom.
inspired by and reimagined
“Magic doesn’t always roar — sometimes, it giggles and waits to be noticed.”
When the moonlight touches the nursery floor, toys whisper and the box begins to glow.
From within rises the Playtime Familiar — a fluffy guardian of laughter wrapped in a bunny hood, its emerald eyes sparkling with childlike wonder.
It calls softly, not with words but with joy — “Come play with me.”
Around it, plush bears nod and trains hum as the night fills with warmth and mischief.
For in this room, even magic has a bedtime story.
🔹 Done in AI, Refined in Topaz, Finalized in Photoshop
🎠 By Amon the Purple – Tales of Whimsy & Wonder
Angel Gonzalez, 4, plays with his plush bear in the stands at Honey Bowl Stadium in Uvalde, where the Uvalde Coyotes played their first home game of the football season on Friday night, Sept. 2, 2022, just over three months after 22 students and teachers were gunned down at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Uvalde won the game over Eagle Pass Winn, 34-28.
Taken at this years annual Sand Sculture's 2012....
Brief Description From The Sculpture :
ALTHOUGH TOY BEARS SEEM TO HAVE BEEN AROUND FOREVER, THE FIRST ONES WERE MADE IN 1902. IN GERMANY, MARGARETE STEIFF , A DISABLED SEAMSTRESS WITH A SOFT TOY FACTORY, ADDED A PLUSH BEAR TO HER CATALOGUE , SELLING LITERALLY MILLIONS OF BEARS IN A DECADE. EARLY STEIFF BEARS, WITH THIS TRADEMARK BUTTON IN THE LEFT EAR , ARE NOW A COLLECTORS ITEM. THE NAME "TEDDY " BEAR CAME AFTER BROOKLYN SHOPKEEPERS MORRIS AND ROSE MICHTOM DISPLAYED THEIR SOFT BEAR TOY, MADE THE SAME YEAR, IN THEIR WINDOW WITH THE TITLE "TEDDY BEAR" AFTER A WASHINGTON POST CARTOON FEATURING THEODORE "TEDDY" ROOSEVELT AND A BEAR THAT HE HAD BEEN HUNTING....
FAMOUS BEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PADDINGTON BEAR
WINNIE THE POOH
ALOYSIUS
TEDDY RUXPIN
BIG TED
LITTLE TED...
This little cutie is from the Chamomile Twins. Considering this little bear has come to live with we bright-wish twins, this makes me very pleased.
I recently made a similar bear as a custom order for one of my favorite customers and I enjoyed so much making that type of embroidery that I decided to make a new one in this beautiful sea foam/mint felt color.
What I like the most in doing what I do is paring colors together and I really got inspired by the color combos I chose for the two sides of this little plush pillow.
The embroidery style itself was inspired by a research I made with my son on tribal motifs found on totem poles and other artifacts.
I did not make a sketch at all for the design, I just picked the different color thread I wanted to use and started to "free form" embroider each side.
This little plush bear pillow is all hand sewn and made with much love and attention to details.
It measures 11" wide by 7.5" high.
*60 Pampers Swaddlers
*8 washcloths
*6 pairs of socks
*5 onesies
*2 Classic Pooh newborn caps
*2 Mam Glow in the Dark pacifiers
*1 fleece flower blanket
*1 Little Buttons purse
*1 Little Buttons rattle teether
*1 Mommy's Melodies Bear
*1 pair of newborn boots
*1 plush bear blanket
*20 Pampers Swaddlers
*6 washcloths
*3 bodysuits
*2 bodysuits
*1 bib
*1 plush bear
*1 plush blanket
*1 sleep and play
"A touch on my nose makes my tummy twinkle and glow!"
Twinkle Bears were produced by Fantacy Inc. in 1995. They were a series of four plush bears with a twinkling disc on their bellies, set off by pressing their noses or feeding them from the bottle they each came with.
Buy 47 inch Super Large Teddy Bear Plush Bear with Clothes & Cute Care Bear Stuffed Heart Embrace Bear Plush Bear Toys in larger size (70cm) only needs $69.99. Quick to buy it for the holiday.
www.evtoys.com/fashion-plush-teddy-bear-for-2012-holiday-...
"A touch on my nose makes my tummy twinkle and glow!"
Twinkle Bears were produced by Fantacy Inc. in 1995. They were a series of four plush bears with a twinkling disc on their bellies, set off by pressing their noses or feeding them from the bottle they each came with.
Das ist nicht mein bestes Foto, aber ich fand die Situation witzig.
Ein kleines Mädchen stand an der Scheibe zu Nanooks Gehege mit ihrem Kuscheltier und Nanook betrachtet den Plüschbären neugierig.
-------------------------------------------
This is not my best photo, but I think it was a funny situation.
A little girl stood in front of the window to Nanook's enclosure with her stuffed animal and Nanook looks curiously at the plush bear .
What better way to start the day than with a tea party?
Macarons, cookies, grapes, cheese and bread...did anyone pour the tea yet?
*20 Pampers Swaddlers (size 1)
*4 bodysuits (size 3-6M)
*2 Muslin swaddle blankets
*1 pair of shoes (size 3-6M)
*1 washcloth
*1 plush bear
This little plush bear, about 4 inches / 10 centimeters tall, was left behind by one of our recent vacation rental guests.
The attached tag reads "Your Pocket Pal™" and "Always a Friend". I have been unable to find any information about such a line of little fabric figures online.
It is time to tell you the story of how Gaylord came into my life. Some dear friends of mine were walking their dog on a very cold day in January, and they came across this wee plush bear. (Holly, you have a picture of him when you found him, can you post it here). When I saw her posting I responded that I would not have been able to leave this wee being out there, He would have come home with me and joined my other rescue plushies.
Well, these dear people went back on another miserably cold day, hunted for this little lost bear, found him and trucked him home. This was the beginning of his new life.
Part 1 of Gaylords story.
36 Pampers Swaddlers (size 2-3)
6 pair white socks (size 0-6 month)
1 tube of Aveeno lotion
1 Koala Baby blanket
1 Izod bib
1 Izod bodysuit
1 Izod cap
1 Izod pair of pants
1 Izod sleep & play
1 plush bear toy
*30 Pampers Swaddlers (size 1)
*6 long sleeve bodysuits (size 3-6M)
*4 bibs
*1 blanket
*1 pair of shoes (size 9-12M)
*1 plush bear
*1 plush dog
*20 Pampers Swaddlers
*4 Carter's bodysuits
*2 pair of Adidas booties
*2 Mam pacifiers
*1 Mam pacifier keeper
*1 chenille blanket
*1 Carter's blanket
*1 Carter's bodysuit & pant set
*1 Carter's sleep & play
*1 Carter's tee & short set
*1 Carter's tee, short, & romper set
*1 plush bear rattle
*1 plush giraffe
63 Luvs Diapers (size one)
1 Tiddliwinks Fur Blanket (pink)
Johnson & Johnson's Take Alongs
including: 1 shampoo, 1 Head-to-Toe babywash,
1 lotion, 1 powder, 1 Desitin creme
1 Bib (Girls are just better)
3 Pair of infant socks (size 12-24 mos)
1 Pair Infant Girl Booties
2 Washcloths
2 Gerber Terry Burp Cloths(flowers)
1 Gerber Receiving Blanket (stripes)
1 Little Tikes Water Teether
1 Hat & Booties Set
1 Safety First Infant Brush & Comb Set
1 Bright Starts Shake & Rattle Dumbell
1 Board Book "Guess How Much I Love You"
1 Plush Bear (pink)
$100.00
40 Pampers Swaddlers(size one)
1 Thermal Blanket
1 Gerber Diaper Burp Cloth
1 Gerber Receiving Blanket
1 Toddler Size Sports Cap
1 Gerber Onesie
3 Infant Spoons
1 Sports Theme All Star Picture Frame
1 Plush Bear
$55
Before Queen Esmeralda was Married to King Henry, she was a princess who was sent to the capital from a minor faction feudal territory aligned to the capital faction or as everyone called them the Kingdom of the capital or the blue and yellow…
Once in the palace she quickly made friends with Henry’s confused but wise mage and a minor king that was often either an adversary or ally to Henry, but after a malicious peasant rebellion in his kingdom he stayed as a guest in the capital castle…
One day while talking about the bun in the oven, that Esmeralda accidentally was carrying because of the lack of sexual education in that space and time!
- (Esmeralda) …so I got this fluffy big Plush bear at the flea market down the harbor from a foreign man smelling out of fermented herring, only 24 gold doubles and 6 silver shilling it is a bargain I figure and when my daughter is born she is gonna love it, I have named it Teddy already, after the king of Bordonia, Theodor the XII…
- (Guest King) oh eh a bargain, eh perhaps, but I happen to know that it was produced in Fong Hai at numbers by chained slave laborers, Working for the Easterling Emperor and his mass production 5 year plan, they can be bought for 2 Cash coins on any market there… but I guess it is in a good state and it have traveled far, so I think it is a good deal since it is not wormridden despite the traveling by ship!
- (Mage) Ha, Ha yes it looks a bit like Theodor… ha, ha, strange but I have been experimenting with a new production method I call “Flocking” you put an electrode up the bum of a lizard and I release flocky stuff in to an enclosed, eh wait you like animals Esmeralda, forget what I said, I am just an ancient old senile fool that don’t know what I am talking about, talking about bears, did you know that those zealous forestmen that rebell all the time have a political faction whose Heraldic or as the call it Peoples Emblem is a bear…
- (Esmeralda) oh Heraldry, is those psychedelic and stylized logos that all knights and Men-at-arms carry on the shields and on the chest of the tabards???
- (Guest King) Yes, Esmeralda, they are passed down in a hereditary manner, look up there, that is the crest of arms for your family!
- (Esmeralda) oh how gastly dull our arms is, I want something with more color, perhaps a rabbit and two pink roses…
- (Mage) Eh Well, since you have to marry King Henry soon, I mean since your belly is slowly expanding, then you will acquire that crest over there as a Queen consort to his majesty!!!
- (Esmeralda) oh ok, not the most amusing design, but still better than my family’s, that one there with the white unicorn, whose crest is that???
- (Guest King) oh that one is defunct, it used to belong to the ancient tracing their roots to the ancient Centaurs, a family that went by the name of the Von Hornstallion, that line died out because Sebastian the XXVII Married a male, they tried to, ehm produce a child, but eh failed!
- (Esmeralda) oh yes I have noticed that only women seem to give birth, I understand that it must have caused them sorrow, but why didn’t the include a woman as a second wife, like a MMF-thresome??? Oh anyhow I like that shield, since it is not taken any longer, can my daughter get it??
- (Mage) Well Esmeralda that doesn’t really work that way, oh by the way, how do you know that you expect a female squiggle wiggle child?
- (Esmeralda) Well I just know, and when I have married Henry I will ask him to adopt that for our daughter, I mean he is the king, isn’t his word the law???
- (Guest King) eh well, can we talk about something else, I have found a wonderful deserted garden here in the castle…
…and there we leave the young Esmeralda and her friends!
Inspiration design form the everlasting love, this bouquet here is specially made low-carbon, environmentally friendly nano foam material and premium plush and pp cotton constructed bears. All the petals are sprinkled with the golden color powder is to create a three-dimensional bright and dazzling visual effect. High-grade cotton paper and white snow point voile package shows extraordinary quality of this one.
Exquisite bowknot around bear’s neck has four English characters “love” on it to show your love. Green, pink, blue and purple optional colors. 7 plush bears and 3 emulational roses.
www.evtoys.com/cartoon-valentines-plush-bear-artificial-r...
Bouquet Size: 42*38cm/16.5*15.0in(L*W)
Color: green, pink, blue, purple
*34 Pampers Swaddlers
*3 Tiddliwinks receiving blankets
*2 sleep & plays
*2 washcloths
*1 pair of bear slippers
*1 pair of sherpa boots
*1 plush bear
Connect with U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz
U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz web site
Landstuhl’s Dustoff troops deploy one last time
By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz
LANDSTUHL, Germany – Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment, embraced their families and friends before getting on the bus to deploy.
A detachment from the helicopter medical evacuation unit, led by Capt. Michael Chase, will spend the next few months in Kuwait, supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
During the April 28 departure ceremony, Preslee Kautzmann, a toddler, played with a plush bear dressed in gray Army camouflage like the uniform her father, Chief Warrant Officer Colter Kautzmann, wears when piloting a Black Hawk helicopter. Her mom, Sara Kautzmann, maintained a smile during the ceremony. It was afterward, in the parking lot where families waved to the busload of troops, that emotions surfaced.
“This is deployment number one for us,” Sara Kautzmann said. “It didn’t hit us until we saw him get on the bus and drive away. That’s when it kind of hits you, ‘He’s leaving.’”
When the national anthem played, Justine Aubrey and her three daughters covered their hearts. Raised in an Army family, Aubrey first saw her husband, Sgt. Daniel Bateson, deploy to Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division. Now, he’s leaving for a shorter tour in Kuwait.
“Going through it as a child is completely different dynamic,” Aubrey said. “I have a new found appreciation for what my mom went through.”
Activities offered by U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz’s directorate of Families, Morale Welfare and Recreation help families of deployed Soldiers, Aubrey said. Her daughters recently took part in a spring break camp and are looking forward to summer camps.
“MWR always has amazing opportunities that we’re afforded. I think they even more important overseas because we are so far away from our loved ones,” Aubrey said. “It’s great when you are trying to cope with not having your other parent here. It’s a wonderful, healthy outlet for them.”
Single Soldiers, like Sgt. Charles Milazzo, 27, a crew chief from Denver, have other concerns. When he last deployed, to Afghanistan, a friend fed beer to his cactus.
“The plant is still around. We’ve passed it around the barracks,” Milazzo said. “One of my friends is watching the cactus while I go back out there.”
It’s likely Company C’s last deployment from Landstuhl, as the unit is slated to move to Grafenwöhr in the coming year, said the company commander, Maj. Jesse Delgado.
Army medical evacuation helicopters have flown from the hilltop behind Landstuhl since 1952, Delgado said. Company C’s lineage dates back to 1968 in Vietnam. In 1989, the unit moved to Landstuhl as the 236th Medical Company (Air Ambulance), deploying to Southwest Asia for Operation Desert Storm and Bosnia for Operation Joint Endeavor. They also supported disaster relief operations in Europe. In 2004 and in 2007, the unit served in Iraq. The 236th furled its colors and the unit became Company C, 1-214th Aviation Regiment. Two years ago the unit’s Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan.
“In the European theater, and this side of the world, this unit has been in every major operation,” Delgado said. “This is the culminating event.”
*60 Pampers Swaddlers (size 1)
*3 Carters receiving blankets
*2 bibs
*1 pair of socks
*1 Similac 4 oz bottle
*1 Harley Davidson plush bear
Connect with U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz
U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz web site
Landstuhl’s Dustoff troops deploy one last time
By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz
LANDSTUHL, Germany – Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment, embraced their families and friends before getting on the bus to deploy.
A detachment from the helicopter medical evacuation unit, led by Capt. Michael Chase, will spend the next few months in Kuwait, supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
During the April 28 departure ceremony, Preslee Kautzmann, a toddler, played with a plush bear dressed in gray Army camouflage like the uniform her father, Chief Warrant Officer Colter Kautzmann, wears when piloting a Black Hawk helicopter. Her mom, Sara Kautzmann, maintained a smile during the ceremony. It was afterward, in the parking lot where families waved to the busload of troops, that emotions surfaced.
“This is deployment number one for us,” Sara Kautzmann said. “It didn’t hit us until we saw him get on the bus and drive away. That’s when it kind of hits you, ‘He’s leaving.’”
When the national anthem played, Justine Aubrey and her three daughters covered their hearts. Raised in an Army family, Aubrey first saw her husband, Sgt. Daniel Bateson, deploy to Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division. Now, he’s leaving for a shorter tour in Kuwait.
“Going through it as a child is completely different dynamic,” Aubrey said. “I have a new found appreciation for what my mom went through.”
Activities offered by U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz’s directorate of Families, Morale Welfare and Recreation help families of deployed Soldiers, Aubrey said. Her daughters recently took part in a spring break camp and are looking forward to summer camps.
“MWR always has amazing opportunities that we’re afforded. I think they even more important overseas because we are so far away from our loved ones,” Aubrey said. “It’s great when you are trying to cope with not having your other parent here. It’s a wonderful, healthy outlet for them.”
Single Soldiers, like Sgt. Charles Milazzo, 27, a crew chief from Denver, have other concerns. When he last deployed, to Afghanistan, a friend fed beer to his cactus.
“The plant is still around. We’ve passed it around the barracks,” Milazzo said. “One of my friends is watching the cactus while I go back out there.”
It’s likely Company C’s last deployment from Landstuhl, as the unit is slated to move to Grafenwöhr in the coming year, said the company commander, Maj. Jesse Delgado.
Army medical evacuation helicopters have flown from the hilltop behind Landstuhl since 1952, Delgado said. Company C’s lineage dates back to 1968 in Vietnam. In 1989, the unit moved to Landstuhl as the 236th Medical Company (Air Ambulance), deploying to Southwest Asia for Operation Desert Storm and Bosnia for Operation Joint Endeavor. They also supported disaster relief operations in Europe. In 2004 and in 2007, the unit served in Iraq. The 236th furled its colors and the unit became Company C, 1-214th Aviation Regiment. Two years ago the unit’s Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan.
“In the European theater, and this side of the world, this unit has been in every major operation,” Delgado said. “This is the culminating event.”
Lovely bear in the high quality plush and pp cotton material is to give you a romantic feeling in the coming valentine. Advanced and ingenious silver rhomboic mesh for every bear is hazy and beautiful. Fashionable and elegant glass yarn decoration is imports from South Korea. Premium natural silk is for the distinguished outside packaging. Two happy bear couple is in the center and 7 bears are around the rim. You can you’re your choice in the coffee, blue and red colors. Wonderful one for wedding, birthday or valentine gift!
www.evtoys.com/valentines-artificial-plush-bear-bouquet-g...
Bouquet Size: 40*37cm/15.8*15.6in(L*W)
Color: coffee, blue, red
Connect with U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz
U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz web site
Landstuhl’s Dustoff troops deploy one last time
By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz
LANDSTUHL, Germany – Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment, embraced their families and friends before getting on the bus to deploy.
A detachment from the helicopter medical evacuation unit, led by Capt. Michael Chase, will spend the next few months in Kuwait, supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
During the April 28 departure ceremony, Preslee Kautzmann, a toddler, played with a plush bear dressed in gray Army camouflage like the uniform her father, Chief Warrant Officer Colter Kautzmann, wears when piloting a Black Hawk helicopter. Her mom, Sara Kautzmann, maintained a smile during the ceremony. It was afterward, in the parking lot where families waved to the busload of troops, that emotions surfaced.
“This is deployment number one for us,” Sara Kautzmann said. “It didn’t hit us until we saw him get on the bus and drive away. That’s when it kind of hits you, ‘He’s leaving.’”
When the national anthem played, Justine Aubrey and her three daughters covered their hearts. Raised in an Army family, Aubrey first saw her husband, Sgt. Daniel Bateson, deploy to Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division. Now, he’s leaving for a shorter tour in Kuwait.
“Going through it as a child is completely different dynamic,” Aubrey said. “I have a new found appreciation for what my mom went through.”
Activities offered by U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz’s directorate of Families, Morale Welfare and Recreation help families of deployed Soldiers, Aubrey said. Her daughters recently took part in a spring break camp and are looking forward to summer camps.
“MWR always has amazing opportunities that we’re afforded. I think they even more important overseas because we are so far away from our loved ones,” Aubrey said. “It’s great when you are trying to cope with not having your other parent here. It’s a wonderful, healthy outlet for them.”
Single Soldiers, like Sgt. Charles Milazzo, 27, a crew chief from Denver, have other concerns. When he last deployed, to Afghanistan, a friend fed beer to his cactus.
“The plant is still around. We’ve passed it around the barracks,” Milazzo said. “One of my friends is watching the cactus while I go back out there.”
It’s likely Company C’s last deployment from Landstuhl, as the unit is slated to move to Grafenwöhr in the coming year, said the company commander, Maj. Jesse Delgado.
Army medical evacuation helicopters have flown from the hilltop behind Landstuhl since 1952, Delgado said. Company C’s lineage dates back to 1968 in Vietnam. In 1989, the unit moved to Landstuhl as the 236th Medical Company (Air Ambulance), deploying to Southwest Asia for Operation Desert Storm and Bosnia for Operation Joint Endeavor. They also supported disaster relief operations in Europe. In 2004 and in 2007, the unit served in Iraq. The 236th furled its colors and the unit became Company C, 1-214th Aviation Regiment. Two years ago the unit’s Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan.
“In the European theater, and this side of the world, this unit has been in every major operation,” Delgado said. “This is the culminating event.”
*60 Pampers Swaddlers (size 1)
*6 Pooh washcloths
*3 Pooh bath squirters
*3 Pooh 9 oz. bottles
*2 Pooh plush blankets
*2 Pooh receiving blankets
*1 Pooh brush
*1 Pooh comb
*1 Pooh pacifier
*1 Pooh pacifier keeper
*1 Pooh plush bear
*1 Pooh snuggly
*1 Pooh wipes case
*60 Pampers Swaddlers
*2 pairs Gator socks
*1 pair Gator booties
*1 pair Gator slippers
*1 Gator bib
*1 Gator bodysuit
*1 Gator silky blanket
*1 Gator musical plush bear
*1 Munchkin snack holder
Is it 'Love Day' soon?
Nothing says 'I Love You' more an undergoing a mildly painful (uncomfortable at best) cosmetic procedure.
Is a full leg and bikini wax really a 'Valentines Treat'? (Only if I can watch maybe).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In the Simpson's Love Day was a Summer holiday made up by Mr. Costington when he wanted to increase Summer sales due to a lack of summer holidays. The holiday was put together to scam people into buying Love-themed toys and gifts for no reason whatsoever. The scam turned out to be a success. Homer was dissapointed to be gifted the wrong lord hugington plush bear, Bart was sceptical about Marges 'kiss and make me boogie' jack o lantern. They family try to cram the leftover crappy toys in the bin leading into the main story of the episode.