In last year’s Easter posting I highlighted wonderful Easter eggs (actually eggs in general, including my collection) I’m featuring our hopping friend the Easter Bunny this year in many guises. When I was visiting Council Oak Antiques last week I found a treasure trove of Easter items that I wanted to share with you. Above is a wonderful painting of two charming rabbits sharing a cabbage leaf.
A little boy with his pet bunnies in this delightful Victorian print. Love the nostalgia.
Always peek into corners and shelves where you will discover hidden treasures and look offseason as well you will find adds to your collections year round.
Oops…do I see a lamb by a basket of eggs…well this post is celebrating Easter and the arrival of Spring after all!! And I love the cart of carrots. The vignettes of each vendor is lovingly executed.
I do have a couple of bunnies….one a Royal Crown Derby, I was lucky to visit and tour the factory on several occasions, (an upcoming post for sure!) that was given to me by a dear English friend who happened to live in Derbyshire. One of my fondest objects. Isn’t he a beauty.
Here is a cutie pie holding on to her duckie, she is a handpainted wooden fierce young lady that I acquired, many years ago, at the Randolph Street Market the March Market is this Saturday and Sunday, March 24 and 25 from 10 to 5 always the place to spend a fun day browsing the extensive collections, gaining knowledge from the vendors, sipping a delicious Bloody Mary that Candy superbly prepares for you and snacking on Artesian food. Bring your friends and make a day of it.
A Sabino piece from my collection 
A reminder to read Paisley Rabbit and the Treehouse Contest yourself and to every child, you can find. Read my review on nenasnotes posted on February 27th ,
What would Easter be without candy? Nothing, in my opinion, I give up sweets for Lent and usually stuff myself with goodies Easter Sunday I don’t see this year as being different (FYI as a child we celebrated Russian Easter as well…I thought that very, very cool and Daddy did the most incredible eggs for both Easters….again, lucky me!)
I don’t eat Peeps but they are a part of any full Easter basket, to be sure, along with rich chocolate bunnies. Yum, yum! Photos from Pinterest photo credit unknown
It seems live bunnies are wonderful pets as you can see Mike Hines, the deliciously creative florist of epochfloral, (profiled on nenasnotes on December 5, 2016) has had Murray Sparkles for eight years since he was a baby bunny, now a big boy!! The young Mike is pictured with his childhood friend, Mr. McCloud. In Mike’s words ”I’ve always been a sucker for a bunny.” Photos courtesy of Mike Hines
I found these precious plates, along with other pieces in the set, on the Williams Sonoma site, love them!!!!!
How are you celebrating Spring, Easter, Passover…..do share your traditions and perhaps a recipe or two. I think I will do a leg of lamb this year and have leftovers to do the lamb curry that I shared with you a couple of weeks ago. Easter dinner followed by lots and lots of sweets!!!!!!
All photos unless otherwise noted taken by me with my iPhone.
I do love a great bottle of champagne and when better to have it than New Year’s Eve (I say any day, but that is just me!). I thought it might be a bit of fun to look at its beginnings and how it is served. As with any alcohol drink responsibly….
A photo from Pinterest of some of the top brands…..we are having Veuve at this year’s celebration, and plenty of it I might add!!!! My favorite of all time is Cristal followed by Krug and Dom Perignon. A good Preseco is also a great choice. Let me tell you about my first experience with Cristal…I was honored to be one of a small group of the Chicago History Museum Costume Council members (I was acquisition chairman at the time) to be selected to be photographed by the world-famous photographer, Victor Skrebneski, for a spread in Town and Country (many years ago)….that is a story unto itself…another time! After all of us were photographed we were invited to dinner at Les Nomades (one of my all-time favorite restaurants in Chicago) very glamorous and beyond delicious…we were all, of course, dressed to the nines and had a sensational time. A few days later a bottle of champagne arrived at my home. I put it aside and was having a small dinner party several weeks later, nothing special just a mid-week event for four. I thought I have this bottle of champagne put it on ice and have it. At the time I was unaware of the brand and found it quite charming in its packaging and clear bottle.
And then there is the tower, it seems to be the fashion this year!
I’d like you to meet my escort for New Year’s Eve (we constantly live in hope!!!!!)
When these two gentlemen greet you at the door of Casa Hyder/Smith you know you are in for a great time, their annual Christmas Tree Trimming Party was not an exception. I have been after Greg Hyder since I began nenasnotes to join me with his stories, all of a sudden he became shy and kept putting me off. I finally said, “you are off the hook”! A sigh of relief from him and then he thought better of it and said: “how about coming to our Tree Trimming Party and documenting it!” Why not indeed! I have known Greg for years and Jim for just about as long. I worked with Greg when I was still at Saks and he was always very generous with chefs from 
Picking out the perfect tree at 
Lights on and the ornament placement begins….each area of the tree has its own themed ornaments, let’s look at some of them, there are hundreds! Many collected on their trips and many are family traditions.
And, of course, a Cubs section!!!! Our hosts are avid Cubs fans!
Some baubles were held aside for the party guests, remember the theme of the day was a tree trimming party!!!! We were told if their placement didn’t meet with Mr. Hyder’s approval off they would come (after the party!) Pictured are Tim Emond, Becca Smith (Jim’s daughter), Julie Machmon and Jean Antoniou.
The crystal chandelier is festooned with red ribbon and the bobeche are filled with cranberries rather than drippings of candle wax, finished with a huge ornament.
Another chandelier looking from the hall into the living room.
The hall from the living room into the rest of the home.
Santa has forgotten his hat on the bed…
Another wall in the bedroom, I love icons and have done a post on them.
One of the bathrooms, of course, in its festive attire!
In the dining room..
And inside the backdoor in the kitchen….
The back bedroom with its African theme gets in the holiday spirit!
The drinks tables…special Christmas Mimosas, yummy!
The tree in the corner of the dining room with more treasured memories
Oh, and did I mention food……my oh my what a spread. Top photo the sweets table (I suggested a cookie exchange next year they were so good!!!!!) Bottom the baked ham, cheeses., paté, relishes and on and on and on……(I got a goodie bag, yay!!!!)
Jim, Nena, and Greg in front of the tree (still wasn’t finished the tinsel had yet to be placed piece by piece by piece!) that rivals the one in The Walnut Room and this one is alive!!!!! Thank you so much, my friends, for allowing me to share your Christmas story with my readers, I am most grateful!
By now you are well aware that I am a major Anglophile and I become totally English at Christmas (it is in my DNA, my Mom was English and German), I adore all the tradition of an English Christmas and had the opportunity, several years, ago to spend Christmas with a family in the English countryside. It was a glorious week….roasts every day and major celebrations with presents and extraordinary meals for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
I found these last year, obviously for the ladies in attendance got others for the gentlemen.
Christmas Crackers covered in Liberty of London prints, charming.
I found this advertisement quite delightful.
Start now and you will be all set for Christmas 2018!
Covers of the boxes
Of course, a book recommendation for further research and enjoyment!
And another one for fun!
I know there isn’t time to make your own plum pudding (I do have a super recipe that I will share next year in plenty of time!) you can get really good ones from Crosse and Blackwell or you can make a mincemeat pie (my most favorite, I can eat an entire one myself, not all at one sitting….well maybe!) and serve the following hard sauce (which, by the way goes beautifully with poached pears or just by the spoonful!!! Bad Nena!) It is by far the best hard sauce ever, it was given to me by one of my Saks Store Managers, Bob Pike, along with the Plum Pudding recipe. Enjoy!!!!
If you are this far along with your Holiday plans it’s time to sit by the fire with a glass of “real” eggnog, a slice of the fruitcake, I gave you the recipe for last week, or some of the cookies that I am featuring at the end of this post, and a Christmas Story or two….here are some thoughts for you and, of course, for gifts.
This is a charming mystery with one of my most favorite detectives, Charles Lenox. He is almost my favorite but I’m afraid Armand Gamache still has the biggest part of my heart!!! But I must say Charles Lenox is very close….You can get this on your Kindle for a major bargain. An easy read and one I know you will enjoy….the mystery had me guessing until the end but not so Lenox, the smartie!!
I am crazy for all of Rhys Bowen’s stories and have followed Molly Murphy since the series began. Yet another mystery but set in the US, you know I am a bit partial to an English mystery as you shall see. Read for your pleasure and give as a party gift or a perfect grab bag present.
A charming bit of fluff and why not. If you are addicted to all the Christmas films on The Hallmark Channels…this is for you. I’m more a White Christmas (I cry every year!), kind of gal!
Of course, a couple of Christie’s in the mix…definitely in the English spirit of the Holidays and a bit of murder thrown in, oh my!
A beautiful vintage A Christmas Carol, nothing more classic and again a perfect gift…I’m mad for this hand tooled leather volume.
New this year and the basis for the film in theaters now…looks fabulous and both are on my to-do list before the end of the year. And, of course, an annual must-see is the Goodman Theater’s production of A Christmas Carol, I never miss it. It runs through December 31st.
And speaking of a must-see have you gotten yourself and everyone you know to The Joffrey Ballet’s exquisite version, you have until December 30….hurry, you don’t want to miss it, if you have gone I suggest you go again the details are so intricate you need to see it more than once, that is a given! How about a doubleheader with both The Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol, treat yourself to a couple of days in our beautiful City with a stay at one of my favorite hotels, The Peninsula, The Ritz Carlton or any one of our fabulous boutique hotels with a special dinner….it is the holidays after all! So much to do and it is already the middle of December, oh dear!
A charmingly nostalgic short story made into a vintage 1966 TV piece, you can watch on YouTube, with Geraldine Page. Capote narrates it. Talk about a tearjerker!!!! It is my chum Tom Mantel’s favorite and The Toms and I watch it every year while doing our holiday marathon baking weekend. The strangest thing happened last week, I was going to bed and turned on WFMT-FM, my favorite station, and heard a familiar voice, no it wasn’t one of the hosts, it was Truman Capote reading A Christmas Memory, karma, I think so!
A beautifully written book and one I read every Christmas Eve when I was commuting from Evanston to work, I still read it every Christmas Eve day.
A lovely book on the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah which begins on December 13th.
This charming scene is actually a pop-up book, well not really it is a record album cover in The Tom’s magnificently decorated home. I took this photo all others are from Pinterest photo credits unknown.
Here are two of Mom’s tiny jeweled trees I keep them out all year under domes, each is around 6″ tall.
Here is one of my collection of vintage Christmas angels holding a teenie tree.
A village with bottle brush trees in one of the bedrooms at Tom Hawley and Tom Mantel’s home (every room in the house as well as outside decor is in the festive Holiday spirit).
Grab your candy corn this is going to be a long post and I hope a fun one, we all love Halloween don’t we!!!! It seems that everyone now decorates for this spooky holiday and spend over 9 million dollars on it, oh my, that is scary!!!! I wonder how much of that is spent on Pumpkin Spice items…..or maybe that would be another several million!!!
I had all of these…aren’t they super and now very collectible, see what RSM has…
We would often have these to go trick-or-treating….hard to find now but great fun to fill with goodies.
Absolutely love this, I want to go to this party…a great way to display all the collectibles you will find at Randolph Street Market.
When you are in the South Bend area please make a stop at Council Oak Antiques at 50981 S.R. 933 N. as you can see the vendors are ready not only for Halloween but for the rest of the Fall celebrations. They are open daily and I am mad for the Owner’s Instagram account patricia_mcmahon_smith, do check it out. Photo courtesy of Council Oak Antiques.
Just perfection…..
Working on Halloween Haunted House….
The above seven photos courtesy of Stephaine Lake, 
After the festivities I am ready for my treats…and you!!!!!
On my way home…….