Chats on the Farmhouse Porch: Ornamental

Brrrr, I wouldn't want to be on our porch chatting today. It is cold and we have a bit of snow! Hooray. However, we need a lot more snow to do anything about our drought.

So, the questions for the chat are listed below. You can join the chat too, by responding in a comment or by posting on your blog and linking to Patrice's Everyday Rurality blog. To read other responses, visit Patrice by clicking on the image for Farmhouse Chats, below.

1. What's your favorite ornament on your tree? If you have no Christmas tree, please tell me about something pretty in your home that you enjoy.
2. What do you do when a telemarketer calls?
3. What was the last kind of candy you had? Admit it- you had one tiny little bite. We understand:)
4. Do you send out Christmas cards? If not applicable- do you use snail mail?
5. Please finish this. I sometimes wonder___________________________.

Here are my answers:

1. There is no way that I can pick just one ornament as a favorite. So, here are a few of my favorites

This was given to us on our first Christmas as a married couple. My next-door neighbor gave it to me so I would always have a nest in my tree that would bring us good luck. This nest has been on every tree for 40 years!

I went to Michigan to visit my best friend several years ago. We had an overnight in Frankenmuth, where they have a huge Christmas shop. I bought so much that I was given the spiderweb ornament on the left. I actually explained about the ornament in a Chats on the Farmhouse Porch post last year!
The shell ornament was given to me by my dad quite a few years ago. He rarely picked out gifts, letting my mother do the shopping. However, this is one he picked out... and wrapped... by himself!

I am so proud of my son... he will be graduating from The School of Mines on Friday! I love that he gave me a school ornament a few years ago!

2. I do not care for telemarketers. I feel they are infringing on my privacy by calling and interrupting whatever I am doing. When they call I tell them I never buy anything over the phone, or never donate anything based on a phone call, but would be happy to look over information they send me by email or snail mail. They never want to send anything, so I thank them and hang up.

3. I am laughing about the candy question, as I was going to post about making candy. I have two lovely hard candy molds. I am going to a cookie exchange party later this week, and will be taking 'vintage candy toy' lollipops. I made 4 batches last night and 12 today, including the one I had to throw away because I took the thermometer's word on the temperature of the sugar solution, and it never hardened. I only need to make 2 more batches - but I need to make a run to the store to get more sticks, baggies and corn syrup. Anyway, I tasted more than my share of scraps from the candy!

4. I have not sent out Christmas cards this year. Many years I wait until after the holiday, and then send a "New Year's Note" along with a card. I am currently operating on the 'do one thing at a time' mode, so I'm not sure whether I will do a note, or not. 

5. Finish this sentence: I sometimes wonder how my boys turned out to be such wonderful young men. If I could figure out what facets of life made them who they are, then I could write a book and help other parents with their own children.