Tag Archives: The Enchanted Manor

Decor – Setting up a Department 56 Village

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North Pole display 4

Just like this month’s other Décor post, Setting up a Fontanini Nativity, another one of the highlights of our Christmas home decorations is our Department 56 North Pole Village.  When I worked in a retail store during the 1990s, we carried the collection of Department 56 villages and the North Pole one was my favorite … and of course, I began collecting pieces for our home.  Soon after, my husband and I were blessed with a beautiful daughter.  I enjoyed setting up the North Pole Village every year for her to imagine Santa and his elves getting ready for Christmas Eve when Santa would get into his sleigh pulled by eight tiny reindeer to deliver presents to the good little boys and girls.  (somehow, my husband always seems to end up with a lump of coal in his Christmas stocking!)

Usually, months before Christmas, I search the internet for ideas for my Department 56 display but most of the websites only show finished displays and never go into much detail and only have very limited instructions on how to make those displays.  For this post, I thought it would be interesting to show step by step how I set up this year’s North Pole Village Display.

The North Pole display base

The first step to setting up the North Pole Village is always the base or foundation for the display.  As you can see in the photos at the end of this post, over the years in our different houses in California and the Midwest, the display location and layout of the North Pole Village has changed several times.

For this year’s display, I used a base with three interlocking sections that can be used as one long flat surface or can be stacked in a variety of positions to achieve different looks for the display.  I like the flexibility of the sections because I’m always changing the location of the display into different rooms of our home or adding more accessories.  A few years ago, I had purchased the base at a local craft store at an after Christmas clearance sale for a greatly reduced price.  (This one is very similar to the other one that I used for this year’s Fontanini Nativity Display)

The display base that I am using has a white top surface so it is great for the North Pole Village; it gives the illusion of snow.  I set all three of the sections flat on the fireplace mantel and it fits perfectly with the depth of the space.  Next, I position three “sky panels behind the base, I used three sections of Styrofoam painted a beautiful blue with an overcoat of clear sparkle paint to add a wonderful twinkle when the overhead lights shine on the display.  Later I will attach our Christmas Stockings on hidden hooks under the fireplace mantel.  As I mentioned before, I sometimes change my home seasonal decorations from year to year, and as an example, if I were to display the North Pole Village in our family room bookshelves instead of the fireplace mantel I would stack one section on top of the other to fit the narrower space of the shelf.

North Pole display 1

A SPECIAL CRAFT NOTE:  One of the reason’s that I displayed the North Pole Village on the fireplace mantel was because I had made a special Christmas sign last year to hang over the fireplace instead of the English landscape painting that is normally hung there during most of the year.  The seasonal sign uses a Christmas window/wall decal and the wording, “Santa Claus is coming to town”, is perfect to hang above the North Pole Village.  The sign is made from a painted wood board cut specifically to fit the space requirements of the decal with a margin of a couple of inches for me to add about 30 bronze jingle bells for just the right decorative touch, I was very happy with the results of this Craft project!  (The sign was very easy to make, please see the instructions for similar seasonal signs in the Craft post – Halloween signs.  The steps are almost the same as the ones I used to create the Christmas sign but with different window/wall decals and accessories)

The North Pole main display pieces – the buildings

25 years ago I purchased three Department 56 North Pole Village buildings; they were the “Route 1 North Pole” the home of Santa & Mrs. Claus, the “Elf Bunkhouse” and the “Reindeer Barn”.  Later I added “Santa’s Woodworks” and the “North Pole Gate”.  These are the only buildings in my collection so, compared with other Department 45 collectors, my display is very small.  I like the idea of a smaller display for several reasons, the first is that there is relatively less money spent and the second reason is that the display has more flexibility to set up in any room or location in our house.  I appreciate the idea of the more elaborate displays but I prefer my set up time to be only a few hours as opposed to a process of long hours sometimes over a period of several days.

Almost every time I set up the North Pole Village, I always position “Route 1” near the center of the display because it is the largest piece and also because I think it should be the focal point.  To the left, I placed the “Elf Bunkhouse” and the “Reindeer Barn”.  To the right, I placed the “Santa’s Woodworks” building and further to the right, off the display base, I place the “North Pole Gate”.  (These building positions are almost identical to the previous year’s display)

When I am placing the buildings in the display, I will sometimes position them at different angles because I think it adds more interest to the display instead of having everything perfectly lined up in a straight row.  I will also raise the height of the different buildings to also create levels that will give additional interest to the display.  I use white Styrofoam about one inch thick and cut it to fit the dimension of the buildings with an extra one or two inches around the base allowing space to set the display’s figurines or accessories, if I want a higher platform I will stack two pieces of Styrofoam.  The white color of the Styrofoam matches the white surface of the base for an uninterrupted look that doesn’t break the illusion of a snow covered ground.

North Pole display 2

The North Pole display landscape

The next items that I add to the North Pole display are three sets of 7”, 8” and 9” pine trees for a total of nine trees that I scatter across the display.  I usually position the taller trees to the back and the shorter trees to the front of the display.  These trees were purchased at Walmart several years ago for a great price, they were less expensive than the Department 56 trees and I was able to purchase almost twice as many trees for about half the price of the name brand ones.  Buying from other sources assures I am not limited to the selection only available through Department 56 and my display accessories will be unique.

On either side of the display base I set up several sections of rock wall, this is another example of buying from another source.  If you keep your eyes open while shopping in the stores right after the Christmas items go on sale it is a great opportunity to add to the items for your display.  By positioning the rock walls off the base and onto the fireplace mantel it helps to continue the display with additional items that did not fit onto the base.  One example is the North Pole Gate is positioned off to the right of the base but becomes an extension of the scene with the rock wall behind.

Also added to the North Pole display are several Department 56 “Candy Cane Lamposts” that are positioned between the buildings.  To complete the landscape, and even though the top of the base is white to give the illusion of snow, I add more artificial snow to the display to make it even more of a winter wonderland!   

North Pole display 3

The North Pole display accessories – people and animals

The last items that I add to the North Pole display are Santa and Mrs. Claus, the elves and set of reindeer with the sleigh loaded with presents.  Santa is positioned near the sleigh checking his list of naughty or nice boys and girls.  It is set to the left of the base and on the fireplace mantel in front of the rock wall.  Mrs. Claus is standing in front of the Claus home waving to goodbye to Santa.  Scattered throughout the display are several elves, some are carrying packages of toys, having fun on sleds, sitting around the North Pole and some are training the reindeer.  One special group of elves, “Proud Papa and Mamma”, represents our little family.

Finally, as previously mentioned, I don’t have any problem incorporating non- Department 56 items to our North Pole display.  Sometimes these pieces and unusual elements can add interest to a display.  An example of non-Department 56 figurines are several miniature ornaments that I found in a local retail store of the characters from the classic animated 1964 Christmas special, “Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer”.  Of course, there are Rudolph and Clarice the reindeers, Hermey the elf that would rather be a dentist than make toys, Yukon Cornelius the boisterous prospector and the gigantic Abominable Snow Monster.  The scale of these miniature ornaments is perfect and using them is a wonderful way to incorporate the characters from one of my favorite childhood Christmas specials into our North Pole display!

North Pole display 4

Shown below are photos from past Christmas North Pole displays, as you can see items have been added or changed over the years and the display has been set up in various rooms of our home.

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North Pole Village 2010    North Pole Village 2011

North Pole Village 2012

 

Decor – Setting up a Fontanini Nativity Display

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2013 Fontanini Nativity 6

As I mentioned in a previous Décor post last December, Fontanini Nativity Display, one of the highlights of our home decoration during the holiday season is our nativity set.  Over the years, in both our California home and in our Midwest home, I added more figurines and accessories.    Months before Christmas, I search the internet for ideas for my nativity display but most of the websites only show finished displays and never go into much detail or have instructions on how to make those displays.     For this post, I thought it would be interesting to show step by step how I set up this year’s Fontanini Nativity Display.

The nativity display base

The first step is laying down a base or foundation for the display.  This particular base that I am using for this year’s nativity display was recently bought at a local craft store after Halloween on a clearance sale for very little money.  I think the three part sections with a moss surface work wonderfully for the nativity set display; the three sections interlink for one flat surface or can be stacked in a variety of positions.  I like the flexibility because every year I’m always thinking of different ways to display or change my Christmas decorations and I can also use the bases for different holidays, such as my Haunted Mansion display for Halloween.

This year, the place I choose to display the nativity set was on a table in front of the window in the library of our home.  First, I start by covering the table with a large piece of brown fabric.  Next, I positioned the three sections of the base to lay flat across the entire top surface of the table.

2013 Fontanini Nativity 1The nativity display main pieces – the stable and the background accessories
 
For this year’s nativity display, I set the nativity stable in the left corner of the base at a slight angle.  Then, across the back of the display, I positioned two resin sections of a “rock” fence and in the middle a “rock” resin piece in the shape of an arch.  I have a catalog which lists all the figurines and display pieces available but the Fontanini pieces are very expensive to purchase.  The three display accessories that I am using for my nativity display background are an example of using non-Fontanini pieces that coordinate beautifully but are available at a much lower price.  During the year I always keep my eye out for accessories that would work with our Nativity set and these three pieces were bought at a minimal piece during a summer clearance sale at a local craft store.  This is a great example of buying smart and keeping the cost down!

2013 Fontanini Nativity 2

The nativity display landscape – the trees and plants
 
The next step when creating a nativity display is adding trees and plants for a more natural setting or scenery.  For this year’s display, I used two sets of palm trees and you may notice in the nativity photos from the previous years that the palm trees look very different.  After last Christmas, I decided the palm trees were starting to show some wear and need repairs since I had been using these same trees for over 30+ years.
 
To the start the repair process for the palm trees; I purchased artificial cactus plants from a local craft store that resembled a more realistic palm tree shape.  I removed the leaves and wrapped the palm tree trunks with brown floral tape.  I choose this method to repair the palm tree trunks because, even though paint would have worked to repair the damage, the floral tape added more support to hold the slightly heavier cactus plants which weighed more than the previous plastic palm leaves.    After using the floral tape, I hot glued the cactus plant to the top of the tree trunk.    The refurbished palm trees were positioned behind the nativity stable and I think the finished look is more realistic then the previous version!
 
Next, I wanted to add more plants to the nativity scene because in previous years the display was a little too sparse.  Once again, in the floral section of a local craft store, I found artificial cactus plants and these were placed along the back of the display along the “rock” wall.  Then, to finish the landscape of the display, I had purchased a small bag of rocks and these were added to the base of the back wall and in front of the stable; I also used several rocks to cover the seam of the display base.

2013 Fontanini Nativity 3

The nativity display accessories

Over the years, I keep adding to the nativity display and have purchased several accessories pieces during after Christmas clearance sales or from ebay at discounted prices during the off season.  I added these items to the display to create a more realistic look to the nativity scene.  Several of those pieces included food item figurines, such as clay pots filled with grain or baskets filled with olives or fish.  I also added a campfire for the three wise men and a well for the villagers.  To add more substance to the well created a base.  I used a piece of Styrofoam which was cut and then given a rounded contour to resemble a rock foundation or platform for the well. To further the illusion, I carved grooves into the Styrofoam to simulate the individual rocks and then painted it with several different colors and adding green paint to appear as if moss was growing along the base of the well.
 
One of the most important nativity display accessories is the star above the stable that announces to the world that Jesus has been born in the little town of Bethlehem to his mother Mary and her husband Joseph.  The star is attached to a long wired holder that gives the illusion that the star is suspended over the humble stable and is calling the villagers, shepherds and three wise men to come and see the newborn child of God.  (The Star of Bethlehem can be seen in the photo in step 6)         
2013 Fontanini Nativity 4

The nativity display animals

During the 30+ years that we have had our Fontanini Nativity on display during the Christmas season, I have added several new animal figurines.  I have purchased some at regular price but most of the pieces have been bought during after Christmas clearance sales or from ebay at discounted prices throughout the year.  These animals included several ox and donkeys, a couple of goats, almost a dozen sheep, a shepherd’s dog and three camels for the wise men to travel to Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus.  All these animal figurines are scattered across the display creating a sense of movement and activity that adds life to the scene.
2013 Fontanini Nativity 5The nativity display people
 
As stated in an earlier Décor post, Fontanini Nativity Display from December 2012, after years of searching I finally found my perfect nativity set that I wanted at Jule Hus in Solvang, CA.  I bought a beautiful Fontanini “starter” set that included a stable, Gloria the angel, Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in a manger.  So, this initial purchase included the most important main pieces to my nativity display.
 
Since that time, and over the next 30+ years, I have added several figurines.  Some of those early purchases included several shepherds to tend the herd of sheep.  Other figurines were added to the display, including several villagers of various occupations.  Another important group of figurines are the three wise men who have traveled from far to honor the newly born Jesus and bring him gifts of frankincense, myrrh and gold.  All these nativity characters are scattered across the display telling the story of the birth of Jesus.

Every year I try and keep our family’s interest by display the nativity set in different rooms or creating different displays from year to year, it is constantly changing location of new figurine or accessories are added each year.  At our house in California, I have had the nativity set displayed in the hallway on an antique sewing machine and on top of a chest of drawers in our living room.  One year, I displayed the nativity set inside an antique trunk with a large flat rock as the background for the scene.  In our house in the Midwest, I have displayed it on the top of an old piano and a few years ago the nativity set was displayed on an antique table that my husband’s Grandmother kindly gave to us before she passed away last year.  This heirloom table is very special because it has been in her family for a very long time.  For the last two years the nativity set has been displayed on a table in the library of our home … who knows where the Fontanini Nativity Display will be shown next year!     

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA    2011 Fontanini Nativity 2

2010 Fontanni Nativity

One last special note:

One of our family traditions every year during the holiday season is that the manger in the nativity display stays empty until Christmas Eve.  On that evening we read from a beautifully illustrated book that tells the story of the birth of Jesus.  After we are done reading, my daughter will put baby Jesus in the manger and we say a prayer.  It is a lovely moment to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas.

Travel – Blenheim Palace

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Since today is Winston Churchill’s birthday, I would like to share a travel report on Blenheim Palace where he was born and the ancestral home of the Churchill family.  My son and I visited this grand country house located in the beautiful English countryside near the village of Woodstock in 1998 while we were visiting relatives in nearby Oxford. Blenheim Palace has the distinction of being the only non-royal house in England to hold the title of palace and it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A Brief History of Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace was originally a gift from Queen Anne to the 1st Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill, for his military victory in 1704 against the French at the Battle of Blenheim. When the Duke returned to England after the battle he had become a national hero.  The Duke was given a site to build his new palace near the village of Woodstock and Parliament voted to a substantial amount of money from its construction.  Previously the site was had a house called the Manor of Woodstock and the estate was owned by the British Crown.  King Henry I used it as a deer park and King Henry II had kept his mistress there.  Before her succession, Queen Elizabeth I was imprisoned there by her half-sister Queen Mary I.  Later, Cromwell’s troop bombarded the estate and the ruins remained until 1705 when the land was cleared in preparation for the building of Blenheim Palace.

During the construction of Blenheim Palace (1705-1722) the process was delayed several times due to personal and political problems between the Crown and the Marlboroughs.  One of the problems was the Duchess, the former Sarah Jennings.  Years before, she had become a friend to the young Princess Anne who later became the Queen.  Upon becoming Queen, the Duchess was made the Mistress of the Robes, one of the highest honors for a lady.  Later the relationship between the Queen and the Duchess became very strained with constant disagreements and finally by 1711 the Queen cut off all funding for the construction of Blenheim.  By this time, the Duke had also fallen out of favor with the Queen over political issues.  The Marlboroughs were banished from the Queen’s Court and forced into exile, they did not return to England until after Queen Anne died in 1714.

The Duchess had wanted the famed architect Sir Christopher Wren to design and build Blenheim Palace but the Duke choose to commission Sir John Vanbrugh.  There were constant arguments between the Queen, Parliament and the Duke over the funding for the construction.  When the contract was drawn, despite the wish of the Queen to honor the Duke for his service to the Crown, there was no mention as to who was responsible for payment to the architect and building costs.  Delays over conflicts in style and design persisted between the Duchess and Vanbrugh.  Then, accusations of extravagance made by Parliament caused budget restrictions and later when the Duke and Duchess fell out of favor with the Queen construction stopped during the time the Marlboroughs were living out of the country.  Upon their return, construction resumed at the expense of the Duke but further disagreements caused the replacement of Vanbrugh with his partner, Nicholas Hawksmoor.  In the end it had taken almost seventeen years to complete the construction of Blenheim Palace.

During almost 300 years of history, Blenheim Palace has been an ancestral home, mausoleum and monument to the Churchill family. Over the years, various members have made minor changes to the interior of the house as well as the gardens and parklands surrounding the estate.  At the end of the 19th century when the wealth of the family had been depleted due to social and economic changes in England, the estate was saved from ruin when the 9th Earl of Marlborough married the wealthy American railroad heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt.  Blenheim Palace is most notably the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, the former Prime Minister of England.

Blenheim Palace

A Tour of Blenheim Palace

When visiting Blenheim Palace, guests enter through the East Gate with an inscription plaque that was added at the end of the 19th century by the 9th Duke stating the generous gift of Queen Anne to the 1st Duke of Marlborough.  After passing through the entrance, visitors enter the Kitchen Court area of the Palace.  To the right is the Palace gift store and to the left is the Orangery, or the greenhouse area, where currently most of the special events at the Palace are held.  Located in the Kitchen Court area are the Palace’s kitchen, bakehouse, laundry and storage areas.

Blenheim Palace - Visitor Entrance    Blenheim Palace - Visitor Entrance plaque

Guests will continue on through this area and pass under a grand archway with the Townsend’s Clock Tower overhead and emerge into the Great Court area of the Palace.  Be sure to look back and above either side of the archway for a view of the two stone “English” lions which are savagely devouring the “French” cocks, these statues symbolically reference the 1st Duke of Marlborough’s military victory in 1704 against the French at the Battle of Blenheim. If guests were to proceed directly straight across the Great Court there is another service area, the Stable Court, which was never fully completed and this area is where the several stables and storage areas.  To the right of the Clock Tower is the main gate of the Palace, known as the Ditchley Gate, and to the left is the entrance into the main building of the Palace.  In the original plans, Vanburgh had designed an impressive stone entrance in the center with colonnades on either side to completely enclose the Great Court but unfortunately these were never built.  The wrought iron gate was added later by the 9th Duke during extensive renovation and repairs of the Palace in the late 19th century.

From the Great Court, guests enter the main building of the Blenheim Palace passing through massive doors which features a complicated lock system fashioned in brass and copied from the gates of Warsaw, the door is opened with a huge coronet key.  The first room in the Palace is the Great Hall which has a 67 feet high ceiling painted in 1716 by Sir James Thornbill; the scene depicts Marlborough presenting to the Sovereign the plan for the Battle of Blenheim.  Standing just inside the front door, seen directly ahead is the Saloon, the original plan of the Palace’s first floor had two suites of state apartment rooms located to the left and right of the Saloon which were initially intended for visiting important guests and dignitaries such as the Queen or King.  The interconnected rooms of each suite were designed as follows: an audience room, then a private “withdrawing” room and lastly the bedroom of the suite with a small dressing room off to the side.  As you will see later in the tour, the rooms now serve different purposes.

The Saloon is entered into directly from the Great Hall; guest will pass under a large stone archway with the coat of arms of Queen Anne carved in stone by Grinling Gibbons to honor the sovereign who made Blenheim Palace possible.  The Saloon is the state dining room and now only used once a year by the current Marlborough family on Christmas Day.  The table is set with a Minton service and silver gilt with a silver centerpiece located on a side table depicting Marlborough on his horse after the Battle of Blenheim writing the famous dispatch to the Duchess of his victory over the French.  The other feature of note in the Saloon is the beautiful dome ceiling painted by Louis Laguerre representing Peace.  Laguerre also painted the murals on the walls around the perimeter of the room showing people (including his self-portrait) from all the nations of the world coming together in Peace, interestingly he included French spies.

Blenheim Palace - the Saloon

To the left of the Saloon is the Green Writing Room with the most famous tapestry of Blenheim Palace depicting Marlborough in triumph accepting the French Marshall Tallard’s surrender at the Battle of Blenheim.  The next state room is the Red Drawing with two large painting of note, one by Sir Joshua Reynolds showing the 4th Duke and his family and facing it on the opposite wall is the John Singer Sargent portrait of the 9th Duke and his family.  Beyond this room is the Green Drawing Room.

30021 26-27A.TIF Blenheim Palace - Red Drawing Room

To the right of the Great Hall, entered down a corridor, is the Long Library.  This room is 180 feet long with very high ceilings that feature a series of domes and has several additional distinct features to note.  One is the large full length statue of Queen Anne by John Michael Rysbrack with an inscription noting the close ties between her and the 1st Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, the statue stands in the bow window area of the library.  The other is located at the north end of the room and it is a large organ that was commissioned by Henry Willis& Sons.  Later installed by the 9th Duke in 1891, it is the largest pipe organ in a private home in Europe.  The organ is still currently in use and played at the Palace on Friday and Sunday afternoons.

Blenheim Palace - Queen Anne statue in the Library    Blenheim Palace - the Palace Organ

From the Long Library, there is access down a colonnade to the Palace Chapel.  The Chapel was completed in 1732 and contains the tomb of the 1st Duke of Marlborough, the Duchess and their two sons; sadly their four daughters are not mentioned on the memorial and were buried elsewhere.  When the Duke died in 1722 he was buried in Westminster Abbey and when the Duchess died in 1744 his remains were re-interred at Blenheim Palace.  Successive Dukes and their wives are also interred in the vault beneath the chapel.  Most other members of Churchill family are interred in St. Martin’s parish churchyard at Bladon, a short distance from the palace.

Finally, located in a small room to the right of the Great Hall is the famous room that Winston Churchill was born in 1874 while his parents were visiting their relatives at Blenheim Palace.  Churchill’s mother, Lady Randolph, was taken by surprise when she gave birth to her son prematurely several weeks before he was expected.  It is fitting that Churchill was born at the Palace, since later in life he had a strong sense of family and came to greatly admire the 1st Duke of Marlborough.  Many years later, he proposed to his future wife, Clementine Ogilvy, at the Temple to Diana located beside the lake on the estate.  Churchill is also buried nearby Bladon; there is a direct line of axis from Blenheim Palace past the Column of Victory located on the estate to the cemetery in Bladon thereby symbolically linking both his birth and his death.

Blenheim Palace - bedroom where Winston Churchill was born

Charles Schultz’s Birthday

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Charles M. SchulzGrowing up as a child of the 60s, I have wonderful memories of spreading out the comic section of the newspaper flat onto the floor in our family’s living room and reading the comics lying on my stomach every Sunday morning.  One of my favorites was the Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schultz which features the characters of Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and a dog named Snoopy.  I also remember watching the animated television specials “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” every holiday season when I was a little girl.  Later, when they were available on video and DVD, I made a family tradition of watching those animated specials with my children every year.  Charles Schultz brought such humor and fun to our family and the world!

Charles Schulz (born: November 26, 1922 died: February 12, 2000) was one of the most famous American cartoonists of our time.  Schultz was born in Minneapolis and grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota.  He was the only child of European immigrates, Charles Schultz from Germany and Dena Halverson from Norway.  As a child he was known as Sparky, a nickname he received from an uncle, and he loved to draw mostly pictures of his dog, Spike.  Spike was an unusual dog that ate pins, tacks and razor blades and for this reason one of Schulz’s first published drawings was a sketch of Spike that he submitted to “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!”.

Schultz was a good student, he skipped grades at the local St. Paul elementary school and as a result he was a shy, timid teenager and one of the youngest in his graduating class from Central High School.  In February 1943, Schultz mother died from cancer a long illness and he was greatly affected by the loss.  Shortly after this time, Schultz was drafted into the United States Army and he went to Europe to fight in World War II.  He became a staff sergeant and squad leader of his machine gun unit.  He was discharged after the war and returned to Minneapolis.

He took several jobs working for different companies after returning from the war.  One of those jobs was working at the Art Instruction, Inc. which was an art school that Schultz had been taking a correspondence course to further his artistic talent before being drafted.  He worked part-time there for a few years while he was developing his style of drawing comic book characters.

Scultz’s first full-time job was drawing a regular weekly one panel cartoon called “Li’l Folks” which was published by the St. Paul Pioneer Press from 1947 to 1950.  In 1950, Schultz submitted his work to the United Feature Syndicate for a four panel comic strip series, this type of comic strip would later become the industry’s standard.  “Peanuts” first appeared on October 2, 1950 in nine newspapers and in January 6, 1952 the strip made its debut in the Sunday editions.  Ironically, Schultz always disliked the name of “Peanuts” for the comic strip; he said in a later interview that he thought it lacked dignity.  After a slow and steady start, “Peanuts” went on to be published daily in 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries making it the most popular and influential comic strip in history.

Peanuts first comic strip - October 2, 1950

Throughout most of his long career, Schultz always kept to the same daily routine that started in the morning with a jelly donut breakfast, then going through his mail and correspondence and finally sitting down to draw his daily comic strip.  On the average, it took him about one hour to draw the daily comic strips and three hours for the Sunday edition strips.  During his 50 year Schultz drew nearly 18,000 comic strips, he always produced the work by himself, only employing a secretary to help with office work and never hiring any assistants to draw or “ink” the comic strips.  Remarkably he only took one vacation during that time when he took a five week break in 1997 to celebrate his 75th birthday; it was the only time reruns of the strip were used while Schultz was alive.

After his initial success with the comic strip, Schultz branched out into other media, such as a collection of the “Peanuts” comic strips published as a book in 1952 and later with the first “Peanuts” animated television special in 1965, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, which won an Emmy award.  Schultz also wrote and oversaw the production of all the numerous TV specials that followed.  Over the years other books, associated merchandise and product endorsements produced over $1 billion in revenues annually, with Schultz earning an estimated $35 million each year.

A Charlie Brown Christmas    It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Throughout his career Schultz received numerous awards and honors; such as the 1962 National Cartoonist Humor Comic Strip Award and in 1996 he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, appropriately located next to Walt Disney’s star.  He also received the Boy Scouts of America Silver Buffalo Award for his service to the youth of America.  Schultz very interested in the United States space program and in 1969 he received the honor of having the Apollo 10 command module named Charlie Brown and the lunar module named Snoopy.  In 1974, he was the Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.  Schultz was also an avid ice sports fan, both hockey and figure skating, he was very active in the Senior hockey league and was the owner of the Redwood Empire Ice Arena located in Santa Rosa, California.  In 1981, he received the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to the sport of hockey and he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in1993.  Finally, in 2001, he posthumously received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor of the United States.

Charles Schulz star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

 In regards to his personal life, Schultz had moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1951 and married Joyce Halverson; they had four children.  Eventually they moved back to Minnesota and stayed there until 1958 when they moved to Sebastopol, California.  Schultz was very pleased when he was able to build his first studio, prior to that time he had worked from home or in a small rented office.  Then in 1969, the family moved to Santa Rosa, California where Schultz lived and worked for the remainder of his career.  After divorcing his first wife in 1972, Schultz married Jean Forsyth Clyde in 1973; they were married for 27 years.

By the 1980s, Schultz heath was becoming an issue when he began experiencing tremors in his hands, eventually it was controlled by medication.  In July 1981, he underwent a heart bypass surgery.  By late 1999 Schultz had suffered several small strokes with a blocked aorta and then colon cancer was diagnosed and had metastasized and with the chemotherapy treatment his vision had worsened.  In December 1999, Schultz announced his retirement and the final “Peanuts” comic strip had already been drawn.  Schultz died in at home on February 12, 2000 from complications from the colon cancer.  He is buried at Pleasant Hills Cemetery in Sebastopol, California.

The last “Peanuts” comic strip was published on February 13, 2000.  As a fitting tribute, Charlie Brown was the only “Peanuts” character to appear in both the first strip in 1950 and the last strip in 2000.  When he was asked earlier in his career if Charlie Brown would finally get to kick that football someday, Schultz responded to the question, “No, definitely not!”  Sadly, many years later when he was interviewed in December 1999 after announcing his retirement and shortly before he died, Schultz emotionally commented, “You know that poor kid never even got to kick that football.  What a dirty trick!”

Peanuts final comic strip - February 12, 2000

Celebration – The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

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When I was child, I loved waking up in the morning on Thanksgiving Day and turning on the television to watch the Macy’s Parade from New York City.  The truth is … I still like watching the parade and I’m … hey I’m not giving away my age!!  The thing I enjoy about the Macy’s Parade that makes it so different from the Rose Parade and any other parade is that at a certain times during the parade it will stop and have a musical performance from a recording artist or a Broadway show right there on 34th Street in front of Macy’s Department store and then afterwards the parade continues until the finale with Santa Claus.

The History of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

1924 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - advertisementThis year the Macy’s Parade will be celebrating 89 years of the annual Thanksgiving Day tradition which originally started in 1924.  Back then, the majority of the employees at Macy’s Department Store were immigrants who were very proud of being new citizens of the United States and they wanted to celebrate the traditional American holiday of Thanksgiving with a festive event.  The Macy’s employees dressed in costumes and with the addition of some professional entertainers, bands, decorated floats and live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo the parade traveled 6 miles from 145th Street in Harlem to the Macy’s store located on 34th Street and Broadway in New York City.  The first parade was advertised in the local newspaper before the scheduled date and had a crowd of over a quarter of a million people.  It was a great success and Macy’s decided to make the parade an annual event.

Soon after that first parade Macy’s hired Anthony Sarg who was famous in New York City for his use of marionettes and small balloons.  He had come to the attention of Macy’s and they requested that Sarg make his puppets into an animated window display they were planning to promote their annual parade.  Later in 1927, Sarg used a large animal-shaped balloon made by the Goodyear Tire Company specifically for the parade.  Basically he took the concept of his marionettes literally upside down and the balloon had the controls underneath that were operated by several Macy’s employees instead the controls on the top like a traditional marionette.  This first balloon in the Macy’s parade was Felix the Cat, a popular cartoon character.  In the following years, several more large balloons were added to the Macy’s Parade, such as a new cartoon character named Mickey Mouse in 1934.  These newer balloons were filled with helium to make them float. Also, at the end of the parade the balloons were released into the sky with an address label sewn into the material with a message that if they were found to return the deflated balloons safely to Macy’s for a special gift.

1927 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - Felix the Cat    1934 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - Mickey Mouse

The Macy’s Parade continued to grow in the size over the years with more participants and performers and even more balloons.  The parade was starting to attract crowds of over 1 million people along the parade route and the annual event was now being broadcast on a local New York radio station from 1932 to 1951. During the years of 1942 to 1944 the parade was not held because of World War II.  The reason for this was that the military needed the rubber and helium for the war effort that used the materials for the balloons.  The Macy’s Parade gained national attention when the 1947 film “Miracle on 34th Street” was released and featured actual filmed footage from the 1946 parade.  The title of the movie refers to the location of Macy’s flagship store which plays a significant role in this charming movie featuring Natalie Wood as the adorable but precocious little girl who does not believe in Santa Claus!

Miricle on 34th Street movie

The Macy’s parade was first televised locally in New York City in 1939.  The first national broadcast was in 1948 on CBS.  Since 1952, NBC became the official network to cover the event.  Originally the program was only an hour long but currently the coverage has expanded to three hours, including the pre-show portions of the program.  Since 1960, the parade coverage changed from a black and white broadcast to color version when this technology became available on television sets.

More balloons were added to the parade over the years and they were always familiar characters from television or movies, such as Superman and Spiderman, Snoopy and Charlie Brown, Donald Duck and Kermit the frog and even one year an astronaunt.  Since 1984 the balloons are made by Raven Industries located in South Dakota.  By 2006, in response to previous accidents and balloon related injuries, new safety standards and restrictions were implemented.  Along the parade route wind measurement devices were installed to alert the parade organizers to unsafe conditions.  Some actions taken in response to high winds are that the balloons are kept closer to the ground by the handlers and if the wind speeds are predicted to exceed 34 miles per hour the balloons are removed from the parade.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - Spiderman    Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - Kermit the Frog

In addition to the world famous balloons, the parade also features musical performances that will stop on the street in front of the Macy’s store located on 34th Street and Broadway.  College and high school marching bands perform live music and recording artists perform from their floats or Broadway shows take to the street to lip-sync to prerecorded music.  Other performers include the world famous Radio City Rockettes and also college or high school cheerleader and dance squads from around the country. Of course the highlight and the grand finale of the parade is the arrival of Santa Claus.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City    Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - Santa
 

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - Rockettes    Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - Rockettes 1