My Wolf and Dessauer Ornament

Wolf and Dessauer is as synonymous with Christmas in Fort Wayne as Marshall Fields is with Chicago.

The upscale department store was the place to shop in downtown Fort Wayne for decades and many people have fond memories of it. Most of those memories revolve around Christmastime when Wolf and Dessauer would transform into a scene straight out of A Christmas Story with magical animatronic displays in their windows and a gigantic lighted Santa and a midcentury modern Merry Christmas Wreath on the sides of their building.

The Santa display has quite a history in our town and people still come from far and wide to see it. It's not Christmas in Fort Wayne until Santa is lit! A few weeks before Thanksgiving he starts to go up and you can feel the magic in the air that Christmas is near!

W&D, as they are known, first displayed their massive five ton lighted Santa in 1940 and he appeared at Christmastime for almost twenty years. Somehow, when W&D moved, Santa got lost in the hustle and bustle, and it wasn't until 1979 that he was found in bad shape in an abandoned warehouse! Can you imagine?

By the Christmas of 1980, Santa was restored and put on the side of one of Fort Wayne's tallest buildings, where he has remained ever since! The W&D wreath went on another building, and I may actually like the wreath better than Santa, because you know how I like wreaths. But, Santa brings me much more fond childhood memories of driving by him on our way to school. Plus, you know, it's SANTA!

About ten years ago, Santa's 25,000 lightbulbs went from the old incandescent kind to LED and someone had the great idea to turn the old bulbs into ornaments! 

I first discovered that these ornaments were on the loose in Fort Wayne a few years ago and I knew I had to get my hands on one! I love Fort Wayne history, and to own such an iconic piece of it was just too much! I really had no idea how or where to find one of the ornaments and I have been scouring the internet for one of Santa's bulbs for years to no avail.

Finally, one day last week I happened to read in the Journal-Gazette that the Fort Wayne Museum of Art was selling them in their gift shop! I could not wait to get out of work and hightail it over there. I had only seen the red ornaments before so I assumed that they would be red. When I got there I was informed that they only had white and orange bulbs left. 

Now, I'll admit, I was a little disappointed. I wanted red! I love anything red and it's just such a perfect Christmasy color! I thought about it and decided that a white bulb would really pop on my green Christmas tree, even more so than a red one. Plus, a white lightbulb could have come from Santa's beard or even one of the reindeer! So I got white. And I love it!

I am so happy that I finally have one of these ornaments! It's truly become one of my cherished items already. Now a piece of Fort Wayne history will live on forever on my Christmas tree!

Here's the old Wolf and Dessauer Santa being put up with a crane on Main St. in downtown Fort Wayne a few weeks before Thanksgiving this year.

Santa in all his glory! His whip and sleigh blink and "move," that's why in this shot it looks burned out.

Off to deliver presents to all the good children in Fort Wayne!

This is the W&D wreath, which now hangs on Wayne Street. I'd love to have this at my house!

My long-awaited ornament!

Here is a picture from the ornament box of Santa hanging on the Wolf and Dessauer building.

Now hanging proudly on my Christmas tree!

Can you find it?!?

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

My Christmas Wreaths

I cannot believe that Christmas is just around the corner already! 

And I have totally been slacking on the blog! I usually post pretty much daily on my Instagram though, so if you are missing me you can check it out. It's sweethome.indiana!

Today, I am going to post all the Christmas Wreaths that I made! I actually sold most of them at my craft shows, so I am very happy about that! The few that I have left are hanging up on various doors at my house. I have one on my front door, one on the inside of my front door, and one on the inside of my backdoor! If I had a fireplace, I'd definitely have one hanging above it too!

In my home, wreaths are a necessity on my front door! It's a great and easy way to spruce up your entry way and welcome guests to your home!

I like to make unique wreaths, ones that you wouldn't normally see. Wreaths that stand out, and that people will cherish as part of their seasonal decor every year! I love all my wreaths and selling them is bittersweet because I would love to keep them all for myself! But, at the same time it makes me happy that someone else wants them as well!

You can check out my facebook page and if you are in the neighborhood you can purchase one of my wreaths or keep up with my shows! I am hoping to do a couple of craft shows in the Spring with some happy Spring and Summer wreaths!


Here are all my Christmas Wreaths, in all their glory:

Poinsettia's are probably my favorite flower! I loved this wreath and since someone already purchased it, I will have to make another one for myself!

This wreath screams vintage to me! I love everything vintage so this was one of my faves!

Santa!

Inspired by a Martha Stewart wreath, this Jingle Bell Wreath surprisingly took me several tries to get right! I had to find the right gauge of wire (I ended up using a hanger!) and of course, the perfect bow!

This is my husband's favorite wreath! We kept it and he added lights to it. It's hanging on our front door!

My brother and sister-in-law bought this wreath from me! It's classic with it's Christmasy red and green color scheme, but also modern with the green berries!

This deco mesh Poinsettia Wreath is ginormous! It does not fit on a front door with a storm door on it! I love it though! It would be perfect above a fireplace! It's currently hanging on the inside of my front door and it looks awesome!

I seriously just discovered buffalo check plaid and I love it!!! Pair it with burlap and holly and you have the perfect farmhouse Christmas wreath!

A glamorous poinsettia wreath!

Classic hydrangea. I made a very, very large one of these for above my sister-in-law's parent's fireplace. I can take orders!

I told you I loved poinsettias!

This was one of my most popular wreaths! I had to make several of them!

Everyone have a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!

Waiting for Santa!

Candy Cane Vodka!

On my husband's side of the family we all do homemade gifts for Christmas to save money. Last year we gave the adults homemade Candy Cane Vodka and it was such a hit that we were requested to do it again this year!

It's a fairly cheap gift when you do the math and a super easy and fun process. You could even do it as a fun group activity on Christmas!

We wanted to kick it up a notch this year and really add some festiveness with a second flavor to go along with the more traditional red peppermint candy cane flavor. And what goes better with red for Christmas than green? Wint-O-Green to be exact!

First, we broke up six candy canes per pint-sized jar.

Then we simply poured in the vodka! One large bottle of vodka made five pint-sized jars.

The candy canes start dissolving pretty immediately. Just give it a shake right away and keep on shaking every once in a while to help the process along.

The candy canes should be completely dissolved within a day's time.

We repeated the process with the green candy canes, although we used half-pint jelly jars for these ones. We only used three candy canes for the smaller jars.

The green candy cane vodka ended up a little light so we added a drop of green food coloring to make it more of a "Christmasy" green. It also tastes a bit like mouthwash, but some people are into that sort of thing.

The finished product! There will be a bit of white "residue" from the candy so just shake it up before you drink it!

A very Merry Christmas indeed!

O Christmas Tree!

I discovered while decorating for Christmas last year that apparently I have a thing for Christmas Trees. So naturally, I decided to go all in and start collecting them! Here are a few of my favorite trees to get you in the mood for Christmas!

This is the newest tree in my collection. I am obsessed with bottle brush trees and now I finally have one!

I love green and red for Christmas. It's so classic.

 But, I also love the multi-colored Christmas decor as well. I got this ornament tree at Target half off the day after Christmas! Gotta love when that happens!

I wish I would have bought another one of these trees to make a cluster of three. They always say to do uneven numbers in design.

Someone made my husband this tree a long time ago. When you get married sometimes you "inherit" some really hideous stuff you then have to incorporate into your home, but I really love this tree!

My mom made this tree out of cookies like three years ago and we just store it in a ziploc baggie every year and bust it out again. It's got a few areas where it has broken, but overall it still looks great!

These were my first tree purchases when I moved into my first apartment.

This is my most special tree ~ a vintage light up Christmas Tree that was my great-grandma's!

The perfect gift...

Several years ago, my friend Katie gave me a Christmas ornament as a "Going Away" present when I left her behind at my previous job. It was a glass Hallmark Snowflake that states "One of a kind...Once in a lifetime...Friends."  She said every year I hang it on my tree to think of her. And I do. 

If you're having a hard time coming up with a great gift to give to someone - especially someone that "has everything," an ornament is the perfect gift. There are so many different ones out there you can be sure to find something to fit your friend/family member's personality. It doesn't have to be expensive or fancy. Just something that will make them think of you fondly every year when they hang it on their tree.

Katie and I don't talk every day. We don't talk once a month. In fact, maybe not even for several months to a year. But that doesn't mean I don't think of her almost everyday and wonder how she is doing. It also doesn't mean that we are any less of friends than we were when we saw each other everyday.

That snowflake ornament may not look like much to some people, but to me, it is very special. It is a reminder of what a wonderful friend I have and it makes me smile every time I look it.

"Cookie Fest" 2016

Last night was the annual "Cookie Fest" at my aunt's house. We made 600 sugar cookies between four of us girls! It took about 8 hours just to bake them all. They have yet to even be frosted.

A Cookie Fest is a great way to get together for the Holidays that doesn't involve making a big meal or really a lot of "entertaining." All you need is just some cookie dough and a couple bottles of wine! It's hard work making that many cookies, but it's fun work (and yummy work!). We came up with a little assembly line of sorts with two people rolling the dough and cutting the cookies out and two people doing the actual baking.

I am the first to admit, my aunt takes this to the extreme! There is really no need to make 600 cookies in one night for most people. If I was doing it myself, I would definitely cut down on the amount and save time for decorating! In fact, you can buy cookies that are already pre-baked and just do a decorating party! That's where the real fun happens anyways!

I took home about 100 cookies for myself (I'm going to freeze them and eat them "as needed" - not all at once!) and tonight my husband and I will frost them with the most delicious cream cheese frosting and decorate until our hearts content. Or he gets sick of it, most likely.

The final count! This was already minus about 120 cookies someone snagged early on in the night!