All I Want for Christmas is A Girl to Love

So we arrived at six finalists for the 2012 Best Betty Christmas vote, as listed below.  Not to influence anyone’s thinking or independent judgment or anything, but I suspect this is the one that will get my vote. 

Damsel in Green (1970)

Caroline's Waterloo  (1980)

A Girl to Love (1982)

When Two Paths Meet  (1988)

The Mistletoe Kiss  (1997)

A Christmas Romance  (1999)

One reason I suspect this:  I know Sadie Gillard and Oliver Trentham’s names without having to look them up.  The best I can do on the others is DiG’s heroine first name and hero last name, CW’s heroine first name (hint provided), and I may never forget that ACR stars Theodosia.  Betty Keira will post Betty Debbie’s full reprise of A Girl to Love on Monday, but meanwhile I shall remind you, at more length than intended, of the wonderfulness of the Christmas celebration it shares with us.

Background: Sadie’s granny dies five weeks before Christmas, and Sadie has to sell the cottage in Chelcombe, a small village in Dorset where she’s lived for most of her 23 years.  Fortunately, Oliver buys the place and hires her to housekeep for him and his two small daughters.  In the grand British Betty tradition of upper-lip-stiffening, Sadie mourns Granny for about three paragraphs and then starts making the best of things – and one of the best things is that Christmas is coming, and someone has got to make the season festive for the girls, since their haughty, cold-hearted governess sure won’t do it, and Dad is too emotionally insecure and work-burdened to be proactive in the matter.  Beautifully, and love-inducingly, he pitches in when offered the chance.

As, for instance, when he bundles Sadie into the Aston Martin Volante (not socking great in size, but great in awesomeness) and heads to Bath for a spot of gift-getting.  Sadie buys herself some more colorful clothes as well, including a sapphire-blue dress to wear on Christmas – and for Neels aficionados, perhaps a skosh of foreshadowing...  Later, we get to peek over Sadie’s shoulder as she composes her lists of household necessities for this most consumerist of holidays, and tag along as she makes her purchases at both Mrs. Beamish’s village shop and at the “splendidly old-fashioned grocers” in Bridport, where, “they offer you a chair, you know, and call you madam.”

Coming away from Bridport, Oliver frowns, prompting Sadie to ask, “You don’t like Christmas?”  “It’s become a commercial holiday, I seem to have lost the real Christmas years ago,” he replies.  Sadie assures him, “You’ll find it again in Chelcombe.”

Or perhaps in Bridport, for after the two little girls arrive, Sadie proposes a trip to that city to see Father Christmas parade through town.  The festive air is infectious, and kinda-sorta leads to the dismissal of the vile Miss Murch.  With her gone, the happy almost-family is free to make paper chains, with Oliver “making rather a botch of it,” but at least he’s trying.  And he’s happy to take the girls and Sadie shopping, in Dorchester this time, so they can buy presents for each other, including a shocking tie for Dad and a garish headscarf for Sadie.

We also have mention of the carol service at church, the children’s party at school, carol singers arriving for mince pies, “tying up of parcels and, for the first time in years, a great many Christmas cards.”  By Christmas Eve, the cottage is festooned with holly and colored paper, and the pillowcases are ready for stuffing with gifts.

Then, yay! it’s Christmas morning and Anna and Julie crowd onto Sadie’s bed with Tom the cat to open their gifts.  Oliver joins them with the tea tray, and amongst the garish headscarves, hankies and knitted gloves, Sadie receives an “extravagant box, tied with bright cords and.. awash with tissue paper.”  It contains a real silk blouse and skirt in amber:  “Its elegance was indisputable.  Just looking at it made her feel beautiful,” and, in fact, brings her to a teardrop or two of happiness.  Plus a demand that she “kiss Daddy thank you,” which she does, chastely on his cheek.

Walking to church through the snow, carving turkey “in a masterly fashion,” and playing with new dolls and their hand-sewn outfits, before a late tea and bit of record-player listening, round out a “lovely day.”  I am quite sure we have all re-discovered the spirit of Christmas at this point.

Of course, Betty doesn’t neglect the quintessential experience of the holidays:  cleaning like crazy, making a big mess of everything, and then tidying up again.  On Boxing Day, Oliver invites an unknown number of people over for drinks and titbits, which requires Sadie arising at the crack of d. to manufacture the sausage rolls Oliver is accustomed to ordering from Fortnum’s, and staying up late to clear away the dishes and napkins after a singularly successful drinks party.

Spirit of Christmas, indeed.  Plus, they're -- spoiler alert -- engaged by New Year's, so loving and giving abounds for ever after.

Christmas - still coming [Damsel in Green]

So the finalists for TUJD Best Christmas Ever (2012 version) are:

Damsel in Green (1970)

Caroline's Waterloo  (1980)

A Girl to Love (1982)

When Two Paths Meet  (1988)

The Mistletoe Kiss  (1997)

A Christmas Romance  (1999)

I think it might be helpful to refresh your memories of the various wonderments each of these slim volumes holds, so I shall, over the next few days, post some summaries.  We begin with the story of Staff Nurse Georgina Rodman and Professor in Anaesthetics Julius van den berg Eyyfert, festively studded with her aunt and his many young cousins.

“'Are you using your own money for this Christmas job, Georgina?’” Karel asks, and indeed she is.  Her parcels enable the young van den berg Eyyferts to create paper chains and other decorations well in advance of the holiday – in fact, they’re almost done by St. Nicholaas Day.  Given the family’s Dutch roots, we get to celebrate that event as well, with “real gifts” supplementing their chocolate letters including watches, a Domiplan F2.8/50 camera, pearl earrings and a Meissen figurine for Georgina; coincidentally, one she’s admired for months in a Saffron Walden shop window.

Drawing closer to Christmas, Georgina takes a day for a London shopping spree that includes “a long-skirted dream of a dress, of a dark green velvet...”  The handmade decorations have been sorted into boxes, ready to be put up on Christmas Eve, and “Mrs. Stephens sent up vast quantities of mince pies each teatime.”  There is wet-haired carol-singing by the fire, piano-moving to enhance same, and “Christmas cards festooning the Balkan frame over Cor's bed,” in preparation.  Cousin Karel takes Georgina to visit Aunt Polly (who always spends Christmas with friends since her niece is unlikely to have the day off from her hospital duties) and brings along “a large square box of his own, which, when Georgina queried it, she was told was none of her business.”  It is a gift from Julius to Aunt, and contains six bottles of the best champagne.

And then there’s Christmas Eve:  Georgina has a chance to remind the Prof that his “bad luck” in having to work that day is “nicely cushioned.”  Once that’s out of the way, we begin decorating, “and  as  everyone  had  their  own  ideas  as  to  what  looked  best  the results  were  unique  and  startling;  only  in  the  hall  and  drawing  room  did Dimphena  and  Georgina  get  their  way.    They  had  put  their  heads  together  days before,  and  now  proceeded  to  fill  the  vases  with  charming  arrangements  of holly  and  Christmas  roses  and  coloured  baubles  and  the  silvered  pine  cones they  had  collected  on  their  walks.  They  twined  holly  and  evergreens  around  the  great  fireplaces,  and  arranged the  elaborate  centrepiece  they  had  all  had  a  hand  in  on  the  dining  table.  There  was  a  small  tree  for  Cor's  room,  which  they  had  put  as  close  to  him  as possible,  so  that  he  could  help  with  its  decoration,  and  while  they  did  that, Karel  and  Franz  blew  up  the  balloons  which  they  insisted  were  an indispensable  part  of  the  decorations.    Karel  hung  them  in  great  colourful bunches  all  over  the  house--he  hung  the  mistletoe  as  well,  and  then  refused to  tell  them  where.”

Georgina marches through the snowy lane to fetch a last few tags and wrapping paper, singing of snow.  Her Christmas wishes come partially true when Julius gives her a warm ride home in the Rolls, interrupted only to exchange gifts with the Leggs at the lodge, and requests, with an avuncular kiss, that she wear her prettiest dress to dinner.  Then there’s that whole mother’s-diamond-ring thing, largely forgotten over smoked salmon, roast goose, chestnuts, cranberry sauce, haricots verts, potatoes noissette and zabagloine – and claret, and champagne.

We have a confab in the Professor’s bedroom(!), a sneaky foray to leave Christmas socks by the younger children’s beds, heady compliments and liqueurs by the fire, much, much too late for someone planning to attend 7:00am service.

I’ll let Betty take it from here:  “It was cold when she left the house the next morning and made her way to the garage.  She was in the Mini and had just switched on the ignition when Julius said out of the darkness, ‘Good morning, Miss Rodman, and a Happy Christmas.  Move over--if we are to risk life and limb on these appalling lanes, I might as well be responsible for the damage.’  She moved over without a word, her heart beating a rapid tattoo which she felt sure he could hear.  It seemed not; he got in beside her and shut the door with the air of a man fitting himself into a too tight coat.  It was a good thing that she was a normal-sized girl; as it was, it would be impossible for them to be any closer.”

“The little church was full, its early morning chill scented with holly and chrysanthemums; Georgina enjoyed the service and said so on the way home. ... It was still very dark, but there were lights at some of the windows of the rambling old house, and the clear frosty sky made the stars seem very close.  Georgina, her head thrown back, stood gazing upwards.  ‘I do like Christmas--it's a wonderful time.’  She felt his hand tighten on her arm.

“‘Full of the Christmas spirit, I hope, Miss Rodman.’  She brought her gaze down from the sky to the level of his face above hers.  ‘You mean loving and giving?’ she asked simply, like a child.  He said slowly, ‘Yes, that's what I mean--loving and giving.’  He loosened his hold on her arm and added matter-of-factly, ‘Look out for the steps, they're slippery.’  The day promised to be a wholly happy one.”

“Her own presents she carried to her own room; they made quite a large pile, for they had all given her something, from Beatrix's lop-sided pincushion to the Professor's silver Valentine mirror, an exquisite trifle which must have cost a pretty penny...  Much later, in bed, she ... reminded herself that it had been one of the best Christmases she had ever known, and went determinedly to sleep.”

Crafting with Betty Debbie

For the last week or two I've been working on decorating my hall bathroom (the only room in my house that I'd never actually painted). The theme was "The Empire Strikes Bath"...and as part of the decor I made these little darlings:



I took the magnetic containers from my office ($5 from IKEA for 3 - lots
of other stores carry similar containers)...that meant I needed to
replace them...so I took the opportunity to tart them up ala Betty Neels.



All you need to do is find an image you like, print or copy them, take out the ones that come
with the containers, then trace around those and cut out your new pictures.



Refill with your favorite office supplies (or sewing...or craft...)...



...and enjoy!

 



Christmas Crafts with Betty

If there are any children in the mix, Christmas preparations in Neeldom nearly always include making decorations...Damsel in Green probably has the most, Georgie and the kids evidently make 'heaps of decorations overflowing their boxes'. Here at the van der Stevejinck homestead it would be an exaggeration to say that we make heaps of decorations...but every couple of years or so I like to have a go at making a few new ones (to replace the ones we lose due to attrition of one sort or another). This year I found an absolutely adorable one...which I have christened "The Mistletoe Kiss: Chapter One"...mostly because I used the pages from chapter one of The Mistletoe Kiss (an extra copy). I posted the instructions on my regular blog last week...so here you go:

I'm not as 'crafty' as I used to be...but every once in a while I get the urge. My go-to place for scoping out new crafts is a site called One Pretty Thing (thank you, [Betty]Keira). I happened to take a glance a week or two ago and found the cutest pinecone - the instructions are on a site called The Hybrid Chick. It looked easy enough, and even better, it didn't take a ton of specialized equipment that I would never use again. I used the pages from a Betty Neels book (The Mistletoe Kiss)...so I used mistletoe on the top. The only things I had to buy for this craft were styrofoam eggs ($3.99 for a 4 pack at Craft Mart), straight pins ($1.99 at Fred Meyer for 250 - I may have used around 100) and a sprig of fake mistletoe (on sale for $1.40 at Craft Mart - I only used half of a sprig on one). Total time? About an hour - maybe less.

Step 1. Cover the pointed end with a strip of paper about and inch wide.
Step 2. Fold a one inch square of paper so that it has a pointed end.
Step 3. Repeat step 2 a bunch of times. Step 4. Pin pointed paper pieces onto the styrofoam egg. The ones near the bottom should be overlapped some - you can just use one pin in that case. Work your way up the egg in rows, adjusting your spacing as needed. Step 5. When you have gotten pretty much to the top, add a ribbon for hanging and any embellishments you want. I cut apart a sprig of fake mistletoe for mine...I also trimmed the mistletoe leaves down a little - so they weren't quite so long.Here are some of the ones I made for my family.

Crafting with Betty

Bettysday looms ever closer and for those who like to get their craft on, I put together a fun and easy craft that can incorporate some secret Betty-ness into your everyday decor.
I call them Orbs d'Betty (Because Betty Balls is a dog that won't hunt.) Gathering materials: I found assorted sizes of Styrofoam ba...orbs...at my local Goodwill. Anything round would work as long as you don't mind covering it up.
I bought Mod podge at Michael's (print off their coupons online and you'll save 40% on one item). There I also bought some ink pads to distress my orbs--two shades of brown (walnut and sepia) and one shade of blue. In retrospect I would have bought a third brown finish and skipped the blue entirely as it didn't turn out quite like I envisioned.
One Betty book was bought at Goodwill for a dollar. The Secret Infatuation. I spent 45 minutes tearing the pages (eek!) into strips (horizontal was easier and more readable) and set them aside.

To begin: I popped my orbs on cups and round lids--things that would get them away from the counter and hold them still. Taking a strip of paper I would dunk it in the Mod Podge and then wipe away the excess with my fingers. Then it's as simple as laying them on the Styrofoam...sort of. The smaller ball...orbs needed much shorter pieces of paper (2" or so) than the larger ones. (The smaller the paper the more it will lay flat on a small surface.) I set aside the last page of the book so that I could tear it at the end and put it on the outside of the largest orb.

Also, I found that I liked working with a few orbs at once; draping the paper on one and then letting that get slightly tacky while I worked on the others--the paper seemed to behave a little better for me if it wasn't all wet. I would rinse my hands off periodically when I would get too much glue on my fingers, as well.
And then I gently brushed my distressing ink on the outside of the orbs once they dried. Hmmm. That didn't look like enough distressing to me either.
So then I went Full Monty and rubbed the ink pads all over and worked it into the ridges with my fingers. Much better.
Here's a close up. The basket was a 5 dollar Wal-Mart purchase. I feel very sneaky having Betty Neels out there where everyone can see her.
I had a ton of fun but I dare say I look like I've been booked down at county for drug-related offenses...

P.S. I did have to gird up my loins to rip apart a book...and not just any book but a Betty book and, moreover, one I liked. But as this was a duplicate of one I had and was still in print and had not been sentimentally purchased or acquired, I felt justified.

Sewing With Dummies: How To Make a Book Cover

Before I begin, let me confess that I read crafting blogs and I have never, until now, appreciated the difficulty of taking step by step pictures of the entire process. Thumbs up miscellaneous skirt-sewing bloggers!

So, I found an old plastic book cover in the bins at Goodwill a few years ago and fell in love with it. First, they come with bookmarks already attached so there is no danger of misplacing them. Second, while I would practically mount a 24 hour neon sign on a head band pointing at my copy of any work by Dostoevsky under my arm, I don't mind covering some of the more passionate Neels clinches from my four-year-old.

Anyway, here's a simple 15 minute project for a basic book cover. Just know that I am a very simple, basic sewer and everything I know I learned from Betty Debbie. I will, in the instructions, assume you are too stupid to tie your own shoes.

I cut outside cloth, inside cloth and interfacing fabric (doesn't need to be iron-on. This is just to give a little heft) each 10.25" x 8" for the main body of the book cover. Now that I've used them I think that you could tighten up these numbers a smidge for these particular books but, to quote Edna Mode, "I made it a little roomy for the free movement." The larger number would work well for omnibuses and thicker books but for the smaller, I'd maybe cut it 9.75" x 8".
Cut two panels, each one 3.5" x 8" for the inside cover flaps in the fabric of your choice. Making this wider is also possible if you desire extra stability for your books but 3 and a half inches worked well for me. (If you want to make these more heavy duty, just double the width of the fabric, fold it in half and stick a piece of interfacing (I'd probably use iron-on for this) between it and skip the next two steps.)
Double fold one edge of each of your inside cover flaps and iron down.
Top stitch that ironed edge.
Place cover flaps on the piece of fabric you want to go on the inside--making sure that the finished edges face the middle. Also, add a ribbon bookmark at this point, just to the left of the right book flap.Stack the 'outside fabric', face down on the previous stack. Place the interfacing on top of that.
Pin around the edges and begin sewing along the bottom edge, about an inch and a half from dead center, allowing for a quarter inch seam. (You'll want to start so that you're sewing into the book flap quite soon.) Sew all the way around (backing over the bookmark for extra stability) until you are roughly three inches away from where you started. (Again, you don't want to stop until after you've gone over the book flap part.)
Reaching into your three inch hole, pull it inside out--being sure to check for gaps and pushing all the corners out. Lazy cheaters will then top stitch over the hole (being careful to tuck the rough edges inside.) but the rest of us will blind-stitch the opening for a more finished look.I knocked out 7 of these bad boys in an hour or two, with the toddler playing a few feet from me. The cutting takes the most time and it's funner if you can do that all at once and then go from there.
And then I named them. Here are some:

Flattering Rosy-Pink Lampshade

The Araminta
(Unassuming on the outside but...)

Implied Conjugal Relations in Remote Scottish Cottage

This one was harder. It has a windmill, so there's the Dutch thing but toile always reminds me of Paris. So, of course it had to be:

Trampy Husband-Snatching Ward

We may have to have another contest for Bettysday...