love letters of home

late afternoon light dances

across the walls

glowing golden on

early quilted petticoats and bonnets.

I like to think of the quiet little corners of my home as love letters to myself and my family.

You know, when you put together a little place that feels just right, with your treasured things. and then, when the light comes through, it surprises you with just how pretty it is...

the feelings that come from experiencing it for the few brief moments that the light comes through and you know how much you love where live...

then looking forward to the next little moment when the light changes again.

these are my love letters of home.

every doll has a story

Every doll has a story.

And for as long as I can remember my dolls have told me their stories, their dreams and secret wishes and thoughts. Long before they were dolls, they were stories in my thoughts, sketches on paper, most of the time they come to me in my sleep.

For me, the dolls have lives just as interesting and varied and as real as you and I.

and so, I would like to share these stories of the dolls with all of you.

All of you, my dear readers, who have written such wonderful letters to tell me how much you love & enjoy my dolls and their stories, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I have begun something special for all of you that you may continue to enjoy the dolls and their stories from Deerfield Farmhouse.

a window into the Deerfield Doll House the dolls & their stories

Here you will find all the adventures and goings on with the daily lives of

the Ladyes of Deerfield Farm;

Mr. Jefferson, the handsome gentleman farmer from Virginia

who, besides his great desire to experience farming on the western frontier,

has come to call on the Ladyes of Deerfield Farm

along with a wonderful and interesting cast of characters throughout.

*a small note*

~and this is all in good fun~

~not wishing to injure any Dear Reader with delicate sensibilities~

Life for the dolls is not unlike that of real folks, with the joys and trials of everyday life and perhaps,

a secret romance may be found.

So, my dears, if it is just a pretty doll story that you want to read,

you may wish to avert your eyes from the story and gaze upon the pretty pictures I have thoughtfully added just for that very reason.

again, this is all in good fun

I hope you enjoy!

sending love,

Christine

and

the Deerfield Dolls

winter morning

There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you....

In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other;

only in the winter, in the country,

can you have longer, quiet stretches

when you can savor belonging to yourself.

~Ruth Stout

poppets & trifles

hello dear Friends,

This evening

begins my first

website offerings for this new year.

In Celebration of the

Sweets of Love

with

Poppets & Trifles

We hope that you will come for a visit to Deerfield Farmhouse

this evening

January 25

5 pm pacific time

and for especially lovely handmade paper trifles and dolls

visit Sparrow's Cottage

Valentine's Day will soon be here....

pretty girls

why hello young ladies, don't you look pretty!

May I take your picture? well, I would love to...what do you think, Elisabeth?

just let us get prettied up first...oh dear...let's get Sophie's

crown back on again...Elisabeth, you look nice....

hold on while I

fluff my hair a little

we're ready!

oh, such pretty girls!

smile!

my grand daughter, Emma, who is

2 1/2

~thank you very much~

and playing nicely with my

old German papier mache dolls

the road not taken...

Whenever I'm out walking in the hills around our farm,

the wind in my face, the sky overhead

and the hills around me.

It's then that the beginnings,

the middles and endings of poems

that I love...

by

Thoreau or Robert Frost come to mind.

maybe you do this, too? I hope so.

When I first saw this picture that my little grandson, Ethan, took,

my first thought was

"wow...just look what Ethan did"

and then I heard

"I took the one less traveled by

and that has made all the difference."

You see the old farmer is "precariously perched"

on an unfamiliar road

and yet he looks quite satisfied with the view....

ah yes,

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood,

and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

there was just something about him.....

when I first saw him, he was nestled in the old mitten just as you see him.

His crown chipped and his little hand long gone....

Someone before me had surely loved him and

had seen to it that he was safe & warm before they

let him go.

He has been there, asleep on his old mitten,

giving

Peace, Love & Joy every Christmas

and every day

in between.

***

I wish for you all

much love, peace and joy

this Christmas

and

every day in between.

with love,

Christine

***

~Our dear Mr. Jefferson & the Deerfield Ladye's send their very Best to you all

and hope that you are enjoying the Spirit of Christmas.

They will return again with stories and news in the New Year~

Bless you all for your friendship and love,

Merry Christmas

&

a blessed New Year