Favorite Thing Christmas Gift Idea ~ Christmas Bear

                                                                     Photo from Mad Man Knitting Blog

This time of year, I keep my eyes open for unique gifts. Sometimes, I find unique gifts that I want for myself. This is absolutely one of my all time favorite gift ideas that I have come across in a long time. At first glance, this Christmas bear really does not look much difference than any other ordinary Christmas bear.....but when you look closer, and read the story...it certainly will touch your heart, at least it did mine...and my husband is ordering me one for Christmas!!

I really don't have a clue how I found the website, or much less the facebook page, but below is the exert from Mad Man Knitting's Facebook page...and I know it will stir some interest to dig a little deeper as it did for me

Mad Man Knitting: A year ago I lost everything and had to find a way to feed myself. Somehow, I fell back on my old hobby of knitting to survive. What was a born was a teddy bear that has grown in popularity and adoration.

I quickly discovered not only the Facebook page but also a blog...and well, you know how we all love to find a new blog! There on the blog you will find a link to all of his wonderful bears.

Mad Man Knitting has set a goal for himself to only make 100 of these Christmas bears. I am assuming they are made by order, but only 100 will be made. They are very inexpensive and there is a link here and here to the blog post that talk about the Christmas Bears. How inspirational to read about someone who decided not to feel sorry for himself and put forth a plan to make it one way or another.

                                                                       Photo from Mad Man Knitting Blog

So as we head into the holiday season, this is the first on my list of Favorite Things, from me, The Coloradolady.

Stop by and have a look around, you will be inspired I am sure as I really felt inspired and touched as I read about this incredible man. Oh, and just to be clear, Mad Man Knitting has no idea who I am, has never heard of me, and has no idea I am putting his bear on my favorite thing list this holiday season. But, that bear is clearly one of my favorite things...as well as the man and story behind its creation!

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vintage Bear Books

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a "dog-gone" good time each and every week!!!
If you are new to this party, please take the time to read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so  please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week. Lastly, if you link in, LINK back to my blog, so everyone can see all of the vintage goodies being showed that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

This week, I have some vintage books. Not just books...but Vintage BEAR books. To remind you, I have mentioned here on VTT about collecting black bears. I also have a fondness for bear books as well. Imagine That! Take a look at some of the great books I have found.


I found this book at a garage sale a few years ago, in fact, I almost passed it up. It was missing the dust jacket, but the word forest and the cute bear paws got my attention and I opened the book. My heart was skipping beats when I discovered it was a book about bears in Yellowstone National Park. The Author Essie Forrester O'Brien spent summer vacations in Yellowstone. It seems while O'Brien's husband and son were off fishing, she contacted officials, rangers, employees, cooks and old-timers in the area. She collected first-hand information on the lives and habits of the Park's wild animals. The stories in "Clowns of the Forest" are based on this material.





The stories, together with the pictures, portray the life of the bears in the park. This was published in 1948. This is a wonderful book, I loved it from cover to cover. It takes you back to a time when Yellowstone was a different park than it is today. Really good and entertaining reading.


This cute little book is titled Bear Stores Retold from St. Nicholas Magazine. Published by The Century Co. 1904. This charming little book has bear stories with black and white pictures of bears. The pictures are animated for the most part, but it adds a certain charm to the book.










This adorable little book is titled A Black Bear's Story by Emil E. Liers. I purchased this book on-line. It was a children's library book. The back of the book still has the library card sleeve. It is stamped:
North Saaplon School, 10475 McDonald Park Road, Sidney, B.C.
The book is in great condition and has wonderful stories of a black bear family.




This book is loaded with wonderful bear drawings to accompany the story lines. I really love this book, the outside is very colorful and it is a wonderful addition to my shelf of bear books.



Look at the mama bear sweet talking her cub out of the tree. Sweet I tell you.


This adorable little book is titled, Go West, Young Bear by Elizabeth Hamilton. Copyright 1948. This charming book is a tale of a friendly bear who lives in Eastern Canada and whose one ambition is to meet people and live a social life. However, the people are not too friendly. This bear happens upon a book about Yellowstone Park, and sets out on his quest for the Park who loves bears. This is a really cute book and loaded with cute pictures. The inside of the book has a sticker that says the owner was Miriam Babbitt Simpson.

 



Well, this is just a few of the bear books in my collection. I hope you enjoyed a peek into the charming illustrations of vintage books. I have about 15 vintage children's bear books in my collection. I am always on the watch for more to add to my bookshelf. I have read every one of these books. They provide great stories and cute pictures and hours of entertainment.
See you next week....

Not Your Typical Man Around Here......

We have had ONCE IN A LIFETIME snow here in Texas.....at least that is what the weather and news are reporting. A record 12-13 inches of snow over the last day and a half....not typical at all....

Speaking of not typical....we built a few snowmen with the fresh snow....well, let me say, they were not your run of the mill snowmen, actually, they were not men at all......here is the large snow bear!

My son and husband did a good job....looks like a polar bear to me.....love it!

And what more non typical can you get than this.....a snow dachshund.......

This one is life size......the size of Dora and Sophie......

This one is begging for a treat, a warm bed, or something besides the snow!!!

This is Sophie's look alike...well, almost....she is always sitting up begging for a treat.

Would you agree.....definitely not your typical run of the mill snowmen at my house!

Sophie wanted no part of this mess....however, Dora and Baily had a grand time running and hopping in the snow....talk about a cool tummy......they played and ran in and out of the doggie door all afternoon......

....and then.....it was lights out in front of the fireplace....poor Bailey was done for the day! Don't ever expect the typical at our house....you will never find it!

VINTAGE THINGIES THURSDAY: Bear Planters

Regarding the disappearing Vintage Thingie Thursday Button:

It is my conclusion that the problem many of you are having with the Vintage Thingie Thursday button disappearing from your blog is the same problem I have had. I think that the reason that is happening is because it is the original button used by the original hostess of this wonderful weekly event and for some reason, I think the image was deleted from the Apron Queen's hosting site.....Thus....the disappearing button.

To rectify that:
1. Save the image on this post to your computer.
2. Go to your add page layout page and click on the sidebar Add Gadget. 3. scroll down to where you see add picture, click on that. Now select the image from you computer to download. Now, add my blog link in the link window and click save.
That should correct the problem, and the photo should show up and link back to my blog. Sorry for the confusion on this, it has taken me a while to get this sorted out to work again.

If you are new and would like to participate in VTT, the clear instructions are posted at the end of this post this week. We would love to have you join us.

This week, I would like to show you my vintage bear planters. You know I love bears and I also have several vintage planters, these are just the ones that have bears as a theme.

I just love this little Davey Crockett guy hunting for a bear, and the bear has him fooled and is hiding....this is a eBay purchase several years ago...I just love it.

These two are showing little black bears. I like the one with the bee on his nose from stealing honey.......

This happy little bear enjoys laying inside a felled log......look how happy he looks.

I really think this one is so cute, shows the back side and the head of the bear as he climbs in a log, this one is one of my favorites.

This is another happy little bear. I think this one was a eBay purchase too, and if memory serves me correctly, I think I paid about $15.00 for this one. I thought it was unusual and loved the little cub on top of the log.

This is the marking on the bottom of the last planter, none of the other bear planters have markings on them.

Hope you enjoyed these little planters to day. If you would like to participate in today's event, please follow the guidelines below!

(1) do a post about something vintage.
(2) Visit all the participates and leave a comment.
(3) Link in with the link at the bottom of this post, please use a perma-link to link in with, that way, anyone can refer back to your post if they can not get to it on Thursday.
(4) Be sure to refer back to my blog so everyone can see who is participating today, and if you like include the VTT button in your post. Please be sure to have your post up before linking in.

Have a great weekend everyone.....don't forget to visit all the other Vintage Thingie Participants and see what great vintage treasures are on display today.