Tag Archives: holiday

The Holly and the Ivy (and we mean that quite literally)!

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It’s time to deck the halls, and this historical house pulled out all the stops, compliments of the talented individuals in the West Trenton Garden Club! In today’s post, we’re visiting the holiday display inside the library at Drumthwacket, the official residence of the Governor of New Jersey. This year, the theme was children’s literature, and the exhibit featured ten different tables with innovative and gorgeous takes on holiday classics! Katie’s been a docent at Drumthwacket for over a decade, and she is going to do her docent duty and drop in cool little facts as we meander through this delightful tour. Her parts will be in italics!

The library was added to Drumthwacket by the second private owner, Moses Taylor Pyne. Pyne graduated from Princeton in 1877 and never missed a meeting during his 37 year tenure on the University Board of Trustees.

Here’s another glimpse at the arrangement that started this post – a table for Jan Brett’s fantastic books, including The Mitten and The Hat. Did you notice the little pine cone owl in the mitten? Adorable.

Another cozy classic is Nutcracker, written by E.T.A. Hoffman, and illustrated by Maurice Sendak (and here’s a little Sendak special collections gem for you to enjoy as well).

Nearby was a Nutcracker-inspired tree festooned with sweet little ballet ornaments:

At the next display, the West Trenton Garden Club stole my heart with this innovative white carnation snowman, aptly paired with Raymond Brigg’s classic The Snowman. Look that snowman’s little baby carrot nose. Perfection!

The fireplace is one large block of Caen stone from France, which was brought to Drumthwacket and carved onsite by stonemasons. Can you see the Princeton University shield hidden in the middle of the fireplace?

Up next we have none other than Charlie Brown and his little tree that could…

And a Mexican holiday legend retold and illustrated by Tomie dePaola. If you’re a fan of dePaola’s work, don’t miss this original Strega Nona gingerbread cottage. Its massively talented architect, Jen Carson, would return to our blog eleven years later with her own bakery and children’s book!

Caldecott Medal winner The Polar Express made an appearance. My son would have absolutely loved this display for the trains – it’s simply not the holidays without trains!:

The Polar Express rests on Moses Taylor Pyne’s partner desk, which is original to the room. The desk has two complete working sets of drawers on each side, allowing two people to easily work across from each other.

Rudolph flew in for a visit to Drumthwacket as well. See the books on the shelf behind him? That’s just one small section of a massive floor to ceiling bookcase stuffed with children’s books exclusively authored by New Jersey writers, including Sayantani DasGupta, who we interview here!

This next table is one of our absolutely favorites. Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch, which boasted a delightful sled bouquet in a decorated sack.

And to the person who created a Grinch out of evergreen branches and a painted vase? You made our hearts grow three sizes larger. You deserve a gold medal for creativity, and I hope you don’t mind if I replicate this idea for my front porch next year? Incredible!

The library’s diamond shape leaded glass windows are adorned with different images, including a sailboat, the fleur de lis, a bow and arrow, and the anchor and serpent. East Pyne Hall, which used to be Princeton University’s main library and is named after Pyne, has the very same style of leaded glass windows.

Finally we come to the grand finale, and this was just so touching and innovative. A table featuring Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The three ghosts are represented with delicate custom bouquets. I don’t know when or how, but we are going to do something with this idea in the future. It’s absolutely wonderful.

Many thanks to Drumthwacket for allowing us to photograph their display, and a hearty round of applause to the West Trenton Garden Club for their masterful creations. Thank you too, Docent Katie for your awesome historical facts. Happy holidays, one and all!

Cotsen Pumpkin Patch

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Denslow’s ABC Book. Denslow, W. W. New York : G.W. Dillingham Co., 1903. Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University Library

Halloween is just around the corner, which means it’s time to head to the pumpkin patch for your favorite festive gourd! Katie and I thought it would be fun to venture into the Cotsen Children’s Library’s special collections vaults and pull a few pumpkin treasures. Enjoy some historic pumpkins from 1900-1990!

Halloween ABC, poems by Eve Merriam ; illustrations by Lane Smith. New York : Macmillan, c1987. Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University Library

See My Lovely Poison Ivy : and Other Verses About Witches, Ghosts, and Things. By Lilian Moore, pictures by Diane Dawson.New York : Atheneum, c1975. Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University Library

The Sun-Bonnet Babies. by Bertha L. Corbett. Minneapolis, Minnesota (no publisher given). c1900. Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University Library

Halloween. Written and with photographs selected by Katherine Leiner. New York : Atheneum, c1993. Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University Library. Photograph by Sylvia Plachy.

One quick note about the pumpkin patch photographed above. It’s from a book titled Halloween (Atheneum, 1993). Written and with photographs selected by Katherine Leiner, it features amazing photographers like Sylvia Plachy, William Wegman, Sally Mann, and Phyllis Galembo. All the royalties and profits were donated to the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. There is a touching introduction to the work of the Pediatric AIDS Foundation by Francesca DeLaurentis, age 10. The book is an incredible collaboration on so many levels.

Halloween. Written and with photographs selected by Katherine Leiner. New York : Atheneum, c1993. Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University Library. Photograph by William Wegman.

Halloween. Written and with photographs selected by Katherine Leiner. New York : Atheneum, c1993. Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University Library. Photograph by Sally Mann.

Halloween. Written and with photographs selected by Katherine Leiner. New York : Atheneum, c1993. Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University Library. Photograph by Phyllis Galembo.

Images  may be subject to copyright. Please contact danas@princeton.edu if you are the author of one or more of images used here and have objection in such a use.

O Tannenbooks

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Reuse, repurpose, and redecorate this holiday season! Katie crafted this clever little book tree using 6 recycled books, wrapping paper, a cake support rod, and a bit of drill work. The results? Fa-bu-lous!

You’ll need:

  • 5-6 books
  • Mod Podge
  • 1 foam paint brush
  • Green wrapping paper
  • 1 cake support rod
  • 1 corrugated cardboard base
  • An electric drill for construction

Katie was inspired to do this project when she spotted this beautiful book tree at Drumthwacket last year. Drumthwacket is the official residence of the Governor of New Jersey, where Katie proudly serves as a docent for their historical tours. Every December, local gardening groups deck the halls, and this little tree stole her heart. She was determined to craft one of her own.

Let me start by saying that Katie selected six OLD books for this project…retired editions that had torn pages, faded covers, and ripped bindings. Because otherwise we would have been cringing during the first step of the project…drilling holes in the spines of the books! Katie used the largest drill bit in the set – a 5/16″ bit to be exact – to drill holes in the center of the books’ spines. Next, she used a bottle of Mod Podge and a foam paint brush to glue wrapping paper onto the covers of the books. We went all schmancy and bought our wrapping paper from Paper Source.

While the book covers were drying, Katie construct the tree base. She glued together two, 12″ cake pads, then glued wrapping paper on the top circle. She again drilled a hole in the center of the base, then threaded a cake support rod upwards, through the hole.

If you are like me and have NEVER heard of cake support rods until today, they are metal or plastic rods and bases used to build multi-tier cakes (think wedding cakes or elaborate Kardashian baby showers). Katie found her rods in the cake decorating section of Michael’s craft store. The rods a package of fourteen, 12″ rods costs around $8.

Annnnd here’s the finished base, ready to support some books!

Since the initial holes Katie drilled in the books were covered with wrapping paper, she carefully re-drilled them. Then she threaded the books onto the support rod. Almost immediately, she noticed a problem. The books sagged down the smooth rod and flattening out! Katie quickly fixed the problem by wrapping rubber bands around the rod to brace each book.

When the books were stacked, Katie added a star to the top. This was a cheap ornament with a sparkle stem wrapped around the ornament’s loop. The sparkle stem was threaded inside the cake support rod, then the star/rod connection was reinforced by a second sparkle stem. Add a strand of lights and you are done!