We were in Santa Fe 30 years ago at Christmastime and walked into a store that had hundreds of these chile ornaments dangling from the ceiling and I fell in love with them.
Through the years I have made at least that many... probably more, and through the years I had given all of them away except for this little ristra that hangs in my kitchen each Christmas.
It was once much fuller, but I kept pilfering chiles from it to give away. I thought I could always make more, but the beads were no longer available. I even scoured the Internet to no avail. I would find one or 2 sizes, but not the rest. I had kept my little container of leftover beads for 20+ years hoping to make more
Then I found them late last year, ordered a bunch, and set to making them back in February:
I set up a little production line for a few weeks and watched John Wayne, Tom Selleck, and a Hallmark movie or two:
Now I have enough to fill a bathtub. Not really, but I have quite a few!
Yesterday, one of the dayworkers was standing at the sink, rinsing out his glass and he said, "My mother used to make these!" I asked him if he had any of them and he said no, so I added a few to his coat pocket to take home.
