Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot - Week 136

Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot!
My posts for the link up will go live on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. EDT or, if you live in the future like I do, on Fridays at 3:30 a.m. CE(S)T.

Happy Boxing Day!
Three years ago, I wrote about Boxing Day and how I hadn't known for the longest time what that was supposed to mean. Actually, I still don't know because like so often there are different theories about why some Commonwealth countries call the 26th that.
And strangely enough, not one of them has to do with boxing as in the sport 😉
Der Dekan thinks I should have known that because what could be better than an actual box, no matter if it contained alms for the poor or gifts for servants, as long as it's nice and cozy when empty!
He even gave me proof (although he was quite surprised that I don't have box pictures of all my cats).

So, are you ready for the weekend?

As part of the reboot, we will be featuring a different blog every week.
How about stopping by and saying hello? Let them know we sent you.

This week our spotlight is on Momfever.

Nicole from Momfever says "When I first became a mom I loved my little girl, but I also felt quite lost, thinking: 'Now what?!' Then my husband explained: 'Now you have to raise her, so she becomes a well rounded and well adjusted grown-up.' So I set to work, and 28 years later, the first results look promising. As do her three younger brothers and sister. But it's not always easy, and I've found blogging to be a great way to retain my sanity in the day to day business of running a family. In fact, I feel it's my other job!"

Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!

Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household - The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting!

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings shares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more.

Cat from Cat's Wire has what she calls a jumping spider brain. She has many interests and will blog about whatever catches her attention - crafts, books, old movies, collectibles or random things.

Rena from Fine Whatever Blog writes about style, midlife, and the "fine whatever" moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she's been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.


Here are some of my picks from last week's link up.

How tempting do these cheesy stuffed mushroom caps look that Esme is sharing with us?

I'm sure you can also eat Nettie's Christmas popcorn after Christmas ...

It's hard to say what's my favorite in Soma's post, the beautiful picture of the Golden Gate Bridge, her adorable little books - or the painting of her cat Charlie!

Do you keep old clothes for sentimental reasons? Marsha has a sweet story to tell about that.


Let's link up!

You can add links to specific blog posts of yours, but not just to your blog itself. The posts can be new or older and cover any topic you can think of - books, movies, fashion, crafting, thrifting, travel, art ... but only family friendly, please!
Have a look around, visit some of the other blogs and leave a few comments. You might discover something new and exciting!
Thank you for linking up with us!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Silent movies - Foolshead's Christmas (1911)

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it!
I come with gifts! Well, one gift. Okay, a silent movie. Christmas or not, it's Thursday.
But guess what, this movie is about gifts as well, what a coincidence (or not)!
It's "Il Natale di Cretinetti" - "Foolshead's Christmas" in English - from 1911, not to confuse with the film of the same name from 1909.

Here's the plot with spoilers.
Foolshead is going to a Christmas party. Carrying loads of gifts and a tree, he runs into a mailman with just as many parcels.

In the chaos he grabs one wrong parcel, though. It contains three bottles with "ether de peur", "ether de gaîté", and "ether de colère" which cause fear, joy, and rage.
I wonder who concocted those and how, and whom did they intend to have them and for what purpose?

When Foolshead literally falls into the apartment headfirst, the bottles break and give off a revolting smoke, so he hides the box under a table.
The family comes out to welcome him and he hands them some of the gifts, none of which make sense, like a tiny pair of shoes for the father and a rocking horse for the grown-up daughter.

When the father holds a speech which impresses everyone very much, the effects of the ethers begin to manifest, first on Foolshead, then on all the others when the smoke is spreading through the whole flat.
All the guests take turns in being afraid, overjoyed, and angry - shaking, dancing and laughing, and attacking one another, but they don't necessarily show the same reactions at the same time.
Next the smoke makes its way to the kitchen, then to a sculptor whose sculptures first become alive and then break into bits.

The policeman called in by the father is affected, the neighbors are, and the chaos ensuing makes the whole house shake and break apart in a big cloud of rubble and smoke.
Merry Christmas, Foolshead!

André Deed was a French film pioneer, actor, scriptwriter, and director.
Deed was the first silent movie star of his country. After being a singer and acrobat, he worked in film for Georges Méliès, then for the production company Pathé-Frères. During that time, he developed the character of Boireau.
In 1909, he was invited to Italy where he starred as Cretinetti in more than 90 shorts. In 1912, he went back to France making more shorts as Boireau, and three years later he returned to Italy to revive the Cretinetti series.
Due to the First World War and the American film industry taking over, his career came to an end and he was mostly forgotten.

Deed was known for camera-trick gags (influenced by the work of Méliès) and slapstick.
His Cretinetti shorts were internationally successful and other countries adapted the name to their languages, Foolshead in English, Gribouille in French, Müller in German (except for this film).

Do you remember Max Linder from one of my recent posts? In a blog I read that Linder and Deed were the "yin and yang of early film comedy", Linder charming and elegant, Deed a frantic idiot creating chaos and destruction. Foolshead certainly did that in this short, albeit involuntarily!

If you like a bit of slapstick, this is a fun little film to watch.
Oh, and I love those dresses!


Sources:

1. Anthony Balducci: Musings on André Deed. On: Anthony Balducci's Journal, November 10, 2014
2. André Deed on German Wikipedia

Christmas Eve

As you probably know, we start celebrating on Christmas Eve here in Germany and it's also the day of gift giving.
I have written about that and about the Christ Child as the gift bringer in my part of the world before.
Things may have changed in the last 50 years 😉, but in my time it was tradition in my and my friends' families to put up the tree on the morning of Christmas Eve.
Seems the Christ Child did too!

Christ Child is a Dawn doll with an outfit beaded by me.
The Christmas trees are Steiff.

Dawn was a registered trademark of the Topper Company. I am not affiliated with Topper in any way.
Steiff is a registered trademark. I am not affiliated with Steiff in any way.

Santa Tabby

I have to start this with a confession. When I go online shopping for something particular, I can never resist to check out the sale category. That doesn't mean (anymore) that I also can't resist buying something from it that looks just slightly as if I could use it in the future, however distant that may be.
When I found the infinity links for the Big Hug necklace, though, and had a look, I absolutely couldn't say no to a pair of glass cabochons with a tabby cat face that reminded me of my little brat.

At that moment, I had no plan whatsoever except knowing I would be making earrings for myself. Eventually. Probably. Bead embroidery, obviously, and whimsical to match the inspiration.
When we came closer to Christmas, an idea started growing in my head. But how could I ...? Maybe if ...? And then ... hm.

I started with the easy part, the beaded bezels. When they were finished, I proceeded in my usual manner meaning they went in my current "working box". Then I took them out and stared at them for a long time. I put them back in the box. I took them out again and ... you get it.
Sometimes that helps and an idea pops into my head after a while, sometimes it doesn't quickly and sometimes not at all which then leads to a ripping up session.
I'm happy to say that this time the idea showed up rather quickly - yay! - although I knew I would have to experiment a bit to realize it.

Et voilà!
Santa Tabby, at your service!

It's just a pity that they only had tabbies, but no black cats. Gundel would have made an adorable elf, don't you think?

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot - Week 135

Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot!
My posts for the link up will go live on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. EDT or, if you live in the future like I do, on Fridays at 3:30 a.m. CE(S)T.

Have you ever heard of the Julbocken or Yule goat? It's a Christmas symbol in Nordic countries that originated in Germanic paganism. The legend goes that Thor had a chariot drawn by two magical goats who kept coming back to life after Thor ate them which is a slightly disturbing thought.
Anyhow, there was a time when the Yule goat was regarded as some kind of demon by early Christians, then it turned into a giftbringer, but in modern times it's mostly seen as a Christmas ornament which is bound from straw with red ribbons.
A special example is the Gävlebocken, a giant straw goat designed in 1966 to bring tourists to the Swedish town of Gävle. Not only the size is special, though, but also that as of November 2025, 42 of the 59 Gävle goats have been destroyed or damaged in some way - mostly by fire.
This "tradition" (which people even bet on) is not encouraged in any way, but seems to be some kind of weird dare which will be punished. Check the link above for details on the Gävle goat's fate over the years.

Picture by Seppo Laine; cropped by
 Beyond My Ken, under the license CC BY 2.0

How about you? Are you ready for the weekend?

As part of the reboot, we will be featuring a different blog every week.
How about stopping by and saying hello? Let them know we sent you.

This week our spotlight is on The Copper Table.

Amy from "The Copper Table" says "Welcome to The Copper Table: Slow Food for a Fast World. I'm so glad you're here! If you are hoping to find out more about the recipes on this site and its creator, this is the best place to start!
This blog is about using Farmers Market and CSA box produce, cooking in season, and making as many things as possible from scratch without taking all day in the kitchen. Great food isn't difficult, and it doesn't have to take a lot of time!
My Cooking Philosophy: It is my mission not only to help you cook fresh, but to have fun in the kitchen! The question "What's for dinner?" should not be a stressor, but a place of solace. What do I mean by Slow Food? Using what is local to you as much as possible, avoiding processed foods, and letting your eating flow with the seasons. Even in the fast pace of life today, I believe it is still possible to do all of these things and I'm going to show you how!"

Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!

Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household - The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting!

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings shares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more.

Cat from Cat's Wire has what she calls a jumping spider brain. She has many interests and will blog about whatever catches her attention - crafts, books, old movies, collectibles or random things.

Rena from Fine Whatever Blog writes about style, midlife, and the "fine whatever" moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she's been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.


Here are some of my picks from last week's link up.

Gail reminds us that it's ok not to love Christmas. We all have our own stories and reasons to love it or not and both is fine.

Do you like hot chocolate (I do)? Judee shares a quick way to make it even more fun and festive with these frozen whipped cream toppers!

Lisa is remembering a childhood Christmas.

No Christmas without Dickens. Sally shares her favorite versions of "A Christmas Carol".

Kristin has so many recommendations and tips and ideas around Christmas for us in this post!


Let's link up!

You can add links to specific blog posts of yours, but not just to your blog itself. The posts can be new or older and cover any topic you can think of - books, movies, fashion, crafting, thrifting, travel, art ... but only family friendly, please!
Have a look around, visit some of the other blogs and leave a few comments. You might discover something new and exciting!
Thank you for linking up with us!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Silent movies - Rozhdestvo obitateley lesa

Huh? Yeah, maybe you don't speak Russian, either.
From the page where I found this recommendation "This is one of my favorite vintage holiday films, a strange little gem from the great Russian [his parents were Polish] stop-motion animator Ladislas Starevich." (There are different spellings depending on the country.)
The English title of this "strange little gem" from 1913 is "The Insects' Christmas" and there you have your plot.

The Father Christmas ornament
comes alive and climbs off the tree.

Little break, that was exhausting.

Father Christmas has invited some
insects - beetles, a grasshopper (although
the English intertitle calls her Miss
Dragonfly), and a frog (I guess the
beetles are too big for him to eat), and
now he trims a tree for them.

The ornaments are also gifts and
everyone gets one of them.

Fun for everyone - sliding down
the snowy hill!

One of the beetles and the frog tussle
for the cracker. When it comes apart,
they tumble backwards and the
frog falls into the hole where
he's staying for the winter.

The cloud rising from the cracker
spells "Froehliche Weinachten"
(no idea why it's in German, also
- because I'm a nitpicker - there's
an h missing in "Weihnachten") ...
"Merry Christmas"!

Father Christmas returns to his tree.

It's really a delightful little film. Isn't it nice of Father Christmas to get off his tree to give his friends a nice Christmas, too? I don't even want to think about how he got to the forest!


Thank you to Lea for recommending it in "7 Silent Christmas Movies (From the Horse-And-Buggy Era)" on Silent-ology, December 21, 2016!

Ghost stories on Christmas?

In August, I found the book "Told After Supper" from 1891 by Jerome K. Jerome in whose introduction he wrote “Whenever five or six English-speaking people meet round a fire on Christmas Eve, they start telling each other ghost stories. Nothing satisfies us on Christmas Eve but to hear each other tell authentic anecdotes about specters. It is a genial, festive season, and we love to muse upon graves, and dead bodies, and murders, and blood.”

Photo by Phil Robson via Unsplash

Yes, there was the Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve, and although it's not a tradition that has really been kept alive, it's still very much being talked about, even in countries where it has never been practiced.
Take the USA. Ghosts get their exclusive time slot on Hallowe'en, and although a lot of Christmas traditions of today brought into the country by immigrants go back to old times, ghost stories are not among them. And yet there is a line in the 1963 song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" going "There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago."

Picture from "Told After Supper"
by Kenneth M. Skeaping

Christmas has always been connected with superstitions.
In German, we call the twelve days of Christmas "Rauhnächte" (mostly, some start counting on the winter solstice). The etymology is unclear, it could mean "hairy", but also refer to smudging the stables with frankincense to protect the animals from the demons and ghosts prowling the land during those nights.
Of course, there are also the tales of the Wild Hunt.
It is also said that animals can speak during those nights and tell the future. Another version is that the animals can speak at midnight on Christmas, just for one hour to announce the birth of Christ. You are not allowed to listen, though, or you will die.
There are many more mid-winter traditions, such as the quite scary Krampus or Perchten, some of which have become more popular again
So ghost stories on Christmas Eve don't even sound that unusual anymore, do they?

Picture from "Told After Supper"
by Kenneth M. Skeaping

If I asked you which Christmas ghost story comes to mind first, it would be a rather safe bet to say you'd pick "A Christmas Carol" from 1843.
It was around this time that Christmas traditions were re-evaluated in Britain, but also new ones introduced, such as Christmas cards and trees (the first tree was put up by Queen Charlotte, by the way, although the idea only got popular due to Albert and Victoria).
When we think of British Christmas, our first thoughts probably go to the images ingrained in our heads thanks to countless adaptations of Dickens's novella - images of generosity, family gatherings, special food, drink, and games. And singing Muppets (after I finally got to watch them last year).

It wasn't the first Christmas story Dickens wrote and he also wasn't the first one to write one.
It also wasn't his last ghost story. The Christmas issues of the magazines he edited, first "Household Words", then "All the Year Round", also had ghost stories every year.
The Victorian ghost story's roots lie in a superstitious rural culture which it brings to the more secular and modern times of the industrial revolution in a nostalgic way. It also takes ghosts from castles inside the private home implicating that everyone can be haunted. That seems to have hit a nerve with the readers and other publications followed Dickens's example.
By the way, "somewhere between 50% to 70% of Christmas ghost stories published in the Victorian era were written by women".

Picture from "Told After Supper"
by Kenneth M. Skeaping

So yeah, why don't you give it a try this Christmas Eve?
Gather the family round, pick a nice Victorian ghost story from the vast selection (check out this bibliography for example and see what you can find online) and enjoy.
Maybe it will become your new favorite Christmas tradition!

"Christmas Story-telling" by Sir John Everett Millais (Illustrated London
News, Christmas Supplement, December 20, 1862, p. 672)

Sources:

1. Colin Dickey: A Plea to Resurrect the Christmas Tradition of Telling Ghost Stories. In: Smithsonian Magazine, December 15, 2017
2. Josie Q.: Christmas Ghosts: A Victorian Tradition. On: A Biblioteca Noturna, December 14, 2021
3. Caley Ehnes: "Winter Stories - Ghost Stories... Round the Christmas Fire": Victorian Ghost Stories and the Christmas Market. In: Illumine, 11, 2012, 1, pages 6 - 25 (published in 2014, https://doi.org/10.18357/illumine.ehnesc.1112012)
4. Simon Cooke: Victorian Ghost Stories. On: The Victorian Web, June 2021