Quote of the week - The twenty-first door

In my family it used to be tradition that the tree was put up on Christmas Eve. I remember there was always some struggling to saw off what was needed to make the tree stand straight, then we would get out the old ornaments.
I know that not everyone has a Christmas tree, though ...

Penny: Hey Sheldon, are you and Leonard putting up a Christmas tree?
Sheldon: No, because we don't celebrate the ancient Pagan festival of Saturnalia.
Penny (confused): Saturnalia?
Howard: Gather round, kids! It's time for Sheldon's beloved Christmas special.
Sheldon: In the pre-Christian era, as the winter solstice approached and the plants died, pagans brought evergreen boughs into their homes as an act of sympathetic magic intended to guard the life essences of the plants until spring. This custom was later appropriated by Northern Europeans and, eventually, it becomes the so-called Christmas tree.
Howard: And that, Charlie Brown, is what boredom is all about.

The Big Bang Theory, USA, 2007 -

The Schwibbogen - The twentieth door

Schwibbogen or Lichterbogen is the German word for candle arches.
The first candle arch was made in the 18th century - I found different years and can't say which is the right one - by a blacksmith named Johann Teller. Teller worked in the Ore Mountains making equipment and hardware for the mines. 
The candle arch was inspired by the pit hole entry and made for the "Mettenschicht" which is an old miners' tradition, the last shift before Christmas which ended early with a meal and a celebration.

Early candle arches were made from wrought iron, but wood became more and more popular from the beginning of the 20th century.
Over the years designs changed as well. One of the most famous designs was created by Paula Jordan in 1937, it showed the main sources of income for the people living in the Ore Mountains and traditional symbols.
Nowadays you'll find anything from the traditional design to cities or forest scenes and you'll find all sizes, too!
You can also find patterns to make your own candle arches.

A friend of mine was so nice to allow me to post a few pictures of candle arches that her husband and his father made.

This is my favorite made by my friend's husband. Isn't it beautiful?

Made by my friend's father-in-law after the Paula Jordan design. As you can see, there are miners, a bobbin lace maker, and a wood carver.

A 3D candle arch with indirect lighting between the two layers of wood, made by my friend's husband.

Christmas stockings - The nineteenth door

The Christmas stocking ... to be honest I never wondered before where, when or why this tradition had started. Only when I prepared the post for of Saint Nicholas Day and thought of the shoes the children put in front of the door for Saint Nick to fill them, I suddenly saw the possible connection and set out to find out more.
Indeed the legend that Saint Nicholas who had just inherited something secretly dropped three lumps of gold in a poor man's house seems to be the source for both traditions.
The legend's details change a little depending on where you find it. St. Nick threw the gold through the window, he gave gold coins, he went through the chimney himself to drop the gold into the stockings or threw the gold through the chimney and it landed in the stockings hung up there for drying. The result was always the same, the man's three daughters had enough gold to get married.

Stockings have been a part of Christmas for centuries although there was a time they had to fight for its place with the Christmas tree. I found this fun link on the page of the Smithsonian Mag.
Nowadays there is no fight between the stocking and the tree, they both have their place in the Christmas traditions in some countries.
Stockings come in all sizes, patterns and colors. For some historical pictures have a look at this article in the Smithsonian Mag.

Christmas stocking by Holiday Stocking Company

Do you have your own Christmas stocking tradition? Maybe you still remember your first stocking? Tell us about it!

O Christmas tree - The eighteenth door

Last year I was brave and spontaneously bought myself a little artificial Christmas tree. Although my furry brats are no youngsters anymore, they still know how to take down one or the other thing, especially Ponder in one of his lonely races when he has his five crazy minutes.
It actually went fine. The tree didn't fall and only two ornaments mysteriously left their spots for a short while. The nice thing about my wire knit stars, however, is that you can bend them back. It's a little sad for me that I can't use tinsel, but I guess I can't have everything.

While we are singing "O Christmas tree" ... where does the Christmas tree come from?
Now that is actually a tradition that I knew to be originally German. It was not unusual in different cultures to bring evergreen into the houses, but the first written record of a Christmas tree that still exists is from 1527 although it's possible that there was an earlier one which can't be proved anymore, though.
Since the 1750s the Christmas tree was mentioned more and more often. In the 19th century the custom had spread to Austria, then New England, England, France, Italy, The Netherlands, and Russia.
At first trees were decorated with sweets, apples and nuts some of which were painted in silver and gold. The legend goes that a glassmaker in Lauscha, a town which is still known for its glass art and Christmas ornaments, couldn't afford apples and nuts for his tree and made them from glass instead. True or not, the first written record of glass ornaments is in an order book from 1848.

Nowadays many of us can't imagine Christmas without a tree, may it be big or small, real or artificial. After all Linus van Pelt taught us that even the saddest little tree just needs a bit of love ... ;-)
"I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really."

Oldies but goodies "Jewelry and ornaments" - The seventeenth door

This week's JAC Oldies but Goodies Challenge was about ornaments. Yes, we still are a jewelry forum, but have you ever noticed how pretty some jewelry would look in a tree?
So the challenge was to find something that looks good worn and in a tree. You can find the whole thread here, maybe it will surprise you how different the choices are.
As always here's a little sneak peek.

1 Violetmoon's Corner
2 MC Stoneworks
3 Jewelry Art by Dawn
4 The Crafty Chimp
5 Cat's Wire

Zibbet finds of the week "Snow" - The fifteenth door

Even for me who likes to claim she's got a severe snow trauma from childhood it has something calming to look at snow ... if I can sit inside with a cat on my lap and a mug of something hot in my hand.
For me snow is usually only acceptable for Christmas.
So instead of heading out to make a snowman I went to Zibbet to get my snow fix there with these beautiful items.

Fine art giclee print "Snow Girl" by Moxy Fox Designs

Little Snow Queen print by Beneath Northern Skies

Christmas ornament snowman by We Have Wreaths

Holiday Snowman Decoration by Primgals Primitive Palette

Sparkle Victorian quilled snowflake ornament by Joan's Crafts

White snowflake peppermint scented soap by 123 Gemstones Julie's Treasures

Quote of the week - The fourteenth door

Do you remember being a kid and wanting something for Christmas really, really badly. You imagined what it would be like to hold it in your hand, to play with it or to read it or watch it or do whatever you could do with it. You were practically almost there. You had uttered your wish and to doubt that it would be fulfilled would have been jinxing it.

Ralphie, our hero, does want something. He has daydreams about it and he even works out a clever plan how to draw attention to his wish to make sure his dreams come true.

Ralphie as Adult (narrator): Meanwhile I struggled for exactly the right BB gun hint. It had to be firm, but subtle.
Ralphie: Flick says he saw some grizzly bears near Pulaski's candy store.
Everyone is staring at him.
Ralphie as Adult: They looked at me as if I had lobsters crawling out of my ears. I could tell I was in imminent danger of overplaying my hand. Casually I switched tactics.

Will it work? Will Ralphie hold a BB gun in his hands on Christmas Day? Find out for yourself.

A Christmas Story, USA/Canada, 1983

Santa Baby - The thirteenth door

I have always been a fan of Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby" although I can't quite agree with everything on her list ....



.... but I never knew that she recorded a followup the next year in which she sings about the stuff she got the year before! Did you? Have fun!

Macabre Christmas - The twelfth door

Something a little different today ...

Twelve days of Christmas - The eleventh door

The Twelve Days of Christmas is the festive Christian season, beginning on Christmas Day (25 December) that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, as the Son of God. This period is also known as Christmastide.
The traditions of the Twelve Days of Christmas have been largely forgotten in the United States.
That's what Wikipedia tells me. Here's a link with more information.

When I hear "Twelve Days of Christmas", I am thinking of the popular song, and when I am thinking of the popular song, I am thinking of one of my favorite Disney Christmas stories ever.
I have always been a big fan of the old Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck Christmas stories. One year - in 1988 to be precise - my little brother had a special gift for me. He cut out Christmas stories from my Mickey Mouse magazines and put them in a folder. While part of me is still cringing thinking of it, the other part is happy each year to pull that folder out for Christmas. It's one of my very personal traditions. The story I referred to above, however, is not in that folder.
That means you'll have to excuse me for a few hours while I'll be going through my (not so small) collection of Donald Duck comics.

Here's something for you to watch until I'm back.



I'm back!
Okay, so here's how the story goes.
After a refreshing bath in his money to prepare him for the horrors of buying Christmas gifts Scrooge McDuck makes his list ... a golf ball for Donald, one marble each for Huey, Dewey, and Louie, a bobby pin for Daisy and a snap button for his sister.
Being aware of Scrooge's stinginess Donald has a plan. He gets a hypnotizer and puts in a picture of himself. Unfortunately the nephews accidentally exchange that picture for the picture of the dog that bit Donald at the dog show and that happens to be the dog of Scrooge's neighbor. So when Donald hypnotizes Scrooge, he convinces him to give generously not to himself, but the dog.
Scrooge decides that such a noble creature deserves a special gift, and when he happens to come across the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" on a Christmas card, he is determined.
Donald watches Scrooge's preparations and is shocked thinking that he will be gifted 12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 10 lords-a-leaping, 9 ladies dancing, 8 maids-a-milking, 7 swans-a-swimming, 6 geese-a-laying, 5 gold rings, 4 calling birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree. Lots of mouths to feed, that!
To minimize the list of hungry mouths he makes his nephews dress up as the 3 French hens while he takes over the role of the partridge. When he tries to sabotage the parade, he gets tied up to his tree.

Imagine his shock when the whole parade doesn't go his house, but that of Scrooge's neighbor who is so happy about the joy her dog is having that she signs over ten oil wells to Scrooge!

Donald himself hardly escapes the pan while Scrooge comes back to his senses and tries to figure out what happened. When he can't work it out, he goes back to his list ... one golf ball for Donald, one marble each for Huey, Dewey, and Louie ......

Oldies but Goodies "Christmas green" - The tenth door

Today I want to talk about Christmas colors. If I asked you to list typical Christmas colors, you would probably say red, green, white, silver, and gold.
Each year there are new trends. For 2014 I found everything from "exciting and bold" in purple, pink, turquoise, red, and emerald green to "tranquil" like in a white tree decorated with pastel colors.
It's funny. My tree used to be silver and blue for a long time, just because I liked the color combination, had someone asked me for Christmas colors, though, I would have said red and green, no doubt.
It seems trends can't really take that out of our heads, but why?

Evergreen has always been important for people in winter. They used it to decorate their houses to brighten them up and to remind them there would be new green in spring. That's why we connect a dark green with Christmas instead of an apple green, for example.

Red stands for Jesus' blood in first place. In medieval times there were plays on Christmas telling the story of Adam and Eve. Pine trees were put up and decorated with red apples. Holly berries are bright red. Bishops wore red.

White is often associated with innocence, peace, and purity, but also with winter and snow.

Gold was one of the gifts the Three Wise Men brought to Jesus when he was born, and a golden star guided them there.

Silver seems even brighter than gold, but doesn't feel that warm as a color. I would guess the reason for it to be a Christmas color is that it is often used with or instead of gold.

Today however is about the darker Christmas green as that was the topic for our JAC Oldies but Goodies Challenge that you can find here. The items didn't necessarily have to be "christmassy"  in their design and of course there are different kinds of green, too.

 1 MC Stoneworks
2 Violetmoon's Corner
3 RioRita
4 Cat's Wire
5 Jewelry Art by Dawn
6 The Crafty Chimp

The advent candle - The ninth door

We never stop learning.
As you can imagine, the advent calendar is not something I can wing. There's research to be done, pictures to be taken, there's the actual writing (being distracted by all kinds of things of course), and don't think it's that easy to decide on a topic even before doing all of that!
When browsing around I found this on Wikipedia:
An Advent candle is a candle marked with the days of December up to Christmas Eve. It is typically used in a household rather than a church setting: each day in December the candle is burnt down a little more, to the mark for the day, to show the passing of the days leading up to Christmas [...] Advent candles are traditionally white, though other Christmas-themed colors have become popular. The custom of having an Advent candle seems to have started in Germany, where children traditionally insert a small candle into a decorated orange. This candle is called the Christingle. It is now widespread in some other European countries such as the United Kingdom.

Huh?
Sometimes I wonder if I am really German. First the Christmas pickle, now this? 
Just wait, though. I went shopping for important things like kitchen tissues and what waited for me there on a shelf? An Advent candle! Well, actually a whole bunch of them in light and dark red and white.
I know it's the ninth today, but I wanted to show it in its unused glory.

Now I'll have to find out about the Christingle because that's another tradition I haven't heard of before. Germany seems to be bigger than I thought! ;-)

Zibbet finds of the week "Angels" - The eighth door

Angels are supernatural beings or spirits. There are for example cherubim, seraphim and the small putti. It would take too long to start talking about the differences.
To most of us angels are benevolent, guarding spirits, helpers, and they have wings ... and Christmas wouldn't be complete without angels.

Today let me share some of the angels that I found on Zibbet with you, each of them special in her or his way.

In the garden 5 x 5 print by This Years Girl

Hand embroidery hoop "Little Angel" by Silvi Studio

Angel portrait in crackle paint frame with beads by Corder Art

 

Fröhliche Weihnachten embossed card from the shop of For Collecting

Quote of the week - The seventh door

Christmas decorations - I guess we all have a clear idea what we like. Maybe just a tree with a few ornaments, maybe several big and small trees all over the house, Santa's sleigh on the roof, elves in the garden, and sometimes things change over the years because you have children or more space or less space or cats.

Frasier's father is looking forward to seeing his grandson and pulls out all the decorations he can find, but he's still not quite happy.

Martin: You know, someone's gonna have to go back down to the storeroom. There's still something missing.
Frasier: You must be kidding, Dad. My God, this place couldn't look any more ludicrous.

Martin: Once I saw how these white hairs on his chin looked like a beard, the rest of the idea just fell into place!

Frasier, USA, 1993 - 2004

St. Nicholas Day - The sixth door

Today is Saint Nicholas Day.
There are lots of legends around Saint Nicholas, but for us when we were children, it was just important that he left something for us in our shoe or boot.
It's still not unusual to give little (or bigger) chocolate St. Nicks to each other even if you are (seemingly) grown up.

Time for some memories now!

There was that girl from school who told us about her "collection" of chocolate St. Nicks and Easter bunnies. She just couldn't bear the thought of eating them and had collected them on a shelf for years.
I can't tell you why, but I did the same with Easter bunnies for years (I finally got over it), and I wasn't even a kid anymore. I had no scruples about the St. Nicks, though!

Then I just now remembered that when I was in school, 6th grade I think it was, one of our teachers actually dressed up as Saint Nicholas. He picked out a few of the kids to go downtown with him for shopping and to the costume rental, then we put together little gift bags for everyone, with a mandarin, some sweets and nuts.
On the 6th of December instead of English class we drew the curtains, lit candles and sang Christmas songs.
(Believe it or not, with this teacher we even had a class song.)

Of course nowadays children are a little confused here in Germany. Is it Saint Nicholas or Santa Claus?
Let's settle this once and for all.
It's Santa Greebo of course!

Challenge baking - The fifth door

Challenge you may ask? Let's face it, although there are baker's genes on my paternal grandmother's side, I'm not the one who has inherited them. I stopped baking years ago, not because what I made was terrible or inedible, but because it was a challenge every time.
I hope you'll appreciate what I'm going through here for you!
This recipe is from the 1970 Gas Cooking and Baking Recipe Calendar. You met this calendar before, in the 1952 and the 1958 edition.

Here's what you need for the cinnamon slices (in metric units!)
150 grams of margarine (or butter)
120 grams of sugar (I would recommend less, though)
1 or 2 eggs (the recipe calls for one, but my dough called unmistakably for two)
2 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of cardamom
a pinch of salt
175 grams of flour

Cream margarine or butter until fluffy.
Add sugar, egg and spices and beat until sugar dissolved.

Add sifted flour.

Hit head (preferably your own) on the counter if you get crumbles like I did, then bravely add a second egg ... and beat the dough until smooth.
Make sure to remember the spots on the wall and counter where little bits of the dough fly, so you can clean them off right away before you get dough on your shirt because you don't own an apron.

 
Spread the dough very thinly on a buttered baking tray and bake for 20 minutes at 180° C (=356° F) in the middle of the oven.

Take out of the oven and cut into diamond shapes or whatever is aesthetically pleasing to you.

I like the crunchy edges best and could have probably tried to spread the dough even thinner into the corners, and the cookies are a little too sweet for me, but overall I think I did quite okay.
Is there a special victory dance for baking challenged people like me?


P.S. Romantic that I am I prefer baking in the half dark (possibly aided by the fact that the bulb in my ceiling lamp has been dead for a long time, but I like the small lights under the cupboards better anyway) which gives my dough a slightly romantic (as in dark) look as well. I hope you'll forgive me for that.
P.P.S. Some of the steps are not exactly the same in the recipe as you probably already suspected.

A kiss under the mistletoe - The fourth door

The other day I came home and found mistletoe hanging on the door of our house.
We all know about the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe, but where does this tradition come from? There is actually more than one story.

To the ancient Celtic druids mistletoe was a sacred plant with healing powers and as an aid to fertility. They cut it with a golden sickle, but they didn't kiss under it.
In ancient Greece it was also associated with fertility and people kissed under it during the Saturnalia festival or in marriage ceremonies.
For Scandinavians mistletoe was a plant of peace under which they declared a truce.
In 18th century England there were "kissing balls", balls of mistletoe decorated with ribbons, evergreens and ornaments. Young ladies standing under such a kissing ball could not refuse a kiss. If a lady remained unkissed, it meant that she would not marry the next year, indeed people even avoided her saying she would probably stay an old maid.

My favorite is the story of Frigg, a Norse goddess. When the god Loki set out to kill her son Balder, she made each animal and each plant on Earth promise to not harm Balder. The mistletoe that grows in trees, however, was forgotten. Loki made an arrow from a mistletoe branch and made the blind god of winter, Hoder, shoot Balder. The tears that Frigg shed over him are said to have turned into the white mistletoe berries.

When she was able to revive Balder after three days, she was so happy that she kissed everyone who walked by under the tree on which the mistletoe had grown and decreed that who stands under the mistletoe should be not harmed but kissed.

I have to admit that the English tradition of plucking a berry off the mistletoe after each kiss had been new to me. When all berries are gone, the kissing is over. Reason enough to get a big mistletoe with lots of berries, right?

Oldies but Goodies "Ice" - The third door

Today the JAC Oldies but Goodies Challenge is about ice.
According to Wikipedia ice is "water frozen into a solid state. Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaque bluish-white color".
Although it would be great to work with icicles - I mean, have you seen some of those beauties - it might be a little difficult in jewelry, but quartz, rock crystal and clear glass crystals have almost the same effect as you can see in all the items in this thread.

Of course I do have a sneak peek for you again.

1 The Crafty Chimp
2 Cat's Wire
3 Jewelry Art by Dawn
4 Violetmoon's Corner
5 MC Stoneworks
6 2 Fab Fristers