I'll make this short. In part 2 I showed you my decorations in the house hallway. Then I noticed that one of the Steiff mice was missing. A few days later I noticed that one of the teddies had been hiding in the same cabinet. If someone has seen my brain, please tell it to come back. I'm not doing that well without it, it seems ...
Also I still wasn't happy with my improvised hooks, so I got some garlands which would hide them. Basically that works well, but now I have the problem that the railings
are quite smooth and the ornaments quite heavy which means the garlands
keep sliding. I could stop one of them with the hooks on the railing
which don't run that smoothly and therefore keep the ends in place, but the other railing doesn't have those hooks, so I will have to
come up with an idea. Not this year, though. Maybe my brain will be back again next year ;-)
Due to unforeseen circumstances, I couldn't get myself to decorate the house hallway in time which meant I was very behind on my advent calendar tree. There was really no excuse anymore now, so I gave myself a good kick yesterday and went to it.
This year I had to make a few hard decisions. Thanks to my crafty advent calender last year and thanks to not being able to put any of those new ornaments up inside my flat *stern look at somecat who's not interested in stern looks at all*, some of the regulars couldn't find a spot in my hallway decoration this time. Not one spiky bauble! I only have a window sill to hold my Discworld advent calenders and a wardrobe with a small surface, some hooks, and rails which weirdly was not made for decorations originally. I'll have to think of something next year, maybe some kind of garland for my beaded ornaments to hang on the wardrobe, so I can put the baubles on the rails. I'll also have to come up with some better hooks. Ordinary Christmas hooks are too small for the rails and I had forgotten to get a better wire to make bigger ones of my own. It really comes out worse in the picture because of the flash, though (it was already darkish when I decorated, so I needed the flash, as if it isn't hard enough to get a good angle for a picture, anyway). I picked stainless steel, thin so it wouldn't show too much, but strong enough to hold even the heavier ornaments, but those makeshift hooks are by no means uniform. Will someone please remind me in time next year?
To
give you a better idea if you haven't followed last year's advent
calendar, I made a collage of the ornaments I put up (in the picture
above the felt ball is missing because I had forgotten it).
Of
course, a Christmas decoration without my beloved Steiff is absolutely
unthinkable. This year, there is not one but two Christmas trees one of which I topped with my Christ Child Dawn, and an
adorable Christmas bunny joined Santa Claus and his teddy and mouse crew (plus one missing in the picture because I had left him behind in the cabinet, what's wrong with me?), also a
sweet mouse who's not in festive garb, but fits in so perfectly.
Also I can't do without my advent tree and today I got to open several of the little parcels! What a reward for being so late.
I know it's not much compared to the decorating some people do, but it makes me happy and that's what counts.
Vacation time, yay! I have a long list of things I should be doing and a list of things I'm actually looking forward to. I already know that the long list won't be much shorter at the end of my vacation, the other one, well, we'll see.
First on the list is decorating for Christmas. I'm by no means a big decorator and it has become even less since der Dekan moved in because some things are just too risky around him. I'm not going to put up my Moravian stars for example, cords are far too tempting for him.
So, last year I had a really hard time to motivate myself and ended up with a completely empty house hallway, but my little tree with its sparse decoration made me - and den Dekan - very happy. I don't know if you have seen any of my last year's advent calendar posts, but it was sad that I couldn't put any of the ornaments I made on my tree. There is just too much time in there for den Dekan to have fun with them. They will get their chance to shine in the hallway this year, I just hope I'm not going to run out of space, but I can always leave out some of the not handmade pieces. A friend suggested to make a garland for my beaded ornaments to hang from the ceiling, but my ceiling is too high for my taste. Ladders and I are not friends.
Today I started by putting up my little tree. This year, I got a special surprise for den Dekan although I knew of course that I will probably have to be stooping down a lot during the next few weeks, picking up ornaments and putting them back on the tree. Last year he went absolutely wild with the gnome girl, so this year I got him a whole pack.
Of course Gundel is more than welcome to join in, but so far she has only paid a short visit to the tree. She usually starts playing with toys at night, though, so who knows what's going to happen.
My gift was a full success. Der Dekan had to wait outside while I trimmed the tree with the victims, uhm, gnomes, my pineapple slices and some other unbreakables. I wanted to avoid a Pink Panther scene of me putting up ornaments on one side and him pulling them off on the other, working our way around the tree. When I opened the door, der Dekan played it cool for about five seconds and then he went right in as expected. About fifteen seconds in, the first gnome fell, seconds later the first pineapple slice, and right after that the second gnome. Then he threw himself between tree and the light arch and started pushing with all four.
Don't think he's constantly in the tree. He will launch an attack, go crazy for a bit, storm off and then come back to sleep in his Christmas bed next to the tree or his donut behind the tree - until the next attack. I have no idea what sets him off. His second attack was swift and effective - four pineapple rings and four gnomes. So far I haven't been lucky to get anything but blurry pictures of him in action, but here are a few general impressions.
And here's a rare Gundel sighting. Good luck seeing anything in that photo but a dark shadow!
Has Santa Claus come by your house today and left you something from his sack of gifts? If not, I have a little Santa Claus and Rudolph here who are more than happy to step in - if they can find their sleigh. Well, actually, there wasn't enough space for a sleigh.
I won't tell you a long story this time (please stop cheering ;-)) and let those two speak for themselves instead. Merry Christmas!
Are you ready for a new advent calendar this year? It has been four years that I did the last one, and I'll try to present some customs and stories that I haven't shared yet, some of which I even hadn't heard of myself before, to be exact. By no means do I claim to be complete in my posts, but as usually, I will provide links, so you can look up more about a topic that is particularly interesting to you. And please, if you find something that is not right, let me know!
Last year I missed sharing pictures
of my Christmas tree here which looked different from the
years before because I had to take the criminal energy of a certain
kitten into account and therefore had no breakable ornaments at all on
my tree, only my wire knit "pineapple slices" and the wire crochet
baubles. That kitten has turned into a big ole cat, and I thought
about the right spot for the tree for a long time before I decided to
give it a break this year. The master loves to pull things and he has
not only become very strong, but has also been in extreme hunting mode
lately. My usual trick of wrapping two of the branches around the bars
of the stairs would probably not be enough.
To get into the Christmas mood and to set the mood for the advent calendar, however, here are this year's decorations from the hallway.
The full view.
The window sill with the Lego ornament and the Discworld advent calendars of which there were unfortunately no new ones in the last two years :-(
The Steiff parade with Santa Claus, the Christmas mice, and the cute teddy ornaments. Seems my felt polar bear has sneaked his way in there as well!
And of course my advent calendar tree made by Paul from Phoenix Glass waiting for its beautiful lampwork embellishments from the little parcels, well protected by my needle felted/bead embroidered snowman.
I
know, I know. You have seen them (almost) all before. Have you noticed, though, that
some of the non-beaded baubles (and the usual mistletoe which is so big
this time that I have to cut it up a little first which really is a shame)
are missing from the hallway decoration? Maybe I need those free spots. Who
knows? I might not have shown you all of the decoration yet, so I won't
spoil the surprise for some of the upcoming posts ...
I'll admit it, it's hard to get into the mood this year. The years before I had always set up my tree by this time, put up the hallway decorations, hung my Moravian stars in the window. This year, however, everything is a little different.
Of course one reason is der Dekan. I still haven't quite decided what to put on the tree, windows, etc. that the little feline brat won't kill, even more important, though, that won't kill him. The Moravian stars, for example, have long cords. Do I trust him not to try and strangle himself? Not really. And since there are no sockets way up high, there will always be cords in reach for him. The ball chain around the tree is probably not a good idea then, either. Even Gundel likes to tug on that one every, now and then. The same is with the lights, more cords. Just the tree with the wire ornaments - as the glass ones are definitely out this year ;-) - and the other non-breakable charms? Maybe. Somehow I couldn't muster the energy and motivation for that yet, though.
The other reason is that it's sometimes hard to keep up any motivation for anything at the moment if you feel the world has gone completely crazy now. Who cares, for example, if I haven't cut up my cardboard boxes lately (for which I use den Dekan as an excuse although he's not even that interested in most boxes :-P)? No one will see it these days, anyway, except my family. Oh no, am I turning into an Ebenezer? :-O Bah, Humbug!
To fight that, I took a deep breath and went decorating my hallway today (and as a bonus I decluttered the cupboard a little where I store my usual hallway decorations while the Christmas ones are out). Hard to believe, I know, but it actually does look a little different this year! Of course there are still all the beloved ornaments, those that I made and those that friends gave me.
Where
there were always just two little Steiff mice with their Christmas tree and a
ball before, however, a whole Steiff crowd has gathered this time, thanks
to my dear friend Jennifer. The ball got hung up, instead a big repro
Santa took its place and brought along Gingerbread Teddy, Christmas
Tree Teddy, The Little Drummer Teddy, and Teddy in a Gift Box. Aren't
they adorable? They graciously invited my felted and bead embroidered little snowman as well.
As I moved some of the items from here to the sideshow (aka the window sill), there was more space to scatter the gift boxes of the advent calendar. The mice and teddies are already so excited to see what will be coming out of them to hang on the "advent tree" made by Paul from Phoenix Glass!
P.S. The title, by the way, is hinting to this video ;-)
Among the glass beads a friend from Prague had sent me a while ago (for me a while can be anything between two days and two years) were two twisted glass ornaments, a short green one and a long purple one. It would have been easy to put a hook on them to hang them on my Christmas tree or turn them into little pendants, but I'm not always going for easy, so I waited and waited and waited some more for my muse to turn on her brain and come up with something. The only thing I knew from the start was that they wouldn't become jewelry which probably had to do with childhood memories. My best friend's grandfather always had two trees. There was one in the big room and there was a smaller one in the playroom. It had a stand that had a music box and rotated - I don't remember what melody it was, I'll have to ask my friend - and it was decorated with beautiful vintage twisted glass icicles. At least that's how I remember it, and ever since twisted glass, even if it's not clear, makes me think of that Christmas tree. I know, some of you will think it's too early, but firstly we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, so that's not a reason for me to wait, and secondly, it would be really hard to get everything done if I don't start before December! The idea for these ornaments finally came from the peyote rings I had been making. All of the components are stash, even some of the thread has been in my drawer unused for several years, not to mention the bubble lampwork beads that have been with me for even longer. Compared to those, the Delicas are rather new. Unfortunately it proved quite hard to take a good picture because it's November grey here today and because the size and colors are so different. In case you can't see it well, the green ornament has got a little white peyote tube and an almost clear bubble bead, the purple one has metallic fuchsia beads and a pink bubble bead.
Maybe I'll give these two away as gifts, Ponder had already that glint in his eye saying how much he is looking forward to play with them. The twisted glass is attached to the wire that runs through the lampie and the peyote tube in a way that allows it to dangle, absolutely irresistible for my old man who likes to think he's still a kitten! ;-) Another reason is that my little tree is running out of space. "You're gonna need a bigger tree!" my mind keeps telling me, but the spot on the stairs is so perfect for the little one. First world problems!
Gundel is in her favorite place on the stairs, Ponder has lost consciousness in his cat tower's plushy softness - a good moment to set up my Christmas tree. Last year I had been searching for my ornaments, I thought I lost my mind. Turns out I did, there were in the same box in the same safe spot they had been during the last few years, but you know how it sometimes is with those safe spots. This year my memory didn't fail me, so here they are. Yup, almost all of my tree decorations fit into a small box, but then my artificial tree is not exactly big, either. You can see the beaded bauble my friend Caroline made, some of my "pineapple slices", a few Christmas spider legs and my octopus bauble's tentacles peeking out.
As soon as I had the tree out, my second supervisor arrived on the scene. She gave a few branches a short nibble and went around the tree to check if I had bent all the branches the right way. Looks to me as if Supervisor Gundel is fine with what she saw.
The hardest part for me are the lights and the ball chain. Yeah, the baubles will hide the messy look, I think. As you can see my trusted wooden cats are helping to keep the tree in place (plus one of the branches is wrapped around the railing ;-)).
By then Gundel had decided she needed a second look. That chain didn't look very safe. Neither did it to me after she started pawing it! I still kept going. There are my earliest prototypes of wire crochet baubles, my wire knit and few beaded baubles, the beaded goodies from my friend, gifts from the neighbors like wooden stars and more, tiny baubles from my pal, the snowmen I made, the weird little octopus and the "mace" baubles. Last but not least I put my wire knit "flame" on top and of course Christmas Jack to guard everything!
It's a pity that it is such a grey day which makes it hard for me to take a good picture. Maybe I'll post another one if I find the chance and the light is good enough.
Well, and then the first bauble fell. While I had been decorating, there were some mysterious bauble shakes and I kept seeing a little black paw, but only when I was done, there it went - but didn't break! So if you feel like betting on the cats or the tree, let me know! ;-)
This was a spontaneous decision when I just put my hallway decorations up. How about giving the Cat's Wire advent calendar another try? This is harder than it may sound. I can't promise to come up with something fantastic, new or exciting every day, but I'll give it my best. Actually I will start this with a little cheating, though. It's already Sunday today, but I had to work yesterday and I was dead when I came home. Now, however, I'm sitting here listening to one of my favorite holiday channels, The Christmas Radio, so let's get this thing started, shall we? Decorations. I'm no master at them. My style has been called eclectic (one of the best words for making "what a mess" sound intellectual), whimsical, crazy, interesting and more, but that's okay because I think that rather fits me.
So this is what my hallway looks like this year. For those who have seen pictures in the past years, it's not the same. This year the little Lego house had to move to the window sill along with the little elf as I needed space for a newcomer. For the same reason I had to say no to my neighbor's offer to give me some quinces as deco.
What I love about it is that there are so many handmade pieces along
some others. The two hand sewn hearts from Christmas fabric hanging in the mistletoe (from my
neighbors' garden) on both sides were made by a friend. There is also a
lace icicle in one of the mistletoes.
Here's the knitted wreath that my other neighbor made, some of my wire knit
ornaments (including the "puffer fish" ;-)), my wire crochet star and
the lace snowflakes made by a friend who's no longer with us. She also
made the icicle and all three are ornaments I treasure a lot.
This is what the "first floor" looks like.
Can't do without my beloved Steiff Christmas tree, the mice and the ball! I got the little Villeroy & Boch candle holder at a sale some years ago. The Christmas kitties box was a lovely gift by co-workers (the candy is long gone!). The only handmade item in this picture is my wire knit candle with the little Christmas bauble in the flame to make it shine.
And here's the newcomer now. It took me two years to decide I really wanted to have this. I ordered it months ago and was so excited when it arrived! As you can see there are 24 little boxes which hold a small lampwork bauble each to put on the glass Christmas tree. It's the beautiful work of Paul from Phoenix Glass, check it out on Facebook!
Time for a cup of chai and maybe something to eat before I go finding something for the second door!
Let me warn you first - if you suffer from arachnophobia, this post might not be for you even if I won't show you real spiders. It was a few years ago that I heard about the Christmas spider and its legend for the first time. Someone told me that it's a German tradition and it also says so on Wikipedia, but like the story of the allegedly German Christmas pickle I had never heard of it here. Wikipedia also mentioned the Ukraine and Poland, however. So I looked around a little more and found that the story indeed seemed to be based on a tale from the Ukraine and that the Christmas spider is also popular as a tree ornament in Poland. Then I found an article that is no longer available now which says that the spider legend probably came to the Ukraine from Germany together with the Christmas tree. Next I stumbled upon a short German article that claimed that the spider is almost forgotten in Germany, but is still put up in trees in England. I guess we will never know exactly where it really comes from! Anyway, I found two versions of the legend. This is the Ukrainian one. A widow lived in a small hut with her children. One day a pine cone fell to the ground and took root. The children tended to the seedling, happy that they would have a Christmas tree. Being so poor, they knew, however, that they wouldn't have anything to decorate their little tree with. Early on Christmas morning the children woke their mother up to show her the tree. A spider had spun her web around it and when the sun rays touched the web, the threads turned into silver and gold. From that day forward the widow never wanted for anything. This is the legend I mostly found on American sites. A long time ago a mother prepared for Christmas Eve. She cleaned and scrubbed the whole house, even chasing the spiders from the living room. The spiders that had fled to the attic came out again later to see what all that buzz had been about. They found the Christmas tree and crawled along its branches to see all the beautiful ornaments spreading their gray, dusty webs along the way. When the Christ child came, he smiled at the happy spiders, but he also knew the mother would be very sad about the tree full of spiderwebs, so he touched them, thus turning them into silver and gold (note: This can't be the Christ Child that Luther introduced as a gift giver, as it says "he", so I guess it must refer to the actual Jesus baby). Several traditions stem from these legends - to put up artificial spider webs and web ornaments, and also to hang Christmas spider ornaments on the tree. It is also said that tinsel represents the webs touched by the Christ Child. Now you may wonder where the stash tackling is coming in today. Well, I do like spiders and it sounded like a great idea to make a little spider for my own Christmas tree! I used a beautiful lampwork bead, faceted rock crystal, bugles and sparkling crystals.
I still got time to decorate, right? I mean I never decorated much anyway since the feline monsters took over the house. This time not even the hallway decoration is set up properly, though. The wire crochet ornaments and embroidered icicles are hanging, but that's it. Shame on me. I'll keep you updated and hope to be able to post a picture of what little decoration I do soon. Maybe it'll give you the kick or urge to decorate yourself. Please don't tell, people, you are all already done!! ;-)
