You can imagine how excited we always were as children when we got to open the last door on our advent calendar. Next was the trimming of the tree, then we were sent off to my grandmother who was supposed to keep us entertained until we finally got the liberating phone call telling us to come home.
This morning I went outside into the hallway to open the last little parcel of my special advent calendar by Phoenix Glass. You might remember the picture from the first day with just one small bauble on the tree.
It looks a lot different now!
Happy Christmas Eve, my friends.
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!
