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?

Silent movies - Santa Claus

Children have always wanted to know what Santa Claus is doing all year round.
There are different theories. He only gets one day of vacation, December 25th. Santa usually has a beach vacation in summer. He enjoys camping and singing Christmas carols at bonfires. He gets three weeks to relax or to go travelling right after Christmas. What is the right answer?
Let's see what "Santa Claus" from 1925 has to say - or rather show - on this matter (and please don't ask me why I watched the sepia version, I didn't even notice until writing this).

Two children manage to catch Santa when he comes down their chimney and ask him that important question, and although he's on such a tight schedule during this night, he finds the time to tell them.

He starts describing where he lives in the North, "a fairy kingdom bound by vast glaciers, towering ice crags and endless fields of snow", shaken by the North Wind, whose "borders are guarded by Goblins of the deep" (a huddle of walrus in the sea) while "the Monarch of the Arctic watchfully patrols my domain" (a polar bear running and swimming).
Back in his "warm snow castle" built out of snow blocks, he quickly checks toy production and then sits down to work on the naughty and nice list.
Bad news for Billy Smith, because when Santa watched him through his weirdly long telescope, he harrassed a blind street violinist by cutting the leash of his dog which drove some kids to knocking over the violinist's cup for coins. That got Billy a good shaking from Bobby Harrison and his name being scratched out by Santa while Bobby gets an entry for "a live pony and cart".

Next up another product test - no worries, the model train is perfect craftmanship and runs wonderfully!

Then Santa tells the children about training his reindeer and how he found Blitzen as a baby in the snow.
Saturdays are holidays, on those occasions he goes visit the Inuit (of course white people still called them Eskimos back then).
Once a year he gets a visit from the Easter Bunny (you see Santa sitting outside with a bunny on his lap) for a long consultation about which children deserve a nice Easter basket, and a white ptarmigan brings all the letters that children write to him.
He also meets up with fur-clad Jack Frost who makes the snow and ice for the old-fashioned Christmas Santa demands. This is Jack using his magic star wand to create the beautiful ice ferns and flowers on windows in the cities.

On Christmas Eve, Santa climbs into his (amazingly small) sleigh and brings gifts round the world. The Inuit children are the first ones to get theirs.

He also has a warning, though. If you have a chimney that isn't cared for, he can't get into it which means the children in that house don't get gifts (at that point der Dekan urged me to check our chimney while Gundel, several years older and wiser, just looked at him smugly).
Then he says goodbye to the children and heads back to the North where he and his helpers have a well-deserved rest.

The film starts with saying "Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Kleinschmidt present a fantasy actually filmed in Northern Alaska" and ends with "Merry Christmas to all - and to all a Good Night. The End. Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Kleinschmidt".
Who are the Kleinschmidts?

German-born Frank Emil Kleinschmidt emigrated to the USA at the age of 22 and went to Alaska four years later where he raised three daughters with his first wife.
He was an explorer, captain of a merchant freighter and an official photographer and cinematograph for the Austro-Hungarian army in the First World War, he was even arrested and imprisoned for espionage.
He made documentaries of Arctic hunts and expeditions since 1909, for example during hunting tours for rich tourists, and he also returned to Alaska after the war.
In this case, Mrs. Kleinschmidt is his second wife Teresa Evelyn Fillion, called Essie, who went on expedition with him.

So it's not surprising that parts of "Santa Claus" make you think of one of those documentaries showing people, animals, and the landscape of the North.
Maybe he used some of the material from them or they just gave him the idea to take a Santa Claus costume along for the outdoor shots sometime and then do the studio shots with a different Santa who reminds me a bit of vintage creepy Santa and crying children photos. It's probably the beard whose look has changed a lot in modern times.
According to Wikipedia, Kleinschmidt toured the US around Christmas showing the film and I bet children were shocked by the fact that Santa spent a lot of time watching them through his telescope.
I wonder how much Essie contributed to the film.

The mixture of real Alaska and Christmas narrative makes this a rather charming watch.
By the way, did I fail to mention the tiny fairies dancing and singing Santa to sleep? 
 

Sources:

1. Lea Stans: Obscure Films: "Santa Claus" (1925). On: Silent-ology, December 24, 2020
2. Stella Dagna: Captain F.E. Kleinschmidt's Arctic Hunt. On: Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 36, Pordenone, 30 September | 7 October 2017
3. Frank E. Kleinschmidt on Wikipedia
4. Margaret I. MacDonald: Capt. F. E. Kleinschmidt and His Sojourn Among the Animals Peculiar to Northern Climes. In: Moving Picture News 5, 1912, 14, pages 18 - 19 (via The Internet Archive)
5. Captain Frank Emil Kleinschmidt on Geni
6. Frank Emil Kleinschmidt on Find A Grave

Santa Claus and Rudolph - The twenty-fifth door

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!

Quote of the week - The ninth door

What do you know about Santa Claus? Where did he come from? Has he ever been a child?
Of course we could rehash the usual stories now. I could tell you about St. Nicholas again, I could tell you about that he is dressed either as the bishop who really lived, or that he used to wear different colors like brown or blue and that Coca Cola really was the company to make Santa Claus look like most of us think of him today, in the red coat with the white fur, with white hair and and a long beard, ho-ho-ho and children on his knee who tell him their wishes.

This Christmas story is different, though. Imagine Lapland hundreds of years ago.
A boy named Nikolas loses his parents and little sister due to a tragic accident on Christmas, so the whole village decided to take care of him. Nikolas stays with each family for one year, then he moves on. To show his gratitude he carves toys for the children of his former families. After six years, however, a bad harvest and bad luck at fishing mean no one can afford to take him in.
That's when the carpenter Iisakki who lives far from the village that he only visits to sell his goods offers to take the boy for a year. Although the relationship isn't easy in the beginning as Iisakki is not fond of children, he teaches Nikolas how to be a carpenter. One night he catches him in the workshop where Nikolas is preparing the Christmas gifts for the village children. He forbids it at first, but then decides to help him. He also asks the boy to stay although the year is over.
When Iisakki gets old, he moves away, but leaves his house, workshop and money to Nikolas who has become like a son to him. Nikolas who has always been a bit of an hermit takes this as a sign to dedicate his life to Christmas and bring presents to the children of all the villages in the area.

We still won't get around the red suit, though! As the distance between the villages is quite big, Nikolas gets himself four reindeer for his sleigh from Hilla. He thinks they will be easy to train, but the reindeer have their own opinion about that.

Only when Nikolas follows Hilla's advice and has a red suit made, they start listening to him and the legend of Santa Claus is about to begin.

Christmas Story, Finland, 2007

Memories of Santa - The tenth door

I'm a collector of different things, but the Memories of Santa Collection is not among them which is not surprising as it was sold in the USA. In fact I had never heard of it before. It's a collection of Santa ornaments from earthenware. The interesting part for me is that it was "inspired by antique chocolate molds, early chromolithographs, vintage advertis(e)ments, and turn-of-the-century post cards" and that "the designs and legends have been carefully researched and historically documented".

Just the other day I stumbled upon this post by Crazy Poppet Creations on Facebook: "I have my very own creepy Santa. It belonged to my Daddy and he would have it on the mantel in the living room. We both used to wonder why the kid was toting around a head....
Do you know the answer? I do. Curious to see who else knows."

That made me curious, too. It does look a little creepy.
Of course it's not a head. The solution to the mystery was on the box.

Now I was even more curious and tried to find out more about the tradition of wearing masks, but alas, I couldn't find anything. I wonder why it has stopped. Could it be because Santa masks are so often incredibly creepy? And what's up with that? Why are they so creepy?
I promise I will try to find out more. Who knows, maybe I'll have an answer to it in next year's advent calendar!
Anyway, I'd like to thank Crazed Poppet Creations again for this contribution.

Black Friday sale and Ho-ho-ho

I'm about to starve right now and urgently need to get to the food pots (being in Germany I don't have Thanksgiving leftovers ;-)), so I'll make this short and sweet to remind you I'm still around.

Check out my Zibbet shop now and be able to save 20% on all items! I announced that I would only run it today, but it's quite possible I'll change my mind spontaneously - I'm pretty good at that - and run it through the whole weekend and Monday.
Don't miss out!
While you are at it, you can also take a look at my Etsy shop where you'll need the coupon code THANKS2012 to save 20%.

Putting my shops on sale is not all I have done today, however. I also finished a bead loomed Christmas cuff which is extremely hard to photograph this time of the day.
Somehow Santa and his sleigh fascinate me (maybe you remember one of my first bead loomed cuffs which also showed him, much bigger, though). Here he's flying over the trees which have glass pearls for Christmas baubles. Can you also see Rudolph's red nose? ;-)

And now - food!!!

The Monday collection - Santa Claus is coming to town

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
He's making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who's naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town
He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town

I can't help it, I love Christmas carols, no matter if it's the traditional ones or the modern ones and at this time of year they bounce through my head constantly!

My blog layout doesn't like the large collections. Please click the picture to get to the original collection!

The twenty-first door

I guess this is not Santa Claus, those reindeer don't look like they will take off any moment. As a matter of fact this is a picture of a reindeer sleigh in Russia around 1900.


Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid, Donder and Blitzen.
In 1823 the famous poem starting "'Twas the night before Christmas" was published anonymously. It has influenced the way we think of Santa Claus' appearance, his way of entering homes and giving gifts to children and of his means of transportation.

Let's not forget Santa's ninth reindeer, Rudolph with the red nose who entered the stage in 1939 in a coloring book.

I have to admit for me as a German it's a little sad that Santa and his reindeer start to come barging in like this everywhere now. I was raised believing in the "Christkind" (christ child) and I don't like to see local traditions die.
Important is the spirit of Christmas, though, right ...