While the holidays are over, gift giving and creative activities are a year round activity in my circle of family and dear friends. I do have some holiday pictures to post here, and some ornaments past and present, but I also have gifts of the heart. I suppose though I should start with a little four footed furry one who is so very near and dear to me.
That is Ariel The Wonder Dog, drowsing on her couch. That green leather 1970s monstrosity was left here, and it's now all marked up, but people seem to like sitting there and it is low enough that her now arthritic joints can still pull her up there. So it stays. We've tried all sorts of blankets and covers on it, but she always scrapes them aside. Ariel is queen of the house, and she knows it. I wouldn't have a pet that wasn't welcome on the furniture. To me, she's family, and you don't tell family to go sit on the cold floor. I think she might be 12 now, so we know we're on borrowed time.
This was our tree this year, an artificial I've had for several years. It's prelit with LED lights and fiber optic bundles at the end of the branches, so it's bright and the lights shift fast, making it hard to get a good photo. Most of the ornaments on there are handmade by me, but there are a few by friend Roger Stegman, and several lovely glass pieces by the talented Mr. James Meugniot. A few are ornaments given to us by other treasured friends. They all find homes on the tree or at least nearby. The tree skirt is crocheted, something I made the first year we were able to put up a tree.
These little primitive tables were also left in the house. We have another coffee table, so they nestle under the living room window and hold a basket of books for the grandkids as well as various toys. We cleared some of the toys off to decorate a bit, setting out crocheted things I made (the 2 snowmen and gingerbread man in the sleigh) various items from others, and a card holder. On what currently passes for a windowsill are a collection of wooden ornaments by Roger Stegman. When my grandkids came in that is the first spot they went to, looking for old favorites and some they had not seen before. I'll explain about the round table below, after the closeup.
This too was left in the house, and it's now found a purpose. This is my shrine to my mother, who passed in March 2019 at the age of 85. It's m favorite picture of her, with our old cat Spooky in her lap, sitting outside and relaxing. The little clock was hers, as was the lighted cherry tree, and the 'vase' behind (it's actually a pencil holder) has some happy crocheted flowers I made with Roger's Stegman's 'flour' bouquet. All this was found in her room. Various candleholders, two woooden goblets by Roger along with two hatching dragons, a dragon egg pedestal by #2 son Brian kind of rounds out the collection. On the bottom tier is a bunch of polished stone eggs I have collected in a basket, Roger has sent me quite a few. My mother used to sit in a rocking chair right next to that little table when she was here, so that's her corner and always will be. It's nestled right up against my mother-in-law's Grandmother's Clock.
The clock was a hangout for our Elves this year. Archie the Elf on the right has spent a couple of holidays with us, making sure everyone has been nice, and not naughty. Cookie on the left showed up this year, and they seemed to get into a lot of mischief together. The younger grandkids had a spat over who got to play with which toys, and the elves did not approve so it was quickly resolved when we mysteriously found a frog doll with glasses in with their stuff that nobody could account for. I honestly do not know where that stuffed, long-legged frog came from, but my little granddaughter reassured me that Elves are magic and so they must have brought it so no one would fight. No pictures, because she went home with Froggie in her arms. Such is the magic of the holidays...
Speaking of magic, I had to include the picture above because it brings back so many memories. This was something I found for sale online recently, and no I didn't buy it, but we actually had one of these when I was a kid. This was a Bradford Snowing Angel Treeskirt, and my dad bought one and brought it home one year. The angel sat on the treetop, there was a huge carboard catch basin that went underneath the tree, and a pump and pipes that connected them and sent snow (styrofoam BBs) up to the angel which made them fall down from her skirt and through branches with the hiss and semi-realism of an actual snowfall. The angel lit up too; inside was a refrigerator bulb and her foil covered cardboard cone skirt had star cutouts that were covered by various colors of clear plastic. It was a neat thing, and very innovative. But there was a little problem...
We had a fresh cut tree that first year. It was kept watered, you stood the tree stand with the reservoir inside the cardboard basin, which had a flat bottom, and just had to be careful how you added water to it so as not to wet the cardboard. No big deal there. But a cut tree is still going to shed needles anyway, and ours did. Which began to clog the piping for the snow and make it stop working. Yet the pump was still going, even with the plastic pipes clogged and rattling, and it strained, making the most awful noises. At the top, the angel would vibrate and that sound would echo up inside her skirt like a series of strange grunts and groans. This is how we knew it was clogged, and after a few days it became a regular problem with the angel becoming 'constipated' and making rude noises while shaking. Then the pump got unplugged, pipes had to be carefully disassembled and blown out, and the angel relieved of her blockage—all without destroying ornaments already hanging on the tree. My sister and I were told to daily sift through the styrofoam BBs for pine needles, which was a chore because they are prickly and had to fish out. Not everybody has a constipated angel who snows on their tree you know! We did use it a couple more seasons with an artificial tree someone gave us, but the cardboard skirt sections began to to fall apart, and the snow was dirty and hard to come by, so after a while only the angel went on the tree, plugged into conventional light strings and the rest just sort of disappeared wherever failed ideas go. But I still remember that contraption; both how beautiful it was at first and how aggravating it became. My dad always had some avant-garde ideas for how to celebrate.
We usually did have fruitcake, but that was most often a gift from someone else. I was about the only one who would eat that. I never minded it, it was only once a year, and didn't taste that awful to me. Haven't had it in years now though, so my adult palate might have other ideas about that sticky, heavy cake of incandescent ingredients.
These plastic angels were also sold as'Bradford' products, which I'm pretty sure was a W. T. Grant line of housewares, decor, and electronics line. We had a Grants store in the area back then. We had three of these, they had the blue sleeves like the one on the left. My mother had a little crèche that folded out, my sister has it now. We'd put the angels around it. But one year, Dad got this bright idea to have the angels flying overhead. So he tied clear monfilament fishing line to the crowns, and stuck that to our plaster ceiling with the swirled circle designs, using a blob of that softened wax from the cheese he bought. It held them... for a while. Problem was, the fireplace was not far off, and it got very warm near the ceiling. Wax tends to soften in that kind of heat. The angels were flying over where I used to lay on the floor to watch TV on our big console set (it had wooden casing and legs) and suddenly an angel would tumble down and bonk me on the head or somewhere else. The wax either stayed stuck to the ceiling or left behind a nasty red stain. No, it wasn't a great idea, neither was the spray snow through holiday stencils on the fireplace bricks or picture window (it hardned and refused to come off, turning yellow over time) but it was well-intentioned and we loved Dad. So we tried stuff just to please him and suffered the consequences later. Yes, it always came from the heart.
Now like I've mentioned, I have made my own ornaments, and I've given quite a few away over the years. Most of mine are in crochet, though I have done some in felt too. I love to be creative and make things, that's another one of my passions. My hands are always busy with something, I seldom sit and 'veg out'.
I found some random pictures in my files that I don't think got posted here. These were ornaments I made over the last couple years. I made some small houses, those are front and back views, and decrations are either embroidery on the crochet or things that got sewn on. I think I gave those all away. I do have lambies and fish on my tree though. Only the lambs had some sort of pattern, the rest were just cobbled together. All are double thick so they stay fairly flat and no thread or yarn shows. I usually include at least one handmade ornament with a gift basket as a token of friendship and a reminder that not all gifts must come from the store. Some things come from the heart and mind.
These cheerful butterflies were supposed to go on a tree, but I'm out of room. So now they are saved for a spring and summer mobile or indoor windchime. Have to get to that at some point, I have all the components, just need to sit down and actually do it. I've made many of them, it's a simple pattern that starts as a circular shape that gets folded over and I sew around the edges. I use chenille picks (AKA pipe cleaners) to make the body and antennae, a half stick is just about enough. They would look amazing on a tree in holiday colors or done in sparkle yarns. You could even slide a pretty bead in for the head before you twist it. Little projects like this are good for using up small amounts of yarn.
I made a few of these flying birds, and did keep one for my tree. This one is looking for a home, and I have someone in mind I might send it too. Bright colors are good for the holidays, they really show up against all that dark green. The body is lightly stuffed. It's just a crocheted circle folded and sewn together on the tummy part. The beak is a small piece folded over and sewn shut, and the wings are a mix of lengths of the same yarn threaded through. The tail is sort of a tassel that gets sewn into the body. Undoing the plies of the yarn gives it that kinky/feathery appearance. Each side has a small button eye.
In the past I've made crocheted snowflakes, hearts, bells, and stars in abundance for the tree, and I have a few one-of-a-kind pieces as well. The nice thing about the felt or crochet ornaments is if they fall, they don't break. Most of them you can step on and do no damage. Win/win with kids and pets.
Handmade things are so much fun to give, and twice as fun to receive.
I got so many wonderful gifts this year, but I have to say that this has to be the most unusual and surprising one. My younger son Brian, whose forging and woodworking I have also featured here, made me a Viking axe. Now Brian knows mom is a writer and a bit of a geek, who loves spin fantasy tales and get a sense of how weapons feel and are used. So he made this with me in mind. Everything is by him, the axe head, the haft, and the sheath. In the center view you can see that big round eye, and he told me how he bent and shaped that and how the far end was attached. The haft is hard maple from the area and that wedge in the top is purpleheart, a subtropical wood. That's a pretty amazing thing to make in your backyard, which is where his forge is. He has a small area in his cellar for the woodworking parts. It goes to show you that when you demonstrate to your kids that things can be made from raw materials along with some practice and thought, they will carry the torch of creativity forward. I'm very proud to know that the maker gene got passed along.
I've been doing crafts with my two younger grandkids for over a year now. We've done all sorts of projects, and sometimes even the adults around us get involved. We've had one of their little cousins join us at times too—the more the merrier! I think of all the things we've done, these dragonflies are my hands-down favorite. The one on the left is still living on my desk right now, my graddaughter dictated to me what beads it needed. She handed me one at a time. The other one was made by Uncle Lee Houston Junior, who has often participated in our crafting and art activities. Both the grandkids help their dad with simple and safe projects as well. So we are passing the creativity torch to a new generation. While toys are fun to get, they often get played with and forgotten, but something that you can make with your hands leaves a lasting memory. I remember doing things like that with my sons when they were boys. So it makes my heart swell to see that same excitement about making things dawning in these new little faces. Brings back some very dear memories.
Speaking of Lee, one day while we were all making Valentine cards, he sat nearby and sketched a picture of the the three of us together. This now hangs in the dining room at the kids' house as a reminder of what is the most important gift you can give someone you love—your time. In this hectic world, where it seems like you can't get anywhere but behind and the news is all bad, where people are too often surly, and the general outlook is gloomy at best, we need to sit down somewhere and quiet our minds. Shut off the electronics, unplug from the constant stress, and do something interesting that doesn't have you staring at a flashing screen for hours. Something that everyone can be involved with. Something fun, something creative and not competitive. The world is a rough place, always has been. Make time for those projects you always wanted to do, because all too soon it will be too late. The kids are grown, the chance has fled, and your body doesn't cooperate like it used to. I write during the day, but at night I sit and make things while the TV is on. Because that is my passion too. And whether I use them or give them away, part of my heart and soul is in each one. I know I am a better, calmer person because I took the time to do something creative, even if it was just a random hour here and there. That's what we mean here on this blog when we say, "In my spare time".
Be well and go forth to make memories for years to come,
~Nancy
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