Merry Cristmas Everyone!

Today will be a busy one in the kitchen.  Soon I will set the turkey in a brine to sit for a few hours and then "it" will be on.  Oh yes

• Tuscan Roast turkey
• Glazed sweet potatoes
• Wild and Brown rice
• Collards
• Cranberry & Orange relish

...Details later, but for now,

Merry Christmas!!!

The Twelve Month Mantle

I have slipped up!  I though that I had already written about my mantle challenge, but I see that I had not even posted at all about it.  Ah how sad that it got away from me.  Well, no time like the present to catch you up on that.  It occurred to me as I was putting away the Christmas decorations how much I miss the color and sparkle of those decorations.  The house suddenly seems less magical and alive.  Because we spend so much time in the living room, and our view is directed toward the fireplace, the mantle is a prime focal for decor.  ...What?!!!  I never shared a photo of the Christmas mantle?  Well,. here it is...

This was standard for years, and this past year I decided that it would be nice to tweak it a little.  I had been saving a fallen branch (I am just compulsive that way) and decided it would be interesting to use it in some way.  I dabbed white paint over the branch, and used nails that usually hold pictures, to hang the branch with fine fishing line.  Then, I cut stars out of those pieces of cardboard that you find in various retail products.  I could have used cereal boxes, but this kitchen warrior does not buy that sort of processed food.  I used a punch to make a hole for hanging.  Then, I spray painted them silver and when they were dry dabbed them with some Gesso.  That was not necessary, but I wanted to get some texture and maybe relate them to the white branch.  ...Kinda like clouds and kinda shabby chic too. Next, I strung the stars to varying lengths of invisible nylon thread and wrapped them to the branch.  Wrapping the branch about three or four times held just fine, and when dismantled was easy to remove.

 My plan included adding a string of tiny lights, but they refused to light this year.  ...But never mind!

SO, when January came along and Christmas went back into boxes, I just couldn't bear to hide all the cheer away.  There was one box of decorations that had been ignored for many, many years.  It held old wooden shapes that my father had made from a craft project in some woman's magazine.  It was a table centerpiece with cookie cutter trees and children.  Somehow there was never room on the table for that.  Yet here they were, and perfect for the mantle as a January scene of starry forest night. 

I liked that so much that I decided to challenge myself to keep the branch all year, and change the decor to honor every month of the year.  Now, here we are into the last day of February, and I must share what happened this month before it's gone too.  

So what is in store for March?  Dunno yet, but I suspect it will have something to do with Leprechauns and shamrocks, pots of gold or maybe the first hints of spring and nature shaking off the winter.

Happy New Year!

Now that the New Year is upon us, and in a few days, all the decorations will be packed away until next December, I take more time to renew my connections with what makes Christmas special to me. The tree is full of memories with hand-made decorations hanging generously from all the branches.

Each year, mid-December, as Christmas drew near, my father would take the family out to choose a Christmas tree. We spent hours in the Mid-West snowy cold driving from one tree lot to another in search of the perfect tree. After much consideration, dispute, and anguished selection, we finally made a choice and tied the tree to the roof of the car, and drove our prize home. There it would sit propped up out in the cold, allowing the branches that had been compressed into a flat shape, to adjust into their natural shape. We would occasionally shake the tree and branches to help it untangle and shed dried needles.

One year, as I was going through the preparations, I discovered a perfect little nestdeep in it's branches, which I accordingly took it for a sign of good fortune. After all, how many times are we lucky enough to get a tree that had a nest too? And so, in its propitiousness, I have honored that same little nest in a conspicuous place at the front of the tree ever since. Now, many (many) years later, as my glance falls upon it, I am reminded of its origins and the circumstances that surround it. In remembering my father on this New Years Day, I celebrate his loving and creative spirit by sharing with you the miniature birdhouses that he made for me one year. I also honor all those family and friends who helped to create a variety of decorations to include felt snowmen, fabric covered balls, paper snowflakes, clothespin soldiers, and tiny paper doily angels. One year we got my sons involved and made bread dough ornaments of an angel, teddy bear and a even a fisherman holding a huge worm. (Boys will be boys!) When each of them got married, I shared some of these ornaments with them so that they also have memories on the branches.

My very best wishes to you all for a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

I Might Just Be A Jewelry Artist When I Grow Up, ...Too

I am so entranced with a new mag I got at B&N a week ago! Hey, Susan Sark, I am juiced! Belle Armoire's new wire wrapping magazine is making me itch to try more techniques. I certainly do like the fact that I can create jewelry without buying a kiln and taking classes (being a self-taught sort of person). I had the interest many years ago in college, but it never amounted to much, and ended dismally with a hammered project that was far too ambitious. I attempted a copper bowl, and the sheet metal was so thick that it took all my strength and didn't make a dent. I even enlisted the assistance of a few athletes, and it simply served to embarrass their male egos. All I ever did afterward was to string a few beads during the 70's like everyone else. What I especially like are the new outrageous designs that are coming out now. Call it "alternative art" or "upcycling" or "indie," it is all very creative and it doesn't require being a serious artisan or any cultural standard of perfection. Wire wrapping which used to really turn me off as looking "Mom's and Pop-sy," ...is an alternative to real metal working. Now, it is coming into it's own as expressions of inspired design. I have a special love for the little nets that are made to hold something precious and dangle as a pendant. To me they speak of infinite possibilities. In the meantime, as I hone some new skills, I have made a little something with a Valentine's theme. This being my first try, I hope to get a lot better at manipulating the wire and using the hammer to forge the metal. It might even be in line to buy a few tools. Some people think copper is too amateurish, but I like the earthiness and warmth of copper and it's yielding qualities. It is also far less expensive than silver and gold, and is perfect for budding jewelry artisans to play with. This project is all about fun, and I do not pretend that I am original with it. In fact, I saw a very similar design in my Googling explorations, and after analyzing the techniques and how I could go about doing this too, I made my own attempt. There were a few mistakes I made along the way, but I let them simply create a new design. It was all about learning something, and that part was a big success. In case you have the itch to create something beautiful to adorn yourself or to gift to others, here is a fabulous site, The Beading Gem's Journal. Here you will find endless info and has helped and inspired me.

Celebrating the Solstice

I am now preparing for a Yule celebration. I grew up celebrating Christmas, but its really hard to get my extended family together. This is because my three grown and married sons, and their wives, all have divorced parents who have remarried. That means there are eight parental families that these young people feel duty bound to divide their time and efforts to. Christmas Day and Eve are in high demand. Nobody else in the family has even considered the Solstice but me! Happy Day! They probably never will either, as I live deep in the "Bible Belt."

If you are celebrating any of the traditions of Christmas, remember that you are actually enjoying the rituals and activities of several ancient religions whose traditions have been borrowed by Christians over the years for the celebration of the birth of Christ. Winter Solstice has been celebrated in cultures the world over for thousands of years. This start of the solar year is a celebration of Light and the rebirth of the Sun. In old Europe, it was known as Yule, from the Norse, Jul, meaning wheel. The winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The sun appears at its lowest point in the sky, and its noontime elevation appears to be the same for several days before and after the solstice. Hence the origin of the word solstice, which comes from Latin solstitium, from sol, “sun” and -stitium, “a stoppage.” Following the winter solstice, the days begin to grow longer and the nights shorter.

Long before Christ was born, Romans held the celebration of Saturnalia, however, this probably predates even Roman history. In ancient Rome, Emperor Aurelian established December 25 as the birthday of the "Invincible Sun" in the third century as part of the Roman Winter Solstice celebrations. Shortly thereafter, in the year 273, the Christian church selected this day to represent the birthday of Jesus. The early Christian church had gotten tired of unsuccessful efforts to stop people celebrating the solstice and the birthday of the sun god. So the pope at the time decided to make Jesus’ official birthday coincide with the other. No one knows what time of year Jesus was actually born but there is evidence to suggest that it was in midsummer.

This year I am designing a scavenger hunt for my grandson, that will educate him (and the rest of the family) to the history and rich traditions of the season that countries all over the world have contributed to. The symbols we love and use every season are rooted deeply in spiritual tradition.. The Yule log, "Christmas" Tree, holly, ivy, gifting, Wassail, feasting, fires and candle lighting, wreaths, mistletoe, singing, worshiping, etc., go back into antiquity, and all represent abundance, good fortune, love, peace, continuity of life, prosperity, and more. As each clue is followed, a brief description of each symbol will be read and a few "olde" carols will be sung by all.

September, ...it's in the air

It’s getting to be that time of year again. Along with the first trickle of leaves starting to drift down from our canopy of trees, and some relief from the suffocating heat of summer, there is a feeling of un-ease beginning to pervade in the air.

It’s not the unending yard cleaning that is about to begin. Unless you are the designated holiday gift provider for your clan, you won’t know what this feeling I am alluding to is all about. …It’s the onset of the holidays. You may want to argue that we still have several months yet to get involved with all that is implied. And that is your prerogative. However, as a crafter, AND a designated gift provider, this feeling is comparable to the wander-lust blowing in with the wind, that takes over in Vienne’s spirit, in the movie Chocolat,. Yes! …And just as compelling!

The process begins in little whiffs of ideas, such as what age group Little Johnny is in this year, …and what is fussy Auntie Matilda least likely to dislike?

Be still my heart, …its just another holiday approaching. I have done this for many years now, and I should be an old hand at it. (Shudder) If anything, I think I have gotten worse at it. My sons are grown, and they have more expensive and alien tastes now. I knit each of them a hat last year, and they looked at them in disbelief. (What? …A beanie? …I knit one of them a balaclava, which I think his wife will wear it as a mini-skirt this year! Well, I won't do it again! …Not even a pair of socks! Then, there are the daughters-in-law. Two love everything I make them, whether it is knit, jewelry, or aromatherapy. The third daughter-in-law is impossible; …it might be best to just ask her this time around. My granddaughter is so remote now that I simply guess each year, hoping for the best. Choosing for my grandson is the best. He’s 11 now, and kids are easier to please.