Once upon a time, this corner shelf used to hang in my grandmother's kitchen, and nowadays in mine. Some of the items on it are there all year round; but around Christmas it also serves as home to some wooden "forest gnomes".
These little ones have their place on top of my cooker hood.
Believe it or not, even more tiny ones are still asleep in the bigger of these two little cottages. (The name on the door is S. Claus.)
This lot used to be kitchen gnomes while they lived in my mother's house. Since they came to live with me, they've been relocated to the bathroom, though. (More room for them to spread out there...)
Outdoors, the weather has turned - the snow and ice is all gone now, rain has been pouring down all day, and the sun never bothered to get out of bed (i.e. it's been very dark all day). I've not set foot outside, and am not quite sure what I've actually been "doing" at all... (Resting, watching Netflix, and listening to Christmas music... Recently took a cheap subscription to Spotify again, and just discovered how easy to cast the music from the phone to my TV/stereo...)
Your red candle holder resembles our Hanukah menorah; only the menorah is for nine candles. The ninth one , the shamash (attendant), placed in the middle or in the beginning, is the one that lights up the eight other candles.
ReplyDeleteDuta, I think that our electric candlesticks with seven candles are based on the seven-branched menorah (mentioned in the description of the tabernacle in Exodus 25 and also referred to in the Book of Revelations in the New Testament). Being electric, all seven lamps are lit at once. We also have traditional candle holders for four (real) candles that are lit one at a time for each Advent Sunday. I suppose all of these traditions have common origin if one goes back far enough...
DeleteAll that red and the candles brighten up your flat, no matter how dark the days are outside with a lazy sun not getting out of bed.
ReplyDeleteI love the dog on the corner shelf; did your Mum make it? Knowing what a very creative and talented lady she was, I would not be surprised to learn she also did wood carving.
Of course I also love the little deer! Its appeal to me is similar to that of your oldest little angel, reminding me of what Christmas looked like when I was a child.
No Meike, my mum did not make that dog. I can't recall her ever trying her hand at wood carving. Her "thing" was textile art (and drawing, when she was younger). I on the other hand chose woodwork over needlework through 7-9th grade in school - but carving that dog would have been beyond my skills ;-) ... All I know is that it was made by someone with the initials WS, and it came to me from my maternal grandfather's house, where at some point (because of a broken leg, inexpertly glued back on) it ended up among the toys in the "grandchildren's playroom". From there I rescued it when the house was being emptied to be sold after my grandfather died in the early1980s. (His first wife, my grandmother, died when I was 6. My grandfather later got remarried to a widow with four grown-up children of her own. Between the two of them, they had a lot of grandchildren.) So even if I don't know its exact origin, it does come with memories attached...
DeleteThe little deer was a gift from a friend on some later occasion in life. (That and the 'nutty' squirrel as well as the dog live on that shelf all year round, not just at Christmas.)
How colourful all your decorations are - the gnomes make me smile - such cheerful little chaps!
ReplyDeleteI realise that I have no inherited decorations at all - most went to charity shops when I cleared my parent's house out and I don't think my husband's parents ever had any - they never stayed home at Christmas. I used to make a special effort to decorate the house over the years when we had parties, and I cooked a traditional Christmas meal. Now I go out with friends - it's so much easier! I shall however look out my few decorations this afternoon. I wonder what my new dog will make of the modern, pyramid shaped, Christmas tree adorned with lights!
Carol, most of my Christmas ornaments are either gifts or inherited, and thus 'bearers of memories' - which is what makes them valuable to me. (And the same goes for a lot of all-year-round stuff as well, come to think of it...)
Deleteyour gnomes are adorable, all of them and I am thinking Ginny would love all of them. most of all i love the red candelabra. Your home really looks festive now
ReplyDeleteThanks Sandra. I like the red candelabra too, I think I bought that one when I moved into this flat, or maybe one or two years later.
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