4th Advent Sunday / Winter Solstice

 

4th Advent Sunday today - and also the Winter Solstice. 

As I've mentioned before, the month of December so far has been unusually dark here this year - or at least so it has seemed. Yesterday I heard some additional statistics on the radio: In our capital Stockholm, it has been the darkest December since1934. So it has also very probably been the darkest month that I myself (born in 1955) have ever experienced! (Even if I don't live in Stockholm, but closer to the west coast.) 

Anyway, with the Winter Solstice behind us, even if still cloudy, we should now at least be able to look forward to a gradually increasing amount of daylight again!

I decided to celebrate the Winter Solstice with decorating my little Christmas tree...

... and by waking up the ten Santas sleeping in the tiny house on my kitchen window sill. Someone wondered on a previous post how they all fit in there, and if there was magic involved. My answer is that the magic lies in the camera perspective...

 

Kitchen Gnomes (Part 2)

 

On the small wooden corner shelf in my kitchen you'll find my wooden gnomes. (The other items are there all year round.) The shelf itself belonged to my paternal grandmother, and once upon a time used to sit in her kitchen. 

The wooden house (a model of a kind of storehouse that used to be common in the north of Sweden) comes from my mum's side of the family (my maternal grandfather was from "up north") - and so does the little carved dog. The boat-like thing next to the house is a souvenir bought on a family trip up north in my early teens - a wooden cup, a traditional Sami kind of item. The little ceramic deer and the "nutty" squirrel were presents from friends some time in the past; and the little grey gnome I think was originally part of some Christmas flower arrangement. 

The two gnomes to the left on the middle shelf I remember buying when visiting a Christmas market in a friend's church back in my upper teens. And the grey one on the same shelf was a Christmas gift from a Swedish penfriend some 20+ years ago. 

A random collection of things, but with one thing in common: 
They're all bearers of memories of family and friends.

The Kitchen Gnomes (Part 1)

 

I feel that I must have told this story before, but I can't find evidence  of it now. (It may have been many years ago.) 

I had a period in my youth when I more or less banned gnomes of all kind from the Christmas decorations in my own home. But then for quite a few years I had a friend and neighbour with whom I used to exchange the service of watering each others' plants when the other was away on holidays. Her apartment, in contrast to mine, was always full of gnomes at Christmas time. So we were both well aware of our different "taste" when it came to decorations. 

Then one year she left a little parcel for me, which turned out to contain a tealight candle holder surrounded by five little gnomes - accompanied by a message that these gnomes were "seeking asylum" with me... Ah well... Put like that, how could I refuse... 

Next time it was my turn to water her plants at Christmas time, I had happened to find (in some shop) a "toothpick" pack with tiny Santa figures on them. (Probably meant to be used to decorate food served for Christmas.) So I planted those tiny Santas here and there, in flower pots or where else I could think of, around my friend's flat...

Over a number of years afterwards, around Christmas time, those tiny Santas then kept wandering back and forth between our flats... Sometimes most of them were at my place, sometimes at hers.

Photo from 2015

When I moved to my present apartment in 2008, the majority of them happened to be hibernating in my box of Christmas decorations... And as since then, that friend and I have no longer been watering each other's plants, those ten tiny gnomes have remained staying with me. Well - in my basement storage room 11 months of the year... But invading my kitchen window sill for a few weeks every year around Christmas...

Ssshh - they're still asleep in the Santa House... 
But I might wake them up for 4th Advent Sunday!

Gnome on the Stone, and Elf on the Shelf

 Today was another grey day, but it wasn't raining, and I had nothing special "scheduled", so I decided to go for a walk around the cemetery around noon, to get the most out of the little daylight that there was. For the first time since my knee injury I walked all around the place - and then a bit extra. (All in all I was out for about 45 minutes - using both walking poles.)

And old ("returned") grave reused as flowerbed, with some plants that still add a bit of colour to this grey season. 
 

Hydrangea climbing on the old stone wall along one side of the cemetery.

The buds on the rhododendron bushes seem a bit too far gone for their own good as well (I made the same observation about some azaleas on my last walk there). Weather forecasts now indicate that temperatures will probably be dropping again next week, though...

From a distance, on a grave out in one of the "fields", I spotted something very bright red on top of a standing headstone. I couldn't quite make out if it really was what I thought it looked like - or perhaps just some red flowers giving me the illusion...? So I decided I had to go and have a closer look - and it was indeed something I don't think I've ever seen as grave decoration before: 

I decided to blur the name before posting the photo here, but (not surprisingly) the grave belongs to someone who died only 19 years old, and less than a decade ago. 

When I got back home, I got started on my own "final" Christmas decorations... (Got those boxes up from storage yesterday, which was also laundry day for me, so I had to make a few turns down to the basement anyway.)

I don't have a lot of gnomes and "santas", but I have a few, which are now up on their usual shelves etc around my flat. For example, the Santa family knitted by my mum...

 ... And as soon as they had settled in, Skipper came to visit them, and return the stray little yarn gnome doll which she has been looking after all autumn (ever since I found him under the sofa, where he must have been hiding since last winter)...

As reward for her faithful "babysitting", when back home on her own shelf again, Skipper got to decorate her and Barbie's own Christmas tree:

 

This one also lives in my living room. He was bought by myself some time in this century, because he reminded me of Dumbledore (from the Harry Potter books). Therefore he also gets the company of the two little owls...

I also have a few kitchen gnomes, but I'll save those for another post. 

Winter Idyll vs Reality

 

This is a textile Christmas wall hanging that my mother made back in my childhood. I had to find a new place for it this year, because putting it up where I used to have it requires use of a stepladder + quite a bit of "fiddling" - which I don't feel up to this year. Luckily I managed to find an alternative space for it.

I used to have it on display at the top of the door leading into my study:

Photo from 2022

This year it hangs on the back of a bookshelf in the "dressing room" corner of my study, where it was easy to put it up without need of a ladder. The downside is that I don't see it from the living room, as I did when I had it on the door. But on the other hand, I can now get up close to it at eye level to look at details...

 (The combination study/dressing room may seem unusual, but it just so happens that most of my wardrobes are in this room, while I prefer another as bedroom.) 

 

In the "real world" outside my windows there's no snow to be seen. Since Saturday it's been raining more or less constantly - yesterday also combined with weather warnings for strong winds - and I've not been out any further than to the rubbish bins at the corner of the building a couple of times. (Luckily I also haven't really needed to go anywhere, though!) 

Macramé

 

Once upon a time, back in the late 1970s, I took an evening class in macramé. I think it was only one term (or possibly two). Combined with working as a secretary in the daytime, it turned out not the best leisure activity for my neck and shoulders. 

I can only recall making three bigger items - two wall hangings (besides this red one, one of similar size in some kind of silky brownish yarn), and a plant hanger. (The plant hanger I think I later gave to my mum who had a better place for it.)

The red wall hanging has become part of my Christmas decorations. From December until mid February or so, it hangs on the door between my hall and my kitchen. 

 

Macramé is a form of textile produced using knotting (rather than weaving or knitting) techniques. 

One of the earliest recorded uses of macramé-style knots as decoration appeared in the carvings of the Babylonians and Assyrians. 

 It was long crafted by sailors, especially in elaborate or ornamental knotting forms, to cover anything from knife handles to bottles to parts of ships. 

 In England, it was introduced at the court of Mary II in the late 17th century, and in the Victorian era it adorned most homes in items such as tablecloths, bedspreads and curtains.

Macramé's popularity faded, but resurged in the 1970s for making wall hangings, clothing accessories, draperies, plant hangers and other furnishings.

Source: Wikipedia 

 

1st Advent Preparations

 

 

The rest of the week since Monday has been rainy, and I have not been out for any more "long" walks. But I have still been "on my feet" quite a lot just pottering about at home...

Tuesday was Laundry Day, and between my turns to the laundry room I also visited my storage space in the basement to collect my Advent decorations. Some readers who have been following this blog for years may recall that I tend to put up my Christmas decorations gradually during December. For 1st Advent, I usually start with switching my kitchen curtains and some other textiles; plus replacing various window lamps around the flat with electric candle holders and stars. This year, because of my injured knee, I decided to abstain from the curtain project, and just keep the ones that I bought back in spring - but exchange the green ribbons for red ones. I did manage to get the window stars up in the kitchen + study without climbing - just using a long grabber.

Ever since I moved to my present flat (17 years ago) I've also been used to having one electric candle holder (each with 7 lights) in each window; which means four of them. I recalled that the one in my living room stopped working some time after NewYear last winter, though. I was hoping that a whole set of new lightbulbs might fix it - but it did not. And even worse: The kitchen one now turned out to have given up as well! 

As I'm no electrician, my skills don't go beyond switching light bulbs - so both those candle holders had to go back down to the storage room, at least for now. Pity, as both those are kind of special and my favourites... 

However... This was also my week for ordering stuff from the supermarket, and they also have quite a lot of Christmas things. So I added two new ones (standard size and design, and not very expensive) to my order. A red one for the kitchen (see the photo above), and a white one of the same model for the living room (below). They arrived with my groceries on Thursday, and thankfully turned out fully functional. A bit smaller than my old ones, but I'll no doubt get used to that. 

The candle holders in my study (above) and bedroom (below) are lower and bow-shaped.

 

 The orchid on the left has decided to spring some new flower buds in time for Advent.

This small nativity scene is simple and made of plastic - but it's been with me nearly all my life! It was given to me in my early childhood by two "old ladies" (as they appeared to me back then), cousins of my maternal grandmother. They worked in a gift shop and used to give me various ornaments for Christmases and birthdays, some of which I still have. And this one has ended up in my "1st Advent box". 

Packing Up Christmas

 

On Wednesday, between turns to the laundry room in the basement, I also got some of my boxes for Christmas ornaments from my storage room up to the flat, and got started on gradually packing up Christmas. The first thing I did was to fit this little wooden tree and its tiny ornaments back in the right compartments - which is in itself like laying a puzzle...  

Next to be packed up were all the various Santas/gnomes spread out all over the flat. All too often I forget one or two, so I left that box open for a couple of days before I finally shut the lid on it today. The ones dancing on my bathroom wall were the last to jump in this time...

(They used to belong to my mum, who used to have them in her kitchen.)

Yesterday I said goodnight to all the angels and tucked those in; and today I've packed up the Nativity scene on the shelf in my study. (Cf post from 14 December.) The normal residents on that shelf have now reclaimed their usual places. (Only leightweight objects can be put on that shelf as it's not all that securely fastened to the wall...)

The watercolour underneath was painted by me 30 years ago. I seem to recall that I copied it "freehand" (not sketching first but just painting) from a photo in a magazine - maybe an advertisment. The 1990s was a period of my life when I also participated in various water colour classes now and then. (A major reason I've not kept it up is a later injury causing longlasting shoulder/arm  problems. I turned to photography instead, which became so much easier with digital cameras and computers - and blogging...)

My other little Christmas tree, electric candleholders and window stars still remain to be taken down over the next few days. Some textiles that I see more as "winter" than just Christmas will probably stay up for a while longer, though. (Like my red/white kitchen curtains, and some table runners.) 

The "traditional" date in Sweden to "throw out" Christmas is 13th January. Nowadays it varies a lot more. Back in my childhood, when most mothers were stay-at-home moms (housewives), it was common to have special children's parties on or around that date, before throwing out the Christmas tree. The Swedish word for it is julgransplundring, which literally means "plundering the Christmas tree". Originally, I think the tradition stems from a time when the Christmas trees were primarily decorated with edible things (cookies, apples, nuts etc). Not so common any more in the 1960s; but the party might still involve eating the gingerbread house, or the last of other cookies baked for the holidays. Games were played, and if there was room enough, one might dance around the tree. And it was also still part of the tradition that each child got a goodie bag to take home with them at the end of the party. 

Below is a photo of my very first such party. I'm the one to the right, with two bows in my hair. The year is 1960, I'm 5 years old and the photo is from the kitchen table in the house I had moved into some six months earlier with my parents. The three other girls lived in neighbouring houses, one next door and the two others across the street. Two of them a year older than me I think, and one a year younger. And it looks like my mum even baked a cake for the occasion.

Barbie's & Skipper's Christmas Adventure

Barbie and Skipper persuaded me to take them on a tour "around town" (i.e. the whole flat) to see the seasonal decorations and lights and temporary art shows (Christmas cards) - and meet some gnomes.  

 

(P.S. Skipper got to borrow Barbie's gym shoes for this walk.)

 

 

On this tour, it was also revealed how many "Santas" live in the little Santa's House...

Back home on their own shelf after the tour.

💖

"... Some day you will be old enough
to start reading fairy tales again..."

(From C.S. foreword to The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe, dedicated to his goddaughter Lucy Barfield.)