[our newly created seasonal shelf reflecting autumn, 12.1.2010]
just in case
your december has been too full
to note it,
i've been gone.
gone from the blog.
i didn't plan my bloggy absence.
it just sort of happened, amid
the fullness of december.
full of joy. full of light. full of song.
full of giving. full of toasting. full of twinkling.
just plain full.
so now, as we roll [almost literally] into the new year,
the fullness of december is finally ebbing
& the blog returns to room of its own.
so here i am. again!
i thought i'd begin [again] by sharing
three of our family's december traditions.
1. our advent calendar. our advent calendar is no family heirloom, but it does remind me of the one my grandmother made & we used growing up. bought at hallmark [full disclosure: i'm wholly hooked on hallmark, especially around the holidays], ours is super-simple, made of felt with little ornaments that stick on with magnets. the kids argue annually over who gets to stick up december 1 & who gets to stick december 25 up. with no treats to be gleaned, the magic of our advent calendar is all in the countdown. oh, & the star on top plays "jingle bells." gotta love the jingle.
2. jefferey, our house elf. jefferey comes to us direct from the north pole every december 1 to enhance the celebratory environment of our home & observe our family. each night, he returns to the north pole & reports to the big guy on how we're doing; then, when he returns to our house, he perches himself in a new spot, to be searched for & rediscovered each morning. sadly, jefferey hitches a ride with santa come christmas eve to return to his snowy home for another 11+ months. we miss him, but realize not everyone gets the honor of hosting a house elf, so we feel blessed by his presence during his yearly 24-day stay.
3. my christmas-tree pins. i'm not sure which year i decided to begin collecting pins shaped like christmas trees, but it's probably been a decade or more. i've got just about 50 tannenbaum brooches now － from plain silver to multi-hued swarovski crystal-laden － so i don a different one every day of december. i guess maybe i'll go for a final collection of 62, so i can do a full rotation every other year ... though it's getting more & more challenging to find christmas-tree pins that are different from those i've already got & also attractive [the world is chocked full o' ugly holiday jewelry, believe you me].
so, do you have daily traditions for the month of december? do share.
image source: all me, 12.2010.
2 comments:
Very good traditions! We have an advent calendar that is similar and we love it. The one my grandmother made us years ago was a large clapper of felt leading up to a felt bell, on which was typed a poem about counting down to Christmas. All the way up the sides of the felt clapper were strings of yarn on which we tied candies. We got to eat one every evening and "Christmas Eve will be here by the time you reach the bell." It was cool. Anyway, I LOVE your elf! Don't have anything like that. But when the children were little, they would write their letter to Santa and put it in the fireplace. Magically, the letter would disappear up the chimney to the North Pole. I had forgotten that little tradition. As for the pins, I love all my holiday jewelry, but this year, I stuck mostly to my crystal snowman earrings and a silver-and-crystal Christmas tree pin. Sometimes I put the pin on a sturdy silver chain. It was awesome! Actually, I am still wearing the jewelry, because it's only the 6th day of Christmas!
Thanks, as ever, for reading & commenting, SKM! Yes, I'm a big believer in the 12-days extension of xmas ... while everyone's talking about taking down their trees, I'm still gazing at our twinkly lights in wonder! Epiphany seems like just about the right time to begin thinking about cleaning up Christmas ... *<|:)
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