Wondering what Santa does after the big day? First he catches up on his sleep. then he just chills. Listening to music,enjoying the fire and sipping a cool refreshment.
He doesn't need much more.
Hope you are relaxing too! New Year's Eve is fast approaching.
Wishing you a MERRY CHRISTMAS filled with joy, hope, and promise.
Stay safe and be kind!
A Happy Christmas video for you from me.
Rejoice
Christmas Eve - This is the night we wait in anticipation for the joy of Christmas. Heading to church, visiting with close friends and family, sitting quietly and enjoying the evening this is a night for remembering those who are no longer with us, those who are separated by distance, and those we have lost touch with. This is a night for quiet reflection of our past year and designing the hopes and dreams for the year to come.
Children are waiting anxiously for the jolly old man to do his magic. Even at my age I still believe there is some kind of magic that happens on this night. Just wait and it will find you.
The cards tonight will show Santa as he journeys around the world.
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| Santa wakes to begin his night |
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| Mrs. Claus says goodbye with a kiss |
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| Santa begins his journey |
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| The big sleigh works well for traveling to bigger cities. |
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| The small sleigh and some welcome friends helps in those remote places. |
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| Sometimes he has to come in though the front door, chimneys aren't always available you know. |
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| It helps if you have friend that can help you get there but stalling the time. |
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| But, he always makes it happen. |
tonight's music
Well the apples are peeled. The dough is rolled. The pies are assembled and placed safely in the freezer for baking later. I am still decorating cookies but will be done soon. Tomorrow I will make the sauerkraut soup. Some small things will need to be done. But the time is getting closer.
However, the goal here today has been to take care of the big items. The Sauerbraten is still marinating. It will be done on the 26 when we celebrate all together (a call to the Germans will be taking place, I am sure). So everyone can be together.
Here is today's card. The elves were the infamous six at their most productive. Cleaning and preparing for the final countdown. It was fun to add the names to the final list when I created this card. Today we need to add Aubree, Jackson, Aarik, Aaliya and Aeva to that list. it's their turn to enjoy the excitement of Christmas.
This was a fun one to put together, A clock with seconds, minutes, hours, days, and months. Who knew that was how they kept time at the North Pole Village?
And now a little music --
Wishing for snow
Well as we get nearer to the approaching Holiday there are still all those little things to do. Today it was going out to pick up a few small items needed for the next few days. Christmas Eve will be a quiet event with our sister-in-law. A stop over at few houses for quick holiday wishes and some small noshing.
I decorated the short bread today so that is ready. I will wrap a few more gifts tomorrow. I did bake a few dozen gingerbread cookies today so decorating those will also be tomorrow's to do list..
The pie crusts are being made in the kitchen as I write today's blog. We will be finishing them in the next fee days as well.
This is the card I did the year today's birthday boy was in Germany. You will notice the direction post shows his school's location. The elves are hurrying on their way. Finishing up the small deliveries and catch ups everyone seems to be doing.
As I shopped for just a few last minute items today I could sense from the carts others had that they were doing the same. My trip to Aldi's resulted in truffles, chocolate bars and mini battery operated lights. Always my downfall. These had Santas that lit up and colored lights for the small table tree.
Today's song should begin the slow down to the final countdown for the last minutes.
Last minute things to do and the feeling hits us.
Merry Christmas
There are many traditions for Christmas celebration from around the world. Some of them are so ingrained in our behavior that we see them as things we must do, not things we do for meaning.
Around our home there are many little traditions that seem like fun. Starting with St. Nicholas Eve and placing your shoes out to catch a glimpse of the holiday to come. The Spekulatius cookies that appear at this time.
The elves watching and recording the good and bad behaviors.
Going out to search for the perfect tree, which seems to take longer than it should. Returning home to something warm as the tree acclimates to the house. Its scent filling the room with fresh outdoor clarity.
Pulling out the lights to string on the tree. Followed by the ornaments so carefully placed and cherished, as they all seem to have some special meaning or memory.
Baking cookies until you have way more that you actually need or should eat. But the tradition is to bake and cover them in sweetness. You justify the over baking by saying"We can give them as gifts.Who doesn't like cookies?". Problem solved, you bake a few dozen more.
For me the tradition of my card starts around Halloween when I begin to try to imagine what I can use for a theme. I always hope to have it firmed up so the card can be completed by Thanksgiving give or take a week. Then playing around with the final copy photography until I think I have one I like ready to be sent to the printer. We can do this all digitally now. In earlier years I had to take the original in and hope it printed as I had envision it. Usually it did. That also explains why they were black and white copies. I and family members would hand color each card. Around 2004 I switched from 8x10 inch drawings to the 16x22 size I do now.
The tradition became established that certain elements were a requirement.There was always the pets, the kids, the elves, the stars and Santa with his mouse. As my three grew and had their own I began to add the newbies. Usually something that was happening in our family became a source for ideas. Many of the backgrounds were interiors and exteriors of the homes where we lived.
I added the border idea in 1992 in a simple form, discarded it for a few years and then brought it back. Once it was back it began to grow into an important detail of the theme of each card.
I've always started with a pencil under drawing and then inked it in. I have tried various color media but stay very steady with color pencil. I do like to use water color on some themes. I will never do a computerized media version again, too many grumbling recipients!
I am thinking that as time progresses those easy traditions and their simplicity seem to morph into even more complex traditions. However more involved these traditions become they still contain a constant reminder to us of the past we have enjoyed and the hope we have for the future.
This year's card came about because of instead of shopping stores for gifts we ordered on line. I realized how important those persons who provide services to us are.
It reminded me that when I was teaching the people I worked with and valued the most were the custodial staff, the kitchen staff, and the office workers. The boxes kept piling up. The packages kept arriving and I thought to myself "How does this work at the North Pole?" So here is my conception for this year's card.
I do hope you enjoy it!
Stay safe, be kind, tolerate differences,
and above all share your love with everyone you know
MERRY CHRISTMAS HAPPY HOLIDAYS
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| Look for the small miracles and you find Joy, Love, and Peace daily. |
I seem to include the moon in many of my cards. Perhaps it's the gravitational pull it seems to have on us all or the fact that when it is dark it offers us light.
Hope.
A common desire for the holiday season. We bring the joy and light of the season into our homes. We share warmth and love with each other. We laugh, we sing, we dance and the moon stays a stable light in our vision on the dark winter's night. Even when it hides it's face for a few short nights it allows the stars to shine at their brightest giving us a soft light.
I am including here one my favorite depictions of the moon in my cards.
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| The moon lights the way. |
It's a warm light emitting from the moon on a cold winter's night as Santa and his friends travel through the woods. A face of that elusive Man In The Moon.
There are many small vignettes in the cards where I tried to capture the essence of the moon during the holiday season. Here are few cropped images.
Moonlight songs for the holidays.
I love this last one with G.Love because it is a true family Christmas event.
It seems that one of the things we all can remember about this season is the tree.
When we moved to this new home our granddaughters and one in particular, insisted we needed to get a really tall tree. We did this and it meant we needed a new tree stand, new lights, and new topper and a ladder to aid in decoration. We got the big tree and then the pandemic hit and getting a tree seemed a bit to scary so we went back to the artificial tree. All the paraphernalia for the big tree sat in storage. This year we returned to a large live tree and it fills the tall corner of the living room.
We always have a smaller tree that we decorate with antique ornaments, ornaments from the children, small toys and of course a pickle. This tree holds my collection of Coca-Cola Santas and elves. It is a welcome to Christmas at our front entry. I purchased the chocolate ornaments to add to this tree but still need to step out and purchase some candy canes.
It seems like there is always an evergreen somewhere in the cards. Mainly because at this time of the year they brighten the landscape. We love the spruce outside our kitchen slider as it is a safe spot for the birds who flit to and from the feeders. We have added a bird spa that heats the water so our feathered friends had a source of water. It works well until we get a heavy snow. Then the birds just frolic in the soft snow.
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| Here's Santa decorating the tree in 1991 |
Here are a few cuts of other trees as they appeared in previous cards. From inside and out, from big and small when it comes to trees I love them all.
In 2010 the tree surrounded by all six grandchildren with Santa hats, the swirling snow, and the jolly elves enjoying the wonder of nature remains one of the cards I had great fun creating, I am especially fond of the Elf on the snowflake, whizzing through.
Here are some songs for today, I hope you enjoy them.
I don't think this is the Beatles but a cover group, enjoyed it any way. But the Brenda Lee Is the best.
Happy Little Christmas Tree - Nat King Cole
Another tree song from Stevie Wonder this time.With Charlie Brown's tree.
I have often wondered how it was possible for reindeer to fly. Living the woods now we often see white-tailed deer. They love our hosta, hydrangea, and tulips. On many occasions we see them calm and peaceful just nibbling on the vegetation they love. However, every now and then they are startled. They literally do fly. jumping and galloping off as fast as can be. Here they are then their gone.
Reindeer are bit different from white-tailed deer. In fact they are also called caribou in many parts of the world. We connect reindeer to Santa Claus because mainly due to Clement C. Moore and his poem A visit from St Nicholas. We learn that the reindeer fly pulling Santa's sleigh. In the region often referred as Lapland reindeer are now endangered due to climate change. Here is a web connection to learn more of the reindeer and the Sami people's connection to them.
https://www.laits.utexas.edu/sami/diehtu/siida/herding/herding-nr.htm
But back to the question can they really fly. Realistically probably not. Imaginatively they can do what ever we can envision. This is the great thing about creating drawings. You can break the logical rules of reality and create a new reality. So, in my drawings they do sometimes fly and sometimes they just enjoy being reindeer.
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| Flying can be fun for Santa. |
Here are some of the deer that have played their part in various cards.
The reindeer in this drawing are perhaps my favorite of all the reindeer and deer have drawn. This is how I picture Santa with his flying courses.
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| Reindeer and Santa thank you Clement C. Moore and the Sami people. |
Thank you Bing and the Andrew sisters - A flashback to the days when radio was the media.
Some video clips of Sami life today
It's a calm relaxing day. The winds have subsided, the sun has appeared, the temperature however is a cool 38 degrees.
Though the sun makes it tempting to go outside and take a short walk in the woods today; for me will be a brisk walk to the postbox and a welcome return to the house.
We still lack snow and whether there will be any for Christmas has yet to be seen. Not looking likely but one can always hope for a white wintry miracle. Unlike most people snow is one of the things I love most about winter. Watching the flakes accumulate into ground covering depths. The need for shoveling in the brisk fresh wintry air and watching as the wind drifts it into marvelously shaped forms is a favorite activity of mine.
I believe that this love of woods, snow and winds are what may have inspired me to do the card from 1989. Here a somewhat youthful Santa is trekking through the woods with his bag of surprises. The clothing inspired by the Nordic traditional dress looks warm and comfortable for this quiet walk.
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| A Nordic trek through the woods on a winter's day. |
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| Here Comes Santa Claus in a Winter Wonderland |
Thank you Snoopdog and Anna Kendrick
