Silent night creation

I am exhausted and coming down with a head cold. I've been so busy cleaning, cooking, packing, and crafting gifts, that I think I might actually be able to sleep on the plane tomorrow! Since I can never sleep on planes, this would be monumental. It's been a full, yet good, past few weeks.


Last night, as I was wrapping up some details and talking to my mother on the phone, I fiddled with some things lying on my project table. A Christmas cd played in the background. Our conversation covered a series of unrelated events: a venti coffee getting spilled on somebody's white carpet, the hiring of cadaver dogs, successful Christmas recipes, Christmas presents, marriage highs and lows, my brother's awesome GPA, crying in public, dogs peeing on carpet, how my little niece can now play peek-a-boo, the rear-ending of decorative lawn ornaments and driving off after knocking them over....

and staying focused on God despite
the distractions or trials life brings.

I hung up the phone and the cd finished playing. Stefan was still grading in his office and the house was quiet. I fiddled some more at my spot on the table. Bits and pieces from our conversation, and meditations I'd read earlier, were swirling in my head. I finished my tiny wreath. I think it's my favorite yet. It's made from all the leftovers. I hung it on my closet door before going to bed.

I think of the star that shone brightly
the night that Christ was born.
A holy night, at times a silent night.

Merry Christmas

To hear my two favorite Christmas hymns,
click here and here.

I'll return to blogging on January 10th, after my trip.

Furoshiki

I had to try this out on one of Stefan's presents this year. It's not official furoshiki, but I had it in mind when I did this. The box had a metal handle on it that would rip through any of the paper we had, so I grabbed a small square table cloth and wrapped up the box and tied it w/some ribbon I'd had rolled up in my stash (hence the ripples, which I kind of liked).


Turned out pretty well I thought. I wrapped it like I would if it were being wrapped in paper, and it worked for the size of fabric I had on hand. Said giftwrap is now back in the linen closet since we celebrated the German end of Christmas this past Sunday since the other half would be in the US.

To learn more about furoshiki, click here.

Coming in second: cast a vote?

So for the heck of it I threw my hat in the ring at a handmade wreath contest. Stefan heard about this today and said,

"um, your picture is horrible. I mean, the wreath was really cool in person, but you think you're going to win with that horrible picture of it?"

thanks babe.

I actually don't care. I was pretty surprised to see that it's currently coming in second in it's little group. Who would've thought?

Wanna try to bump me to first?
Click here to vote: scroll down to the last group and
vote for Wreath 28.

Let's see if I win anything. If not, shoot, no biggie.
I'm already seeing family and friends in the US for Christmas, and that's prize enough for me!

2 wreaths and a dose of perspective

I made these as Christmas presents that have since been given to their happy recipients. More yarn wrapped around wreath forms with fun things attached.

Two things to note:
1) As these pictures show, I am in dire need of a real camera and I think I'm getting one for Christmas, so I'm excited!


2) Giving something handmade is kind of scary. You put all this time into thinking what the person would like and what might look best in their home, and then you put all this time into making it. As you make it, you realize your limitations and this can spiral into a "this looks like some kid's camp craft project - this is almost embarrassing! I can't give them this!"


At some point you remember they are your friends, your good friends, who, like you, like when people put time and thought into a gift. Good friends are usually not too far off in their gift giving. Good friends don't need Martha Stewart perfection, and good friends don't expect these to be re-hung every year until you die, ha ha ha!

Are these totally perfect? No. Is that ok? Yes!

Creating and then actually giving something risky, something handmade, was a good reminder that Christmas isn't about what we give to people (and obviously not about what we receive, even if it is a new camera!); Christmas is about something bigger - something God-sized - yet small enough to humbly come to us in a human infant form.

Even handmade things can get incredibly consumeristic. In light of the "season of giving", let's re-think how we celebrate the reason that started the season.

Meter-long Bratwurst

This week's Corner View theme is 'evening'. Evenings here are currently filled with shoppers wandering around the Christmas markets eating things like Lebkuchen cookies:

or meter-long bratwurst:


or crunching on candied toasted almonds:


downtown in Germany can smell really good on a December evening!

For more evenings from around the world, head over to Spain Daily.

Crafting for Advent

This week's corner view theme is 'corners of your home', so since we just celebrated the first Sunday of Advent this past weekend, we spent Friday and Saturday of last week getting all the Christmas decorations out. We also stocked the fireplace with wood and tried out our fireplace for the first time! (the house still smells very campfire-y after a rough start...) I also put up last year's Advent calendar for some filler since we're still plotting what to do with that wall.


Saturday I made this year's Advent wreath. This is still a very popular tradition here in Germany. Last week I had purchased a pre-made wreath of greenery. Work has just been too busy for me to try making my own this year. I did all the decoration parts. Allison has a good tutorial on wreaths if you need one, though!


Stefan's also in the habit of wanting a typical Advent calendar, even as an adult (who can blame him?), so after a meeting yesterday I ran around in a panic looking for something suitable. We'll be away for nearly half the month, so I wanted something that we could take with us, and something that wasn't a big cardboard and plastic frame. The ones with the prettiest designs and guaranteed good chocolates were starting at 16 Euro. No thanks.


I didn't feel like going to the tiny dept. store fabric selection and dropping a small fortune, so I picked up some green napkins and did a quick zig-zag stitch with red thread up two sides, leaving the fold for the bottom. Instant little bags for the less than 2 Euro.


I printed out some cute labels from my stash of free printables, stuck them on the bags with my tape pen, filled with various chocolates, and tied with another drugstore find: cheery, red satin ribbon that says "Merry Christmas to a dear person" - sort of schmaltzy, but since I was in a rush and knew this year's Advent calendar wasn't of the critical sort, went with it.


It's nice to see them all lined up on the living room window sill. We have a big white Moravian star hanging over them that we turn on at night, lighting everything up all cozy-like.


I also picked up this Advent card. Something different, but fun. I'm having a friend come over tomorrow to do some cookie making, so I'm off to prep some dough!

Fore more corner views from around the world, head over to the sidebar on Spain Daily.