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Sunday, December 5, 2021

Day 5 of the 2021 Online Advent Calendar

 Welcome to day 5 of the 2021 Online Advent Calendar and the second Sunday of Advent.  If you were just cruising around looking for dusty, neglected blogs, the Online Advent Calendar is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  For previous days' postings and more information you can go here.

I am very much a holiday/Christmas stitcher.  I, before being possessed by a knitting demon, always had a holiday piece on the frame.  I still have one on the frame, it's just not getting too much love right now (that's not strictly true, as it's a Christmas stocking, I'm now frantically stitching on it ;-)).  Here are the last two Christmas pieces I finished:


The one on the left is Vintage Baubles by Shannon Christine Designs.  The one on the right is Candy Nutcracker by Barbara Baatz for Kooler Design Studio.  These were made for my great-niece Cassimera and my great-nephew Grady.  I have one Christmas stocking on the frame for Cassie's new brother, Beckett and one for Grady's baby sister, Ellidae is in the wings.  

Jo always provides us with a question or theme for discussion and this year's is to tell you about my tree.

While I love real trees, I have had various artifical ones for probably 30 years or so.  I don't honestly remember why we switched over to an artificial one, but clean-up is easy and I'm not finding needles in April.  Despite having an aritifical tree, I am not one that puts their tree up right after Thanksgiving (American).  The tree goes up, typically, a couple of weeks before Christmas and stays up until Epiphany. And that statement may be why we have an artificial tree.  As people pushed back the start of Christmas to Thanksgiving, the supply of real trees was greatly diminished by the time we went to get one.  Rather then buy a real one that was not going to be at its best by the time we put it up and completely dried out by the time we took it down, we decided an artifical one would be best.

I'll start from the top down - we have an angel.  It was The Hubs'.  It's seen better days, but the season is also about memories and she has plenty.  Our tree is now pre-lit but I am a Christmas light lover, so it was always the more the better.  I don't have a color, or any, theme for the tree.  I have glass and stitched and handmade and glitzy, tacky and whatever catches my eye at the time ornaments on it.  I add a couple new ones each year.  Ever since the dog walked past the tree and came away covered with it (gotta love static and fluffy dogs) we have not added tinsel.  I'm not sure if tinsel is the same world-round, but for me, it's thin strips of shiny metal foil, usually silver and it looks like icicles on the tree.  I do use a shiny beaded garland.  And last, but definitely not least, I use the same tree skirt every year.  My sister made it for me and I treasure it.

As for stories of the trees over the years, I could tell you about the foster kitten that scaled it, or the cat that picked all the ornaments off, or the dog that used the water reservoir as his drinking bowl but every year there is a story added to the tree.  This year, even though I'm in Virginia and they're in Michigan and will probably never see my tree, we're adding Ellidae and Beckett to the tree's story.

Happy Christmas and Season's Greetings if you celebrate a holiday this time of year.  I hope you have a wonderful day if you don't celebrate.  I wish all of you peace in the coming year.

18 comments:

RONI said...

I love the mental image of your dog covered in tinsel strips (in the UK we would call the thin strips tinsel strips, I believe, tinsel is a bushier garland made of the same thing). Thank you for sharing your story

Robin in Virginia said...

Susan, I enjoyed reading about your tree. Lovely stockings you have created for the greats.

A Patchwork of Crafts said...

My brother has 8 cats, which have just about go over the tree tackling , however this year a dog has been added to the family and he is not sure what she will make of the Christmas Tree!

Mary's Thread said...

Awww! I feel all warm and fuzzy hearing about your tree! But first of all, those stockings are FABULOUS. If you saw my Bargello roll you know why I especially love the Baubles one as the pattern of ornaments looks like Bargello!And the Nutcracker, oh my so much detail! I would love to see them close up! I agree with you on the real vs artificial. We have the same problem. We wait to get our real tree, often are really hunting for a good one at multiple tree lots, and then it dries out quickly. One year I waited until 3 days before Christmas to get it and it was really slim pickings! Never again! Your dog covered in tinsel! Oh my! My husband's family uses tinsel but we never have because of cats chewing it. Our cats have ALWAYS enjoyed drinking the tree water, and once, when I was a child, my cat Minou climbed the tree. She was about 1 or 2 and didn't have good manners yet. It is funny how the same humorous events befall families all over the world! Wishing you a Happy and Blessed Advent!

jocondine said...

Your stockings look great, the nutcraker is a very nice pattern, lot of candies out and I hope inside. Great stories, cats around the Christmas tree, how interesting show for them! Joyeux Noël ! xxx

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Thanks for taking part in The Advent Calendar this year. Your two stockings are wonderful, I am sure the children will treasure them.
Love hearing about your tree stories. We don't start decorating until closer to Christmas and never in November! I would call the individual strips of tinsel "lametta", it's a word my Mum always used for it. Tinsel itself is a wire core with lots of metallic strips attached, the bushier the better!

Clare-Aimetu said...

Your post makes me feel very festive, I can just picture your tinseled pooch. We too have an artificial tree, it goes up so etime between 7th and 21st (my Dad and Hubby's birthdays) and we take it down on the 12th day. Merry Christmas 🎄

Astrids dragon said...

Your stockings are so lovely, I don't have a favourite, I love them both!
Oh yes, pets and trees can definitely make for some entertaining stories.
Happy Christmas!

Elfie said...

Your stockings are beautiful, and their new owners are extremely lucky little people! I really enjoyed reading about your family tree. But then Christmas is my passion, so I guess that's understandable. Merry Christmas!

Shelly said...

What beautiful stockings! On my advent post, I called them fake trees, artificial trees sound so much better! I can imagine how funny your tinsel covered pooch looked but what a mess. I quit using tinsel after one of my cats tried to eat one. Happy Christmas!

Denise :) said...

Your stockings are absolutely stunning ... especially the Nutcracker stocking. Whoa! My daughter has been looking at these for her family; are the patterns/charts from Kooler easy to work with? Your tree ideology is spot on! Growing up, when we always had live trees, we picked them around the 15th, but they *always* stayed up through Epiphany (and generally the first Saturday after Epiphany). Good memories!! :)

beadgirl said...

Lovely stockings! I'm looking forward to seeing the one you are stitching now.

Mylene said...

Both stockings simply beautiful and i am sure your Great-niece & nephew will love them.

Mary - Lecoeurceltique said...

Beautiful Christmas stockings. I enjoyed reading your description of your tree and some of the stories attached to it. Thank you for sharing.

FlashinScissors said...

Beautiful stockings! I look forward to seeing the one you are stitching.
Ha, I remember tinsel from my childhood! It did get everywhere.
Happy Christmas!
Barbara x

gracie said...

Beautiful stockings. Thank you for sharing. Merry Christmas.

Leonore Winterer said...

I love your stockings, and am very much looking forward to seeing the new ones!
Your tree sounds wonderful. Love the little stories about your pets too :D

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