December 1 - Socks On Line

It is this time of the year again. Some people are waiting for the holiday season with excitement and joy, some are stressed and some just couldn't care less. Five times I have made my own advent calendar on this blog, with a photo posting and a few words every day until December 24th, and I thought it would be nice to do it again. Today I have socks hanging on the wash line, just for the photo shoot. Up here in Finland where Santa lives, we don't hand them on the mantelpiece for Christmas.

Santa comes to the door and meets the family by the tree, or if he is busy he just leaves the gifts behind the door. No way could he come through the chimney, because when there is no fire burning, the chimney is closed by shutters to avoid the warmth from escaping.

If you are interested in a really lovely, non-christmassy advent calendar, you should visit my talented artist daughter's blog and/or instagram. She will post her matchbox art every day until Christmas, and her Etsy shop Paperiaarre is filled with beautiful things. You just might find the perfect gift for a friend there.

I hope to see you again tomorrow!

Day 1

My irregular blog Advent Calendar is back. Last year I had knee issues, some other years other things on my mind, but I decided to try again. Just a few words and a picture every day until December 24th or maybe even 25th.

This picture, taken today almost at noon, shows how close to Winter Solstice we are. Our days are getting about six minutes shorter every day for a couple of weeks still.

Welcome back tomorrow to a new picture of our winter.

Advent Calendar 2014

It is time for my Advent Calendar, daily posts with a picture and little words. This will be the fourth one: I started in 2009, the next one was in 2011, then last year and now suddenly for the second year in a row.

The Christmas Season opening parade was yesterday in Järvenpää, Santa arrived very conveniently in a sleigh on wheels.

Advent Calendar 2013

It is time to post an advent calendar again on my blog like I did in 2011 and 2009. This fancy one is a gift from Melanie. I wish you all a stressless countdown to Christmas.

Winter Roses

It has been a busy time, like it always is for everyone at this time of the year. Most of my doings has been secret, but here is something I can show you:

 

 

Mr. K painted two walls in our hallway with the leftover paint from DS2's room renovation. We thought of ways to protect the wall from new dark green marks from this chair. I suggested a board, then thought of covering the board with some fabric and batting ... and my thoughts wandered and I came up with this idea:

 

 

 

A hood for the chair back made with some upholstery fabric leftovers from my mother. It is not quite the same colour as the seat I renewed some years ago, but they go together nicely. I added some double batting on both sides, and simple tape ties at the lower edge.

 

The Winter came with the advent time, we had lots of snow at the end of last week and the weather turned really cold after a long and unusually warm Autumn. Today our thermometer hasn't climbed to the warmer side of -20C/-4F all day.

 

 

Mr. Bullfinch has a snow moustache (click on the photo to enlarge) from digging for sunflower seeds in the new soft snow. All the little birds seem to have come back from the forest where they stayed during the Summer and Autumn as long as they could find their food there. We put the feeder out again in early October when we had the first cold days.

 

I'm not doing an Advent Calendar this year, but if you want a look at great talent and a dose of beauty without fuzzing about Christmas, you should go here every day and see what my daughter has created. When she was little, she was not allowed to cut in books, but now that she can make them from scratch, and buy her own books to cut, she can do the most wonderful things.

 

Merry Christmas

This is the last Advent Calendar post. Thank you for following me through the 24 days of December until Christmas Eve.

Mr. K. brought this tiny tree from our back yard, as I only wanted a tree to place on a table. We decorated it last night, and then I opened the gifts brought by mail. Thank you sweet friends, you know who you are! The gifts warmed my heart. I will be on a holiday break for now but try to find some computer time too.

I wish all my readers a lovely Christmas time and a Happy New Year! Thank you for your visits and comments; let's make nice things together in the coming year.

EDIT Dec. 27th: The above post was supposed to come out on Saturday morning at 8. I'm sorry I didn't notice it as I have been on a break and also having power cuts and no internet at all yesterday.

Sorry I'm late ...

... but I have been baking:

Can you smell cinnamon, ginger, allspice and cloves? Not yet?

Now? I added raisins, melted butter and sour milk. I baked two cakes. My sister P will take one along tomorrow when she drives to spend Christmas Eve with our mother.

It has been a very busy day, and I hope it will make tomorrow more peaceful. Don't rush, sit down for a moment and take some time for yourself. I'll be back tomorrow to wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Snow and mittens

Yesterday it finally snowed again.

Just a thin veil to lighten up the landscape.

On the train on Monday I knitted these tiny mittens for my niece's one-year-old son. I hope I guessed the size right, I tried to make them rather too big than too small. The pattern is borrowed from my mother who understood the needs of mothers when she made the children something to wear.

The long wrist parts help to keep the mittens on, either under the jumpsuit sleeves or, as they are wide, drawn over them.

Girly time with daughter

On Monday I had a lovely time visiting my DD Kaija in her new home town for the first time.

As you can see, they have had some snow but the rains have taken it away. Luckily, it was not bone breaking slippery!

Kaija met me at the railway station and we had some mid-morning tea after my 3 hour train trip. Then she showed me the window display of the Craft Museum of Finland, as the Museum itself was closed on a Monday.

About 20 doll making artists had put together this scene from the President's Independence Day Reception. Imaginary, as they show a doll of our late President Kekkonen too, or maybe it is his ghost! The dolls were about 15" tall.

The cakes looked delicious:

There was a knitted graffiti on the door handle; a nice touch as long as it is not wet.

After spending some time at her home and seeing all her beautiful match boxes and other things, and exchanging Christmas presents, we went out for lunch and some shopping. Lucky girl, she has several second-hand bookstores (I bought just one book) within reach, more than one fabric shop (yes, I bought 4 metres of new fabric) and many other interesting places (yes, I bought some yarn too, and a lipstick).

Then it was time for me to thank Kaija for a lovely day and leave after a last cup of tea and gingerbread.

I hope you will have a chance to spend some time with all your loved ones at Christmas time.

Christobel the elf girl

Christobel the elf girl has found a perfect place on the round window. Melanie sent her last year for me as a Christmas present, and her place was on top of our fireplace. The problem was that it was a bit too warm for her, and she is such a nosey little girl who wants to see and know everything. From her old place she could only see the back yard, and not even the bird feeder, so there really was not much to see. Here she sits next to our front door, and can see who is coming and who is going in the street, and she can see the sun rise and birds in the apple trees (if she turns her head just a little). Christobel can see the Finnish elves sneaking around behind windows and making notes of the behaviour of the children, and most important of all, she can see when Santa brings his gifts behind our door so we can go and take them in. Santa is so busy that he will not stop at houses where there are no small children, so we will not get a real visit from him.

Rudolf and Celeste

Many years ago I used to buy an Australian magazine called Handmade. This little angel Celeste and her friend Rudolf are made with a patterns from that magazine.

They used to sit on our steps, but now found a new place on the old cupboard I cleaned last summer.

Every day I add something to make our home feel like Christmas.

Glass ornaments from my childhood, carefully placed in a big glass jar.

Feed the Birds

At this time of the year, there is hardly any colour in the nature. The red and grey chested bullfinches whistle softly to make me see they are trying to cheer up the view. They are regular visitors on our feeder, but also find something to eat in the birch. This picture was taken from our doorstep, about 30 m from the birds, as I didn't want to scare them away.

Place for cards

This is where I put the Christmas cards from friends and relatives. I used to collect them in a bowl, but I really like this mail bag I made many years ago for my parents. It came back to me last summer.

A simple tree with red candles, cross stitch in wool.

Christmas Flowers

Christmas flowers all over at the Florist's. I get to watch these every time I sit in "my cafe". What is your favourite Christmas flower? I love the scent of Hyacinths and the handsome look of Amaryllis.

Christmas Cards

Yesterday I spent the entire afternoon at the kitchen table crafting. I used three kinds of scissors, lots of glue, rubber stamps and many different papers.

Finally I had the Christmas cards we need. Today I will sign them and take them to the post office. Usually we send self-made cards, but sometimes we buy them from Unicef or the Red Cross, or the children's school fund raising. I think people like home-made cards, and they like making them. In November I was even asked to show a group of young mothers how to make nice cards. It was a fun afternoon, but I didn't get any cards made for myself then as I was busily helping the ladies.

Have you ever made your Christmas cards?

Christmas ornaments

These traditional Finnish Christmas ornaments have always belonged to my Christmases. This set was made by my parents for us in 1990. They remind for the old times, when there was not much of anything.

Crochet

I have been crocheting some potholders for Christmas for someone who doesn't read my blog so I can finally show something I have done. The super soft cotton is a Christmas gift from Stephanie last year. The brown striped one will be for me.

This morning there were hardly any clouds left, and I saw the almost full moon through the naked trees behind our woodshed.

Third Advent

Wintery weather continues. We have rain, frost, snow, and a glimpse of sun on the best days.

Cafe makeover

"My" cafe at the mall was closed for six weeks in the Autumn, but when it was reopened, I liked it even better.

There are sofas with cushions, and lightly upholstered chairs instead of the wooden ones they used to have. Much more tables, more light, more customers and more staff. I have learnt to avoid the tables on the left, as they are close to the revolving doors, and my bones don't like the draft. On the right, out of the picture, is the original part of the cafe with the view at the florist's, my favourite place. Today we will go there before grocery shopping and have a special cake to celebrate our engagement anniversary.

If you like Advent Calendars with a lovely surprise for each day, you might like to follow my dear daughter's daily matchbox postings until December 24th here.