Gathering With Friends!

It's always a grand time when friends can gather to share fellowship.

Rosemary was our hostess for this day--we enjoy seeing her Christmas tree,

which is loaded (over 200 handmade ornaments!).  We can spend hours

looking and admiring these ornaments gathered over the years.

Most are handwoven, felted 

Some arrive from foreign countries or visitors to 

Rosemary's home

All of her ornaments are small and Rosemary says she 'talks' to each one

as she places them on the tree--she shares memories of each

This was the day we exchanged handmade gifts, either made by yourself

or someone else.  This was felted fingerless mitts made by Olga--

we all loved them!!

Olga is a super felt maker!  She made these wonderful bracelets

Dottie was wearing her little snowman pin, handwoven and stitched.

A knitted cowl was given from Penny's hands to Olga--

perfect match her lovely bracelets.

Marion received this super cotton scarf woven by Pat

My gift was one of Rosemary's handwoven cards and one of her

little woven angels--wings are lace from her wedding dress of

50 years ago--what a privilege to receive this sweet angel

with such memories

Ann received two indigo dyed towels, shibori stitched

by Connie

Connie stitched the stars and moon and hand dyed with indigo

Penny received this wonderful thread angel. 

Perfect day with friends!

A Good Way To End The Year......................

Yep! It's a good way to end my year--just ordered a new magazine subscription

that is loaded with more UFOs for me to add to my stash!

I'm so excited to see another publication on wool art applique, hooking, etc.

First issue released January, 2017

Check it out.

I already 'love' Primitive Quilts--have done some projects from past issues!

And now I'll have more!

Finished! That 2016 Year Lace Scarf

Whew!  Finished before 2016 ended--actually, I wanted to give this as a gift to blond headed daughter--after all I had only been knitting on it the whole of 2016.

Each month you had a different lace pattern to knit--to me, this is the

best way to accomplish a goal--even if it is a year long project.

I had this handspun merino/silk yarn--so glad I have handspun for this project.

I wasn't really sure I would like this yarn for the scarf, but it turned out okay! 

I love knitting LACE!  Never thought I would--when I took a workshop with THE 

Lace Knitting Gal from New Zealand--I was just dumb stuck while in the class!

Now, It finally clicked--don't laugh--that was 20 years ago!

I know!  it took me that long to get my brain to accept lace knitting!  But,

it's so worth it--

I'm preparing to knit in 2017 with Elizabeth Ravenwood in her 2017 Estonian Lace Knitting project.

You can find her and this project along with another year long learning adventure on Ravelry.

Happy Boxing Day! Or St. Stephens Day!

Take your preference--celebrate Boxing Day or St. Stephens Day......here is why

Boxing Day takes place on December 26th and is only celebrated in a few countries; mainly ones historically connected to the UK (such as Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand) and in many European countries. In Germany it is known as "Zweite Feiertag” (which means 'second celebration') and also “Zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag” which translates as Boxing Day (although it doesn’t literally mean that)!

It was started in the UK about 800 years ago, during the Middle Ages. It was the day when the alms box, collection boxes for the poor often kept in churches, were traditionally opened so that the contents could be distributed to poor people. Some churches still open these boxes on Boxing Day.

It might have been the Romans that first brought this type of collecting box to the UK, but they used them to collect money for the betting games which they played during their winter celebrations!

In Holland, some collection boxes were made out of a rough pottery called 'earthenware' and were shaped like pigs. Perhaps this is where we get the term 'Piggy Bank'!

The Christmas Carol, Good King Wenceslas, is set on Boxing Day and is about a King in the Middle Ages who brings food to a poor family.

It was also traditional that servants got the day off to celebrate Christmas with their families on Boxing Day. Before World War II, it was common for working people (such as milkmen and butchers) to travel round their delivery places and collect their Christmas box or tip. This tradition has now mostly stopped and any Christmas tips, given to people such as postal workers and newspaper delivery children, are not normally given or collected on Boxing Day.

Boxing Day has now become another public holiday in countries such as the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It is also the traditional day that Pantomimes started to play.

There are also often sports played on Boxing Day in the UK, especially horse racing and football matches! It's also when shops traditionally had big sales after Christmas in the UK (like Black Friday in the USA).

The 26th December is also St. Stephen's Day. Just to confuse things, there are two St. Stephens in history! The first St. Stephen was a very early follower of Jesus and was the first Christian Martyr (a person who dies for their religious beliefs). He was stoned to death by Jews who didn't believe in Jesus.

The second St. Stephen was a Missionary, in Sweden, in the 800s. He loved all animals but particularly horses (perhaps why there is traditionally horse racing on boxing day). He was also a martyr and was killed by pagans in Sweden. In Germany there was a tradition that horses would be ridden around the inside of the church during the St. Stephen's Day service!

St. Stephen's Day (or 'the feast of Stephen') is when the Carol 'Good King Wenceslas' is set. It's about helping the poor - so it has a strong connection to Boxing Day.

Why Is Christmas Celebrated On December 25?

So, why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25th?

Read this! 

One of the most fascinating Christmas events that we attended was 

the Planetarium, where we learned that Jesus was most likely born in the 

Spring, not December.

Does it really matter what date Christ was born ?  We 

celebrate the joy of this event any time of the year.

Merry Christmas!

Hanukkah - The Jewish Festival of Lights!

Hanukkah is the Jewish Festival of Lights and it remembers the rededication of the second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. This happened in the 160s BCE/BC (before Jesus was born). (Hanukkah is the Jewish word for 'dedication'.) Hanukkah last for eight days and starts on the 25th of Kislev, the month in the Jewish calendar that occurs at about the same time as December. Because the Jewish calendar is lunar (it uses the moon for its dates), Kislev can happen from late November to late December.

In 2016, Hanukkah is from in the evening of Saturday, 24 December until the evening of Sunday, 1st January.

During Hanukkah, on each of the eight nights, a candle is lit in a special menorah (candelabra) called a 'hanukkiyah'. There is a special ninth candle called the 'shammash' or servant candle which is used to light the other candles. The shammash is often in the center of the other candles and has a higher position. On the first night one candle is lit, on the second night, two are lit until all are lit on the eighth and final night of the festival. Traditionally they are lit from left to right. A special blessing, thanking God, is said before or after lighting the candles and a special Jewish hymn is often sung. The menorah is put in the front window of houses so people passing can see the lights and remember the story of Hanukkah. Most Jewish family and households have a special menorah and celebrate Hanukkah.

Hanukkah is also a time for giving and receiving presents and gifts are often given on each night. Lots of games are played during the time of Hanukkah. The most popular is 'dreidel' (Yiddish) or 'sivivon' (Hebrew). It's a four sided top with a Hebrew letter on each side. The four letter are the first letter of the phrase 'Nes Gadol Hayah Sham' which means 'A great miracle happened there' (in Israel, 'there' is changed to 'here' so it's 'Nes Gadol Hayah Po'). Player put a coin, nut or chocolate coin in a pot and the top is spun. In the letter 'nun' (נ) come up nothing happens, if it's 'gimel' (ג) the player wins the pot, if it's 'hay' (ה) you win half the pot and if it's 'shin' (for 'there' ש) or 'pe' (for 'here' פ) you have to put another item into the pot and the next person has a spin!

The Story behind Hanukkah

"Twas The Night................................"

According to legend, Clement Clarke Moore wrote his immortal poem, A Visit from St. Nicholas, also known as The Night Before Christmas, for his family on Christmas Eve 1822. He never intended that it be published, but a family friend, Miss Harriet Butler, learned of the poem sometime later from Moore's children. She copied it into her album, and submitted it to the editor of the Troy (New York) Sentinel where it made its first appearance in print on December 23, 1823. Soon, the poem began to be reprinted in other newspapers, almanacs and magazines, with the first appearance in a book in The New York Book of Poetry, edited by Charles Fenno Hoffman, in 1837.

It was not until 1844, however, that Moore himself acknowledged authorship in a volume of his poetry entitled Poems, published at the request of his children. One hundred and eighty years later it is the most-published, most-read, most-memorized and most-collected book in all of Christmas literature.