I have been deliberating about the best way to put this. I could have said ‘making your own decorations’, but that felt rather similar to an earlier post, so I went with crafting instead.
Crafting is big business, of course. People will pay good money for hand-crafted this and hand-made that. Which is good, too, because handmade items can look lovely.
But crafting is also about making your own, and enjoying it. And if you are lucky, having others to join you in your making.
And that, maybe, is the real deal. Because the run-up to Christmas, the anticipating, is brought forward little by little through shared activities.
It might be buying the tree. Or putting up decorations. But it could also be about joining forces to make things ready. To make things beautiful, as best you can.
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Christmas Past
This story starts with a certain microwave. At this distance of time, I can’t quite remember who owned what, or borrowed what. I think we borrowed a microwave for a time.
So when the microwave went back to its rightful owner, I said thank you by giving the lender a book: on how to make decorations through microwaving them.
That doesn’t sound promising when I write it here. I could show you nice pictures of that kind of book, to cheer things along. And I knew my friend liked making things, so it was a fair choice.
But the main deal is that, our first Christmas as a married couple, we were starting to put together our own Christmas decorations. We needed some, and we didn’t have a lot of money.
So my memory is of being with my friend, in her kitchen, using cutters and cocktail sticks and little drops of food colouring, conjuring up a set of Christmas decorations for us both.
There was a lot of counting, and hopping about, because you had to cook each piece in the microwave a few times over. Plus you also had to let each piece rest before you cooked it some more. Lots of counting.
Lots of fun. I am not particularly able visually (though my friend is, and then some), but that was OK. We made it work, each in our own way. And we enjoyed the time together, doing so.
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Christmas Present
The Christmas tree decorations haven’t quite come out yet. (There’s a post on Christmas tree decorating to come, too.)
But I can visualise the pieces even while they lie there in the cardboard box that used to contain Lebkuchen.
The jolly snowman, with a piece of green ribbon around his neck for a scarf. The small blue whale, slightly unsure of himself up in a tree, and still trying to work out where the thread should go so that he remains upright.
Stars various. Something that might have looked like a cloud when it was cut out and now really just looks like a lump of dough. (Not every artistic experiment works.)
They are sturdy, and uncomplaining when I pack them away each year. Not every piece comes out each time now. There are further decorations now, some gifts, some further makes that I helped with.
But like the best of decorations, these come with a memory attached. An enjoyment of time spent with another.
The snowman is smiling. (He’s always smiling. It’s to do with the food colouring mouth.)
He know I’ve just written about him, and he has high hopes of a place on the tree this year.