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Winter Decorations Around the House
Monday, 9 December 2025
Earlier and earlier, stores are pushing autumn / winter holiday shopping. Halloween by summer's end. Thanksgiving before Halloween. Christmas -artificial trees glowing with lights well before Thanksgiving. I cannot maintain enthusiasm for such an extended time. Celebrate Thanksgiving and only then begin preparing for the winter holiday.
I take it back. One thing that I do is order the candied fruit for fruitcake so it is on hand for baking right after the turkey feast. Fruitcake, baptised with brandy, must age for a month. If not longer. Year-old fruitcake is quite delicious and edible.
We no longer decorate an evergreen Christmas tree but there are several vignettes that come out of storage to ornament bookshelves and tabletops. First up
a charming mobile of five white geese, one with a little girl and a boy, bundled up
against cold weather. It hangs in the foyer, where any breeze from an open door will
send it gently twirling. And if the door is closed a person can provide puff of air.
Next, on a bookcase in the great room: five white horses, a red sleigh filled with
gaily wrapped packages (small empty matchboxes, a few with a bead inside to rattle when
shaken). And a Santa, ready to receive them for distribution to the good girls and boys.
Now upstairs, outside our bedroom door. Breyer is renown for their horses. Did you know
they also make farm animals? Deer? And this extravagantly handsome moose! He wears a
dainty necklace (looks sort of like a string of Christmas lights) to adorn him. Elegant!
Next up, Mrs. Tiggywinkle. Who is she? a classic children's book by Beatrix Potter, first published in 1905, about a little girl named Lucie who loses her handkerchiefs and discovers the secret life of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, a hedgehog washerwoman who lives in a hidden cottage in the hills.
Here she is, with her mossy roofed cottage, a raccoon, a hedgehog, and a deer. The potatoes and onions
in the wheelbarrow are porcelain. The out-of-focus basket (also porcelain) has a couple of cabbages,
.
two leeks, and more. The deer is covered in hemlock scales, using tweezers and dabs of glue.
It took forever. Which is why the second one never got done. Maybe this year . . . .
I saved for last and perhaps the best, a tomten that my father made for me. What's a tomten? More properly, who is he. A small gnome-like farm spirit from Scandinavian folklore, he is often depicted as an old man in gray with a red cap, who guards homes and farms, ensuring prosperity in exchange for respect and a bowl of Christmas porridge. He protects animals, helps with chores at night, and embodies goodwill, though he's shy and rarely seen.
Popularized by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren's classic book The Tomten and the Fox, I have not just the book,
.
and the tomten but also his foxy friend and with some rabbits - on his other side so the fox doesn't get ideas.
My father also made the little Swedish horse (on the left) and I made the larger one. There's a Breyer stag too.
Our winter decorations, assembled over the years that help me welcome the season, each winter.
If you have any comments or questions, you can e-mail me: jgglatt@gmail.com
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