New Year's Traditions

Last year, Isabelle explained to us how, in France, little tokens or treats are put at each place setting on the New Year's table. The French, I think, give far more consideration to the concept of the new year than we do in North America, where it seems to be associated more with a party the night before and a big meal on the actual day. The French take more care to wish each other well and look ahead with hope. In today's mail, we received a New Year's card from Sophie and Jean Paul in Ronce. Sophie describes it as a "very French" card and I think it is utterly charming. While having a grandchild on another continent is brutally hard to deal with, our lives have been enriched by this French connection.

Santa Collection

Over the years, we have collected a number of Santas, some whimsical in nature, others vintage, some wooden, some cloth, some crafted in beeswax. There is a wonderful BBC podcast, Too Many Santas, that starts in Iceland, tracing the origin and evolution of Santa into the form most of us recognize today.
We were pleased to be able to add another to our collection this year.

Christmas Knitting

I've always loved color or stranded knitting. My technique is still clumsy but hopefully will improve in the coming year. Because I can only see myself carrying two colors across a row for the foreseeable future, I was happy to receive Terri Shea's book Selbuvotter - Biography of a Knitting Tradition for Christmas. Last week, before getting the book, I started one of Charlene Schurch's patterns with the help and encouragement of members of the Stranded knitting group on Ravelry.
Pattern: Pattern No. 1
Designer: Charlene Schurch
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport
Needles: Circular; 2.25 mm for cuff and 2.50 mm for the body of the mitten

Thoughtfulness

Beautiful white flowers appeared at the door yesterday - a thoughtful and lovely gift from Aunt Amy. We did not have a table centerpiece this year. Now the two of us can have our meals with these white flowers and remember all the years that Aunt Amy sat beside us at Christmas time.

A Child's Christmas in North End Halifax

The Tree 2009

I am sure my sister, Heather, as well, remembers how much our father loved Christmas. A working man of very limited means in north end Halifax, he somehow managed to provide adequate gifts for seven (!) children and full stockings on Chrismas morning. We had bowls of traditional Nova Scotia Christmas candy around the house - Robertson's ribbon candy and clear toys (the latter somewhat akin to barley sugar candy), pink chicken bones, and Moirs chocolates. We always had a beautiful tree, both turkey and ham (one for Christmas, the other for New Years - with the occasional duck or goose thrown in), and rich fruit cake and pound cake for dessert.

He worked a half day on Christmas Eve at the old Nelson Seed Store on the corner of Duke and Granville streets in downtown Halifax. Upon leaving work, he made a number of stops before heading home. He would drop in with small gifts for his sister (who was struggling to raise two children on her own), and pay brief visits to a few friends, handing out the mistletoe and holly that he was able to purchase from work at a discount price, and boxes of Pot of Gold chocolates (which, in those days, we considered a treat of gourmet proportions), and taking a sip or two of Christmas cheer along the way.

Close friends, the Wilsons, always had rabbit pie for the holidays. Mrs. Wilson was from Chezzetcook and her rabbit pies were made in roasting pans, with whole vegetables and large sections of rabbit and either salt pork or bacon inside. The top was a thick biscuit crust. My father was a dear, sweet man and Mrs. Wilson always had a roaster pan of rabbit pie ready for him to take home for his Christmas Eve supper. He considered it a meal fit for a king.

He could not contain his excitement on Christmas morning and if we did not wake up at some obscenely early hour (5 a.m., 5:30, 6 a.m), he was not above creeping into the bedroom where four of us slept (including the younger and more excitable ones) and whispering "Don't you know that Santy Claus has been here?"

In later years, when his own children were grown, he delighted in giving each little grandchild (to the dismay of the parents) an ENTIRE box of Moirs chocolates, nicely wrapped and beribboned, to be enjoyed at the child's leisure!

Winter

Stonewalling

Or, finally, the right materials in the right place!

I love my stone wall (albeit makeshift and amateur) in winter.