Saturday, December 14, 2019

Day 14: Gingerbread house

And here it is!

It is a bird feeder, again. I have made this many before times but the family likes it most of the ones I have made. I fill it with candy and then one can pick little candies like a birdie.

I cut a few birds, as you can see in the picture foreground, but I have not yet decorated them. I plan to touch them and then hang them around the bird feeder. Oh, did I say, I hang the feeder from the rafter.
Underneath the feeder you can see that there is a piece of plywood and there are holes in the floor and the ceiling, so that line can go through.

I don't dare to hang it myself, I need someone to help me, so for the time being it sits on the dining room table.

Every time I make a gingerbread house, I have big plans and I concentrate hard, and line everything carefully, work methodically so that for once it would turn out the way I pictured beforehand. And it never does, and every single time I am disappointed once it is done... and I ask myself, why do I put myself through this every single year (these days, every other year)?

I made the first house almost 30 years ago. It was a Moomin House, my twins were two and my first born turned 4 that Christmas. I decorated and glued until 2 in the morning, and went to bed crying, because it was nothing like I pictured.

The other twin was an early riser and she was always very quiet. The next morning, when I woke up, I heard that she was already up playing. I got up, went to kitchen to see what she was up to. She had gathered all the little Moomin characters and was playing with the house. It was such a joyous sight, that it wiped away all my frustration.

It would be lovely to make masterpieces ... but it can be lopsided, and the sugar glue might be little burnt and taste bitter, and the decoration might leave a lot to hope for, but all in all, there is something special and magical in ginger bread house.

I do it, because it makes my Christmas.

Wool with you,
Lene


16 comments:

  1. Dear Lene, I am in a difficult time with my health this year, and unable to do the holiday things I usually do, so your blog is giving me great joy every day as I live vicariously through your work. Thank you so much for this little piece of light every day.

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    1. So sorry to read about your health issues, I hope all is better soon. I am glad you enjoy these, thank you for reading, all the best to you, xx.

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    2. Thank you, Lene. I will be back to normal in March when the treatments end and ready to do all the holiday things for Easter.Thank you again for your beautiful work.

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  2. Dear Lene,
    It's wonderful! Please look at it with new eyes, the eyes of your reader/friends, who don't have your picture in their collective mind. You'll see, it's wonderful!
    When my aunt was a young bride, she wrote home for the lutefisk recipe. My grandfather sent her the recipe, and at the end he wrote, "Reasonable close is good enough." I have taken that into my heart, in all my projects. And it all works out, every time.
    Cam

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    1. Thank you Cam,xx! Have you ever tasted lutefisk? My Mom used to make it every Christmas when I was a child, but that tradition never quite made to our Christmas menu...

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    2. I had lutefisk once, at my aunt's home. It was served with potatoes, cauliflower, and lots of butter. I love fish, and butter, so I enjoyed it. My mother pointed out that it's very rare to eat a meal where all the food is the same color -- white -- and I think that is the only monotone meal I've ever had.

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  3. What a sweet, sweet story. I've never made a gingerbread house, so I think your bird feeder is perfectly charming (like ALL your creations)!

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  4. I love it! And your feelings about making it. My son and I made some gingerbread houses as he grew up, but rather than bake gingerbread we 'cheated' and used frosting to glue graham crackers to a cardboard house we made and then decorate that. We did some variation on this for many Christmases. Two years ago he and his wife were coming to visit at Christmas and I told my husband I wanted us to make a gingerbread house. "Maybe he won't want to do it. He is 35." So when their flight got here and we picked them up I tentatively suggested it as an activity. My daughter-in-law said, "Mike's been talking about this all week and how you used to make them for Christmas!" So yes, we made one. And this year when we visited them in late November we made TWO! Wool with you.

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    1. What a lovely memory! And then you could live it again and again, happy you!
      xx

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  5. Lene, it's gorgeous and perfect.

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    1. Thank you Deb (it is not, she whispers)! xx!

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  6. Your bird house is precious! And it's obvious that your family treasures this tradition! Beautifully done, as always!

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  7. I love your birdfeeder and I especially love your story about the Moomin House :)
    My Occasional Helper and I were working together tidying up a very messy shed yesterday and we got to talking about overwhelming some things can be. And we shared things we say to ourselves to help us get over that hurdle. His - which he learned from his wife - was, "It isn't every step that matters, it's the first step." Mine, from a long-ago supervisor when I worked at a wildlife sanctuary, was "We are looking for improvement, not perfection."

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  8. Thank you Quinn, xx, both very good ones! Will adopt those!

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