New Year, New Beginnings

Photo: Chronica Domus

As I sit here at home, with all the madness of Christmas behind me, and having recently returned from a wonderful action-packed winter holiday, I cannot help but ponder what the new year has in store for my loved ones and me.

Tonight, we shall spend a quiet evening at home, enjoying a celebratory home-cooked dinner, seated around our dining room table.  I know this will be a real treat on the heels of enjoying more than a little fine cuisine and quite a bit of imbibing during our recent adventures (too much of a good thing, and all that!).

At the stroke of midnight, we'll clink our flutes and toast the dawn of a new year, full of glorious hope and eager anticipation of new beginnings.

I wish you all a joyous and wonderful year ahead and may we all share in another opportunity to get it right, or as right as we are able, which for me means no resolutions, just new beginnings.

How do you plan to celebrate this evening and do you tend to make and/or keep resolutions?

The Golden Glow of Christmas

In our household, we have always decorated an evergreen tree for the years we celebrate Christmas at home.  My family and I enjoy the scent and appearance of real trees, excitedly brought into the house a week or so before Christmas day, and trimmed shortly thereafter with my ever-expanding collection of vintage glass ornaments.  Aside from the tree, various seasonal evergreen boughs are tucked within the tops of picture frames and mirrors, or hung in garlands around the front door.  Of course no Christmas is complete without a few wreaths of fragrant laurel or cedar.

As we shall be far from home during the Christmas holidays this year, we have opted to forgo our traditional evergreen tree and instead decorate only our small ivory colored goose feather one.  I purchased the tree about fifteen years ago, when I came across a catalog by The Feather Tree Co., a small American family-owned business that makes replicas of German goose feather trees by hand. These artificial trees were popular Christmas items in nineteenth century Germany and offered a solution to the rampant problem of deforestation.  A few years after my daughter was born, I ordered a second feather tree so that she too should have one to use in her own home when her time comes to fly the coop.  I'm so glad I did as the husband and wife team who labor over their creations recently announced their retirement and are no longer supplying their happy customers with these enchanting diminutive heirloom-worthy trees.

Our feather tree takes pride of place in the drawing room this year

Photo: Chronica Domus

We dressed the tree in shades of gold, silver, and green, and used a selection of ornaments in the form of pine cones, berries, and nuts.

A vintage glass walnut appears quite realistic

Photo: Chronica Domus

I've long had a weakness for pine cone ornaments and have collected quite a number of them in various designs and sizes over the years.  I have found little plump squat ones and slender elongated examples, dusted with crushed glass so that the cones twinkle when caught in just the right light. I am especially fond of those made during the 1940's in occupied Japan, and have found those in the colors you see upon our tree, as well as in vibrant turquoise and pink.  I adore how they are embellished with white paint to simulate freshly fallen snow.

Golden Japanese pine cones and green 

berries drip from feather boughs

Photo: Chronica Domus

Yet more pine cones fill a Paris porcelain punch bowl in a corner of the drawing room, collected on my walks and coated in clear glitter affording them a frosty appearance

Photo: Chronica Domus

To continue the color theme, I placed several variously sized balls in a pair of Anglo-Irish cut glass footed bowls either side of the tree.  I love the way they look grouped together. 

Photo: Chronica Domus

I'm not certain what these little snowball-like ornaments are supposed to be, but I think them quite charming.  They are made of spun cotton and crushed glass which makes them glisten in the candlelight.  They remind me of the icy snowballs I used to hurl at my sisters when we were all rather silly girls playing in the snow outside our house in Kent.  In fact, we are still rather silly girls, but a little older and possibly a little wiser, but that is, of course, debatable once you've come to know us.

Hmmm... I see a snowball fight coming

Photo: Chronica Domus

Our tree has been placed in a nineteenth century black basalt bucket-shaped vessel that I found in England.  I've not seen another quite like it and don't exactly know what it's intended purpose is.  It is so large, one could chill a bottle of champagne in it.

To secure the tree firmly in place, I filled the vessel with an assortment of real silvered walnuts and pine cones.  I think they look marvelous alongside their glass imitators.

Silvered walnuts and pine cones fill a black basalt vessel

Photo: Chronica Domus

A dainty silvery-grey satin ribbon, a trio of miniature glass balls, and a home-made pipe cleaner star crown the top of this year's tree.

Photo: Chronica Domus

But wait a minute, aren't you all wondering about those small wax candles attached to the tree's branches by the little tin clips?

To light, or not to light, that is the question 

Photo: Chronica Domus

Yes, I must confess, it would be a huge thrill for this author if she were to see our little confection of a tree all aglow in candlelight.  However, in the interest of marital harmony, I have promised my dear husband that I shall refrain from my pyrotechnic fantasies and keep the matchsticks far away from the candles.

Alas, the only allowable flames are those that flicker from our blazing fireplace

Photo: Chronica Domus

Except, that is, for maybe... just... this... one.

Photo: Chronica Domus

Wherever you may find yourself this Christmas, I wish you and yours glad tidings and a very merry Christmas.

What do you eat on Christmas Day?

An English Christmas pudding ready to be doused in brandy and set aflame

Photo: Chronica Domus

Ask most Brits to describe what they'll be feasting upon as part of their Christmas day celebratory dinner and the answer will likely involve the following: a plump roasted turkey, sage and onion stuffing, little Chipolata sausages wrapped in bacon, cranberry sauce, roasted potatoes, Brussels sprouts, carrots or parsnips, gravy, Christmas (plum) pudding with hard sauce or cream, and a good Stilton cheese with crackers, all washed down with port wine.  Oh, and lest we forget, delicious little mince pies.

English mince pies and German Stollen are excellent sweet treats on Christmas day

Photo: Chronica Domus

Ask an American the same question and you will likely be as surprised as I am to learn of the plethora of answers you will receive. Unlike Thanksgiving day, where American food traditions waver little across the miles, I don't think I've ever come across two families that share the same Christmas day food traditions.

Please help me unravel the mysteries of a traditional Christmas day meal in your country of residence by letting me know what it is that you enjoy eating on Christmas day, and whether or not your menu is dictated by either national or family traditions.

An Unusual Glass Ornament Steeped In British Folklore

My green 19th century "witches ball" photographed alongside a German silver kugel ornament, and two miniature Japanese green baubles dating from around World War II

Photo: Chronica Domus

I've been busy excitedly rummaging through boxes of ornaments selecting those that will grace our Christmas tree, which will be decorated within the next week.  I try to be organized about such matters as the storage of my hundreds of vintage and antique glass ornaments which I've amassed over the period I've been living in the United States.  I endeavor to sort them by color, wrap the larger ones in tissue paper (acid free if possible), and then place them all in large plastic storage boxes until they are needed the following year.  You will be hard pressed to find another plastic item in our household but these boxes are the best solution I've come across for safe storage.

Over the past two decades, I've been agog at the sheer volume of vintage glass ornaments that I've been fortunate enough to unearth from places like local flea markets, antiques shops and shows, as well as from thrift stores. I've concluded that such ornaments were probably destroyed by the thousands during the German bombing campaigns of World War II in England, hence their rarity there.  Why else have I had such a difficult time locating them?  One can find newer reproductions, of course, but the more fragile older examples are as rare as hen's teeth.

The majority of my collection dates from the 1920's to 1940's, with a few later examples and even several earlier ones.  Most were produced in Germany at the famous glass factories of Lauschen by mouth blowing glass into molds.  I've also collected many Japanese examples dating from America's occupation of Japan after World War II, and some later ones (1950's) from the other famous European centers of glass production, Poland and Czechoslovakia.

I remember my mother adorning our family tree with similar ornaments when I was a young girl so perhaps that is why I'm drawn to decorating my own tree with these beguiling ornaments which have mellowed to a wonderful dull sheen over the years.

Several summer's ago, when ambling through the covered antiques market in Covent Garden, London, I came across a monumental green glass ornament that reminded me of a much smaller silver example in my collection.  I'd never seen anything approaching the scale of this heavy glass orb.  I asked the stall-holder about it and he explained to me that it was a "witches ball". The huge bauble, which is six inches in diameter, came complete with the original decorative brass hanging chain, embossed with baskets of flowers, and twisted little connecting rings, crowned with a brass cap and a large round hanging loop. I was further informed that according to British folklore, these witches balls, typically made in green, silver and gold, were hung in windows or in front of looking glasses during the 18th and 19th centuries to ward off evil spirits and ill fortune. I was fascinated by the history of this glass treasure and could not pass it up, even if it meant that I had to carefully hand-carry it across the pond on my journey home.

I am delighted I did so, as each year when unwrapping my ornaments to decorate the house at Christmastime, the enchanting witches ball always takes my breath away. Although its folkloric origin is far removed from Christmas traditions, which also happens to be the case with many other symbols of a modern Christmas, this witches ball fits in seamlessly holding court over my large collection of more diminutive ornaments.  I've since learned that the balls are rather rare, and the chain even more so.

Have you a favorite or meaningful ornament that you enjoy displaying during the Christmas holiday season?  Do please tell me about it.

Seasonal Postal Greetings - A Thing of The Past?

A selection of past Christmas cards I've received and saved, displayed for the purpose of this blog post

Photo: Chronica Domus

When I was growing up in England, sending Christmas cards, or should that be holiday cards, as they are more commonly referred to in America, was an act which heralded the beginning of the Christmas season in our household.  My mother always wrote and addressed each card by hand, and those that were to be sent overseas were posted first, followed a week later by cards that would reach addresses throughout our fair isles. By mid-December, all of our cards had been safely dispatched via the services of the Royal Mail.

My sisters and I would delight at the postman's deliveries made in the weeks prior to Christmas because we knew there would be at least one, if not more, Christmas cards within the pedestrian pile of printed correspondence and bills that got pushed through our letterbox daily.  We looked forward to opening those cards as much as we enjoyed opening the little windows on our advent calendar.  If we received a card from foreign lands, as we did most years from friends and family that lived across the globe, we would study the interesting stamps and their designs, and then reflect upon how that country differed in its celebrations of Christmas.  The cards within those envelopes not only brought good cheer and merriment to our family, but also provided us the opportunity to think about the senders as it was unlikely we would have the chance of visiting them personally over the Christmas and New Year period.

My mother would display the cards we received on the mantel shelf and also attach them to little makeshift "clotheslines" as I called them, with tiny pegs, strung across backs of doors, or on ribbons cascading down the tall pocket doors of our drawing room.

Today, in my own household, I like to do much the same as my mother in terms of taking the time to hand-write and address my cards, and pop them in the mail within the first two weeks of December. I enjoy both sending and receiving cards, and have kept many of the ones sent to me over the years.  I do this for sentimental reasons, and for the fact that I enjoyed the design of the card that was thoughtfully selected and written to me.  They are reminders of friends and family, and that their generosity of spirit and good wishes still live on whenever I get the urge to look through my stack of saved cards.

For the reasons stated above, the modern trend for sending seasonal greetings via electronic-mail leaves me dumbfounded.  Does anyone actually think this is a good idea?  I am afraid that such electronic cards have as much longevity as the majority of junk mail that floods my e-mail box daily. These "cards" lack warmth and personality, and more than likely will not be seen by the other members of the family to which they are being sent.

I do realize one must invest a certain amount of time in sending cards during the holiday season and, of course, the nominal expense involved in acquiring said cards and associated postage fees. However, if you select your recipient list with as much care as you will have taken in your card selection and hand-written message, your thoughtfulness will reach your most beloved family members and friends, delighting and overjoying them with happiness, which is after all, part of the generosity of spirit associated with the Christmas holiday season.

Do you enjoy sending and receiving Christmas holiday cards through the mail, or have you succumbed to the more modern electronic trend of e-cards?

Thankful

Photo: Chronica Domus

I have much to be thankful for, not only today, this Thanksgiving Day, but each and every day.  I am thankful that all the preparations are finally in place so that in a few short hours, when our guests arrive, we shall break bread together and enjoy a bountiful meal of home-cooked fare and delicious wines.  

Photo: Chronica Domus

I am thankful for my family's health and happiness, and for our continued good fortune and sanity.

 Chronica Domus' favorite old Paris porcelain dessert service that will soon hold slices of home-baked pumpkin pie

Photo: Chronica Domus

I am thankful for all that our friends bring into our lives and that they honor us today by joining us at our table.

Photo: Chronica Domus

Photo: Chronica Domus

And most of all, I am thankful to my readers for making my foray into the blogosphere a most enjoyable and enriching pursuit.  I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving Day.

Photo: Chronica Domus

Decorating The House and Preparations For Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day is almost upon us and this year, as we do most years, we are hosting a celebratory dinner for eight of our nearest and dearest friends and family members.  I jokingly refer to this as our annual Thanksgiving dinner party for waifs and strays. This is because we like to include friends at our table whose families are scattered far and wide, or for whom circumstances are such that they are unable to be together for the holiday.  We inevitably make a spirited group, and by the conclusion of the evening, we are always so thankful for each other's company.

One of the great pleasures of hosting a gathering at home is decorating the house in preparation for the festivities ahead.  I find it particularly joyful to entertain during the autumn months as there is an abundance of natural material from which to compose little cheery arrangements for the dining and drawing rooms.

Yesterday morning, I returned from the farmers' market loaded with squashes and gourds, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seasonal berry branches.  My first job was to make a pair of autumnal arrangements that would sit upon the mantel shelf using the pin oak leaves and amaranth I had gathered in shades of brown and vivid green.

Autumnal shades of brown, russet and green gathered on the mantel shelf

Photo: Chronica Domus

Photo: Chronica Domus

I then placed the remainder of the mahogany-colored pin oak leaves beneath a handsome little pumpkin that seats perfectly in the recess of a gilded old Paris porcelain confiturier in the drawing room.

A pumpkin fit for Cinderella 

Photo: Chronica Domus

I was lucky enough to find a small bundle of American bittersweet, Celastrus scandens, which is a plant, or should I say a vine, with which I was not familiar.  In fact, this was the first time I had seen it for sale in my area.  I added the bittersweet to some branches I already had at home which still held their acorns in perfect preservation. Several hours after making my impromptu arrangement, I was shocked to discover that the glorious rich yellow-colored skins which I had so admired on the bittersweet branches had burst open, revealing brilliant jewel-like orange berries. Mother Nature was obviously playing tricks on me as I doubted my eyes for a fraction of a second, then realized the warmer temperature of the room was probably at play.

Bittersweet berries and acorns mingle in the dining room

Photo: Chronica Domus

Aside from the pleasant pursuit of decorating the house, there remains a laundry list of tasks that require attention if we are to insure our passel of guests are fed tasty and hearty fare and delicious libations. Specialty foods, ingredients, and wines all need to be procured from our favorite markets and vendors, and much elbow grease is required to make the house spick and span.  Silver requires polishing, linens ironing, china and serving pieces all need to be selected and brought out of storage, at least those pieces that are not immediately set to hand, tucked within the various crammed cupboards and drawers.  The late-nineteenth century place card holders, below, always bring a smile to my face whenever I unwrap them for use at our Thanksgiving table.  I never discard the old place cards, choosing instead to keep them as a sentimental reminder of good friends and family members that have dined with us over the years.  Looking through the little pile today, I see the names of those no longer with us and it makes me thankful to have known them.

The perfect Thanksgiving place card holders; a rafter of gilt bronze turkeys sit upon their marble discs

Photo: Chronica Domus

Do you have a list of things to accomplish in preparation of your Thanksgiving day celebrations, and how do you choose to decorate your house?