Thursday, December 1, 2011

Lights

I love candle light. May it be just a single light at my bedside, simple wooden holder with tapers at our dinner table or festive ones at the holidays, I just love the glow and gentle light.
Bringing out the Pyramide, the rotating wooden carousel-like structure from my home state Saxony in Germany, is a highlight for all of us. It is a temperamental thing, sensitive to position, sometimes not turning at all. But once it's running, we love to watch it.




They are made in small workshops in Saxony, candles creating the heat to turn the wooden paddles above. There are figures telling the Christmas story or reindeer and Santa Claus on small tiers, moving round and round.




Nutcracker, smoking man and chocolate filled Advent calendars are a must in German holiday traditions. 



The old ironing machine cloth is perfect for a backdrop!



When I sit in the darkened room, just listening to the sounds of the family at home, the dog sleeping next to me, then I feel completely content, the lights filling me with memories and times past. Back, when I was little and looked at my grandma's Christmas decorations, usually foil wrapped candies, chocolates, apples and a few saved Christmas ornaments, which had survived the bombing of Dresden. 
Each piece connected to her own memories.
Or the slowly moving Pyramide at my parent's house and 
visits to a humble holiday market at the main square in my hometown. And singing of carols at Christmas Eve.



What are your memories of holidays past?





Pictures by V.Zlotkowski

3 comments:

  1. Thank-you for sharing your holiday memories all from the warmth of your home lit up with candles and personal decor. I have many memories of sharing simple joys with a large family. Our stockings were always hung and filled with oranges and chocolates and candies. My Mother baked lots of stolen, fruit cake, and german cookies. They were stored in tins but we knew where to find them and steal one! I wonder if she ever knew this.
    I must share this with her.
    Enjoy creating many special memories for your family.
    pve

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  2. Patricia,
    Thank you for sharing this! Like in your family, my mom and us girls baked three four weeks before Christmas and all went into my parent's bedroom on top of the wardrobe to rest. Especially Stollen. Cookies in tin jars, we ate them when ever we could get our hands on them. The best was the lemon sugar icing on top.
    Oranges were rare delicacies...Traditionally we have no stockings filled in Germany, but plates with sweets under the Christmas tree and of course, long awaited December 6th, St. Nikolaus Day, when good children get sweets in their boots and bad ones a stick with small pieces of coal hanging on them...

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love candles too! Beautiful display Victoria! It is such a cozy time of year and it is so satisfying to create a warm and inviting home for Christmas! I am enjoying decorating too!

    ReplyDelete

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