It's the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent, Christmas time is now beginning. And even though this time of Advent does not have the same meaning here, it does for me. Growing up Advent was a beautiful time with candles, the first Christmas cookies, Nikolaus coming to fill our boots with goodies in the night from December 5th to the 6th... And of course the Advent wreath with its four candles, lit week after week until Christmas. All of these traditions are so important for me and I want my children to grow up with them, even though they are not necessarily the traditions around them. I mean how do you reconcile Nikolaus coming at the beginning of December filling a boot with Santa Claus coming Christmas filling stockings and putting toys under the tree??? The other day Liam said he had many names: "Liam, and Nikolaus and Santa". Now Nikolaus really is his second name, but Santa???

I'll play it by ear, see what happens and in the meantime create the traditions I want for my family. I made the Advent wreath today with four enormous red candles, ribbons and pine cones. And I baked the first Christmas cookies: Vanillekipferl. I always think of my Oma when I make these cookies, who made the best and most delicious Vanillekipferl, I try to make the cookies like she used to, but I am still learning... I think they get better every year...

So here's to the beginning of the Christmas Season, to traditions, to family, especially to family that I miss so much this time of year!

The beauty of something handmade

I was just sitting in the living room looking out into the rain and working on one of the Christmas presents I'm making this year (no details of presents will be disclosed until AFTER Christmas!!). So, I was sitting there thinking about the blog entry form Sweet Juniper about saving the auto industry because there is something worth saving in an industry that actually produces something. And then I was thinking about myself sitting there actually making something for someone. There is a lot of beauty in making something for someone, in sitting down and working on a craft, it's soothing, it's rewarding. It fills you with pride to have the finished product in front of you , knowing that you made this yourself. 

There seems to be a surge in craft fairs and markets as well. I love the Portobello West market here in Vancouver, I wanted to go to the Circle Craft Fair, but life was too busy those days... I love the etsy website. I enjoy looking at other people's work and admiring it. I like reading the story surrounding the work: "Today the first frost came over Newfoundland and all the leaves started falling from the trees without any wind. I spun this yarn to celebrate this moment." What a beautiful description of how that particular yarn was made. It connects the person who will use the yarn with the person who made the yarn. I think the beauty of that is particularly important in our world where we are continuously disconnected from the products we use. Who knows where the meat or the produce in the supermarket comes from? The sweater in the store? Made in some sweatshop in Asia? Who knows and most of the time - who really is concerned about it? Who is confused about stuff traveling the world to make it to a sale close to your home?

That's where the beauty of making something yourself comes in. You sit, take your time and create something. It's no longer so disconnected, so anonymous. So maybe in a world where we are so disconnected from the things around us and sometimes from the people we love, a handmade item connects us again.

Late autumn in the forest

I guess I should be writing more often in my blog, and believe me, it's not for a lack of ideas... It's more a shyness on my part - I mean, how meaningful and interesting are my thoughts going to be? After countless articles and blog entries on Obama's win of the US election, what was there to add but my own personal experience of the moment... But maybe that's what this blog is about.... 

So, until I loose my shyness of blogging about whatever is on my mind, I'll stick to more domestic issues, like a walk in the forest on a gray November day...

Here we go:

Liam with "My-friend-the-bear" on his way to look for red goblins and of course to find the Faraway Tree. This time I was Moonface and Mark was Silky :)

It was really nice with the mist hanging in the trees and the luscious undergrowth even this late in the year. We discovered lots of mushrooms. 

Here's Liam looking at one mushroom just breaking through the soil. 

It's so nice to have this big forest so close, it's like a little getaway from urban life in the middle of the city. 

And somehow we are drawn more to the forest than to the beach in this weather, maybe because the beach is usually very windy and playing in the cold soggy sand is just no fun at all... And there just hasn't been as much magic on the beach, we'll have to introduce some beach fairies into our lives. :) Although Liam will be the first to tell you that the fairies and goblins are just pretend, not real, just like monsters are not real. Although he was pretty convinced last night that Nils Holgersson is real, on the back of Martin, the goose... I guess there is a fine line between real and pretend in his world and that line can be crossed in either direction whenever he wants to.

Booklover!

At Liam's daycare after the morning pit time, kids can choose to either stay for more stories or go outside to play. Their names are called and they can say either "stay" for more stories or "go" for going outside. When Liam's teacher was telling us about his, there wasn't a doubt in our minds that he would be in the "stay" group for more stories, because he will tell you: "You know, I really love stories!" and his favourite place in the neighbourhood is definitely the library and he will pretty much throw a tantrum if you don't read two chapters with him at bedtime ("Mama, we always read TWO chapters!"). So, we knew he would be in the "stay" group, but were not expecting the cuteness of him saying: "booklover" :)

We are now reading the "Faraway Tree" again for the fourth (!) time. It is his (and my) favourite bedtime book. When we got the book, we read it three consecutive times, then we went on adventures on the "Wishing Chair" and visited the "Land of Og" and had a brief excursion to the "Magic Treehouse" ("Mama, that was a very short book"), but now we are happily back to the Faraway Tree. I already look forward to the Angry Pixie, Mister Whatshisname, Dame Washalot and of course Silky, Moonface and the Saucepan Man (or Sauceman Pan as Liam calls him). 

In the morning when Liam crawls in our bed, he pretends that it is the Faraway Tree, Mama is Silky, Daddy is Moonface, Anouk is either the angry pixie or the red squirrel depending on whether she's crying or not, and Liam is Joe, coming to visit. He slips down under the covers to the foot of the bed, down the Slippery Slip, and then it's breakfast time.

It's really wonderful that Liam has all this magic in his life. Last night he was playing with his animals in bed and T-Rex ate up all the animals, except for the little bunny, so the two of them got married, and luckily his old fried Abu is magical and can get everybody who's been eaten by T-Rex out again - safe and sound. Then everybody get tucked in and with Balu the Dragon and Abu tightly in his arms, it's time to got to sleep...

My first blog entry...

So I've decided to start a blog... There are days, events, photos, moments in life that I would like to share - so, let's get started on this adventure!

Today is a typical late fall day here in Vancouver, some rain, some sun. We went for a beautiful walk in the Endowment Lands this morning. Liam was pretending to be in the Land of Og and we spent most of the walk running away from the Snake People and scaring off Ogs. The forest was beautiful, lots of mushrooms everywhere and the fall colours at their brightest. Some mist hanging in the treetops made the autumn atmosphere perfect.