Christmas presents and a secret plan

On Christmas morning my three resin kids sat under the tree and played with their new toys.

Everyone had gotten a present the evening before and now was a good time to make use of them.

Inkeri and Sirpa got each a Little Pony. I don't know what Steggy and Trixy will say to that. The grils were making plans to keep them all together. They are all grasseaters, right?

Toivo got a digger and was planning to get out his barn this afternoon. A plan the girls liked as that would give them an opportunity for playing horses and dinos.

Sootie was genuine excited and pleased for erveryone. He admired the new digger, knowing perfectly well, that Toivo would lend it to him. He just had to ask.

He enjoyed the ponies, too. Such sweet, tiny creatures!

It was only than the the kids noticed that Sootie hadn't gotten anything from Santa. Not a single thing! Not even the smallest gift! That was extremly unfair. They got a bit angry on Santa, oh yes.

So if Santa didn't bring Sootie a gift, than they would see that Sootie got his very own Christmas. They stuck their heads together and whispered and made plans.

"Now we know! Sootie will have his own Christmas party on Twelfth Day. That gives you some time to prepare something for him."

"He shall find his presents under the new tree, you're making."

"He needs a blanket of his own. Best in some ash grey."

"And a pillow. And a rug, he's always sitting on the bare floor." I'm not sure that a rug in front of an open fire is a really good idea, folks. It might get burned.

"And we will make that into a tradition!"

Setting up the Christmas Tree

Many germans don't decorate their tree until Christmas. We are such a family. The task of decorating it is solely mine and no one is allowed to see it before gift giving sarts. It gives an extra touch of mystery to the feast.
This year Inkeri and Sirpa helped me with decorating.

First thing is always the star on top.

"Hand it up to me!"

"Alright. Now to put it on the tree top."

"The top is too thick and too long for the star. It doesn't fit. We have to cut it."

"That's done. Looks pretty, right?"

Next thing is the lighting. We use a mix of candles and battery lights (with a remote control, hah!).

The girls climbed fearlessly in the branches, making sure that all candles were straight. We will not risk setting the tree on fire!

Those wooden angels are my favorite decoration. They are so pretty! Most of them were handed down by my mother. When she bought them they were much cheaper than nowadays. They are made in the Erzgebirge, where the miners made woodworks for a better income. I buy one new every year. A tree decorated only with those angels would be fantastic.

But I love old-fashioned glass hangings, too.

"What a lovely bird! We need more of them!" Yes, that's what I promise myself every year.

And here the famous Christmas Crocodile.

Decorating a Christmas Tree with Christmas Trees is totally logical.

We need some bling of course.

"Okay, pull it up! Hei-ho!"

And there were tiny balls and big balls in red and tiny balls and big balls is clear glass and tiny balls in silver and stars...

"That's it. Isn't it pretty?"

"Silent night, Holy Night..."

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Making Christmas decorations

Today the girls wanted to make some Christmas decorations. Yesterday I had brought home a folded star. They wanted something similar. Maybe a bit easier. So I got out my origami papers and scissors. Toivo thanked no to the invitation to follow us. His opinion is, that Christmas decorations are overrated. Weren't the three stars they already have enough? But the girls said they needed much more decorations or it wouldn't feel like Christmas.

I had to do some cutting first because the stars cannot be made from squares.
Inkeri was the first to fold.

"Ready! That was fun!"
Then it was Sirpa's turn.

"Done! So easy!"
Next they wanted me to make a star bowl they had seen in my origami book. And with transparent paper.

"That is beautiful. With snowflakes on it! What will we put in it?"

"It's perfect for the dinos!"

"Come on, Steggy, be a good boy. You'll get a new home."

"Now, isn't that nice?"

Steggy is not convinced yet.

"And now one for Trixy."

"Trixy, stay here!" Did you know, that triceratopses can run very fast? They need to.

Christmas Fruit Cake - or minor catastrophies and little helpers

Since some years I long for baking a Christmas Fruit Cake. My mother made that when I was a child and wanted one again. So this year I planned everything, bought all the ingredients and yesterday I set myself to work.
First thing should be to get all the fruits (apricots, dates, figs, raisins, candied lemon and orange peel) and walnuts in small pieces. We have a new mixer, that can also crush ice. So in it the mixture went and I started the thing. After only some moments it started to smoke. Uggh! I stopped immediately, pulled out the jack, and got everything out again. If not by machine, then I would have to cut it by hand. Major SIGH. I've got an old double-bladed rocking knife, so out it went. Alas, when pushing back the basket where it had been it, I knocked a water bottle over. It made BANG and CRASH and FIZZ as the bottle exploded. Hung head and cursed. So I had to dry up the floor firts, collecting the big chips, carefully not cutting my hand. After that it only took me one hour to cutt everything into small bits. I had no more nerves to mix the dough so I left that for today's morning.
Thanks to our new kitchen machine (no, not the mixer, who functioned as normal, when hubby checked it) it was a question of ten minutes or so and the dough was ready. I let the fruits get mixed under and filled it into a Bundt cake pan. Of into the oven it went.
It took half an hour and the whole appartement smelled so yummy. Yummy enough at least that Inkeri and Sirpa came rushing into the kitchen so see what was going on.

"A cake! You're baking a cake!" They squeaked with glee. "We want to bake cakeses, too! Please, please, please!" So onto the coutertop they climbed. How exciting! Sitting there and choosing the forms and buttering them and finally filling the dough into them.

And all the time it was smelling so delicious from the oven. "When will we eat the cakeses?" Well, some we will eat this weekend, but the main part shall remain till Christmas. "Ohhh, that is still so long. How many days are it till Christmas?" Only 14 more days, darlings. That is soon enough. "14 days? That is still a lot of time to wait."

In the meantime they are allowed to scratch the last dough from the bowl. Hmmmmh, tastes so christmas-y!