A German Christmas Tradition

by AnikasArt

I grew up in northern Germany. It wasn't usually very cold there, but sometimes we had a white Christmas.
The Christmas Tradition in out family was to get up late on Christmas Eve (everybody usually was already off for the Holidays) and have breakfast together. Most of the times we had something special we didn't have every day, like fresh baked hard rolls and some cold cuts. A lot of times it was accompanied by a soft boiled egg, eaten out of an egg holder.
Then it was time to decide which color the decoration of our Christmas tree is going to have, while my dad gave our neighbor a call.
We lived right next to the forest (no, not the black forest, that is in south Germany) at a hill side.
Our neighbor had a small tree farm. Every year we would go there and pick our tree. On Christmas Eve. I know a lot of families, who got their tree much earlier than we did ours, but this was our family tradition.
So once we found all the boxes of Christmas decor, we would get in our Winter Coats and go to the Neighbor. Usually we would wander around for a little while. Our Neighbor also had birds. Not of the small kind. He had big outdoor cages with Owls and Ravens in which the birds could fly, since they were that large. Us kids spend a lot of time watching them, while our parents chatted. We then picked our tree, often a soft needle kind of tree and cut it down. My dad would then go up front and me and my sister in the back, my mom at our side and there we carried the tree through the backyard to our patio.
My dad would then set up the home-made tree stand with water reservoir and set the tree in there.
Us kids would then start to decorate with the help of our mom. Dad would help with the branches at the top of the tree. We always had real candles at our tree. Beeswax ones, that smelled great when they burned. We had to keep them off the bottom branches because of our dog. Then we set up the rest of the decoration, which included a nativity set on a carrousel, one of those that has candles on it and moves.
Then we would go into our rooms and wrap presents if we didn't do it earlier already.
In the evening we would dress up and wait for my mom to call us down with a Christmas bell. She then would proclaim that the Christ Child came and brought presents.
Then it was finally time to exchange presents.
We played for a while with new toys then sat down for dinner, which always consisted of fondue. After dinner we played board games and stayed up late.
That was our German Christmas Tradition.

Mission Treasury! Feather your nest treausury!

Mission Treasury is all about getting you, our readers, in on the treasury making fun! We also hope that you will find a shop or two to introduce us to that is fun and exciting!

So, we will be posting a theme and 4 shops each Monday - and challenging you to create a treasury that fits the theme and contains at least one item from one of the 4 featured shops.

You will have one week to create your treasury, and come back to the blog post and leave your treasury as a comment.

The best treasury will be featured, and all treasuries submitted will be mentioned!



The results of this weeks Mission Treasury will be posted on May 25th 2011!

Mission: Create a Treasury full of things you would like to feather your nest with! Focus on neutral or natural colors!

Shops to choose from (you must include at least one item from one of these shops)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/anikasart

http://www.etsy.com/shop/headchange

http://www.etsy.com/shop/saltandpeppermania

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SusanEknits

Thanks to Sewsouk and FabricGreetings for coming up with these great themes!

Mission Treasury! Create a Treasury fit for a safari!

Get in on the treasury making fun!

So, we will be posting a theme and 4 shops each Monday - and challenging you to create a treasury that fits the theme and contains at least one item from one of the 4 featured shops.

You will have one week to create your treasury, and come back to the blog post and leave your treasury as a comment.

The best treasury will be featured, and all treasuries submitted will be mentioned!

The results of this weeks Mission Treasury will be posted on March 16th 2011!

Mission: Create a Safari Treasury

Shops to choose from (you must include at least one item from one of these shops)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/anikasart

http://www.etsy.com/shop/earjeans

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ritzeerebel

http://www.etsy.com/people/creatiate

Thanks to Sewsouk and Woodlandnature for coming up with these great themes!

Team Project No. 2 - Life's a Beach! Pt. 2

Prepare yourselves for a beach-o-rama this Friday from the Hearts And Hands United team! Today we have no less than eight different sellers who's all completed the Life is a Beach Team Project.

First of all: a warm and soft painting of giggle from Art By Trudy. Summer's here!














We have plenty of beach inspired jewelry on the team and at least one of these items will most definitely correspond well with a well tanned summer body.

From Jewels By Trish comes this handmade elegant pink pearl necklace with a starfish pendant attached to it.

Jewelry By Jakemi is the artist behind this handmade necklace with several small charms made out of a briolette, a ceramic bead and a tiny seahorse.

Perhaps a small treasure chest for your jewelry is needed by now?
From Anika's Art comes this sea inspired trinket box, decorated with sea shells and star fish.













Last but not least: send some summer post cards and spread the sunshine from wherever you are.

Do you miss some company while on the beach? Send them a card and tell them to come!
From PotomacRiverCreation comes this postcard with an actual photo of the empty but beautiful beach, Cape Hatteras in North Carolina of the US. The letters written in the sand? "Wish you were here".

Maybe you want to show someone how to make the most out of the beach? Do it with this sweet quilted fabric postcard from FabricGreetings.
























Please drop by next Friday for another six items on the Life is a Beach team project of the Hearts and Hands United.

Team project No. 1 - Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, pt. 4

Another Team Project Friday on the Hearts and Hands United team blog!
Three beautiful items crafted from the romantic wedding theme of "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue".
Today's featured artists are Anika's Art, Jewels By Trish and Confections In Glass. Enjoy!

From Anika's Art comes these handmade Sea Fairy Earrings made out of vintage buttons that represents the old, the polymer clay represents something new and blue.

From Jewels By Trish comes this handmade wedding set of necklace and earrings made of white pearls and blue crystals.
The focal pendant have been "borrowed" from another necklace, the crystals are blue and the set is brand new. All you need now is something old, right?

Last but not least, from Confections In Glass comes this elegantly frosted pedestal bowl. It has been hand assembled from "previously loved" and new glass. Both the base of the blue bowl has a diamond pattern.