the coming light

Ever since my brother Michael's girlfriend Nancy gave me my first one, filled with tiny chocolates, when I was about 12, I've been a little bit obsessed with advent calendars.  I only started making them myself about six or eight years ago.  I doodled tiny holiday images (a steaming pie, a candle, a dove, a half-knitted sweater) and hid them behind the windows of a simple drawing of my church's Victorian rectory house.  I cut each window with an exacto knife and glued the cardstock pages together. The windows were numbered, so between December first and December 25th, you could open a window and see a doodled treat.

I'm not sure why I made it.

I had been shaken to my core in 2008 when Jdimytai Damour, the Wal-Mart worker, was trampled to death by crowds of holiday bargain shoppers.  Then and there I opted out of buying Christmas gifts.  The idea of holiday shopping made me feel ill -- and somehow complicit.  It still does.  Since then, my family and friends have suffered through all manner of handmade nonsense, each item made with love, of course, and reflecting the immeasurable love I feel for each of them.  

For me, a handmade advent calendar is the antithesis of holiday commercialism.  It requires you to slow down just a tiny bit and reflect.  Even if all you're reflecting on is a bit of silliness.  One year I painted a watercolor Christmas tree and copied it onto glossy paper, with brightly colored ornaments doodled with markers.  The ornaments said words like "love" or "joy," or were just abstract patterns.  Small removable dot stickers with numbers covered them.  Very simple.  Even after some elaborate years -- with garlands of envelopes packed with snacks, songs, leather goods, and funny legal documents (!) -- a few people have said that little tree is their favorite.  There is something refreshing about simplicity around the holidays.

As an Episcopal, I know that the liturgical season of Advent neither regularly begins on Dec. 1 nor ends on Dec. 25th (it is instead marked by the four Sundays before Christmas and ends on Christmas eve), but I think those dates make for a more universal holiday experience (and more uniform calendar production, for sure).  In the church, the season of Advent is the beginning of the church year and is a time of waiting and self-preparation for the coming of Christ, who is sometimes referred to as "a light in the darkness."

In the liturgy, there are four colored advent candles, representing (depending on who you ask) hope, peace, joy, and love, lit weekly.  And while some years I've included bible passages, hymns, or doodles of baby Jesus, for the most part my calendars are rather secular.  I'm partial to those (hopefully) universal candle themes, and that of the fifth candle, called the Christ candle: light for the world. 

My best friend Jean is an atheist and many years ago recounted to me the sweet conversation she had with her son when he asked what Christmas was.  She told him (in similar words) that all around the world, in most every culture, during the season that's darkest, people come together to celebrate light.

These calendars might be my way of providing a reminder (for others and myself) that, no matter how difficult these times may be for us, the light is coming.  It comes from above and also within.  And it can be found in strangers, acts of kindness, and steaming pies.  Darkness always exists, but, together, our light can overcome it.

fear of felting

i've wanted to learn how to crochet for ages. i've been sewing since i was a child, but yarn scares me. my father's aunt tried to teach me when i was eight, but i was hopeless. after that i decided i couldn't do it.

well, my sister recently arranged a lesson for herself and invited me along. it was eye opening. i could do it. to supplement that first lesson, i turned to my new best friend, rachel. never met her, but she has a very cute website full of fun projects and all sorts of tutorials (including photos for lefties). i found exactly what i was looking for and jumped in. the next day, i had an adorable crocheted bowl.

the day after that, it was a felted bowl (photo at top). splish, splash, 123. now i can't stop making them. and tweaking the recipe and having fun with colors, too. i'm sure some of the better ones will end up in my shop. keep your eyes peeled. they're great for keeping change or keys or cotton balls in or any quirky things you have around the house, but no place for (like your peanuts...). i think they also make fantastic gifts. i've alerted my loved ones that they'll likely be getting these babies for some time to come...

hmmm. makes me wonder what else i've been afraid to try that i might actually be good at (or at least enjoy)?

shall we make a pact, you and i? i'll try (more) new things if you will?

BTW, if you're a fan of felting (and really, who isn't), you must see the outstanding exhibit at the cooper-hewitt museum ("fashioning felt") before it closes the first week of september. it is truly inspirational. and if you didn't want to go to mongolia before you saw it, i guarantee you'll want to go afterward. just do it quickly, before the traditions fade into "progress."