Christmas Creatures 2012

The Christmas Creatures are a long held family tradition. My Dad has been making them for all the children (and guests and ‘hangers on’) for some 38 years. (You can see some examples from over the years here.) In conversation with my Dad just before Christmas, he told me that one year, what with cousins and extra small guests, he made sixteen of that Creature! SIXTEEN? And I stress about four!

Last year, my Dad handed the tradition over to me. This was my first one: intended as a testament and honour to my Dad’s years of Christmas Creature production. (He's a retired doctor.)

Here is this year’s creature:

Christmas Creatures have a cavity, into which tiny gifts, wrapped in tissue paper, are inserted. Of course, with a chicken... it really HAD to be an egg, right? (Found in Sampeng Lane, Chinatown.)

I have to confess that the design is not my own. I hope that this is not deemed cheating; rather I see it as utilizing the opportunities of the 21^st century and once I had seen LiEr's truly brilliant pattern, nothing I could have done would have come close; this was everything I wanted the chicken creature to be. It was found here and purchased, as insurance, (here) in case time ran away with me. Time did run away with me; lion costumes and holly headpieces took up more than I anticipated and two of the creatures have to be sent ahead to the UK. 

Cakes, pies and festive fascinators

Radio silence again! It’s a bit daft to announce that I shall be quietly blogging away without any fuss only to disappear for another (nearly) week. 



It’s just that it’s that time of year again…. There are some gigs that I’ve done over and over, that I haven’t been asked to do (quiet sigh of relief) only to find they’ve been replaced with other new gigs. Some partners in crime and I were invited to decorate a Christmas tree for charity and Monday and Tuesday last week were the ‘decorate day’ and launch. More to come on that in a day or two when I come begging for YOU for votes! On Thursday night I went to the Foreign Correspondents Club to listen to Amitav Ghosh talk. While some of the politics was interesting, I was more interested in his writing, which was barely touched upon. Still, the gins were big and cheap and it was lovely to be out with friends. On Friday I was part of a group that was cutting up donated cakes and pies for Ye Olde Tarte Shop at the Ploenchit Fair, an annual event that raises lots of money for charity. 



This weekend my time has been taken up by the construction of some Christmas headwear. Obviously, for anyone that knows me, there’s nothing frivolous about making festive fascinators; this is a High Priority activity and the coming weeks would be less without them. Right from the beginning they were very fiddly little buggers; lots of cutting out in fraying type fabrics which turned me goggle eyed. And in the construction of them, I’m ashamed to report that I turned the language blue. On the first occasion, family members within earshot rushed in to see if I'd sewn my fingers together. After they saw I was simply cursing like a sailor in frustration, they ignored me. (Harumph.) Still, they’re done now and there’s only a similar headpiece to make for a teddy bear (yes, honestly) a costume to make for Husband and four Christmas Creatures. In the next ten days. Yikes.








(While I was checking out some visuals for the picture to illustrate this, I came across this post which made me laugh out loud. PLEASE DO NOT visit this link if swearing offends you. [It's not big and it's not clever; it simply demonstrates your lack of vocabulary... I do however like a bit of Anglo Saxon.])

This year's Christmas Creatures

I told you here how my Dad has made the children of the family Christmas Creatures for some 38 years. To call them 'Blue Peter style' might be accurate one year and totally inaccurate - possibly insulting - the next. (The dinosaur on the bottom right was made using a newly acquired piece of equipment that cut polystyrene - heated wire, I'm guessing.) The Creatures had to contain some kind of cavity in which tiny presents were hidden. The creatures would be placed under the tree on Christmas Eve though I have at least one memory of them appearing, smelling of paint, on Christmas morning. For most of these years Dad was a senior consultant at a local hospital; quite how he got them made each year is beyond me. We often had guests at Christmas or there were children of close friends that Dad wanted to make them for; some years I think Dad made around six or seven Creatures.

Dad was poorly with nearly-pneumonia back in November. I began to worry that he might be worrying about the Christmas Creatures... After careful negotiations - I really didn't want him to feel I was taking it away from him - I offered to make them this year. Dad was very pleased but said it wasn't just this year's nearly-pneumonia but also his worsening gout, which he has badly in his hands, that made them too difficult now.

I was tasked with taking them over.

It felt only right that I should honour my Dad with all the making he has done for us over the last years. I made four 'dolls' and here they are:

(This year I cheated slightly with the cavity idea. The cavity is the filing cabinet, not full of medical records, but little gifts, sort of stocking style...)



 

When do you open your presents?

When Husband was growing up, his family adopted the Christmas customs of their close friends who were Danish.  They had a special meal on Christmas Eve and then they opened their presents.

It was nice when we were ‘going out’ because I could spend the evening of the 24^th with his family and at the crack of dawn on 25^th I could hare around the M25 and arrive at my own home and I hadn’t missed anything because my family don’t open presents until after lunch on Christmas Day. (Realistically this could be as late as 3 or 4pm…)

When we got married we spent our early Christmas doing the same thing. I’m sure all parties were delighted there was no ‘them and us’ going on.

But when we had children and had one or two Christmases on our own, we had to negotiate.

So I told Husband, “I’m NOT opening my presents on Christmas Eve; that’s just crazy.” Poor Husband.

We have a special Christmas Eve meal (his tradition) which starts the festivities off early (my family might still be shopping for gifts at this point) and we have a table present (his tradition.) We do the altogether more average present opening after breakfast on the 25^th (more my tradition.) We have the Christmas Creatures (my tradition.)

One of the customs I have willingly adopted from Husband’s upbringing is the family Christmas game. They had a new board game each year and yesterday I went out and bought ours:

All I want for Christmas....

… is a Christmas creature.

Since I was about seven (that’s a LONG time people) my Dad has made a Christmas creature for all the children. When Husband appeared on the scene, he too qualified for a Christmas Creature. It was only as our children became old enough to receive one (small parts and all that) that my generation no longer had them. The creatures might be real animals, our pets, beasts from mythology or my Dad’s imagination. They appeared under the tree on Christmas Eve or the following morning. Each model had a cavity which was filled with tiny presents, wrapped in tissue paper.

Since I am home (and my sister has kept so many of them) here is a Christmas Creature montage:

You can read a bit more about the creatures’ origins here, here and here.

In the meantime, it won’t fit inside the Christmas Creature, but this is a definite under-the-tree gift. Cally’s first book, Heaven Can Wait made me laugh out loud (no mean feat) so I’m really looking forward to reading Home for Christmas which is out today.

Beth Prince has always loved fairytales and now, aged twenty-four, she feels like she's finally on the verge of her own happily ever after. She lives by the seaside, works in the Picturebox - a charming but rundown independent cinema - and has a boyfriend who's so debonair and charming she can't believe her luck! There's just one problem - none of her boyfriends have ever told her they love her and it doesn't look like Aiden's going to say it any time soon. Desperate to hear 'I love you' for the first time Beth takes matters into her own hands - and instantly wishes she hadn't. Just when it seems like her luck can't get any worse, bad news arrives in the devilishly handsome shape of Matt Jones. Matt is the regional director of a multiplex cinema and he's determined to get his hands on the Picturebox by Christmas. Can Beth keep her job, her man and her home or is her romantic-comedy life about to turn into a disaster movie?

You can order Home For Christmas here.

“So this is Christmas…” ♪♪♪

I shouldn’t really be here should I? Husband is setting up the new wii… he finally caved. I have to confess I don’t really understand it but then I didn’t understand blogging either – and look at me now!

About ten days ago a parcel arrived. Son and I went to the office to collect it. “Ah,” I said, “I know what this is. This is the Christmas Creatures.” Son gasped, “Can we open them now?” Of course I didn’t allow it. I rang my Dad, maker of the Christmas Creatures, to let him know they had arrived.

This morning, our Christmas morning, Husband and I were up and awake and the children, proper teenagers at last, slept on and on and on… stockings bulging and untouched. Whatever has happened to those tiny children who woke at 2am to rip open their stockings?

As they slept on, I opened my Dad’s box of Christmas Creatures. OMG. “He’s surpassed himself,” I say to Husband. “This is the best Creature ever.” Husband said I say that every year… but look – how beautiful are these?

You can go here and here to see explanation and examples of my family tradition of Christmas Creatures.

Squirrels

Back in February I posted about my Dad, and the Christmas Creatures that he makes for the children in the family and sometimes some hangers on. He’s been making them since I was around seven or eight. They are constructed in a rather sophisticated Blue Peter fashion with a hollow belly into which little presents are hidden. They were always top secret: what creature would they be? There have been a snowman, a cat, robots, spacemen, aliens, a sausage dog… many little creatures lovingly made and filled over the autumn months. They would be unveiled in a very low key manner by putting them under the tree on Christmas Eve or on Christmas morning for us to stumble upon. We’d receive them with the presents after lunch.

This year my kids went off to the UK for Christmas, while I stayed in Thailand doing my Skyros course. And so this trip home is the first time I’ve seen this year’s Christmas Creature.

Here is my Dad’s inspiration, eating nuts on the kitchen window:





















And here is the Christmas Creature:

My Dad

Last week I said I would blog about my parents one at a time. Today is my Dad's turn.

My Dad:

• rarely swears, but when he does he runs together convoluted combinations of really atrocious expletives.


• brought my sister and me a cup of tea every school day morning to wake us up for school. It became a condition that the man I married would selflessly provide me with endless cups of tea. (I failed.)


• catches spiders in his hands. He shakes his hands gently to stop them from biting him. Eeeewugh. (Husband stamps on spiders since he’s a bit scared too – although less so since his six year old Son challenged him with: “Dad, if you hold the tarantula, so will I”.)


• is amazingly talented with his hands. For many years he’s made props for the local theatre group’s performances. So when I go home, this is the kind of thing I chance upon:

• Every year (bar one when he was ill) he has made a Christmas Creature for the children of the family. Until we had our own children this was my sister and I until we were around 30! Christmas creatures are made, Blue Peter style, from cardboard tubes, fizzy drink bottles and are decorated in the style of: aliens, cats, dogs, snowmen, dinosaurs, etc. They always have a hollow in their bodies which is filled with small toys and gifts. They are placed under the tree and given out with presents. Every year it’s a top secret what creature he’s made.

• (This Christmas Creature is Flicka, the dog. If you turn her round, you can open her bottom! and presents are hidden inside her hollow. It's quite scary how Dad has captured her neurotic expression so brilliantly. )

• It never mattered how many friends we invited, how late in the day, my parents always found enough food, and pulled up another chair. Our friends were always welcome.


• Has written his memoirs.


• He’s a fabulous cook. He’s always does Christmas meals and Sunday lunches but since he retired he has done nearly all the cooking.