Zentangle Wrapping

"Brown paper packages tied up with string,

These are a few of my favorite things."

    These song lyrics are no doubt engraved the memories of many who will read this.  A song that plays each year on the radio in my house during Christmas.  This year, though, I didn't just hum along with it.  It gave me an idea.  A, slightly crazy one, you might say.

    Over the summer I took an interest in a form of drawing called Zentangle.  I have since then been slowly but surely practicing it when I can, and bit by bit I come to enjoy it even more than I did before.  The simple patterns are fun and with small practice are easy to draw ( which is good for me because I have the artistic talent of a goat ).  Combine them and some shading you've created a swirling tile of abstract wonder.

    I have always loved hearing stories from my parents and grandparents about the different traditions that they used to have when they were children, and there was one in particular that came to mind when that song first played this year.  It was the one about how my oma would spend her Christmas' back on her family's farm in the 40's and 50's.  They didn't have fancy wrapping paper like we do today.  They really did wrap their gifts in brown paper.

    So I got to thinking, and thought, why don't I do that this year?  And then I got to thinking some more ( a dangerous endeavor ), and thought, why don't I also hand draw a different Zentangle pattern on each of the pieces of brown paper I use?  That'll be fun, right?

    Well it turns out I did have fun doing it, and despite the seven sharpies I went through and all the extra time it took away from other things that may or may not have been more important, I am so glad I did it.  They are not perfect; I could go on endlessly about all the little imperfections in my drawings.  But what matters is that as much care went into the wrapping as did the gifts that they hold, and I'm happy I was able to put in a little extra care for the people I care most about.

    I will never be able to show them just how much they mean to me, but I'll have to keep trying anyways.

    So now I'm burning scented wax like crazy in my room to try and get the sharpie smell out, but oh well.  Something tells me I'll be crazy enough to do the same thing again next year, despite all the extra hassle.  You know, been there, done that, and then went back and did it again several more times because apparently I never learn.

Em

Tree Trimming and Carrol Singing

    The time has flown this past week and a half.  I didn't even realize how many days had past until I woke up yesterday and flipped my calendar to December.  I mean really, can you believe that it's December already?
     I managed to survive National Novel Writing Month, but even though I wrote all of those thousands of words, I did not finish my novel.  Turns out, I put more words into parts of my story than I thought I would originally, so that I reached my word count but not the end of my plot line by the time the month was over.  I'll have to keep writing then.  This novel will be much longer than what I planned, I think.
    Thanksgiving here was wonderful.  We didn't eat any turkey this year.  No, we went with German food for the main course.  Rouladen and purple cabbage.  For dessert, a chocolate chip skillet cookie. It doesn't get much better than that.  Don't know what rouladen is?  Well let me tell you.  Strips of beef with onions, bacon, pickle relish, and mustard rolled into it, browned and then slow cooked in gravy for hours.  It's so tender you don't even have to cut it.  The flavors from the meat rolls seep out into the gravy to make the most delicious gravy you have ever tasted.  Seriously, the gravy you could actually drink.  It's practically the whole reason you make rouladen to begin with, just to get that gravy.  Better than turkey?  I think so.
    ( I might have tried to get a picture of the food for you, but telling everyone to wait to eat for a moment so I could snap a picture would've been like jumping into a pool of piranhas and hoping they wouldn't bite me.  Impossible, really.  And dangerous. )
    We stuck with our tradition of putting up all our Christmas decorations on the inside the day after Thanksgiving.  Friday was a day of Christmas movies and music playing in the background while we decked the halls and threw tinsel around.  It was also the day that Christmas music was allowed to be played in our house.  Day before Thanksgiving?  No Christmas music allowed.  Day after Thanksgiving?  Bring out the jingle bells and ho ho ho's.
    It really doesn't take long to decorate the house.  What takes hours is the Christmas tree.  But in the end, it is very worth it.  Nothing matches and it doesn't look fancy, and that is just the way I like it.  I love to see it glow and ago searching through it in the dim light like our very own game of I Spy.
    All the Old World Christmas ornaments sparkle.  Homemade snowmen and garland add a soft and slightly fluffy touch.  Red candles are an old German tradition to remind us of our ancestors.  There are a few strange looking items, like a starfish and a burnt gingerbread heart ( yes, that's a moose sitting there behind the burnt cookie ).  Some wooden switches from St. Nick sit up there to remind us of when we were children and weren't exactly on our best behavior.  And if you look closely, you might even find a little turtle hiding in the tree branches.  All of this topped with tinsel that glitters in the tiny, colored lights.  I couldn't love it more.

    I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you are now belting out the carols at full volume now that it's over ( because I am and I really don't want to be the only one who's hurting their throat here ).

Em  :)