Day 55/365 All I Want For Christmas Is the Loch Ness Monster

We always have a traditional Christmas at our house, you know, the kind with a concrete Loch Ness Monster circling your tree. This Nessie was my Christmas present from my daughter and husband, destined for either my Swing Garden or the new wetlands pond in the backyard.

It seems they have been hiding it all over for the last couple months or so - first in the brush pile (which, after 5 years, I decided to clean up this fall -meaning they had to quickly smuggle it off to another hiding spot), then upstairs, disguised under blankets.

This sunny Christmas morning Nessie finally got to come out and swim around the Christmas tree. Eventually in the spring she will have a new pond just for her.

She's got a beautiful face, complete with little ears, and detailed scaling, just like the real Nessie in Loch Ness, Scotland. Yes, I do believe, I do believe......

Even though Seri played Catzilla earlier this week, she backed down when faced with a real monster.

After a few contemplative moments, she decided it was best to make friends, possibly form an alliance, and then snuggle next to Nessie.

From our Celtic home to you and yours - we hope all your Christmas' were bright!

Day 52/365 It Takes The Other End of the Village Too, The Sequel

It takes all kinds to sustain the ceramic economy. Green's Garden & Floral sits in the commercial district on the main drag. Inside, all sorts of Christmas floral arrangments are being created, and the lights are burning late while the clerks fill last-minute orders.

Looking over the rooftop of the bookstore, the Catholic Cathedral is on the left, next to the neighborhood pub (which has just had several crates of Coke delivered for tonight's party). In front of the pub the lamplighter is up on his box stretching to light the oil lamp.

In front of the cathedral, kids pose with Frosty the Snowman, and sell tickets for the school Christmas play, while the Coke peddler drives his horsedrawn wagon away from the pub.

To the left is the Toy Emporium, and on the right, the corner of the Tattered Corner book store.

The Toy Emporium in all it's glory - two lighted glass towers full of elves putting together toys -trains, toy soldiers, dolls, you name it, it lives at the Toy Emporium.

And here's our final destination, my favorite, the Tattered Corner Rare Books store. Chewy and I will be inside reading at the fireplace.

Have a very Merry Christmas from our village to yours!

Day 50/365 Santa Baby

Our family's primary holiday is Halloween, but we still have a couple Christmas traditions.
One of those is the "Half-Dressed Christmas Tree", well-known to any dog owner, designed to
thwart the "fluffy tail wag". It's also a Christmas present for the cats of the house, who treasure the opportunity to climb up the tree, and poke their furry heads out at eye level to any humans that wander by.

A more normal tradition is the Santa collection. At some point I realized I had acquired more than the customary number of Santa's and then started looking for a special one each year to add to the mantle. We've now run out of room to display them, so just the favorites come out.

These Santa's are the oldest, and in the folk art tradition. The chubby Santa on the right was a gift from my mom, handmade by an artist she knew.

The long tall wooden Santa face stays out all year - sortof like a Santa "Green Man". The Santa and little girl was bought for my daughter when she was born. And the Half Moon Santa-on-a-Stick was bought for our last Minnesota house, along with a couple of the tall thin Norse-style Santa's.

We found this Scottish Santa a couple years ago - a must, since we have 5 strains of Highland Scots in our family history. And yes, we have bagpipe Christmas music too.

This is a nod to our 23 years in Minnesota (and DH's home), Santa-in-an-Ojibway-birchbark- canoe, dressed in fur robes, with holly and berries, and various wild creatures alongside. It's huge, almost 20" long, but worth the space.

Tomorrow - the Christmas Village, or as Seri the Cat thinks of it: the set for Catzilla!