Decorate Stuff

Just a random shots of some ornaments on my Christmas Tree Chair and scenes from the chair itself. The ornaments on the tree itself are all equine themed.

I will often change things around when the mood strikes me.

 The Winged Pegasus.

On the chair itself...

I have a few more but just got distracted by other fun ideas.

Sometimes characters just show up and I just have to make a go of it.

You never know who is going 

to sit on the chair next.

I finally started to set up my Lego Winter Village.
Seems mini-me and mini-Charlie are about to 
meet Bad Santa!

Just for fun.

This is not the Christmas Chair but a scene on one of the cabinets I built earlier this year.

Nothing much going on here other than snow, cold, and more snow and more cold.

I was plowed out twice this week! And we have been snowshoeing.

PS: my kids used to call Decorations ... Decorate. Thus the way I define it!

The Christmas Chair & Charlie

 

Placing the jointed corduroy Christmas Bear that I made over 30 years ago in the seat of the chair marks the finish of the chair-tree. Lots of things will still happen in the seat of the chair, but this means I am done with any touch ups.

Now we just enjoy the light and cheer it brings to the living room especially on dull and dreary cold days.

The wooden crates around it have things in it too. Who doesn't like gnomes? Well some folks. I happen to enjoy the few I do have. 

They don't all spend their time around the tree though. The one below came out hiking with me earlier in the week when it was still quite warm out.

I found this gnarly tree ...

...and it sure felt like a place that a gnome would like to hang out in.

Our weather is changing rapidly this morning. We will warm up out of the below zero digits to a warm enough temp to have snow and freezing drizzle with ice accumulations before it gets cold again.

It looks like the Gingerbread fellow has it all under control for the North Pole. He is tuning up his snowblower!

Last but not least, I had to try this.

Charlie's Christmas Shot.

Finally, as he approaches the age of 7, he is understanding what this posing is all about. This year, it was super laid back. 

I just set him on the turtle stool and put a ribbon around his neck. Here is how we worked it out.

He is very food driven! 20 seconds.... 👇

Out take...

Final. This wasn't the best I've done, but I just wanted to get his 'face' on record for this year. He was a good boy for doing this for me.

Have a great Saturday!

Christmas Chair and other things

This year's version
of the Christmas 

Chair

There is no partial tree with it this year. Just the chair in an ever changing environment. I liked how the shower curtian on the windows behind the tree changes the whole feeling and visual of the chair and baskets.

Here is the full living room.

The Honorable jointed Christmas Bear gets to sometimes sit in the chair.

I made him in the late 1980's. So he is an oldy but goodie. The one thing I do enjoy is making stuffed toys. For the life of me I cannot sew a shirt or pants. But give me a complicated toy and I can get it done. I haven't done any in a long time because I simply don't have the space.

Sometimes the chair is host to other things.

It is ever changing. I do something different to it nearly every day.

Around the house I have the usual.

The Elf on the Shelf has been hanging around. I haven't seen him disrupt anything yet. I have to also keep an eye out on my tiny jointed button bears. They like mischief also. I'm sure they will show up.

For me decorating for Christmas has become a way of having fun and thinking outside of the traditional Christmas 'Box'. Instead of one big glorious tree, I like to have little scenes that might sometimes lead the viewer to think of a story.

I want it to be fluid and ever changing. 

It may be more about being able to use my creativity than any holiday. After all, I get to mess with lights and all sorts of decorations...for about a month!

As kids we used to do 'set ups'. Sometimes it was with my brother's awesome train set and little soldiers -- sometimes those soldiers got run over by the train and we got enjoy wonderful derailments.

Other times we'd set up immense battlefields on the ping pong table in the basement. My brother is and always was a history buff with particular interests in large battles. We enjoyed our set ups.

So I continue. I love making small 'dioramas' and changing them. This time of the year is perfect for that.

Photo from when we were kids. Dad may have taken it and it is blurry, but there are the Legos and it looks like Civil War soldiers. This looks like one of my brothers big battles.
Such fond memories of play like this. 

Maybe that is why I continue to this day.

Just moving along

The above 7 second video is from when I was doing chores Wednesday night. I thought it would be fun to use the time lapse 'movie' feature on my camera.

I had intended it to go on for a while but even with a weighted tripod, I was afraid there would be a wind gust and it would blow the whole works over.

The winds didn't happen until nearly 9pm, but it pays to be cautious. I sure didn't want to lose the camera and the lens.

A wee spot of color

The old hand made Teddy makes

his appearance on the chair

I made this jointed Teddy Bear 35 years ago. I can see that his one ear needs a bit of mending. He is in rather great shape as he only really comes out at Christmas time. He spends most of his time otherwise in the extra bedroom upstairs.

The green bear is a simple and easy 3 piece stuffed bear. I used to make so many of them and give them away as stocking stuffers. I made a very large one out of fur one time, it was really beautiful.

The other bear was a cast off I found at a Thrift Store. Its tag was ripped out and it is missing some roses, but I thought it was really quite beautiful. I guess I must like bears, right?

I'm not done with the log

homes yet, but

I figured I'd 

let the Polar Bears

Explore them with 

the Mad Snow People.

The roof comes off from each of the stick houses. I used Elderberry trees which generally grow almost perfectly straight and can be nipped with a hand nipper. 
They are perfectly Imperfect. A work in progress. I don't know if I'll add rooms or floors ... or make another strange looking house.

I may take clay and fill in the gaps like a 'real' log house would look. It is something that occupies my mind and hands. My husband says he sees no sense in it.

I quip that it cost nothing and when I am done, if I don't like it, I can toss it in the brush pile.

Logic will take you from A to
B.
Imagination will take you everywhere...
Albert Einstein

Girry got lost and...

That nasty little Elf was up to no good again. Hiding gifts in hollow trees.

However, the little Christmas Bears were on to him. They are Christmas Ninja Bears. More stealthy than the Elf on the Shelf.

They caught up to the Elf and shoved him into the hollow tree to teach him a lesson.

One simply does not mess with these little bears. 

And what happened to Girry? He had been told by the big bears to meet up at the Mossy Rock. 
Girry went to the forest and discovered that there were so many rocks with moss on them. He climbed the highest one and waited.

and ... 

waited...

He waited through the night and listened to the spooky forest sounds.
And he waited because he wasn't sure how to get back to the house where all the other bears were.

It started to snow. Girry figured he was lost or the big Christmas Bear had tricked him and he wasn't really wanted.

What Girry didn't know is that the Big Bears had asked some of the other bears to search for the funny Giraffe. After all, Giraffes were not native to the woods and they figured Girry had gotten lost. 

A search ensued.

And Girry listened to the wild forest noises. He figured he was a goner. Some wild creature would come by and carry him off...chew him

to bits...

pull out his stuffing...

or worse???

However the Christmas Bears tracked him. As I said, they are like tiny Ninjas. Nothing escapes their attention.

They may have only buttons for joints, but they sure can get around!

Girry was found with a huge sigh of relief.

They warned Girry not to wander off by himself anymore and to definitely not trust the Elf on the Shelf ever!

That's my toy story and I'm stickin' to it.

If the weather service is correct, we could have a dozer of a snow storm coming.
That makes me happy.

What was he doing???

So everyone was wondering what the Elf on the Shelf was up to. 

Was he stuck in a rock?

Was Christmas Bear looking for him?

NO...

He was sneaking around in the woods and hiding presents!

There is a hole in this rock and he was hiding from the Bears of course.

The Bears were just hanging out in Christmas Attire waiting for Girry to arrive.

Girry got the rocks mixed up and sat waiting....

and...

waiting... and waiting....

Meanwhile at the Ice Wall in the deep forest...

The trolls sat down for a nice meal....

and in the house....

Charlie began to dream of bones....

Hey its my imagination...

I can go anywhere I want with it!

You all have a great day. Today we should get some nasty weather.

I can't wait!