Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Rather late arriving at the Tag Tuesday's Christmas party, but here I am with some Christmas Memories tags.  The first one is a simple watercolour and pen drawing, with a Christmas embellishment. The others are made with torn paper. I made a quite a few of these this year, using stamps from Christmases past - so I think they qualify for the "Christmas Memories" theme. Here is a three minute video  I made for Timeless Textiles Gallery . It is a shortened version of how to use the torn paper collage idea for cards... just press the arrow to begin.

And so ends this year's Advent blog series of Christmas Firsts - a first Christmas 'selfie' for us and with it, very best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all. 

Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse... It’s Christmas Eve…. And you just have to read out aloud, to your family, to your friends, to your pet or to yourself, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ …. This classic poem was FIRST called ‘A Visit from St Nicholas’ and published anonymously in 1823. It was later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore in 1837. I have discovered this last month whenever claiming a Christmas FIRST, there is always a but… but now some literary historians now think that the author might have been Henry Livingston Junior.  While most of the evidence  has  favoured Moore, most recent studies might suggest otherwise ...      MacDonald P. Jackson, Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Auckland, New Zealand has spent his entire academic career analyzing authorship attribution. He has written a book titled Who Wrote "the Night Before Christmas"?: Analyzing...

Christmas Trees 2017 , Civic Park, Newcastle NSW - Photo by Naomi Trute  So close to Christmas  I  must include the ‘tree’ in this list of Christmas firsts. There may be some debate over the exact location  and date of the FIRST Christmas tree but I think it has been narrowed down to northern Europe ( Estonia/Latvia) in the 15 th to 16 th century.   Legend suggests that the first tree decorated with paper flowers was burnt after a ceremony celebrating a mixture of pagan and Christian customs  in 1510  in Riga , Latvia.   Other early appearances of indoor Christmas trees have been recorded In Germany… Martin Luther, the religious reformer, invented the Christmas tree. One winter’s night in 1536, so the story goes, Luther was walking through a pine forest near his home in Wittenberg when he suddenly looked up and saw thousands of stars glinting jewel-like among the branches of the trees. This wondrous sight inspired him to set ...

  Who doesn’t love a bit of sparkle for Christmas? It should be no surprise that Germany, the country which thought of decorating trees for Christmas, invented tinsel. The FIRST tinsel made in Nuremberg around 1610 was real silver.  At first, tinsel was used to drape over statues, and not Christmas trees.  Like many of the Christmas firsts uncovered this season, there are other claims…. Some say that the first “public” appearance of tinsel was sen in 1846 when Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their family were seen gathered around a Christmas tree decorated with tinsel…..  Tinsel dates back to the Renaissance, the word itself coming from the French estincelle ("spark"). The Oxford English Dictionary dates the usage of "tinsel" as "very thin strips of shiny metal" back to the 1590s. It's unknown which genius thought to drape some on a fir tree. Some other historical accounts only trace Xmas tinsel back to the 1840s. I think it i...

Nothing quite as Aussie as a ‘pav’ at Christmas ? Continuing from yesterday’s Christmas first, today’s post stays with another favourite Christmas food. The pavlova is a much loved Aussie dessert, and is often served at a Christmas celebration in a wreath shape. Before I researched the FIRST pavlova for Christmas I was prepared to enter the controversy about ownership of the ‘pav” - Australia or New Zealand? The pavlova is named after the famed Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who toured Australia and New Zealand in 1926. As the New Zealand story goes, the chef of a Wellington hotel at the time created the billowy dessert in her honor, claiming inspiration from her tutu. Australians, on the other hand, believe the pavlova was invented at a hotel in Perth, and named after the ballerina when one diner declared it to be “light as Pavlova.” (From food52 blog) What I didn't know was that it would appear now that neither Australia nor New Zealand can lay claim to the first...

One of my favourite Christmas foods is mince pies. I am not sure I would have enjoyed as much the FIRST Christmas mince pies, filled with spiced meat and suet. The origin of the mince pie dates back to 13th century when Crusaders brought back to England Middle Eastern spices and methods of cooking meat with various fruit and spices. The early mince pie was known by several names, including "mutton pie", "shrid pie" and "Christmas pie". Typically its ingredients were a mixture of minced meat, suet, a range of fruits, and spices such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Served around Christmas, the savoury Christmas pie (as it became known) was associated with supposed Catholic "idolatry" and during the English Civil War was frowned on by the Puritan authorities. Nevertheless, the tradition of eating Christmas pie in December continued through to the Victorian era, although by then its recipe had become sweeter and its size markedly reduced from...

#everydaycreativeatoz Days 17-23 Q-W Q : Quilt, loving stitched  by family members for Jim's 70th Birthday - R: Reindeer - watercolour and ink drawing   S: 'Stick dolls' - 193 art dolls created for the exhibition "Stitched Up" T: Temari - wrapped and stitched balls in the  Japanese temari style  U: Used, undone and unfolded tea bags - great for various art/craft  V: Village and vixen ( handpainted wood)  W: Wise women - three art dolls created for the WOW series, Women of Wisdom)   

For many, a childhood memory of Christmas morning will be a Barbie doll gift under the tree. The FIRST Barbie doll was a great success commercially in 1959, with estimates of 300,00 dolls sold that year. “ A Barbie doll is easily one of the most recognizable and best-selling toys in history. With over a billion dolls sold, Barbie has staying power that other dolls could only dream of. Considering that the pint-sized princess has been a mainstay in popular culture for over 50 years, it’s safe to say she’ll be around for a long time to come. “ From Bestselling Toys in History   1960's Barbie  Of course Barbie has changed considerably in 58 years. While she hasn’t aged, the Barbie a child will receive this Christmas will look quite different from the Barbie someone my age would have received in the 1960’s.   From last year, Barbie can have one of three new body types  (tall, petite, and curvy), as well as many variations of skin tones and eye colo...

Where in the world will FIRST  experience Christmas Day? Because of the time zones and daylight saving , the first places will be   Samoa,    Tonga  and Kiritimati (Christmas Island) . They   are the first places to welcome Christmas. New Zealand and Australia see in Christmas Day soon after,  while American Samoa and Baker Island in the United States of America are among the last. These statistics are more often quoted in relation to New Year's Eve, but I think it seems appropriate that Christmas Island is one of the first to celebrate Christmas in the world.  Kiritimati,    or Christmas Island, is a Pacific Ocean raised coral atoll in the northern Line Islands. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. The name "Kiritimati" is a respelling of the English word "Christmas" in the  Kiribati language   The island has the greatest land area of any  coral atoll  in the w...

Carols by Candlelight is an Australian Christmas tradition which has spread across the world. It is thought that the FIRST Carols by Candlelight might have been held sometime in the 19th century. However, in 1938, the Melbourne Carols by Candlelight, established and popularised the concept of large crowds gathering in public outdoor places to sing carols by candlelight, led by celebrity live performances and a live band.  Today, the largest such event  in Australia is held annually at the  Sidney Myer Music Bowl  in Melbourne's King's Domain Gardens on  Christmas Eve  .  This Victorian event was introduced in 1937 by  Norman Banks , a radio announcer.  Whilst walking home from his night-time radio shift on  Christmas Eve  in 1937, he passed a window and saw inside an elderly woman sitting up in bed, listening to  Away in a Manger  being played on the radio and singing along, with her face being lit by candle...

Today, the Simmons family ( my husband's family, and hence my family too) is celebrating Christmas together for the 32nd year. As in all good loving families , there is most likely some disagreement about the actual number , but as far as some of us can remember, the family came together for Christmas for the first time in 1985 and that is, in another  home rather than in their childhood home in Bonnell's Bay.  This was some years after the tragic death of Rose Simmons , my mother-in-law who had previously always welcomed everyone "home" for Christmas and by 1985,  owing to various locational changes for work , most of the family were within reasonable travelling distance from one another.  Simmons Family Christmas 2008  And this is how the Simmons family Christmas works - one of the Simmons siblings organises the date and hosts the gathering in his or her home.  Simmons family siblings  Everyone in the family is allocated some food t...