Welcome to my blog, where I take pleasure in words and pictures, be they my own or those of others. I'm a creative individual, and the crafty side I explore on my 'other blog', Picking Up The Threads, which I hope you'll visit too. I'm sure you understand that I have sole copyright of my original work and any of my contributions, so please ask if you want to use them. A polite request is rarely refused. So, as they used to say on the BBC's 'Listen With Mother' radio programme, many years ago: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin."

Thursday 1 December 2016

Counting the Days to Christmas

Our prompt for this week’s Sepia Saturday is an Advent Calendar; ‘Im Lande des Christkinds’ 1903, by Richard Ernst Kepler. In those days the calendars, would simply have little doors which were opened on each day leading up to Christmas to reveal a colourful picture, or verse. This example appears to be the just the pictures, the section with the doors having long since departed; or possibly these were the unopened doors. The calendar has suffered some visible damage; also the only door, or picture with a date, is the first one, with an angel opening the calendar. This supports the idea that what we are seeing is the pictures which would have been revealed on successive days.There is so much to study, with all the charming details being very much of the German Christmas tradition. I decided to choose just a few of the pictures to seek out similar happy scenes from Christmas past in my own albums.


The first photograph is from Christmas 1982, in our RAF married quarters in Rheindahlen, Germany. The children are making the most of their painting sets. Thank goodness for the Laura Ashley oil-cloth table cover. 




From the same year, comes the picture of them excitedly opening and examining the contents of their Christmas Stockings, whilst their larger gifts are yet to be unwrapped. The little angels in the calendar are rummaging in a whole toy chest of traditional toys, including drums, balls and dolls.





The tiny angel is delighted with her doll, whilst my daughter too enjoys her Cinderella upside-down doll, made by her mummy.



























Next in the calendar come four tiny angels flying around. We bought our first ‘angel chimes’ which rotated in the heat of the candles, striking a bell as they did so. They would get faster and faster and the tinkling sound more incessant. We all loved it but were glad when it stopped!


That year I had attended ceramics club, where I made and painted these two angels for my children. Yes we still have them, and they are very carefully unwrapped from their tissue and displayed each year.





My son was entranced - for a while at least.


Moving forward to 1991 and my other ‘little angel’ has reached the teenage years and enjoys cooking for Christmas, just like the one in the 1903 Advent Calendar.




























Now Sepians. start counting down to Christmas, and don’t forget to to see what other contributors have made of the prompt.


12 comments:

  1. A lovely inspirational post!

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  2. Oh my goodness I hadn't thought about my 'awake - asleep' upside down doll in years. And it was a Christmas present, too. Thanks for bringing back the memory! :)

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  3. Fond family memories and I enjoyed the way you linked them to one of the little images from the prompt.

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  4. Lovely approach to the theme image - I love the idea of opening those little windows and funding a "sepia" image within.

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  5. That is a really nice idea for a blog post. And calling up the happy memories at the same time.

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  6. I enjoyed your way of linking your children's pictures to the calendar pictures.

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  7. Your family photos match the calendar pictures so beautifully.

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  8. I actually mentioned those little angels flying around the candles...thanks for the photo of that! Haven't seen one in years!

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  9. Absolute perfection! Really imaginative.

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  10. What a great way to tie to the theme! And you have such lovely memories.

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  11. Love the way you used the individual pictures on the advent calendar to tie into your own photos. And what great photos and great memories they are! Thanks so much for sharing them with us!

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  12. What a terrific idea! Unfortunately modern retailers (in the US anyway) wish the Christmas countdown calendar had 54 days or even 90!

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