The Christmas season is officially upon us. There is no holding back now, so put up the tree, bake some cookies and let’s begin with all the festivities. For Tea Time Book Club this December we are reading “The Nutcracker.” This is the Alexander Dumas version. Alexander was a French writer. You may have heard of his other works, such as “The Three Musketeers,” or “The Count of Monte Cristo” I have begun and have thoroughly enjoyed it thus far. Who doesn’t love a little magic and whimsy during the Christmas season, a mouse prince, a nutcracker, sugar plum fairies and dancing cannot be beat.
Nutcrackers derived from the Ore Mountains of Germany. The Ore mountains are a range of mountains filled with snowy trees ( in the winter) where one can mine and successfully find silver ore, hence the name. Amongst these mountains is said to lie a small town named Seiffen, this is where the nutcracker was created. Nutcrackers were considered to be a sort of lucky charm as it was meant to keep evil spirits at bay while bringing luck to the family that owned them. Now most of us don’t even use them to crack nuts, but to decorate our homes at Christmas.
E.T.A Hoffman, the original author of “The Nutcracker and The Mouse King” was known for being an artist of all sorts. He dabbled into drawing, painting and writing tales that had a bit of spook in them with a little fantasy blurred with reality. Hoffman’s ballet first hit the stage in December of 1892 at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg Russia. Its first performance outside of Russia was in Europe and the U.S. in 1934.
I grew up watching these ballets with fondness. I found myself always wishing to be Klara. I was surprised when I began reading that the main character’s name was Mary, not Klara and that Klara was the name of Mary’s doll. I wonder when that switch was made into the ballet.
Just as The Nutcracker is staple to a fairytale Christmas, so are cookies and movies. This time of year deserves extra attention to details and celebration. Sunday afternoon movies and the smell of fresh baked cookies waft throughout our home as we make it a tradition to watch movies and bake when we get home from church. We saw some videos on social media about putting together Christmas cookies with sugar cookies. It seemed like a good idea to us, so when we broke out the Elf movie, we also broke out the cookies. By the way, they were delicious!
Elf is a favorite of my husbands’, we have a whole compilation of movies to watch during the season. My top five favorites 1. A Christmas Story 2. It’s A Wonderful Life 3. Home Alone 4. The Man Who Invented Christmas 5. The Santa Claus 6. A Muppets Christmas Carol. Okay so I added an extra one….but I cant help myself. Three are too may to pick from. I also love “The Christmas Candle” and “Charlie Brown Christmas.”
Christmas is a time of cozy. As the days get shorter and the light dims, I am reminded that the ultimate light of the world is to be celebrated. Although many have speculated that Jesus was born in the Spring, we have a designated time of year to remember his birth, December 25th. There are many ways to keep Jesus very present during the Christmas season. Lighting candles and singing hymns in the evenings before bed, is a favorite tradition in our home. There are many more ideas, but I will save that for my next post.
I try and decorate as cozy as can be with lots of lights to brighten the evenings as the dark settles. This year we decorated the kitchen in an Elf inspired way with paper snowflakes and snow chains. It’s been quite fun…..just paper, staples and command hooks. with a few garnishes from the dollar store. I also create a cocoa bar for those cold evenings and movie days. I have cocoa, marshmallows and candy canes.
Naturally, since we are a family of readers, we have stacks of picture books that pertain to the season. I do a Christmas book advent, where each night before our hymn I read aloud a Christmas picture book. In addition to this I also read aloud “A Christmas Carol” to the family the first few weeks before Christmas. A lot of the picture books I own are books I remember reading from my own childhood and have a special place in my heart, while others are new and exciting.
The Christmas season is my favorite, where the little things make life just a bit more whimsical. How do you make the Christmas season special?
Tea Time Book Club 