Okay, so this is meant to be an Advent post....
Below is a 'letter' from Martha. Martha Stewart that is - it's perfect for all us crafty 'doer's, movers and shakers' and perfect for Christmas. Read it and smile...
Dear Friends,
This perfectly delightful note is being sent on paper I made myself to tell you what I have been up to. Since it snowed last night, I got up early and made a sled with old barn wood and a glue gun. I hand-painted it in gold leaf, got out my loom, and made a blanket in peaches and mauves. Then to make the sled complete, I made a white horse to pull it from DNA that I just had sitting around in my craft room.
By then, it was time to start making the place mats and napkins for my 20 breakfast guests. I'm serving the old standard Stewart twelve-course breakfast, but I'll let you in on a little secret: I didn't have time to make the table and chairs this morning, so I used the ones I had on hand. Before I moved the table into the dining room, I decided to add just a touch of the holidays. So, I repainted the room in pinks and stenciled gold stars on the ceiling.
Then, while the homemade bread was rising, I took antique candle molds and made the dishes (exactly the same shade of pink) to use for breakfast. These were made from Hungarian clay, which you can get in almost any Hungarian craft store.
Well, I must run. I need to finish the buttonholes on the dress I'm wearing for breakfast. I'll get out the sled and drive this note to the post office as soon as the glue dries on the envelope I'll be making. Hope my breakfast guests don't stay too long -- I have 40,000 cranberries to string with bay leaves before my speaking engagement at noon.
Love,
Martha
P.S. When I made the ribbon for this typewriter, I used 1/8 inch gold gauze. I soaked the gauze in a mixture of white grapes and blackberries which I grew, picked and crushed last week just for fun.
It was quite strange, I started to scatter the images above into the letter, which didn't seem to look 'right', but then I realised they are just perfect where they are....I see the images of the real meaning of Christmas in amongst the madness.
I see this as an analogy of the real Spirit that exists, but often gets teased out of sight, because of the business of preparing for the festivites. We get bogged down in the santa stuff, the Christmas twinkle lights, the eco wrapping paper, the perfect handmade present, the quintessential budget Christmas feast at $10 per person, or the 'seafood on the beach' affair, who we spend Christmas day with, and how we get there, and all the logistics of the day.
Not there is anything wrong with these things of themselves, but there is a chance that distracting ourselves with being good we push out that which is the perfect gift. His name was Jesus. He was quite cool when he was a baby, but then he grew up, and got all controversial. He's actually the reason we celebrate Christmas, and get all stressed out about it. Can we blame Him?
Read Martha #1 here.
Thanks for the chuckle and the re-focus! I would like to find one blogger who doesn't feel 'crappity-crap' at the moment. She (or more likely he) must be out there somewhere, but I've sure got good reason to feel low right now, some of it of my own making...
ReplyDeleteEveryone does seem to be blogging and commenting less at the moment - I certainly am after the weekend we've just had. I saw your last post was there, had no time to give it proper attention, and just told myself to come back and read it properly later. I suspect most of us have got to that stage now.
So, I'll focus on our controversial Jesus, and also take a moment to revisit your last post... Thank you!
LOL! That was GREAT! Hilarious post and absolutely beautiful pictures. Thank you for a treat for several senses. :) :) :)
ReplyDeletehaha you made me laugh Floss! Of course, it's reasonable to think that most people are clapped out at this time of year. Thanks for visiting and making me feel better.
ReplyDeleteGlad you thought it was funny too Kaye.
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