Barbie's Christmas List

There are many, many necessary tasks to complete before Christmas arrives.   It very helpful to make check lists so that nothing is forgotten.

Grocery lists, housework lists,  Christmas shopping lists, Christmas card lists, menus (a menu is a list) , and most important of all, the wish list.  What do you want for Christmas?

A wish list can be started at any time of the year and is open to constant modification as your whims dictate.  Have no doubt.  This list is for whimsical items only.  It may be that on Christmas morning your gifts include practical necessities like winter boots or bathroom towels.  Your family knows you need those things.  Does your family know you would love a purple scarf with sequins on the hem?  Does your family know you would love a package of sparkly paper, a rainbow stamp pad and a unicorn stamp?

When I was twelve I gave my parents a list of fabrics with yardages.  Two meters of pink velveteen,  1 1/2 meters of blue flannelette,  black corduroy, navy bottom-weight cotton, heavy calico and so on.  My father was skeptical that fabric was a Christmas gift but that's what was in all the gifts I opened that year.  I was so excited and spent the whole school break hunched over the sewing machine.

This year, I asked for fabric again.  Barbie is wearing a new dress made from one piece and behind her are two more examples of my treasure trove.   Don't you love gifts you don't need but really, really want?

Santa's helper, Ken's friend, Allan

Santa Claus is the most magical being in the world.  In one night he travels around the world in a  sleigh pulled by 8 tiny reindeer  delivering gifts to all the good boys and girls.  Or does he?

In some countries he appears on December 8th. In other countries, he comes on January 6th.  Maybe your family receives gifts on December 24th.   Perhaps your home is visited by La Befana or Dred Moroz or Father Christmas.   Saint Nicholas is  another welcome guest who brings presents at this time of year.

It matters not, the job gets done on time because Santa has many helpers.  These helpers preside at parties, listen carefully to wish lists while sitting on festive thrones posing for photos with children and pets.  Santa's helpers collect money for charity and ride in parade floats.  They distribute Christmas baskets of food for Christmas feasts.  They help Santa answer the millions of letters sent to the North Pole.

This year, Ken's friend, Allan, wants to be a Santa's helper too.  Ho, Ho, Ho.

Festival of Lights Barbie

Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year and in 2017 falls on December 21.  Winter is a very difficult time in northern climes.  It is depressingly dark, freezing cold and food can be very scarce.

While nothing we can do hastens the passage of the Earth around the sun,  people use sympathetic magic in an attempt to speed the return of long light-filled days.

Decorating our homes with sparkling lights (ostensibly to celebrate Christmas) is really a form of sympathetic magic.  We are trying in vain to lure the sun back.

The ancient tradition of burning a Yule log in the fireplace is based on the same idea.  Thinking that like engenders like, people would build a ceremonial fire in an attempt to bring back warmer weather.  Sometimes, now, we might just eat the rolled cake that represents that solstice fire.  Not everyone has a fireplace and that chocolate icing is delicious.

Barbie thought she'd hang lights on herself.  It may or may not affect how long winter will be.  It will certainly affect how great she looks. 

Ken Celebrates Canada 150

Canada Day in Ottawa was marked by huge crowds trying in vain to get onto Parliament Hill to watch the show. 

I volunteered at the Museum of Nature in the fossil gallery.  I think I talked to a million visitors, many of whom were there for the very first time.  My husband walked up to Major's Hill Park to enjoy the buskers.  He stopped at a booth where a group of Sikhs were teaching people about turbans.  When he met me after my shift, he was wearing a beautiful red turban.

For Sikhs, turbans are symbols of equality and dedication to a life of truthful living and  a high moral standard.  While a turban serves to keep a Sikh's long hair clean and tidy, it is not a hat but a two meter length of cloth that must be wrapped and unwrapped every day thus serving as a reminder of a Sikh's core values.  The colour, size and shape of a turban hold no specific meaning.

Tersh's bright red turban is very festive looking and perfect for Canada Day.  Ken also wanted to celebrate so he got one too.

Marathon Barbie

Marathon Barbie

In honour of Canada's 150th birthday, the annual Ottawa Marathon will be a run across Canada.  Each water station represents a province and I am the  captain of Team Saskatchewan.  We will be sporting  corsages of wheat tied with green and yellow ribbons to honour the provincial flag.

Runners from around the country voted  Ottawa Race Weekend the Best Race of 2016.  They loved the big crowds of spectators, the wicked fast pace of the 10 km (I’m quoting) and the enthusiasm of the volunteers. Apparently there was an impressive vibe (still quoting).

 

Organizers are anticipating about 43,000 runners in the six events and 2,500 volunteers.  My team of 40 stalwart souls is a seasoned group of elites.  We'll be there at 6 AM pouring a couple of thousand cups of water and  rehydration drink.  

Look for Barbie at kilometer 11.  She'll be wearing this dress and waving her stalk of wheat while she cheers.  On marathon Day, we are all winners.

 

Procrastinating Barbie

Truth in advertising.  This was going to be Valentine's Day Barbie 2017.

The outfit needed a heart-shaped necklace and nothing I owned was quite right.  Unsurprisingly, I didn't get to the store before all the Valentine's Day merchandise had been put away.  I hate shopping and go to great lengths to avoid it.  People who like stores are  people who are successful shoppers.  If you go shopping for a red shirt and you find one that fits, is a reasonable price and suits you, you experience an exciting glow of achievement and you will repeat the exercise.  If you go and don't find what you want, are dismayed with the image in the mirror when you do try something on and then suffer from sticker shock when finally you find something you might buy, then you become a reluctant shopper.  Reluctant shoppers procrastinate.

But wait!  Mardi Gras was two weeks later and with some additions this would be a great dress for a masquerade ball.  Um, missed that deadline too.  I would need to make a mask entailing sparkles and glue and tiny sequins.  Tomorrow, I'll make the mask tomorrow.  Reluctant crafters procrastinate too.

Barbie always does everything thoroughly and long before the deadline but if she were a procrastinator, this would be her dress.

Hopsacking Barbie

It's funny how fabrics, colours,weaves and patterns come into vogue and disappear again.  Hopsacking is a case in point.   It was originally used to transport hops, an essential ingredient in beer.  I found a reference that said hopsacking was used for men's suits but I remember it from the sixties, when it was printed with wild patterns and sold for women's clothing.

In grade 9, home economics was a required program for girls.   The sewing teacher gave us a choice of patterns for a jumper and told us to buy a length of hopsacking.  I bought a pattern for a drop-waisted jumper with a circle mini-skirt  and a length of brown corduroy that was not suitable for the pattern.

There were 24 girls in the class.  We shared the 6 sewing machines, the 6 tables, the 6 ironing boards and irons.Most of the class was spent waiting for a turn to use something.  I didn't get a chance to lay out my pattern at school so I took it home.  The suggested layout didn't work with a fabric with a wale so I brought it all back to class and the teacher did the layout for me.

I had access to a sewing machine at home so I did most of the sewing there and just sat and chatted during class time.  The project was progressing well until I got to the zipper.  We were supposed to do a lapped application.  I followed the instructions carefully, removed the basting and sighed.  I ripped it all out and did it again.  And again. And again.  I accidentally tore the back seam allowance with my seam ripper.  I showed my teacher who sighed and put the zipper in for me. She did a great job.  I don't remember my mark on the course.  I wonder if it was higher because the teacher did such a good job or lower because the teacher did the job.  No matter, I wore that jumper until it was threadbare from washing.

Barbie followed the instructions, bought an appropriate piece of hopsacking and made this.  All by herself.