Christmas Cards...

And Procrastination....

It Was one of Those weekends, Dear Readers, when almost nothing was accomplished in my Mini Worlds, due to the necessity of moving all my houses around to make room for the Christmas Trees. My RL house is not large, and I have gone a little overboard over the past few years, assuming that I can find room for all my mini Real Estate, if I manage it carefully! So when it comes time to bring in the Christmas Trees (I do one upstairs and one downstairs.... one white and one with colored lights...) I am forced to compromise somewhere. It is the one time of year when I am almost tempted to admit that Maybe I have too many projects under way. But I managed it! The two trees are in place and have their lights on. The upstairs one is beside my drawing table and keeps me company on the loooong winter nights while I draw the Christmas Card. And we all know this takes me a Looong time to complete! But lest you think I gave up on my lilac blossoms.... above you can see the blossom number Thirty-five finished!

And here it is in the box with the rest of them.

I am hoping I can continue to make them

 according to my timetable of one a week,

 and still have enough time to draw the Christmas Card.

We shall see!

And meanwhile, since some of you are new-ish to my blog

 and might have only a vague idea of what I am talking about

 with The Christmas Card.... 

I thought I would take you on a brief tour

 of the most recent offerings....

Well, perhaps I will start with an overview.....

Because this is the Thirty-fifth consecutive year I have drawn a card...

The first twenty-five years are hanging on the wall

 at the bottom of the stairs.... 

It's really impossible to get a decent shot of the whole group!

The first eighteen years are done only in black and white...

 pen and ink on paper.... 

because color copies were not possible back then!

Over the years, the cards became a record of family life for the year...

 and because I love Medieval Art, 

they have always been inspired by Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts....

 often incorporating a letter of the alphabet.... 

either overtly or hidden in the drawing...

I am not going to bore you with looking closely at ALL of them!

But here is a closer look at the last ten years....

Since I have been living in my "New" House....

Of course, I drew the new house.... 

a little like a Dollhouse.....

 even though I had not yet started rebuilding The Lovely Old Dollhouse...

 it is sitting in the upstairs left-hand room

 in the back corner beside the Christmas Tree....!

(You might need to poke the picture to see it...!)

And I am sitting at the drawing table... drawing the card of course!

My sons were both home too...

And there is a letter hidden in this card.... though it is very subtle.

And in 2009, Even though I had fallen into the Dollhouse world....

 I was still a bit in denial.... 

The only view here is in the tail of the "Q".....

 rebuilding The Lovely Old Dollhouse had begun!

My younger son was serving in the Army

 and was in Afghanistan at the time....

(I apologize for the glare on these pictures... 

I had a hard time getting photos  without glare....!)

2010 and I was beginning to admit to the World

 that I was playing with dolls......

I had started this blog.... featured in the main bar of the "X"...... 

along with views of The Castle kitchen on the lower left corner... 

and The Lovely Old Dollhouse in the upper right!

I am sure you will need to poke the pictures to see what I am talking about!

2011 was a Hard year.... 

Hurricane Irene devastated our region... 

My sister was sick with cancer.... 

to mention a few of the larger challenges....

 but we made it through!

Again, there is a letter in this one too.... 

I think it is pretty obvious.

And I was still pretty shy about admitting

 my attachment to the mini world...

 but there in the center of the Tree Trunk, 

my sister and I are playing with the Lovely Old Dollhouse...

But in 2012, Dear Readers,

 I finally gave up all pretense! 

I had fallen deeply into the Tiny world of The Tree House.... 

(at approximately 1:48 or quarter scale)

I had done nothing else all year!

 I struggled mightily to find a different subject.... 

but the Tree House won... it got center stage in the Card!

Again... a hidden or subtle letter....

(I am sure you will see it!)

2013 was a "Flashback" to the memory from childhood

 of the moment I first laid eyes on The Lovely Old Dollhouse....

 my sister and I coming down stairs on Christmas morning.... 

there it was under the tree!

I struggled to get the perspective right on this one....

I was four years old.... she was three... we share this memory!

Meanwhile the "Little Dreamers" had arrived on my work table....

And Blue the Blue Fairy Bearey had joined me too!

(I hope you can see the letter in this one!)

2014 I went Kit Krazy....

(this had started in 2013 but I was in denial....)

Rose Thorne Cottage.... 

the Conservatory (the double conservatory)...

 the Cloud Palace and The Willowcrest 

all busted their way out of the boxes and ..... 

well you know... they kind of took over my life!

And I didn't mind for a minute!

'Cause all those little beings needed houses...!

2015 was another "flashback"..... 

not to a dollhouse Christmas....

 but to the Wonder of the Christmas Tree.....

 the lights... the hush of the dark morning.... 

before the parents awoke.... 

at my Grandparents house.... 

again, a visceral memory....

Here.... come closer..... 

I really think I captured that snow-globe..... 

remember those?

2016 was another year for The Lovely Old Dollhouse.... 

close up and in detail! 

I had finally done a little more work on it... in the attic... 

I think it was a year I was trying to work on everything....

 and felt like I did nothing.... 

or at least nothing that looked like anything in a drawing..... 

and certainly the brick walkways of The Folly

 were not going to look like Christmas!

And down there in front..... in all their Teeny-Tiny glory

 are the 1/144th scale ladies and the room box of The Folly Parlor.... 

which had leapt their way into my Mini Worlds.... 

but How could one possibly show them?

And the beginning of The Secret Christmas House Kit...

which I started because it might be a sort of Quick project.....

Or so I thought!

I only spent most of the year on it...

 and still did not quite finish it for Christmas Last year!

Because I got a Little carried away..... 

I had to make a lot of Teeny-Tiny things.... 

like dishes and goblets and Christmas trees

 and books and knitting and a cat and.... 

Well, you can visit last year's blog to follow it all!

But it was the feature of last year's Christmas Card!

No denying now that my life is wrapped up in Minis!

Well, Dear Readers, if you are still reading.... 

all this is a preamble to the Point... 

I am supposed to be working on

 This year's Christmas Card Drawing!

And what am I doing....? 

Some call it Procrastinating.... 

I choose to think of it as Getting in the Mood...!

But whatever it is... 

I will be working on The Christmas Card

 for the next few weeks....

 for as long as it takes 'til it is done!

But I'm going to try to not abandon my blossoms!