Contemplations and Ruminations

Another year, 2020, how fast the years roll by... the transition from 2019 to 2020 was fun enough, surrounded by family, friends and  an influx of angels. I saw a paper doily angel online and since then this is what I have been making in December, an army of paper doily angels... To be placed in the crib, a t last count there were about 23 angels in the crib in my hometown... Ah, Christmas is fun even though I couldn't get into the whole giddy Christmas mood this year. I don't know why, I kept listening to Winter Song by Fernando Ortega and My Favourite Time of the Year by The Florin Street Band , to get into the high spirited mood of Christmas... and though that helped a bit, everything was kinda subdued and serene. I guess Christmas as a festival just isn't appealing anymore, but Christmas as a time where love comes to stay in the form of family and friends who travel home for the holidays is more meaningful. Christmas is more than the lights on the tree, ...

So Autumn was just starting when I was in Geneva last year and all the colours of fall were pretty fascinating. I would pick up lovely autumn coloured leaves and preserve them in a book while I explored so many beautiful places with my sister. She would scan the ground too, to find leaves that declared the poetry of the season. And if my brother was with us, he'd stand at a distance away, pretending that he was in no way related to us sisters who were running around collecting leaves.  This is what I made for my brother, framed autumn leaves. It's pretty easy too, collect pretty autumn leaves and preserve them in a book. Make sure you preserve them properly with no folded edges, just place the leaf gently between the pages of a book and let it remain there for a few days. Gently stick the leaves to a chart paper; I used a black chart paper here. Then use a transparent nailpolish to gently brush all over the leaf to give it a glossy look. Write a few lines (or not), and ge...

So I saw this picture on Pinterest a few months back and I thought of replicating the same at home this Christmas. Tell me what you think of my wall Christmas tree... I know the original picture used logs of wood, but I didn't want to poke holes in the wall... they had to have drilled holes or something, how else are those logs held up? Anyway, I used a sheet of cardboard, cut it into strips and arranged them in a tree like fashion. There was some old wire lying about, and I used that to link the strips of cardboard... this way, only one nail would do. Then bought some (rather masculine looking) gift wrapping paper and wrapped each individual cardboard strip in this paper. I wanted to give it a rugged look, that's why didn't pick up any glittery or flowery wrapping paper. Next made the star that comes on top of the tree with yellow chart paper. Made a few Christmas ornaments to go on the tree... used ordinary cardboard and glitter powder.  Some m...

That's the card all the catechism children made for Father, and he really liked it. You can see they have scribbled their names all over it.... with different versions of christmas greetings, like Marry Christmas, Merry Crismas, Father you rock... As Andrew one of the shepherd boys put it, "Father, all the Kaieluthu". (Meaning all the signatures) The caroling gang, it was fun hanging out with them. Jehu's missing in the picture... Another fun gang, its been a year now since I joined this school..... and its like a second home. It's gonna be hard when the time comes to leave this place.... Vivek and Nagarajan are missing in this picture. That's Mazhalai , the person who got me into the whole blogging sphere. I got anju into it and... that's another story, a never ending story.

Mom made the wreaths... I made the candles, the cards and the stars.... Nameeta ate that.... That's Caramel Pudding (it came out surprisingly well), christmas nut cake and Mother Mary cake. My School: Went to St. Joseph's Convent today... things haven't changed much there. Same old teachers who somehow seem to remember you after all these years... spent a lot of time taking pictures. This picture of the grotto up here was where the 12th standard girls had to light a candle on the last day before venturing into the world.... outside. I remember we were told to hold on to our courage, chastity, faith and to spread the light (of peace and love) wherever we go.... I remember how beautiful all the candles looked, burning together... Back then I didn't really make much of the whole 'going out into the world' talk... I was just excited to leave and do somethin new... Seeing this place again brought back flashes of memory, memory that gets etched into y...