Winter is icumen in...

Today I awoke to the first proper frost of the season. Bushes and branches were outlined with sparkling white crystals, the grass crunched under my feet, and the puddles and pond were covered in ice. The air was still, and up above in the pale blue sky, a waning crescent moon still hung. Hurriedly I filled up the bird feeders and put out a dish of water, and soon the birds began pouring in; mostly pigeons and collared doves at first, but the smaller ones weren't far behind...

Our Jesse tree came down on Christmas Eve, in readiness for the Christmas tree(s*) to go up. Because of this, I only have symbols going up to the 23rd of December, rather than the 24th. These were the symbols for the last week of Advent:

Our Jesse tree, 2013

19."Sculpey" brick wall (Nehemiah rebuilds the city wall)
20. Shell (John the Baptist - the second Elijah)
21. "Sculpey" mother and child (Elizabeth - barrenness made fruitful)
22. "Sculpey" white lily (Mary - human acceptance of God)
23. Felt Eeyore (Joseph - obedience to God)

That was our Jesse tree for 2013, and now 2014 is only three days away...

Happy New Year, Everyone!

*We have to have two trees, as my mother's and my decorations do not blend...

'Tis the season...

...to receive lots and lots of parcels! Our postman arrived on our doorstep this morning, almost laden down with exciting-looking packages. As I opened the door he called out "Throw away your Christmas tree, you'll have to buy a bigger one!"

Speaking of trees, my Jesse tree is coming on well. I have made quite a few new ornaments this year; last time I didn't start until the 8th of December, so the whole thing felt rather a rush, but this year I started back in November, which gave me plenty of time. The strings of paper stars (for the promise to Abraham) give the whole thing a very festive feel, I think.

I have adjusted the symbols a little as well, and of course added in one extra, as Advent is a day longer. So far they stand thus:

1. Cartoon of God juggling planets (the creation)
2. Crab apple from a neighbour's garden (Adam and Eve)
3. Felt rainbow and paper ark (Noah and the flood)
4. Paper stars (the promise to Abraham)
5. Bundle of twigs (the offering of Isaac)
6. Gold-painted string ladder (Jacob's dream)

Rainbow and Noah's ark

7. Technicolour dream coat (Joseph the dream-interpreter)
8. "Stained-glass" burning bush (the calling of Moses)
9. Wooden lamb (the Passover)
10. "Sculpey" stone tablets (the Law)
11. "Sculpey" shofar (the fall of Jericho)
12. Cardboard crown (beginning of the kingdom)
13. Shepherd's crook (David - a shepherd for the people)
14. Stone altar (Elijah and the prophets of Ba'al)
15. "Sculpey" hot coal (the calling of Isaiah)
16. Glass tear drops (Jeremiah and the Exile)
17. "Sculpey" skull (Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones)
18. Picture of a lion (Daniel)

And now it's only one week until Christmas!

Hibiscus tea (white)

Our hibiscus bush is extraordinarily profuse this year, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try and make some hibiscus tea; but first I had to find a good recipe... 

As I began to forage around on the internet, the first thing I discovered is that our hibiscus flowers are
not really the right type for making tea, being (I think) an Indian white variety, and not the traditionally-used Jamaican red variety. However, a little comment I came across on a YouTube video suggested that the white variety are still usable, though they make a more delicate, mild tea.

The first thing to do is pick the flower heads and steep them in boiling water.
I picked ten flowers, pulled off the stamens and calyces, and put them in a jug with a pint of water. Then I left them for about ten or fifteen minutes, while I squeezed half a lime, in preparation for the next stage.

Interestingly, I read online that the red Jamaican flowers turn the water a deep red-violet colour, which turns to a deepish pink after the addition of the lime juice; but when I added water to the white flowers, the liquid turned yellow, so I wasn't in the least sure it would work. I thought I might as well continue to the end however, so when the flowers had steeped for long enough, I removed them with a strainer and added the lime juice. And lo and behold, the yellow liquid turned to pink!

A pleasing flavour, reminiscent of grapefruit juice...

N.b Red hibiscus tea is recommended iced, but I tried my white tea when it was still warm, and found I preferred it that way. If you like your tea sweetened, add honey or sugar before the lime juice, whilst the liquid is still hot...


Addendum: We later took this on a picnic; we had it cool, with one soup spoon of honey to one pint of tea, and enjoyed it very much!





  

The Jesse tree: Part 2

In Scandinavia, today is Little Christmas Eve; we are very nearly at the end of Advent. That must mean our Jesse Tree is almost finished! I think I will miss it when it's gone... *sniff* Actually, who I am kidding? By then we'll have put up our CHRISTMAS TREE! Ha ha haa! 
But I digress...

Here's what we've put on the Jesse tree since my last post:
14. A stone altar, made with little stones from our garden (Elijah's 'Battle with the Ba'als')

15. A pair of garden-wire tongs holding a painted fimo "burning coal" (God sends Isaiah)
16. Lots of glass 'tear-drops' (Jeremiah weeps over the people of Israel)
17. A stone watchtower, made from a cardboard vegetable tray (Habakkuk watching and waiting for God to rescue His people)
18. A painting (printed off from the internet), depicting a trowel and a brick wall (Nehemiah over-seeing the rebuilding of the city wall after the return to Jerusalem)

19. A scallop shell for John the Baptist (brought home from a Breton beach by my father)
20. A little fimo White Lily, made by my cousin and painted by me (Mary)
21. Another fimo creation, this time of a mother and child, for Elizabeth and her son John
22. A pencil for Zechariah

Tomorrow will be a little manger, for You Know Who - and there you have it! One completed Jesse tree...

Happy "Little Christmas Eve"!      

The tree of Jesse

"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, 

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit." 

Isaiah 11: 1

In the corner of our dining room, we have a large bare branch; this is our Jesse Tree. Each day during Advent we make an ornament based on a Bible story, going all the way from the creation to the birth of Jesus.

So far we have:

1. A round disc with a picture of a white-bearded man juggling planets (the creation)

2. An apple from our garden (Adam and Eve - the first sin)

3. A rainbow (God's promise to Noah)

4. Lots of gold stars cross-stitched on a blue background (God's promise to Abraham)

  (although my mother, who embroidered it, doesn't think it's good enough, and suggests we get rid of it and just hang lots of wooden stars all over the tree instead - mem. to self: find some wooden stars!)

5. A little collage of a ram caught in a thicket (the almost-sacrifice of Isaac)

6. A gold-painted string-and-matchsticks rope ladder (Jacob's vision)

7. A very natty mini multi-coloured coat made by my mother, complete with mini coat-hanger! (Joseph)

8. Another collage, this time of a bush surrounded by fire (the calling of Moses) 

9. A wooden carving of a sheep that my father brought me from the Czech Republic (the passover lamb) 

10. Two fimo stone tablets, complete with ten commandments! (Well, ten roman numerals anyway...)

11. A painted fimo ram's horn trumpet, officially called a "shofar", for the fall of Jericho (this is the effort I am most proud of!)

12. A gold crown for the beginning of the Kingdom of Israel (Unfortunately I copied this from a picture of English kings' crowns and so I put a cross on the top, forgetting that that's christian, which the Israelite kings certainly weren't! Oops!)

13. A gold shepherd's crook, taken from our PlayMobil St Nicholas (David, the shepherd king)

Tomorrow will be a stone altar for Elijah's 'Battle with the Ba'als'. Now how am I going to make that...?

My hand-made shofar