I have written before about my mom’s extraordinary creative abilities. In today’s post, to celebrate Christmas and honor my mother, I am sharing photos of Christmas decorations and other things she made over the years.
The yellow angel has been around for as long as I can remember. My mom must have made that in her early years of marriage. It is made out of fabric and scraps of trim with a ceramic head that she bought.
In more recent years when my mom was doing ceramics, she made a series of angels. In the following photos they are staged next to a blue ceramic basket that she also made (she did not make the plate leaning against the back).
The gnome shown below is formed out of ceramic with a wool beard and actual stick for a walking stick. It is sitting next to a bronze bust of my dad that my mom also made, which eerily looks very much like him.
The Three Wise Men below are made out of felt and embellished with rick rack, beads, shiny ribbon and trim. The faces are embroidered on. Like the fabric angel, they are probably at least 60 years old.
The following gnome is four feet tall and made in the last 20 years. Some family members think he is creepy. Note in this photo he is standing in front of the kitchen fireplace checking his email. My mom made the fireplace tiles when they built the house (which she designed).
Happy Holidays to all and wishes for a better 2021.
Yarns from the Lake 
Very lovely work.
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Lovely memories! Thanks for sharing! Grateful I had a tour of the house by Lif and Don, pointing out so many of the creative highlights. They took such joy in their home, family.y and life they built together. Merry Christmas and happy memories, Love, Mary Ellen
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Merry Christmas to you! We have so appreciated all the love and support you have given us over the last 2 years.
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What a great idea for a post! I love seeing all these favorites items together like this. It is fun to remember the different places these pieces were displayed over the years. The three wise men always sat on the marble top cabinet in the front hall in Edina. Do you remember another angel made of a base of Styrofoam, covered in tinfoil over braided trim to give the shape of the tinfoil detail, and then it was stained, to look antiqued? I even remember seeing her making that with Joan Stevens in the Stevens’ basement, working on a ping pong table. We came over to their house after school because the two moms had spent the afternoon making these angels. Bet it was an idea from a magazine. That angel was around for years, but must have got tossed when they moved. I wish we had pictures of the fancy frosted sugar cookies she made in different shapes with cookie cutters. One year in Michigan she made enough of those fancy cookies to decorate an entire tree in the lobby of our elementary school in Grand Rapids.
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I vaguely remember that other angel. Yeah, maybe got tossed when they moved.
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How wonderful that her talents are being appreciated by a new generation. The fireplace tiles are amazing!
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Thank you! Hope we can keep this house in the family for a long time, or else figure out how to dig those tiles out!
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I loved seeing all these wonderful things! I think your mother gave me one of the angels! I also remember her huge collection of rabbits! I had never seen all those beautiful tiles! Merry Christmas to all of you!
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Merry Christmas to you too! Maybe you can come and visit here some time.
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These are beautifully made and lovely keepsakes. Your mother was very talented. I am not sure why, but somehow this post encourages me to continue to pursue my creativity. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
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I agree…it is very inspiring!
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Beautiful! Such a talented lady.
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Thank you!
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Your mother really was talented! Thanks for sharing, and happy holidays!
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Thank you! Have a Happy New Year.
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I think I agree that the 4′ gnome sits a bit in the realm of the “uncanny valley”. But the rest of her pieces are lovely. Thank you for sharing.
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Thank you for reading! It is amazing to me that people all over are finding my blog. And lately we have been loving Outlander, so it is fun to connect with someone who actually had lived in Scotland.
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