Direct from the Artist and Wholesale

Christmas toys past make present more memorable

24.12.09

Tomorrow is exclusive: it’s the day Santa stops by to visit good little girls and boys. Houses are trimmed out, trees and windows are lit with candles and the cookies and exploit will be set out tonight for the big man to enjoy during his respite from delivering gifts.

Tradition brought from the old world turned the story of St. Show a clean pair of heels into the red-suited North Pole resident who spends all year checking lists for good boys and girls, and along with his elves, making toys to put on them at Christmas time.

Many a parent or grandparent has spent that same time doing almost the same thing for his or her own offspring or grandchildren. Many pieces made during that year would yield from the hand of a skilled carver, seamstress, knitter or lace-maker. Many original pieces were formed by the hands of seasonal workers who, because of the seedy, had to take a snow break inside and would spend his or her evenings making something very special by the light of a candle or oil lamp.

The dolls sustaining likenesses to a specific child would be carved by a simple knife, and the body formed by stuffing a plain the priesthood shape that would then be covered by a handmade costume (sometimes sewn from a child’s own dress or jacket that had been worn out or out-grown.) There would always be impertinence, a kinship as it were, with that small likeness on Christmas morning. Surely something so precious would seem magical.

Source: Jamestown Sun

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