A TO Z PHOTOGRAPHY CHALLENGE
Candles and Cookies on Christmas
A photo essay presenting more Christmas traditions
Christmas might be over but I still got one more photo essay to share. I found some old photographs documenting the traditions we share back home when December comes around.
Cookies
It usually starts already at the end of November with the first baking session. Cookies of all sorts are coming out of the oven. My mom has always been a big baker and we children would help her whenever possible.
We would be the ones choosing the cookie molds on the Christmas Market. And yes, I did go for the palm tree. I was always a dreamer of tropical beaches and palm trees.
I didn’t find more pictures documenting my mom’s cookies but these few shots of what we call “normal cookies”.
Candles
Yes, what would the Christmas season be without candles? I love candles. I haven’t had any in the last few years moving as a nomad through the world but in my years growing up in Germany I always had lots of candles in my room.
My mom would oftentimes come into my room in the evening telling me to blow out the candles and open a window for some fresh air. Those lights would steal all my oxygen how she’d say.
Christmas wreath
Candles of course belong to the Christmas season but they belong especially on a Christmas wreath.
My uncle used to work as a nurseryman and every year he’d organize an expedition displaying lots of wreaths he created. I would help him with that work and create one for our family too.
This is a selection of some of the wreaths I’ve made. Using different greens and lots of natural items was my type of decorating the Christmas wreaths.
Christmas tree decorations
Now this one is also part of our Christmas tradition. We used to decorate our Christmas tree only on the 23rd. Once the children had finished school and my dad had time to set up the fir tree in the house.
Later on, I’d suggest setting up the tree a bit earlier so we’d be able to enjoy it for longer.
Decorating the tree was usually done while Christmas songs were playing in the background. And while we were busy with the tree, my mom would be baking just another batch of cookies.
I’m not sure what they are called, hangers or attachments, so I just called them Christmas tree decorations. We have a box full of them but every year we get more selective of which ones do make it to the prime position.
I love the wooden ones and a few made of glass. We also have a set of Christmas bulbs. Only six or so. But that are enough for our tree.
My mom used to fold these stars in a specific technique and taught me one day to make them as well. I forgot the technique but have to ask her about it once I’m back again.
Candles on the Christmas tree
No fairy lights will make it ever onto our Christmas tree. Only candles. Real candles. A specific holder was mounted on the branches. Wisely selected so that the burning candle couldn’t reach another branch and set the tree on fire.
The candles would only be lit on the 24th before we’d open the presents. We would sing songs and present the poems we learned by heart. Once the celebrations were over, we blew out the candles and started to unpack the presents.
If guests were coming to visit on the 25th or 26th, we would light the candles again for the duration of another song or two.
Seeing the picture below I remember the sparklers we would hang and light in between the candles on the tree. We’d switch the light off and enjoy the bright sparkling candles.
The Christmas tree
And this is it. The Christmas tree at night and in full brightness. I do love our Christmas tree and have always been proud of it. It’s a big tradition and while the tree is every year a different one, the decorations remain mostly the same.
This was a photo essay in response to JoAnn Ryan‘s prompt “Eating Apples and Avocados While Arranging Alligators and Autumn Leaves in Atlanta?”
An A to Z challenge: Finding interesting new ways to enjoy photography. Here are other participants and their photo essay submissions to the letter “C”:
Stephanie Tolk with “Community, Castles, Coca-Cola, and Crossing Cultures”
Rhonda Carrier with “Christmas, Children, Cookies, Crafts”
Dr. Preeti Singh with “Cat, Cake, Creams, Cousins, Chrysanthemums, And Christmas”
Allisonn Church with “Cherished Chickens in Corn Country, Copious Candles, and Camping Classics”
Wendi Gordon with “What Do Chocolate, Cats, and a Courthouse Have in Common?”
And this was my “B” photo essay:
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