Sibella Court’s new book “The Life of a Bowerbird: Creating beautiful interiors with the things you collect” is featured in the February issue of House Beautiful. I was struck by her use of the word curator in the printed excerpt:
“A Bowerbird is an Australian native bird that builds a reedy nest and goes to extraordinary lengths to decorate it with “stolen” goods and found objects such as shells, bones, and shiny milk caps. I have been referred to as a bowerbird, and I like to think of myself as a finder, keeper, and curator of collections of beautiful things, I enjoy having my things around me: out on show and ready for their story to be told; as rotating objects and treasures available to touch and turn over.
“A collection doesn’t need to be justified beyond the desire to have it and to keep it. Collections are simply an attraction (over and over again) to the same object, or shape, or color, or texture.
“A collection is a memento of people, places, past times, and experiences…You are the curator of your collections: edit, be selective, picky or accommodating. These are objects that make sense to you and make you happy…”
Yes, Yes, Yes!!!!
When my husband first heard of people having more than one Christmas tree he thought it was one of the most ludicrous ideas he had ever heard of so our imaginary second and third trees became a big joke around here. But when my friend Susan gave me a fairy with the Albert Einstein quote “If you want your children to be bright read them fairy tales, if you want them to be brilliant read them even more fairy tales” I knew it was the perfect topper to a tree dedicated to my children’s book character ornaments. I had used these on a branch at school but recently they had just been waiting in a box. So I bought a small fake tree and set it up in the guest bedroom. So far the tree sports the fairy, Madeline, Babar, Curious George, Pippi, Olivia, The Cat in the Hat, Strega Nona and Big Anthony and many of the characters from the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland. A Tomie de Paolo version of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf in Granny’s nightgown sit below the tree as they have no hooks.
Here is a shot of our quirky Christmas collection – our M&M guys! My husband loved that commercial a few years ago where the M&M keels over when he sees Santa and of course that meant that my husband became the recipient of M&M guys. Looks like a reindeer from our stuffed reindeer collection sneaked onto the display box too.
Today I am baking Pain d’Epice. It is a spice bread with the flavors of anise, cinnamon, sherry, and honey and it embodies the smell, taste, and look of Christmas to me. My mother baked this baking soda leavened bread every year. She began by combining honey and sherry in a large bowl with boiling water which filled the kitchen with heady aromas. Stirring in the dry ingredients yielded a very sticky dough which she then ladled and smoothed into three bread baking pans. The loaves baked for an hour as the anise and cinnamon filled the entire house with the smell of Christmas. After it cooled a bit she sliced the bread as thinly as possible and spread it with a little butter. I love the taste of this bread so much that my sister once baked me a batch for my birthday in June but what made the bread really special at Christmastime was that my mother wrapped up the loaves in tinfoil, tied a shiny red ¾ inch ribbon around each loaf, and delivered them to our neighbors. The shiny tinfoil, the red ribbon, and the taste of anise made this the perfect Christmas present!
For the most part our Christmas is pretty secular but as I mentioned in an earlier post, one of my favorite parts of Christmas has always been the advent calendar. Now that our children are grown up we just tie bows on the days leading up to the 24th but on the 24th we still tie a small nativity scene. We have many now made from many different materials and from many different countries. Some of these hang on the tree but some sit on shelves. Of course, in the way collections grow, we also have received as gifts and bought a few larger ones. This year I arranged the nativity scenes on the top of the china cabinet. They are not hung yet but I usually hang another collection in the glass panels – the small Christmas quilts we get every year from my sister in law.
Here are two of the larger ones – one from South America and one from Africa. They could be part of another collection too – my carved gourd collection
My older daughter Julie is a huge fan of photo booths. She and her roommate Ken have filled their refrigerator with their many photo booth experiences and interesting refrigerator magnets. Refrigerator magnets always remind me of an even awkwarder than usual interaction Alex Trebek had with a contestant during the interesting tidbit segment of Jeopardy many years ago. It went something like this, “So you collect refrigerator magnets” said Alex and then with a very puzzled expression, “so where do magnets come from in old refrigerators?” It took the contestant a minute to realize that he was going to have to explain the concept of a refrigerator magnet. Alex’s refrigerator must be quite bare – especially compared to Julie and Ken’s! 
I view my latest collection on my cell phone. It is a collection of the photos my pregnant younger daughter takes each week of her expanding belly. Last week I was in Chicago so I got to take the photo but usually I am a long distance Grandma. Today I am the long distance Mama with a wish for the Mama-to-be, Happy Birthday, Molly.
I knew my oldest daughter, Julie, had quite a few collections and that she collected some things (unicorns, for example) with her tongue firmly implanted in her cheek but I had no idea till I visited her Chicago apartment the other day that she was collecting piggy banks. I lined some of them up for a portrait.
If you click on the picture, you can see more. (Note good and evil unicorns in the background).
In 2000 my daughters and I went on a Christmas Market tour in Germany. During the month of December the squares of many towns in Germany host Christkindlmarkets. Vendors sell their varied wares from small wooden structures topped with red and white awnings. Drinking gluhwein -hot spiced wine – from commemorative ceramic mugs that usually depict the Christkindlmarket and the town is part of the tradition. We purchased mugs at each town and left Germany with collection of 5. With fond memories of our trip, we were happy to find out when my younger daughter moved to Chicago that Chicago hosted a genuine Cristkindlmarket each Christmas season. The Chicago Christkindlmarket is authentic, complete with German vendors, red and white striped awnings, gluhwein, and souvenir mugs.
Youngest Daughter, Molly, at Chicago Christmas Market 2013
Part of Molly’s Mug Collection. The German mugs are on the left. Then two of the Chicago mugs – which like most of them are boots and depict the Picasso sculpture as the Christkindlmarket is in Daley Plaza. Click on the photo to see more Chicago mugs.
On Thanksgiving my thoughts turn to the turkey platter collection at The Hart’s Turkey Farm Restaurant near Lake Winnipesaukee.
Collections and Other Stuff I Like 