A Night of Miniature Marvels

In the midst of all the wrapping paper and visitors and the flurry of everything else that happens around the holidays, all of us at the shop take one evening each December to share a nice meal and have our annual ornament swap, white elephant style with numbers drawn from a hat and rambunctious trading. Here are some pictures of half a dozen treasures from the big night. I took these photos at home of the ones Duncan and I took to the dinner, and of the ones our family brought home. The ones we didn't capture were just as whimsical and fun.

The mother and child ornament at the top was my contribution to the evening, a combination of felting and other fiber arts with some doll faces and hands. Julie brought us an adorable cotton batting bird this year. The little peep has a baguette under her wing because she's heading to Paris next year!




Shari felted a sweet star ornament, and as luck would have it, my younger daughter opened it, much to both her and Shari's delight.







John's candy box ship, finished with crepe paper and Dresden trim and flying an iridescent sail, was the first ornament to be opened. It was also at the center of the final surprise of the evening when my older daughter nabbed it after nearly an hour of patient and polite plotting!

Mr. Marsh added to the pile a handmade (and fully loaded) bill holder that could come in handy on a rainy day, and Duncan was glad to take it home.

As for Duncan's gift to us, he brought a precious miniature tea house made of balsa wood and topped with a fresh layer of mica snow. Inside the house an electric tea light flickered, enchanting everyone so much with its cozy glow that this ornament was one of the most actively swapped all night.

Ornament Swapping at the Townhouse

This past Friday the Castle in the Air staff gathered for our annual holiday dinner and ornament swap. We celebrated at the Townhouse Bar & Grill in Emeryville, a cozy gathering place with a colorful history not far from the shop.

Everyone at Castle in the Air is an amazing artist, and the ornament swap is our chance to honor that and enjoy the creativity and camaraderie we all share. The hours (sometimes days) of preparation of each ornament is also a lovely gift to give oneself during the holidays, when it's easy to get swept away tending to our loved ones.

On the night of the swap, all the ornaments are brought to dinner wrapped in gift boxes and places at the center of the table. We all draw numbers from a hat, and whoever gets "1" gets to open a package from the pile. We move on through "2," "3," and so on, and each person has the chance to open an unwrapped package or appropriate someone else's ornament. High stakes!

Each of us has our own artistic personality that is reflected in the ornament we make. Shari made an adorable matchbox miniature, John an optical illusion Santa scene using a convex mirror and Victorian scrap. Daniel's decoupaged gnome ornament was actually a box full of holiday treasures. Maggie took a glass ball and seed beads and made an ornate Victorian lampshade. Julie's Elizabethan bird was made of samples of nearly every delightful supply we carry. Fantastic! I brought the Mad Hatter (with butter in his pocket watch) and his friend the March Hare. Even my husband and kids got in on the fun, with spectacular result. I wish all the photos from the evening came out so you could see.

It's really magical to watch as each person opens their package and reveals a little holiday wonder. We all take some of that magic home at the end of the night!