Wednesday, December 15, 2010

tomten

Our family is made up of such a grab bag of traditions and beliefs that it's tricky this time of year to find something to do around holiday time that feels authentic. We do a bit of Hanukkah and a bit of Christmas and a bit of Solstice and a lot of just having fun and enjoying the merriment of the season.

Enter the Tomten... one of our favorite characters and a favorite winter read. Ok, so the tomten is a landlubber who protects farms and big houses, minor technicality. In our collective imaginations he's a salty bloke who protects boats and kids who live on them.
(This particular Tomten was made by Anne Moze and the fox is from Jalu Toys. There are lovely little tomtens all over etsy or you can make your own like we did below.)

Our tribe of tomtens hang around in winter and help give us ideas on how to fill our cold, cooped up days.
During December we have a wee mailbox where he delivers notes between Dec 1-31. Sometimes he suggests we go off on an adventure or do some fabulous holiday project. Other times he thinks it's a good day to stay in pajamas and watch a holiday movie and drink endless cups of hot coco. Sometimes he just takes the day off :)

(I have been told that the Tomten needs to improve his penmanship)

We're glad they're all here. And we're glad they speak to us in their tomten language, a silent little language that boat dwellers know.


p.s. Don't forget to enter the MamaRoots giveaway - you have until Friday morning.
http://zachaboard.blogspot.com/2010/12/giveaway-mamaroots.html

6 comments:

Joy said...

What a fun tradition! A suggestion-filled tomten sounds like a very authentic way to celebrate the season. I love all your little tomtens. :)

Anna said...

What a sweet idea! I think I'd like a tomten to give me ideas on how to fill our days too.

Anonymous said...

that is a fantastic idea- how clever of Tomten wink wink!!

Anonymous said...

just got this book in the mail about 1 hour before I read your post!!! great idea with the Tomten mailbox!

Brooke said...

Love your tomtens and their great fuzzy beards!!! I have to go get this book :) and such a great craft to go along with it and the mailbox idea is a wonderful advent calendar idea too :)

Amanda said...

We had a good giggle at how you've changed it to protect boat-dwellers. Love the creativity. My mom did a similar thing when we were kids, but it was an advent felt calendar with pouches that had little notes with activities on it for the month of December. Tomten is very cute. You tell whisper to him that he has an admirer in me.

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