A Christmas Craft

I decorated my mantle tonight. Every year dh and I get a Christmas ornament, and I was thinking about what we should get this year. 

I was thinking I'd get a Moravian Star from Old Salem. I also want the plastic Moravian star light fixture--I wanted one for the back porch of our house in Michigan but couldn't find an inexpensive one. The porch was raised painted concrete that was peeling and ugly. I bought inexpensive concrete paint and did a harlequin checkerboard pattern. I hated the tiny colonial style lantern fixture, but there were more important changes to make--like insulating the attic and crawlspace for the coldest Michigan winter in 30 years! 

But now I'm going to have to make a 2016 dumpster ornament! 

I spent New Year's Eve with my dad and my stepmom right after they became a couple several years ago. We went to this great New Year's Eve party. The friends that threw the party were experts in birds and ran an internship program with various vet schools. One of the students was from Venezuela. They encouraged him to share his traditions with everyone. So we had these amazing Hallacas--like tamales steamed in banana leaves. He also made this human sized effigy of Mr. Old Year that we burnt--I've read they do that as well in Colombia. He said the Venezuelan part was that we all had to write a list of things positive and negative for the New Year, which we all put in the shirt pocket of Old Year before we set him on fire. Bush had just been reelected, so we all had some of the same worries. 

The dumpster fire reminded me of burning that effigy. Tip:Don't dress your Old Year in old, holey wellies. They smell *horrible* when they burn.