Advent, Advent, ein Lichtlein brennt

[wiseheart]

So, Advent has officially started today, even though the 24 days before Christmas only begin on Wednesday. But there have to be 4 Sundays before Christmas, according to the liturgical calendar, hence the discrepancy.

So, we'll celebrate with picspam, starting with an older photo of our relic of an Advent wreath, who'd seen Granny and is therefore sacred. I didn't take a new photo because it is arranged exactly the same way this year again:



Then I still owe you a pic of the 4th baking session, so here it is:



From the left: Almond-pistachio cookies, Hazelnut talers, Ginger-coconut stars, Ginger-cashew cookies, Ginger Krachers and Cardamom cookies with pistachios.

And then I got inspired by this video and gave it a try, just to make something else for a change.

Here are my results:



Not as professional as the original but cute enough, I'd say.

Other than that, I washed my hair, cooked lunch, typed up Christmas Gift Fic #3, finished Christmas Gift Fic #4 and talked to two people on the phone. A very eventful and successful day, I'd say.

Comments

[artemis10002000]

Frohen 1. Advent!

Der Kranz ist wie immer sehr schön geworden. Wir haben gestern einen Tannenkranz mitgebracht, aber ich hatte es nicht in den Keller geschafft, bevor es zu dunkel wurde, um die Materialien zusammenzusuchen, also müssen wir das morgen nachholen. Dafür hat das Backen gut geklappt.

[manue7a.livejournal.com]

Es verwirrt mich immer, wenn die Weihnachtszeit schon im November beginnt.. Aber es sind ja nur noch zwei Tage ;)

[meathiel]

Irgendwie ist mir noch nicht nach Weihnachten!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Es ist ja ein Fertigkranz, wir haben nur die Kerzen angesteckt und den Nikolaus in die Mitte gestellt, so ist es nicht mein Verdienst. ;)

Was hast Du gebacken?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Ja, es ist ein bißchen komisch, nicht wahr? Auch wenn ich schon seit zwei Wochen Weihnachtsbäckerei betreibe.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Der ganze Aufwand beginnt viel zu früh! Ende Oktober hatten wir schon Schokoladenfiguren und Lebkuchen und Spekulatius in den Supermärkten — das relativiert die Erwartung und die Feststimmung, IMO. Und, natürlich, das Ausfallen der Weihnachtsmärkte tut das Übrige. :(

Ach, und ich hab's ganz vergessen: schönen Dank für die Weihnachtskarte, sie ist sehr süß!

[manue7a.livejournal.com]

Das ist was anderes, ich habe auch schon Karten geschrieben, aber wenn es jetzt so offiziell ist..

[artemis10002000]

Du musstest ihn aber runterholen!

ich hab die Plätzchen von gestern abgebacken, Vanillekipferl, dann das Spritzgebäck mit Amaretto bzw. Zitrone.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Das stimmt. Ich werde dieses Jahr keine Karten verschicken; ich bevorzuge es, sie selber zu machen, aber diesmal hatte ich andere Bastelprojekte gehabt und keine Zeit für Kartengestalten übrig. :(

[meathiel]

Ui, die ist schon angekommen? Das ging ja schnell dieses Jahr ...

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Nice wreath.
I did one last year, but since we have church in person this year, I didn't get candles for mine.
Cookies!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I did the Advent wreath for church — now it really does feel like the countdown to Christmas.

Your cookies all look so good :)

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

I cannot get over how good those cookies look.

[medievalrosalie.livejournal.com]

I'm loving the advent wreath, and that it saw Grannie. I love how Xmas has so many nice things attached to it for a lot of people and I know a lot of people hand on to special ornaments or Xmas keepsakes.

[medievalrosalie.livejournal.com]

The cookies, of course, look especially magical!

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

They all look wonderfl, but that wreath is something special... it looks very personal.

[elwenlj.livejournal.com]

Very productive. I love the sound of all those nutty cookies.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Es soll ja auch gute Jahre geben, wenigstens was die Post betrifft. Es ist eine süße Karte, Mutti war auch ganz angetan. :)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I've tried out a lot of new recipes this year. Now I'm slowly returning to the time-honoured ones. ;)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It is. We're hanging onto it until it falls to pieces from old age.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

This is nuffin'. Just you wait, the really fancy ones are still coming up!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Religious content or not, for me Christmas means family first and foremost. Which is why we are so sad that we probably won't be seeing the little ones this year — again! Dratted virus!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Awww, thanks! But the really pretty ones are still coming.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, these were mostly the experimental new recipes. From this week on I'm making the ones I know better. The ones that are pretty and decorated and all that.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Over here, you must have candles on your Advent wreath. On each of the 4 Sundays before Christmas Eve, one more candle is lit; some Advent songs (at least the German ones) even count down the candles.

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Wow. Very cool, though. How long do you leave your candles burning?
I also didn't put mine out this year because I ordered a pewter cross to put in that same place that I can keep up all year.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

We only let them burn for a few minutes each Sunday, so that they'll last until Christmas. For some reason it's really hard to find the right-sized ones for this wreath (it has little wooden candle holders of a certain size), so we try to get around that problem.

[noadvertising.livejournal.com]

Wreath who has seen granny is really cute, as is your Santa!

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Cool. That's goot stink to have to look for oddly shaped candles. I suppose you could always shave them down.
Okay, can you use the candles from last year? Assuming that they were tall tapers, and weren't burned all the way down? I threw mine out from last year because I wasn't sure.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

The candles are really simple, it's the diameter that counts. But if we only get thinner ones, we simply wrap their bottoms into tinfoil, so that they would remain stable in the holders. We usually put away the half-used ones for the next year, and they will be burned down then.

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Tinfoil works.
I think if I do it again I will save them for the next year.