H is for High Days & Holy Days Hodge-podge

Well . . . you can drag it out to the 6th of January and some years I have, but only if I've 12 matching themed posts or images with which to do that, and this year wasn't the year for that kind of planning! Indeed, it's mostly been off the hoof, I've now sent what was left in the Nativity folder (most of the older images, mixed shots and comparisons) back to 1979 and renamed it Christmas 2023.

The Christmas cracker post (which I never really even looked at seriously) likewise, but we've got some bits and bobs here to cover, and I've still got the cake decoration folder up-here (in 2032), so I may grab a few of the images for a quick post over the next day or two, but otherwise that's it for the truly seasonal stuff.

I think I grabbed this last year, although it's one of many that make the rounds every year, but it's a little more cerebral than most, and directly aimed at people like us! I love the coloured wood-straw, we're immediately taken back to Primary-school nativity plays in draughty village-halls!

The apocryphal tale, or ultimate Jimmy-joke; little Jimmy gets the part of the inn-keeper and when the visitors from Galilee knock on the door says "Yeah, plenty of room, come-on in!" ushering them off the stage!

I sent this to a friend last year, but shot it for the Blog, because it's not bad - size wise - for 54/60mm figures! It was a traditional glass one too, none o'yer polymer shite! Miracle it got to its destination in one piece mind, but apparently it did! There's only a few left now, mostly repurposed into defibrillator-stations. unmanned tourist-information booths or community/free libraries.

We had looked at these, also HobbyCraft, last year I think, or the year before, anyway I went back for some more . . . it WAS last year, as I went back this year too and was disappointed to find the same selection, so didn't get any more, but this was what missed a Christmas follow-up post last year and has been sitting in Picasa for over twelve-months . . . just!

I also added a fourth hedgehog to the tree . . . my tree now, the larger one on the left, having added a third (second from the left) two years ago while Mum was in hospital, neither has hung in a tree yet, but I'm sure they've both been fully briefed by the veterans to the right, and next year, they will all swing gently and remind me of better times.

Found in a drawer, an old 'posh' cracker toy, still in the 'hygiene' bag! You can tell they are posh if the novelties are metal and/or have a use beyond entertainment; how many nail-clippers, nail-files, anodised mini-pens, over-sized paper-clips (or "Bookmarks") in chromed sheet steel and fancy bottle-stoppers do we all have in the various drawers round the house now?

I've bought a few ornaments this year, mostly from charity shops (I never pass the very small 20/30mm balls in green or blue as you just don't see them anymore, while pinks go on the 'gay tree'), but I did get a small pack of mini-balls from TKMaxx and this set of mini-shapes, which had two figurals, a soldier (who seems to also be a polar bear - not sure what the rest of the regiment will make of him!) and a gingerbread man!

I hope I always choose/send nice cards to everyone (but it's always a matter of taste), however I bought a couple of one-offs for friends of Mum who've stayed in touch, and as she was definitely a 'cat lady', I managed to find cat cards which I hoped would remind them of her, both were fold-opening, pop-up types and this was one . . .

. . . while this was the other! The first card's felines are a bit 'sweet' and cartoony, this lot look like a bunch of reprobates who've just about 'had' Christmas and being made to wear stupid headgear by stupid humans! "No, no, when I say 'Now' let-go and whip you hands out of shot . . . can't you make them smile?"! Obviously painted from life!

These were rescued from the Nativity folder before it was 'sent back', they've all come in this year at various points and may or may not be Crib-Nativity-Krip-Belens-Noël-Santon-Precepi types!

Left-hand figure is a Hong Kong plastic, probably a cake decoration, but is he magic/Harry-potter, or keys-to-life 18th/21st, or Old Father Time? Thoughts appreciated as he must be mass-produced and someone somewhere will know exactly what he represents!

In the middle is a composition figure on a wooden base, who could be a Joseph the Carpenter figure, a background shepherd or a priest, or the same as the next figure? While that 'next' figure, on the right, is probably a Mrs Noah from an old wooden Ark toy, she's all wood, turned with splint-arms, ignoring the various thick or no-bases they are 50mm (middle, priest/Noah) and 60mm - the other two.

It's a weak connection, I know, but I'm clearing folders here! Starlux farm items which wouldn't look out of place near a manger, in a stable, in downtown Bethlehem, circa the year dot! The milkmaid's clearly heard about Herod's men, and is prepared to do something about it while the shepherds all get stoned on frankincense and myrrh! I love the guy using an animal-skin water bottle, and even the cow has the look of a 'rare breed' about it.

Brian Berke shot these in a store window in New York before the really evil weather hit, and lucky he did as it wouldn't be Christmas without a nutcracker or two, cheers Brian!

Here's wishing everyone a happy New Year, lets hope it's a better one than the last three, being a cynic I doubt it, but some stable weather and a few less idiots in charge . . . oh, Israel have just shone a light on the New Year and it's not looking good! But Romania is arresting misogynists, so it's not all bad! Slava Ukrayini!