It's Beginning to Look ♫Like Christmas ♫

We opted to not put up a tree this year but I still decorated a bit. 

I saw a runner like this in an old Country Living magazine several years ago and made my own. I used old feed sacks to applique the traditional design. 

I am such a fan of textiles you can find them throughout the house year round. I change them out depending on the season. 

On another note:

In Scandinavia, Pixies or Nisse is a household spirit that is responsible for the care and prosperity of a farm or family. A Nisse is usually described as a short man or woman (under four feet tall) wearing a red cap. While belief in guardian spirits is a very old tradition in Scandinavia, belief in Nisser was prominent in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Denmark, southern Norway and southern Sweden. Many farms claimed to have their own Nisse. The Nisse took an active interest in the farm by performing chores such as grooming horses, carrying bales of hay, and other farm-related tasks. These chores were usually done much more efficiently and effectively than by their human counterparts.

However, Nisser could be temperamental, to say the least. If the household was not careful to keep its Nisse satisfied -- usually in the form of a single bowl of porridge with butter in it left out on Christmas Eve -- the spirit could turn against its masters.

In the 1840s the farm's Nisse became the bearer of Christmas presents in Scandinavia, and was then called "Julenisse" and has been associated with Christmas ever since.

I've opted to collect the adorable Danish Maileg Nisse. You can find then hiding all over my house during winter. 

My grandfather and his family immigrated to USA from Denmark in the 1870's. I like to think that is where I get my love of these Danish Nisse. 

Much love,