At the end of November I set up a display involving seven of our Sasha dolls in our local library. This follows the display I did in the same cabinet back in January and February this year as part of a local literary festival. This time the dolls are all preparing for and celebrating Christmas as they are our two Dress a Sasha entries from the 2022 Christmas in July Sasha Festival in Syracuse, New York State.
The cabinet normally has all the trophies and certificates won by our local horticultural group Stony in Bloom, they very kindly removed these from the two upper shelves and rearranged their display on the bottom shelf of the cabinet. In honour of their achievements, I made sure to reference them in the displays.
I had about 90 minutes in which to set up the display before the cabinet had to be locked again, so only took two quick photos on my phone before the door was closed. All the other photos I took afterwards were through the glass with light reflection issues. The library staff had arranged to fix the lights in the cabinet (they weren't working at the beginning of the year) so the Christmas tree the dolls are decorating looks bright enough even though it has no lights on it. I added two more dolls to the Christmas tree decorating activity which was my daughter's Dress a Sasha in 2022 (for Dress a Sasha there is a strict limit of 3 dolls and 18 inches square floor space to work within). Baby Davy in the reindeer suit and Melanie in a blue and gold Christmas dress I had made years ago joined Timothy in his Rudolf sweater, Louisa in her Christmas sundress and baby Nina in her red and green Christmas outfit for the tree decorating action. The Stony in Bloom logo bunting behind them I made by printing the logos in triangles on thin card and stitching the ribbons to the card then cutting out the triangular bunting shapes. The fabric Christmas bunting was made years ago by someone local.
 |
| Decorating the Christmas tree activity - display in the library |
 |
| My favourite Christmas Carol and Advent candles - display in the library |
 |
| The two Christmas scenes on display in the library |
The description cards about each of these displays say the following:
Children enjoying the traditional pre-Christmas activity of decorating the Christmas tree!
Timothy and Melanie are hanging items on the tree with the help of little Louisa, while babies Davy and Nina have fun with the decorations.
The golden baubles, bows and miniature Stony in Bloom bunting acknowledge the
fantastic achievements of the Stony in Bloom volunteers who have won Gold awards for their wonderful horticultural contributions to Stony Stratford.
The festive dresses worn by Louisa and Melanie were made by DollMum. The outfits worn by Timothy and Nina were made by other Sasha doll collectors and Davy’s reindeer outfit was commercially made.
Once in Royal David’s City is my favourite Christmas Carol, it is used at the start of the traditional Nine Lessons and Carols service on Christmas Eve in churches and Cathedrals around the world.
The young chorister represents a red-haired boy, my late brother Russell, singing the first solo verse in a hushed large space, in St George’s Cathedral Cape Town in the 1970s. Background photos are included of the Cathedral and my 2018 Stony Stratford Advent Calendar window in memory of my brother.
The older choir member represents my elder daughter, who grew up in Stony Stratford, singing as an alto choral scholar (with the tenors, basses and counter-tenors) in the vast space of York Minster, York, England in 2021. She wears her graduation hood of orange/salmon/blue. Background photos are included of York Minster and my 2020 Stony Stratford Advent Calendar window of the Heart of Yorkshire window in York Minster.
Miranda, wearing her knitted white dress, prepares to light the candles on the Advent wreath. There is a candle for each Sunday in Advent and a candle for Christmas Day. Advent 1 The Patriarchs; Advent 2 The Prophets; Advent 3 John the Baptist; Advent 4 The Virgin Mary; Christmas Day The Christ.
.jpg)
