But yes, we are -in fact- ready to face the last month of the year. Get Your End-of-Year oven mitts on because we’re coming in hot!
This nifty blog title originates from Sarah Kay’s poem, ‘Winter Without You’, a beautiful piece of poetry about Wintertime in Brooklyn, USA. Although the season is at our polar opposite -literally- the same sentiment rings true about all the feels at the end of the year.
When December comes, it can sometimes feel like time travel. Wasn’t it just Easter, Pulp fam? Yes? No! We must have tripped and fallen into the DeLorean again because now it’s time to celebrate the Summer, get ready for Christmas and the school holidays! What?!
However, despite the transtemporal lag, we feel cheerful, outgoing, and open-minded about the impending year's end. After all, we get to use all the celebration emojis, shed the cooler weather layers and smell the jasmine in the air. All good things!
And, if you were reaching for a bigger conversation about this, here are three cool items that remind us why we love this time of year:
Christmas ornaments! Part 1. T-Lab!
How are we doing for time? Can you stay for a quick history bite on ornaments? Of course you can, Pulp Heads!
Historically, the tradition of decorating evergreen trees with apples and other fruits began in 16th-century Germany. The trees were thought to represent the tree of forbidden fruit in the Bible and celebrated the winter solstice. Then, in the 1800s, Hans Greiner brought glass ornaments to life. He made them because times were tough, and he couldn’t afford real apples. Hence, the OG ornaments he produced were shaped like fruits and nuts and painted up in festive silver!
Now, ornaments are undeniably a clear indicator that something festive is coming. In this case, Christmas. So, why not choose some that will make you smile whenever you take them out of storage?
We can’t promise silver apples, per say, but what we do have are some very beautiful chum snuggles. Yes, chum snuggles.
Nakayoshi Christmas Series
From T-Lab Japan, these small wooden ornaments are prefect for tablesacping, mantle pieces, work desks, or carefully balanced in your Tree (capital T!) Use them to play pretend with the kids, (young and old).
Heres what we have:
Chum snuggle Santa: 5.7X4X9.6H (cm). The OG.
Chum snuggle rabbit: 4X3X6.5H (cm). Everyone needs a christmas rabbit!
Chum high five Santa: 7.3X4X11H (cm). Of course Santa gives high fives. He’s our guy.
Pole Pole chihuahua: 7.5X3.3X6.8H (cm).
Chihuahua’s always. For any event, season or occasion. Are we right?
Okidoke! Next in line:
String lighting!
What is string lighting, anyway? Great question. String lights are small electric lights on a wire or cable that are used for decoration. They are also known as fairy lights or twinkle lights. They’re a versatile lighting choice for both indoor and outdoor spaces! Thanks Google!
We’ve got an idea (a lightbulb moment, you might say): Get things lit now! Trees (again), staircases, bedheads, you name it!
We have Copper Wire String Lights to create a decorative warm glow in your home, office or creative space.
Ideal for decorating anything: shelves, furniture, mirrors, windows.
Sizes:
- 50 LEDS. needs 3x AA batteries. length - 5.2m.
- 20 LEDS. needs 2x AA batteries. length - 1.9m
Christmas ornaments! Part 2. Nordic Rooms!
Tree enthusiasts lean in!
Trees have been meaningful and sacred throughout history. For Egyptians, trees symbolised the triumph of life over death. For Romans, branches and leaves from trees were used in homes to celebrate the solstice and fruitful harvests. Celts decorated their homes with evergreen trees to symbolise everlasting life. And wouldn’t you know it, Vikings were the first to utilise mistletoe! They honoureed it for it’s role in the death of Balder, a god of light. For them it was a symbol of love and peace.
Phew! So many iterations of tree mythology! It’s satisfying to know we can dip out big toe into history with a gorgeous handcrafted paper fold-out standing tree from Nordic Rooms.
A perfect Christmas statement, available in a simple white and olive with glitter edge, their minimalistic nature and simple finishes mean these trees create a magical feeling in your home by themselves, or with multiple trees together!
The trees all fold away with a magnetic closure for easy storage after the festive season. Each tree is hand made from FSC-certified paper.
Sizes are 31cm and 45cm. Vibrant!
Summer in Winter in Summer
Poet Noah Eli Gordon’s poem is another beautiful way to meditate on this time of year.
His verse includes:
“Imagine a life and live in it.”
We agree with gusto, Pulp Poets. Christmas, Summer, whatever the occasion. Live in this life now and enjoy! xx