Christmas Old and New (Collection Final Project)

For our final project, we were tasked to create a collection of something and a means to display that collection. I chose to make clay Christmas ornaments and hang them on a tree by the beach to combine old traditions with my current life in Santa Barbara, and to think about looking towards the future. I created eight Christmas ornaments depicting memories of Christmas traditions in addition to ones that my family continues to do each year. While I still get to go home for Christmas every year, when it is 70 degrees in California in December, it doesn't feel like the Christmas season to me. I hung these ornaments on a palm tree at the beach, because it's an environment drastically different than the one I'm used to in Seattle. I keep the idea of Christmas while contrasting it with a tree that's outside and looking towards the ocean, just like I look towards my unknown future.

Specifically, I chose to make Christmas ornaments because I am so excited about the holidays and am excited to go home and spend time with my family. I also wanted to do something with the medium of sculpey clay, because it is something I'm always fiddling with but I don't often take the time or effort to actually make something with it. The traditions I chose to create are mostly unique to my family, and are all traditions I treasure that help get me in the Christmas spirit.

When I was little, my mom used to wrap a different Christmas book for me to open

everyday of advent.

Every year (except unfortunately not this year), my family goes to see a play at the 5th Avenue theatre in downtown Seattle.

My brother and I will always decorate a gingerbread house, and keep getting a little more creative every year. We also always go downtown to see the Gingerbread Village at the Seattle Sheraton, which is crafted by architects.

We always bake Christmas cookies, as most people do, but my favorite cookie is the biscotti my mom makes!

There are several Christmas movies my family always watches together. One that my brother and I still watch every year is the movie "Arthur's Perfect Christmas." We have it on VHS tape and it's definitely a Christmas classic in our family. This is a bird decoration which Arthur gives his mom for Christmas in the movie.

Growing up, we always got to open two presents on Christmas eve. One was a board game we'd play together as a family, and the other was a pair of pajamas to wear to bed that night.

My home church always has a white elephant party around the holidays. I don't remember this, but apparently when I was little I opened a rusty teapot and was disappointed until I realized I could use it in my play kitchen, and I kept it for years.

This final ornament is my family's favorite tradition. When my parents were first married, they had a car that barely held a Christmas tree so they bought a tree at the store which was still wrapped up from being shipped. Every year since then, we buy a wrapped tree and it's always a bit of a surprise whether it's a good tree or not until we bring it home and cut the string off.