Nordic Style Purple Winter Arrangement

Christmas Garland for The Hardware Shop

Yesterday I had prepared a Christmas Decoration for our favorite hardware shop, from which we buy almost all of the tools we need to get out work done. Please visit their website: www.ferramenta-rossi.it To make that garland I used 4 kinds of screws and/or tube parts (?) and some bells to add some Christmas accent. I also used pieces of wood they sell for the fireplaces, rattan spheres, silver glass-bulbs and some huge hand-pained Italian pine-cons. All to achieve that cold, Nordic style so different from an Italian winter (we had 18°C yesterday!)

Italian Cappuccino Advent Wreath

In Italy, among other Advent celebrations, is the entry into Rome in the last days of Advent of the Calabrian pifferari, or bagpipe players, who play before the shrines of Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Italian tradition being that the shepherds played these pipes when they came to the manger at Bethlehem to pay homage to the infant Jesus.

My Italian Advent celebration is to drink a lot cappuccino every single day... till X-mas :)

Classic Advent Wreath 2

Advent (from the Latin word adventus meaning "comming") is a season observed in many Western Christian Churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi. The Eastern Churches' equivalent of Advent is called the Nativity Fast.

Orange & Gray Advent Wreath

Modern Gold Advent Wreath

The Advent wreath, or Advent crown, is a Christian tradition that symbolizes the passage of the four weeks of Advent in the liturgical calendarof the Western Church. The Advent Wreath is traditionally a Lutheran practice, albeit it has spread to many other Christian denominations.

Classic Advent Wreath

The ring or wheel of the Advent wreath of evergreens decorated with candles was a symbol in northern Europe long before the arrival of Christianity. The circle symbolized the eternal cycle of the seasons while the evergreens and lighted candles signified the persistence of life in the midst of winter. Some sources suggest the wreath—now reinterpreted as a Christian symbol—was in common use in the Middle Ages, others that it was established in Germany as a Christian custom only in the 16th century.

Red Apple Advent Wreath

In Medieval times advent was a fast during which people's thoughts were directed to the expected second coming of Christ; but in modern times it has been seen as the lead up to Christmas, and in that context Advent Wreath serves as a reminder of the approach of the feast.

Winter Wreaths

Gold & Silver Advent Wreath

White-Silver Floral Christmastree

Berries Autumn Bridal Bouquet