Carrying on the Tradition

"Miss Kristie! Look! Look! Look what my fairy left me!"



It was Morgan, my "after school daughter". Morgan comes to stay with us every day after her school dismisses from 3:00-6pm. Since my eldest daughter is away during the school year this year Morgan uses her room. So we call her "my fourth daughter".



Morgan has built a fairy house in her room just like the one Sofi has in her room. They both look forward to signs that the fairies have visited. Is something out of place in the house? Did the fairies eat the chocolate they left for them? Did the fairies spill something or leave a note? Did the fairies leave a gift?



However, I didn't realize that Morgan was as entranced by the fairy world as Sofi was, until this past week. I thought she was just building the fairy house to have fun with, and because she liked crafts. Morgan, being 12-years-old, was not waiting for the fairies too, was she?



So, Sofi's fairy continued to leave "signs" and "gifts" (at night after Morgan left so Morgan was not hurt) but Morgan's fairy didn't visit at all. I still didn't notice what was happening. When Morgan came to me and said, "Miss Kristie, my fairy is not visiting." I put in my mind that perhaps her fairy should visit soon. However, I didn't put it in my mind as a priority. Even Sofi's fairy took a week break for a while there...



So I was surprised when Morgan came running to me with some gifts in her hand saying "look what my fairy gave me!" I smiled and showed my appreciation for the gifts. I imagined that Morgan had created some gifts "from her fairy" and this was making her happy. She seemed very happy. And since the fairies were on a break anyway, I didn't think much about it. Sofi's fairy had not visited for more than a week.



The next day Morgan came to me again, "Look Miss Kristie...my fairy left me a note!"



Each day it was the same until today I suddenly wondered....



'Sofi," I said, "Do you know how I explained what happens with Santa Claus and how sometimes we are inspired by these spirits to leave gifts?"

(If you are not familiar with the letter Santa left her last year you might want to stop now and read the letter at: http://thedreamangels.blogspot.com/2007/12/letter-from-santa.html)

'Yes" replied Sofi.



"Do you think perhaps Morgan's fairy has been inspiring you?"



"Hmmmm...I don't know, " said Sofi, "If she was I wouldn't remember."

"Are you sure you are not aware of helping her at all?" I pushed a bit...

"All I remember is going into Morgan's room for no reason and then I don't remember why I was there," Sofi responded.



That was the answer I had been expecting.



I was so touched. Without a word, without a formal ceremony, Sofi had taken on the tradition of "fairy messenger". She had created elaborate notes and gifts and things for Morgan's fairy to give her for the simple reason of creating joy and wonder for Morgan. The fairies had spoken to her.



She knew, intuitively, what to do and how to do it. She knew that you must never reveal your secret - even to those that know, she knew how to be quiet about it, and do it in a careful way. And at the same time she anticipated the wait of her own fairy eagerly and with great surprise and joy - completely knowing that it was I who was the messgenger but completely "knowing" that it was not I that left the items. Somehow she had completely grasped the idea of the wonder and mystery of it all and was able to be the messenger and the believer at the same time.

We completely skipped the entire drama of "Oh my! Really? There is no Santa? There are no fairies?" and peacefully merged into the next stage of her life where she becomes the messenger for the next generation.

There are two things that made this transition so peaceful. First, we do not stop believing in our home. We believe in believing. I tell the kids - you have to PROVE it does not exist or I will believe it is real! Secondly, the gift-giving and visiting process is done by teaching us to listen to our intuition and perhaps those tiny voices that come from other places. In learning to listen to those other voices we are able to gift without deception and be open about it. And the child learns to listen to their own intuition and their own angels and spirits guiding them...and the tradition is carried on.

I cannot say I understand it completely. If I did it would certainly lose its magic. All I know is that Santa continues to leave gifts, Zarelda (the fairy) continues to leave gifts and now, a new fairy leaves gifts for Morgan. And sometimes the fairy houses are disturbed and none of us know how or why...

Blessings & Health,
Kristie

Zarelda's Birthday Celebration

Were you all wondering what has been happening with Zarelda? Well, Sofi did too. But she was just SURE Zarelda would come if she made sure that her home looked festive for her birthday! Zarelda's birthday (apparently) was April 4th. So Sofi decorated with streamers and we went down to the Fair World Gallery (also online) to purchase a gift. Sofi decided that Zarelda would love some worry dolls, because they were just the right size for a fairy!

I decided that Zarelda might like something from ETSY since she shops there so much already so I purchased an art print for her that was JUST THE RIGHT SIZE for her walls! I have no idea why they advertise these tiny art prints as collector's prints - don't they know that fairies and dolls everywhere are always in search of that perfect size print for their house? I chose a fairy print from Mistyisle called "Fairies in the Moonlight".

Sofi also left Zarelda a tea set.

The next morning we found wrapping paper all over and the words TEA? written on the little chalkboard in Zarelda's house! Apparently she loved the tea set but we had forgotten to leave her some tea!

However, she did enjoy the gifts. The dolls were placed all over the house - and one was even on the swing! Zarelda was so happy she left Sofi a picture of what her birthday party had been like!

Doris, at DELDREAMART (ETSY) was comissioned to paint this lovely piece of work. Zarelda really wanted to get Sofi the DRAGON PURSE or the painting of the DRAGONS FIGHTING OVER THE MUSHROOM but they were too heavy for her to carry :)

Enjoy our bithday party album!

Zarelda brings a nest and gets a handmade swing from Sofi!

Sofi was busy this week remodelling Zarelda's fairy house and helping her friend Morgan build one as well.

What a busy week for Zarelda! She went shopping at: Fairie Bling and purchased the most gorgeous nest with eggs and bird (see picture at her shop here)

Sofi was so thrilled with the nest she left a note for Zarelda asking her to please give a gift to her friend Morgan (who has been building a fairy house at our house with Sofi this week and left it here until she moves into her new house).

Luckily Tizi, at Fairie Bling had enclosed an extra gift in the package she sent so the wish was quickly fulfilled! Thank you to Tizi for making two girls happy!

Sofi was so happy she made Zarelda a little swing from the flower cuttings we had on the kitchen counter. Sofi had purchased some flowers at the grocery store earlier in the day, cut them and put them in a vase and then wondered...what can I do with the stems?

Zarelda Visited Again...

Well, Zarelda visited the fairy house again. You may remember from her last visit that she added a small water-color painting to the home. If you want to read more about her last visit you can link here: Sofi's Fairy House

This time she shopped at Izile's Oddities and left a lovely pendant like the one in the picture above :)

I wonder where she will go shopping next? Zarelda only shops on ETSY and loves to buy crafts that are made from nature. She likes to support other crafters because she loves people that make things with their hands and honor nature in their crafts :).

OK...so I just made this up now...but she has already made two trips to ETSY for things we don't really need but they are just so cute! So it SOUNDs like a good tradition :) How else am I going to find an excuse for the tiny little things I love to buy on ETSY? It is all part of my "support home businesses" campaign but then...uh...why do I need these cute things?

So....I am thinking it is not ME! It is Zarelda that needs them to put in the fairy house and Sofi LOVES the little gifts that she leaves...so let's see what she will buy next?

Blessings & Health,

Kristie

http://www.thedreamangels.etsy.com/

A Memory Album & Nature Table in Our Fairy House!

Yesterday I was walking by Sofi's fairy house as I do every day (since I let her keep it in the livingroom) and noticed that she has added quite a bit to it over the past few months. Our nature table has not been touched for a while (except by me) .... but meanwhile this fairy-house has become a treasure of nature items, gifts and memories from the past year. I have taken a few pictures above. The items in her house include things like: some fabric her sister cut up for her, a peacock feather from a farm we stayed at 2 years ago, an angel she was sent from a friend in Michigan, a couple wooden gnomes that a 12-year-old made and I purchased from a Waldorf list, a small watercolor/acrylic painting of a leaf that I got from ETSY (I love supporting ETSY artists. I got this one from: http://www.thegreenefairy.etsy.com/) and gave to her fairy "Zarelda" as a gift. There are also a stone she got when we went to Cyprus years ago, a shell from our shell collection, a little felt gnome that was the first one we ever made together, the doll furniture from the old doll house she played with when she was 3...it is just full of so many memories and treasures. And then there is me worrying about being behind on memory albums and the nature table...when it was all right in front of me all the time :)

Blessings & Health,

Kristie

http://www.thewaldorfchannel.com/

Fairies Got Stockings Yesterday

Yesterday we put the finishing touches on the tree and the fairies got some Christmas stockings in their fairy house (see picture) as well. I always let the kids decorate the tree. Sofi did a great job hanging ornaments and Suni did an amazing job stringing the lights! They both decided that one of my knitted unicorns should adorn the top this year. I wonder what Santa will put in the stockings for the fairies?

That really big red present behind the tree is a super large book I found at Sam's club for $15.00 all about CATS. The pictures in the book are larger than real cats. I labelled it "To Stripey and Catnip" (our cats). It is driving the kids crazy! They keep telling me "Please tell us what is in it - we won't tell them (the cats)!"

Time to Bring the Fairies in for the Winter!

Some people put birdhouses out in the winter - we build fairy houses IN. My eldest daughter, who is now 13, started this tradition years ago and my youngest has continued. However, my youngest insists that only natural things can be used in the fairy house because "fairies don't like manmade things mama". So I thought I would share a tip with you - Sofi created this fairy house below without any tape! She used toothpicks to hold the "floors" of the house up. I didn't help her at all. This was her own project she did one day when I was doing dishes or something (oh, I mean, loading the dishwasher...I STILL can't get used to that!). I have also included a picture of her sister that was taken 5 years ago when she used to make fairy houses too!