Advent

Forever Christmas
by Harry Davis

Book Description

Forever Christmas is a celebration of a joyous holiday and of one inspired artist's preparation and exultation of the day. That artist is Tasha Tudor, so readers know in advance how enchanting the Advent and Christmas activities will be.

Harry Davis, who tells of the Christmas season at Tasha Tudor's house, has been a guest there many times, and his descriptions bring the season to life. He begins his narrative as Tasha makes the Advent wreath. He then goes on to describe making Christmas gifts and special tree decorations. As the festival day approaches, the tree is selected. A very special evening soon follows when friends and family go through the woods to discover an illuminated crèche. Then when Christmas arrives, the tree is trimmed and the dinner prepared and served. The tree, decked with ornaments of the past and present, is lit with real candles. Christmas has arrived, and it is honored with gusto and sentiment. Even after the celebration is over. another treat is in store: a wintry sleigh ride.

Gorgeously illustrated with photographs by Jay Paul and illustrations from many of Tasha Tudor's books, Forever Christmas is a book to be read, cherished, and read again. It sings a special seasonal song of joy and of the inspiration of a unique artist - Tasha Tudor.

Advent

Advent is an important time in Tasha's Christmas celebration. It officially begins for the Tudor household on December 6, the birthday of Saint Nicholas. This day, significant in itself, also heralds every coming event of the Christmas season for Tasha and her family.

Tasha herself makes the Advent wreath. Although many tasks are shared with family and friends, this one is Tasha's alone. She has been making Advent wreaths for more than forty years. The pleasure she takes in this longtime ritual is obvious. As with any artist or craftsperson, she chooses the necessary materials carefully. Only the best pieces of boxwood will do. “I used to make it out of spruce or ferns or whatever might be available, but since I always hung it over the long table in the winter kitchen, the shedding needles became a problem. I've made it of boxwood ever since those needles tried to become part of Christmas dinner.” A sturdy old wire frame that Tasha is long practiced in using is produced. With deft movements, she forms the wreath slowly, as the boxwood is woven around the frame. “It's easy to make a nice wreath if you concentrate on the fullness of it. You make a base with the long pieces of boxwood, weaving them in and out of the wire frame. You keep adding to it so it looks nice and fluffy, and, of course, you have to make it prettiest on the bottom part because you only see the bottom when you hang it up.”

Tasha uses the making of the Advent wreath as her personal entry into this joyous season. Her face becomes more animated as the wreath takes its final shape. Lovingly, reverently she takes out the antique satin ribbons on which half a century of Advent wreaths have hung. A subtle shade of soft red, they are real satin and were first used as pew markers at her mother and father's wedding in 1904.

These same ribbons have had a splendid career since that wedding. Tasha has used them countless times in her book illustrations, calendars, and Christmas cards. Because all of Tasha's art is conceived and created from her life, her art and her life have gradually become virtually indistinguishable.

The ribbons are adjusted and the wreath finished. Tasha trims the base of the candles so they fit snugly into the holders. She uses only her own hand-dipped candles, made from pure beeswax. She nimbly stands on a chair and slips the wreath into place. The hook that holds it has always been there and knows its function. The lighting of the wreath will wait for tea.

Tasha's Advent teas are memorable, none more so than the one on Saint Nicholas's birthday. Her Dundee cakes are the great attraction. Somewhat like a fruitcake, but white, they have appeared on her tea table on this day all her life. Because it's his favorite, Tasha's older son, Seth, gets one all for himself. The recipe came from her beloved Scottish nanny, Dady. It was originally Dady's mother's recipe in Scotland. The cakes were made weeks ago and frozen to improve their taste. Once you've had Tasha's Dundee cake, it remains imprinted on your taste buds, and by mid-November you find yourself anxious that Tasha will once again find time to create one of these culinary masterpieces.

Everything about the tea is relaxed and conducive to the Christmas mood. Lighting the wreath brings forth exclamations of pleasure and congratulations on yet another beautiful creation. “I think when it's done properly, you light only one candle the first week, and two the second, and so on. It was so beautiful, I just lit them all at once and have done so ever since! One should always feel free to alter traditions when one sees fit.”

Tasha's own blend of Welsh breakfast tea, the Dundee cake, and a variety of Christmas cookies induce a sense of well-being. The combination of firelight and candlelight creates a warm glow that gently embraces the entire room. The wreath makes shadows on the ceiling that Tasha describes as “halos of quivering rays.” Hanging the Advent wreath introduces one of Tasha's favorite elements of Christmas: the smells. Over the next few weeks, garlands and fresh greens will be brought into the house, filling it with cold, fresh scents. They are important to Tasha.

She feels that “scent is the strongest memory arouser. Even more than sight or sound. Balsam fir always reminds me of Christmas.” Tasha revels in these and all scents of everyday life - drying mittens, wood smoke, and baking. “Were one to smell any of these things again in a far country, many years hence, the entire scene would come poignantly alive once more and clutch the heart.”

In the past, a new Advent calendar was made each year. They were amazingly detailed creations, very much like the one that introduced me to Tasha Tudor. The topics were numerous, from snowy forests to Victorian streets. All were filled with enchanting animals going about daily business. Great glee and contentment always seemed to be the dominant theme, and the work was enormously complex and layered. Underneath the forest floor would be animal burrows; underneath them would be smaller mouse burrows with intricately detailed tiny spaces. Closest to Tasha's heart are the calendars associated with Corgiville, her personal favorite of all her literary and artistic creations. Corgiville, that delightful village “west of New Hampshire and east of Vermont” has its own Christmas celebrations. These fetes are somewhat boisterous, given Tasha's fondness for bogarts, her adaptation of Swedish trolls. One famous calendar was made “just for the boys.” “It was rather naughty,” concedes Tasha. All the calendars have tiny doors, twenty-four of them, to be opened, one each day, from December 1 to December 24. Tasha had the children take turns opening the doors. Behind each door would be a tiny scene of Christmas celebration. The last door, to be opened on Christmas Eve, usually revealed the Christ child.

In recent years, with her children grown with families of their own, Tasha produces Advent calendars more slowly. Frequently the originals are away at museum exhibitions, but the combined memory of them seems to permeate the walls of the winter kitchen whether they are there or not. A rich sense of peaceful joyousness remains. Peace on earth is possible, and it extends to all creatures.

Copyright © 2000 by Harry Davis

About the Author

Harry Davis has studied the art of Tasha Tudor for thirty years and is also the author of Tasha Tudor's Dollhouse and Forever Christmas. He lives in Virginia.