Glasgow Travels Part 1

Friday 29th November

Raven and I headed South to Glasgow by coach. We arrived at the coach station at about 21:00. It was dark on our drive in, but I remember passing Stirling with the castle illuminated on its crag, and then approaching Glasgow, with the tops of tower-blocks ringed by bright coloured lights (I guess that's one way of making drab 1960's architecture more exciting) and then arriving at Buchanan St. bus station rather tired! We were met by our good friends Sarge and Cordelia, and walked from the bus station to Sarge's centrally located apartment. I kept getting distracted by the amazing architecture of the central shopping distract as we walked, and at one point was so distracted by buildings that I walked into a bollard!

Our original plan was to go to Sloan's pub, and then go out for drinks in various places, but we were both too tired and too hungry, and in the end settled for popping into the Tesco mini-shop at St. Enoch's to buy food. While in there I spotted a very lovely Goth lady wearing New Rocks [if you're reading this -"hello!" - I was the girl in Gothic Lolita]. We had dinner of pittas, houmous, olives and a something that was between paella and stir-fry. 

Sadly, that night there was a terrible and fatal air accident not very far from where we were staying. A helicopter malfunctioned and crashed into the Clutha bar which was at that point rather busy as it was hosting a gig by ska band Esperanza. I had no idea that it had happened at the time. I heard a bit of a commotion, but didn't think it any more than the sorts of commotions sadly frequent on late Friday evenings on many of our city streets. Quite a few people people died - the two police officers in the helicopter and their pilot, and at least six of those who were in the pub. My heart goes out to all of the families affected. May those whose lives were cut short in this tragic accident be remembered. 

On a more cheerful note, his weekend was part of Hannukah, and Sarge, being Jewish, held a little celebration, complete with a small home-made hannukiyah and a rather specific sort of jam-filled doughnuts (yum!) Apparently a Hannukah candelabra, while often referred to as a Menorah, is actually a Hannukiyah, as a Menorah has fewer branches. The story as told to me by Sarge, goes like this: "The candelabra or Menorah as they (mistakenly) call it in English represents the original Menorah of the temple of Salomon. The temple had been sacked by the Greeks during their occupation, but the rebel Macabis drove them back, and took the temple back. They were about to proceed to light the Menorah, which had seven branches, one for every day of the week, but all the oil pots had been smashed, except a small one, which should've lasted them a day, and yet it lasted 8 days, hence the 8 days of Hannukah  and the 9 branches on a Hannukiyah (as it should be called), so 8 branches for the 8 days, and one more for the candle you use to light the others with (essentially a taper)."

That was Friday - check out my next post for what I did on Saturday! Lots of photographs aheas

Tea And Coffee

Caffeinated HouseCat

☕ You only ~have~ to drink tea & coffee if you actually like them. ☕

I've noticed a trend of people drinking tea to seem more Lolita or more like Emilie Autumn or even more Goth. Sometimes they video themselves drinking tea really awkwardly. It seems strange and sort of pretentious behaviour. They are clearly trying really hard to look like they are enjoying their tea and their tea-party, and while they might be enjoying the rest of the tea-party, they are trying very hard not to grimace at the actual tea. 

(An aside: I know that tea is an everyday beverage in the UK, and that there are places where tea being made with hot water, a tea-bag and possibly milk and sugar is something of a rarity, but it is a very simple process, and should be quite hard to get wrong.) 

Anyway, this is not about getting making tea wrong, this is about people trying too hard to be quaintly British-esque in search of being more subcultural. I am inherently quaintly British so have never had that as something I wish to become, and can't exactly see the reason why people so desire to be like this. The only motivation I can see is an idealisation of Victorian society and a belief that all Victorian people did is sit around on sunny afternoons drinking tea, playing croquet and, if female, doing embroidery. Victorian life was not actually like that. 

Maybe it is a reaction to the culture of youth binge-drinking, with drinking tea being a stereotypically "civilised" thing to do, and I quite agree that afternoon tea is far superior to evening drunkenness, but there are plenty of soft drinks that are not tea to drink if you dislike tea. There are exceedingly elegant and refined tea meals and ceremonies, and yes the 1840's Afternoon Tea, earlier 18thC tea and of course various Tea Ceremonies from the Orient are all elegant and refined occasions, but that requires more than simply the act of consuming tea from pretty containers or of eating cake off a tiered stand. And engaging in any of the above activities for the purpose of becoming 'more Lolita' or 'more Goth' is silly and a bit appropriative. 

Not drinking tea does not make one any less goth, in the same way that drinking tea does not make one any more goth. I'm not sure why this has become a hugely 'Goth' thing to do, any more than why drinking coffee black was a hugely 'Goth' thing to do when I was a teenage babybat. 

☕ "Give me coffee, black, black as my soul!" ☕

I happen to rather like coffee, but I have a caffeine intolerance and get a little too wired if I have anything other than decaff, and I like lattes. This does not make me less Goth. I also like frappuccinos. Most of all, I like rose milkshakes with real vanilla ice-cream, whipped cream on top, served in a tall glass with a straw and marshmallows. Hideously pink, calorific, and decidedly fabulous. Aesthetically one would look fitting in the hands of a Sweet Lolita, but food should not be about what it looks like, or which culture it is from, but about the taste. Really, only drink or eat things because you like them. This does not just apply to tea and coffee, but to sushi and other Japanese food, absinthe, red wine, snakebite & black or anything else that is edible and related to a subculture. 

Be yourself. Eat and drink what you enjoy (in healthy moderation, of course). 

Interview: Kate B. On Baking!

Hello readers! This is my first interview on this blog, and it is with Kate B. Kate B. is a long time friend of mine, Goth, and the lady who introduced me to my partner, and one of the people who got me back into baking. As may be apparent, this is quite a crafty blog, and with a name like Domesticated, there will be home-crafts as well as DIY fashion and art.

So, here's the interview, it was conducted over Skype, as Kate lives in Wales and I live in Scotland. My text is in bold, hers in regular formatting. I typed up this transcript as we were talking - a little difficult with some of the longer paragraphs. If you want to imagine our voices, I have a rather "proper" English accent with a twinge of French, Bristol and the Southern counties, having been put through elocution lessons at boarding school, but refusing to have every last trace of being "rustic" eradicated, and Kate is originally from the Welsh Valleys and has a very lilting Welsh accent. In response to feedback, I've edited this post shorter.

Question the first! How shall introduce you on my blog? Oh call me whatever you want! Ok, I shall call you Kate B! I am going to introduce you - and I'm typing as I speak- as one of the poeple who got me back into baking. For how long have you been baking?

Ah, since I have been knee high!

Were you introduced to baking and cooking by your family or your school?

Family, definitely family. I remember cooking with my mother and both of my grandmothers - cooking is definitely something we do in this family. *indicates shoulders* We don't raise little people in this family!

So, home cookery and baking for you is definitely about sharing food?

Oh definitely, I prefer to share what I've made than to eat it myself!

This is actually going fairly well! I need to type fairly quickly, but I can do that so this is going fairly well! Those typing lessons I took at school are actually coming in useful.

What do you like about baking over other forms of cooking?

It's not that I don't like cooking and making main meals, I think that it's you have an affinity to what you like to make, and I like making sweets!

You make especially good cupcakes. Some of your cupcake ingredients are rather unusual!

Ah you mean like the lavender ones?

Yep indeed!

I don't think lavender is that unusual, I've always known it was edible, but I didn't use them until I read this one recipe where I found out that I didn't need to put the flowers into the actual mixture, just soak them.

And I ate the sparkly cupcake! The one with edible glitter.

You did eat the sparkly cupcake, a lavender one, I believe it was.

And I didn't turn into Edward Cullen!

*facepalms and laughs*

You use alchoholic beverages...

*laughs* Yes, yes I do! I'm very careful and do say this is not meant for children! I am aware that alcohol burns off during cooking, but just incase - I don't want someone saying their toddler got drunk on a cake - I don't need that. I've got one that's very popular that I've made - and I've seen both people in my family and my other half's family go gaga for them, and that's my Pina Colada cakes with coconut topping.

You've also used Green Tea in a cupcake.What inspired you to use green tea in a cupcake?

Actually, I read the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, and I thought I'd try that and it turned out really well!

Other than cupcakes, what do you like to bake?

Cheesecake!

Cheesecake has a reputation for being a bit gloopy - how do you avoid that?

I don't know; I think I'm just good at it. I follow the recipe properly the first time and then if there's something I need to change, I work from there. I think one thing that's important in baking sweets is to experiment all the time.

Yesterday, I don't think I announced it on Facebook, but I made iced buns! These are lemon ones!Yay!

I gave one of them to my Dad to try out, and he said that's nice and everything but it should have a cherry on top. I said that I think that's a Belgian bun, not an iced bun.

Have you ever thought of going into professional baking?

I keep being told I should open a shop, but it sounds like a really big undertaking for the moment. I'd have to sort premises and rent, and I'm not entirely sure that if I create a demand that I'd be able to supply it. In this economy I'm not sure that this "little cake shop that I run" would survive - not to get too deep and political.

I like this quoute from Ratatouille: "You must be imaginative and strong hearted, you must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits. Your only limit is your soul. What I say is true: anyone can cook, but only the fearless can be great."

Do you think that home cooking should see a revival in the face of people eating out more and eating many pre-packaged meals?

Yeah I do, and not only because eating out is expensive!

Do you think that cooking together as a family a good way for families to connect with each other and be more of a unit?

I remember Sunday Roasts when I was little, everyone around the table - me and my Mother and my Dad and my younger brother and both my grandparents on my Mum's side, plus anybody else in the family they'd want to invite - usually my uncle and my cousins - and I know it may be a bit of an idealised view now, but that's how I remember it.

If you ever have children, will you get them involved in cookery and baking?

I think would get them involved - and this is going to sound in-depth - but I think this will get them involved with their food. I've heard of this group in Swansea, but it could be any city, and you ask them where do you think chips come from? "Tescos" where do you think potatoes come from "Tescos". I do think it's important that kids know where their food comes from and what is going into it.

It's fun as well!

Yeah, I think it's fun - as I said, I enjoy cooking.

I have got one thing that is really, really, precious andI would never part with it ever... It was a recipe book my gran wrote down in one of my Dad's old school exercise books, it has recipes for coconut cake - which is my younger brother's favorite and I've made it for his Birthday a few times - and there's also her recipe for coffee and walnut cake and the recipe for what she calls her "simple" cheese cake, as well as her mincemeat recipe.

Will you add to the recipe collection and pass it down?

If the book survives and it's falling apart, and this may sound selfish, but I don't want to share Nana's recipes with the world.

No, that's understandable. Do you plan on passing it down in the generations of your family?

*nods* Yes, I do! If I have kids and if they show an interest, they can have it when I pass on. This may sound really mean, but I had to wait until she passed on to get it. When she passed on, it was the only thing I really wanted from her.

Do you keep your own recipe book?

No, a lot of my recipes are in my head - I should probably write them down

I'm having trouble writing recipes down for my blog because I tend to tweak them each time, so there's no definitive version...

I tried to write a few down, and when it comes to the method I try and write it as if I'm actually talking someone through it rather than being scientific and methodical about it.

What are your favourite published recipe books?

*laughs* I actually tend to work from the Weight Watcher's one, as my Mum and I both diet, despite our tendencies towards roast dinners.

Raven's making midweek roast dinner tonight. I'll be able to get another two or three meals at least from the carcass.

A lot of people seem to forget you can boil up the carcass to make stock, or grind up the bones. You know me, I love cawl, I'm Welsh! (Cawl is a type of Welsh lamb broth).Raven and I will eat the breast meat on the chicken tonight, have the wings and drumsticks tomorrow, strip the rest of the meat from the carcass for curry, and then boil the remains for chicken soup. I don't like wasting anything. Do you think food waste is a big issue in the UK?

I do, I think a lot of people throw out things that are perfectly edible. If it's not actively rotting I'll cook with it, and I've been known to cut the squishy bits off red peppers - I like to put red peppers in Bolognaise sauce.

How does cooking fit in with being a goth?

How does cooking fit in with being a goth? I don't think they're mutually exclusive.

What do you think of themed foods?

Like what?

For example the broken glass cupcakes where the glass is sugar-craft.

I'm not adverse to themed stuff, and sugar craft that's out there - it's quite amazing what they can do!

Out of the major celebrations, what do you like cooking/baking for best?

HALLOWEEN!

That was a rather emphatic "Halloween"

That's 'cause it's my favourite time of year! And I love to cook pumpkin pie! It's one of the first desserts I cooked for the "in laws" (In quote marks, Kate's not married, but in a long term relationship). My boyfriend's mother said "I don't know, I'm not normally into pumpkin" but apparently she ate the last piece that night!

What's the strangest thing you've made?

That would be sweet potato cheesecake.

*blink blink*

Yes, you heard me right, sweet potatoes.

That's rather an unusual ingredient for cheese cake!

I thought so as well, but then I tried it, because I figured if I didn't try it I couldn't "yay" or "nay" if it's a good recipe.

Where did you get the idea for sweet potato cheese cake from?

I remember from when I was a pre-teen, quite a while ago now, and I think it's Creole, - I'm not entirely sure on that - but that they use sweet potato in apple pie, and it's just stuck with me. As I've been off work recently, I've been cooking more as I've got time to experiement, so I looked up recipes for sweet potato, but with UK measurements - I've tried following American measurements, but I just can't, sorry - and it was a list of starters, main meals, and interestingly desserts that could be made with sweet potatoes. I saw cheesecake and part of me went "yeugh" and part of me went "I've got to try that".

Do you think you're quite adventurous with your baking?

I'm probably adventurous for the area I live in, but I'm sure there are people more adventurous than me in the world

What do think of the importance of trying new things?It's quite improtant, and it's like when you're little - just try it once, and you never have to have it again, but I will draw the line at eating insects.

I could eat insects, like ants or locusts, but not squids, octopi, molluscs... 

What is your favourite non-sweet baked good?Non-sweet? I like stake and ale pie. I'm sorry to all vegetarians out there, but it's how I was raised - I like bacon sandwiches too. What new experiments would you like to do?

Chocolate and cherry cupcakes.

Would that be a bit like miniature black forest gateaux?

Do you know, I've never thought of it that way.

Have you ever tried making Japanese sweet treats?

No actually. I was going to make sushi, and I've made miso soup from a packet, but I've never tried making Japanese sweets

I only ask because Raven has been wanting to make teiyaki bean paste stuff... I'm not entirely sure what it's like!

I actually looked up how to make a sweet steamed bun, which is something that seems to be a popular thing from anime and manga, but I've never found a recipe with a method that I understand, so I think I'll try and find someone to show me how to do it in person so I don't try teaching myself from a website and fouling it up. It's interesting about him wanting to make teiyaki bean paste, because that's what goes into the sweet bun.

My baking's actually expected; my cousin thinks I go everywhere with a box of cake! It's also expected in my gaming group - the night when I go to role-play, they expect me to bring something I've baked.

That's because your baking's so delicious.

Are there any famous chefs or cooks you admire?

I do know another cook I like - cooks I should say.

Oh

I like the Hairy Bikers!

I like that they wear S.O.P.H.I.E bracelets! What do you like about the Hairy Bikers?

I like how they actually like the food they cook, and you actually see them eat the food they cook.They're down to earth about cooking.

They are, erm, it's nice to see - and I'm not have a dig at Nigella or Deliah, but you don't see them eat it. The Bikers, you see them taste and eat everything, and that appeals to me because that's the kind of cook I am.

That is all for today on the interview front. I'm working on a recipe post on how to make triangular sushi rolls. There will be more updates on Gothic topics too, and craft projects. I hope you enjoyed this post. Please comment about your own cookery! Also recipe suggestions (as in suggestions for things to post, and also for things to try) are welcome.

Solstice, Christmas and Decorations

This is a blog, with lots of pictures,about how my partner and I have decorated our apartment for the season. I'm going to do a separate blog about the food. That blog will hopefully also have lots of pictures.

This is our very first Solstice living together in Scotland! This is very exciting!

My partner is very traditional about Christmas. He comes from an Irish Catholic background, but was brought up in rural Wales, and to a much larger family than mine. His Christmas vision is that of a family gathering, of traditional foliage and red-green-gold, and his favourite part of the Christmas tradition is the food. To him, Christmas dinner is a gift to the family, the best gift of them all. My partner cooks to share.

I was brought up by my mad-scientist Dad, and after Mother left, Christmas was only ever vaguely traditional in our house and I, a batty Pagan and latterly a Goth, was left in charge of decorating, and had been from an early age (my Dad was a brave, brave man, letting me do the Christmas decorations as a kid. One year I made all the baubles out of K-Nex and tried to build a tree...) so my vision is of a quiet Christmas, outside playing in snow, or at home admiring the tree, with a silver-purple-blue-black and ice, snow, a winter theme and my favourite part of Christmas is decorating the tree and turning the lights on. Christmas was never really a true "family" thing as there was only my Dad and I involved, not the extended family. We were a family of sorts, but it wasn't exactly a gathering. To me, Christmas was a time to be creative, to decorate things and make presents.

These are pretty much opposites, they're even opposite colours, but we're trying to bring them together. There are similarities to our approaches; both of us are Pagan, and my partner had time off on the Solstice, but he is working on Christmas day, so that at least gives us a focus; we both like decorating the tree, we both think it is a brilliant occasion for candles. Together we have made our small but cosy apartment into a festive one.

The Solstice is the shortest day, and is about the changing seasons and the knowledge that the days are going to get longer, and while it might get worse before it gets better, Spring WILL come. One can celebrate a secular Solstice, which is simply a celebration of the celestial patterns and changing seasons, as well as a Pagan one, so if anyone wants a less sarcastic approach to an alternative to Christmas than Festivus, a secular Solstice is a possibility.

In the UK, the Solstice marks midwinter, but apparently in places with a continental climate (the USA, at least, maybe also in mainland Europe) the Solstice is actually considered the start of winter, because although the days are getting longer, there is a lag in the change in actual weather, meaning that the worst is still to come. As you may have noticed from my previous post, Scotland has winter already! We've had a few good coverings of snow, and I have seen the most beautiful sparkling white snow on the mountains. It will probably be worse in January, and maybe early February, but snow started falling in October in a light dust on the mountains, and was definitely around in November, and Samhain (Halloween) definitely makes more sense as the start of Winter here, and Imbolc (Candlemas) as the beginning of Spring. I haven't seen Spring in Scotland yet, but I've seen snowdrops in February when I lived in England. The UK being islands detached from mainland Europe, does not share the same climate as the majority of Europe (from what I remember of Brittany, northern France has a similar one, though) but has a maritime climate, and one also affected by the Gulf Stream.

Most Pagans see the natural world (and broader Universe) as Divine, with varying theologies from pantheism to polytheism, so each Pagan has a different way of seeing it in a religious sense. To me I celebrate the fact that I live in a Universe so wonderfully arranged, by perfect chance, that there are perpetual cycles, an order to existence, and remember that however bad life gets, it eventually does get better. I see the Divine as intrinsic to the Universe, so to me the geometry of the heavens is holy, the cycles of life are holy, the physics that means our universe sustains life is holy, the sun is holy, the moon is holy, the snow is holy, the trees are holy, the mountains are holy, etc. etc. etc. I don't ascribe to any literal interpretation of any mythology, or have an anthropomorphic vision of deity, but in Neo-Pagan mythology (which is basically poetry based on many older mythologies) the Solstice is when the Sun is reborn of the Dark Goddess. For lucky druids this can involve a battle (sometimes literal, staged with swords) between two men, one representing the Holly King and the other the Oak King.

Ah, Paganism, we have a festival of death (Samhain/Halloween) a festival of sex and fire (Beltane/May Day) and a festival where we get to have sword fights if we're Druids - we're so Metal :P

As the Solstice is a celebration of returning light, we're having a fiery solar theme to our celebrations. Borrowing from a Chinese New Year tradition, and adapting it for the solar new year, we're going to light a sky-lantern, and we're going to paint our wishes for the coming year on it first. We've bought a completely bio-degradable lantern with a bamboo frame because the paper disintegrates pretty quickly and if the metal-framed ones land on farm land, the metal-frames can pose a danger to livestock and wildlife. I don't want to honour the changes in nature by doing something that's going to harm nature. It's obviously important not to let them off near airports (I think we're far enough from the city airport) and and power-lines. They seem to be quite popular in the West now, and I think they're brilliant. I always find it quite moving to watch them float away until they're invisible, getting tinier and tinier as they go. The winds were actually too high to launch our lantern, so that will have to wait until it is calmer out, but we will launch it with our wishes!

We've got lots of solar themed decorations, including a sun topping our tree. The "sun" is actually a gold and orange 'star' with many points and a circular design, but as out sun IS a star, astronomically speaking, that is fine by me. I picked it up in Pound Stretcher reduced down to 99p. I thought that was a real bargain, cheaper than making one, which was my original idea. The round sun mirror is one I bought in a charity shop really cheaply a couple of years ago, but the gilt on the edges of the flames really catch the light and as we live in quite a small flat, it is nice to have a mirror, it makes the space feel a small bit lighter. Our living room has a a reasonable size window, but daylight is scarce at this time of the year, so the mirror's main duty is reflecting the candles and lights back into the room. The jar candles are really useful, but I can't remember where I bought them, I think Cargo in Henley-on-Thames. They were originally lanterns, but I took the wire loops off and have been using them ever since. I've taken them on night-time candle-lit picnics, I've had them light up home-made oriental dinners, and now I've got them lighting up my Solstice decor. Those jars carry lots of warm, romantic memories of lovely evenings with my partner, so it is quite important to me to have them up at this time of the year. The sun candle-holder is being lit by a tea-light in another, horizontal candle-holder. The tea-light holder was a gift from my wonderful friend Dawn, back when I was still at school, and the vertical sun candle-stick is one I've had so long that I have forgotten where I got it from, but my guess is going to be a charity shop. I got back in touch with Dawn a couple of years ago, and we're pen pals/internet friends now. She has a blog about being a writer.

Solstice Decor (Photographs by the ::Other Half::, editing by me)

In order for me to satiate my desire to have a few festive trimmings in Gothic style, I have a second Christmas tree. This tree is has no warm reds, no gold at all, and lots of black and silver. It is synthetic, only three feet tall, and the tree itself is black. Hanging on its boughs are purple, silver and black baubles, a silver bead chain, and purple star-shaped battery LED lights. I painted my own designs, in metallic purple and silver nail-polish, on the larger black gloss baubles. I am on a budget, so my baubles were from Poundland, Pound Stretcher and Tesco, and the tree itself, as well as the bead-chain and lights, were also from Tesco. The tree was £5 and I spent about £12 in total on decorations for it, most of that spent on the lights. The lights I am planning to use after Christmas as decor for our room, as it is in a purple, black and silver theme, and I like fairy-lights. I found some real glass mini-baubles (the perfect size for such a small tree!) in Pound Stretcher for £1.99, and they had lots of nice budget baubles. If I were rich, I would only have glass baubles and wooden ornaments, but I am unemployed and we're not a wealthy household, so I have mostly plastic baubles and am slowly (very slowly) accumulating better quality baubles. Not all the baubles are yet as I would like; the small glittery purple baubles from Tesco, for example, are a little too close to pink for my liking, while the metallic ones from the same tub are a much cooler shade. £17 is quite a large chunk of my budget, but as this is all from scratch, and will be used for years and years from now, hopefully a recurring Yuletide feature of my gothic boudoir (well, attempted boudoir), I don't mind it so much, especially as a large chunk of that is on the lights, which will be used year-round until the bulbs go, and as they are LEDs, that might take a while.

The "Gothmas" Tree (Photographed by The HouseCat)

On the main tree are some rather fancy black decorations, in onion and teardrop shapes, but these will also be turned into house decorations after Christmas. I am planning on tying them into two matching bunches with some broad black ribbon and tying them at either end of the curtain pole in our room. I also bought some beautiful LV lights from Tesco, which are just white, but each bulb has a punched metal orb around it, and these were only £6, so a real bargain. The other half, being a little bit taller than me, strung them up around the curtain pole in our room, and I think they look rather nice. If I buy something a bit dearer, I want it to have a life that's more than just for Christmas time. I know at £1.50 each, the baubles might not be considered that dear to some, but I'm on quite a limited budget. Anyway, the baubles look more expensive than they are, and I think combined with some broad ribbon and possibly a few beaded details that they would add a bit of classy fanciness to our bedroom rather than look like tacky Christmas decorations at the wrong time of the year. Once I've actually got everything done in our bedroom, I will take pictures of the new lights and the curtain-pole decorations made from baubles.

In our living room we have the seasonal spectacular itself, the Solstice Tree. As you can see on the full length picture, our tree is over six feet and festooned with baubles. The tree is always my favourite part of the seasonal festivities, and has been since the Christmas trees of my childhood. I absolutely adore decorating the tree and try my best to keep it up as long as possible. My partner wanted a more traditional colour scheme, and I did my best not to drown the tree in black baubles (my favourite sort of baubles ;-) ). The Other Half kept jesting that I'd not be able to get ALL the baubles onto the tree, but lo, I managed it.

Solstice Tree (Photographed by the ::Other Half::)

The pine-cones are my partner's favourite decoration on the tree. I've got to admit these ones my partner bought, but it's easy enough to make them if you find some suitable sized pine cones, spray them/paint them gold (I prefer paint to spray; no aerosol) and then tie some gold ribbon around the top. Next year, if I am less stressed and busy, I shall make some extra special pine-cones for the tree. The clear baubles with snowflakes on are my favourite not-black baubles and they used to hang on my Dad's tree. They remind me of home. My Dad sent me a box of baubles from home, and it is nice having a few things on the tree to remind me of Dad. I used to have more clear snowflake baubles, but Kuro, my cat, knocked the entire tree over last year and a few baubles met a premature demise.My partner really likes the red baubles, and I bought him some gold lantern baubles, to him the tree should be warm, in colours and in light.

The red drop bauble was painted by myself, with nail-polish. The fixing at the top where the string goes through is also painted green, and the bottom tip is dipped in green. I did 12 of these in total. I use nail-polish because it is durable and gives a good metallic finish and I have it in the house anyway, so don't have to go out and buy paint especially. I like painting things somewhere between tribal patterns and canal-boat brush-stroke designs. I did these the same way as I did the baubles on my goth tree. Re-painting cheap baubles is a good way of having unique baubles.

Solstice Tree (Photographs by the ::Other Half::)

In our living room we don't have much counter space, and having no fire, no mantlepiece to hang stockings or cards on, so I have strung the cards up above two door-frames, and currently two strands of cotton thread, adding more as we get more cards. I decided it would save space and if I just doubled up the thread, putting another string below the first, rather than put more across the room. It's a corner of the room between the boiler cupboard door and the hallway door, so it's not a very used area, and so we're not likely to catch our heads on the cards. Talking of cards, cards from previous years with the pictures cut out make cheap and green gift tags. If it's a scenic card, you can cut several small sections of the scene for quite a few tags from one card.

I'd really like to see pictures of other people's Christmas, Solstice, Hannukah, etc. decorations, especially that of other goths. Has anyone else got a "gothmas tree"? Have you put your decorations up yet? What are your family traditions for this time of year? Does anyone celebrate a religious Christian Christmas? Does anyone else celebrate a Pagan Solstice? Please comment and tell me what you'll be doing, even if you're completely un-festive and just want peace and quiet. I can empathise with being un-festive, after working in retail several Christmases running, finding Christmas a miserable time of the year for past family reasons, and generally being grouchy, I ended up with a black Santa hat with "Bah Humbug" embroidered on its fluffy white brim, and mutating into the unholy product of Scrooge and the Grinch, but my partner seems to have cured this. What music will you be playing this Christmas? Until I was 20 I was heavily involved in church and cathedral choirs, and still love the traditional carols and anthems. Please do comment!

Bane, at Goth It Yourself, the Gothic home decor and project blog, has some really lovely pictures of her ::snowy solstice::. It wasn't snowy here in the Highlands - our lovely snow got washed away a few days ago.