Today is the feast day of St. Nicholas. In Slovakia, it is a pre-Christmas celebration. Last night, many Slovak children shined their shoes and placed them in the window or somewhere they could be easily seen. Then, during the night while they slept, St. Nicholas (a.k.a. Mikuláš) visited each household. If the child was good throughout the year, St. Nicholas left chocolate or other treats in their shoe; if bad, coal and onions.
As for me, St. Nicholas Day signals the beginning of the Christmas season. Therefore, it was time to hang the Christmas lights.
The wooden house was again able to receive Christmas lights this year. According to my original plan, by this time my wooden house should have been dismantled and the wood sorted and stored in the dielňa. But everything takes longer than planned. And with all the recent snow, there will be no more outside work until spring.
The dielňa has a large windowless wall that faces the street. It doesn’t yet have any siding, enveloped in only black house wrap. As it presents as a big black canvas, I decided to do something a little interesting. Using a large piece of rebar frame left over from the workshop foundation, we fashioned a sort of Christmas tree from lights and decorations I had stored away.
It looks pretty at night, although the photos that my camera takes does not do it justice. Even the neighbors have given me compliments on it. So it will probably happen now every year.
