Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Have Yourself a Mordor Little Christmas?

I really didn't intend for there to be any more Tolkien-related posts this year, but when the creative juices flow, well, you just have to run with it, right? Last year, Emily and I "built" a pathetic little Christmas tree; this year we decided to dream big and build Barad-dur. We used a few boxes from Costco, an IKEA Rutbo lamp, several yards of black butcher paper, and quite a bit of tape. As with most of our crafts, my mom was dubious when we began, but conceded that the final product wasn't half bad. I'll let you judge our work for yourselves, geeky readers:
Left: before decoration. Right: all decked out with tinsel, lights, ornaments, and presents!

We did our family Christmas pictures by the "tree," the way you're supposed to.
We couldn't get a picture where Walnut looked normal. 


And just to top it off, Emily and I made a crango (cranberry-mango) cheesecake for Christmas dessert:

With the help of some judiciously placed mini chocolate chips...

Yup, that's just the way we roll. It was quite tasty and I'm sure I could spin it somehow to say Christmas is about the triumph of light over dark (we destroyed the eye of Sauron by eating it!), but I'll just leave it at this: I hope you all were able to eat good food and enjoy being creative, and that you had as lovely a time with your dear ones as I did. Oh, and totally independently of our dessert choice:
"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned...For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever." 
Isaiah 9:2, 6-7

I actually intended to post this before Christmas, not after, but Walnut had other ideas. Our darling fur baby decided that Christmas Eve was a good time to start peeing blood; a panicked trip to the vet revealed that he has a couple of bladder stones. He's going to have surgery to remove them tomorrow, so if you think of him he could use your prayers and good wishes for a smooth procedure and quick recovery!

Poor guy has no idea what's coming to him. 


34 comments:

  1. Alright, I have no idea about the geek reference, sorry. (I fall asleep watching LOTR and most other fantasies, sorry!) But WELL DONE.

    Poor Walnut. Big cuddles to that furry guy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aarrrrgh I still can't get over how ADORABLE Walnut is - every photo makes me *squee* - he looks so soft.

    I really hope he will be okay after his surgery and they will get rid of the nasty kidney stones with no probs. Poor kitteh!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! What amazing decor and food! i suppose I need to try harder!

    I wish Walnut all the best, as does my new feather baby!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Best. Tree. Ever. :)

    And big big hugs and good vibes for Walnut from a fan in Israel <3

    ReplyDelete
  5. The tree and the cheesecake are brilliant!!

    Poor Walnut, I will certainly be thinking good thoughts for him. I hope his operation goes smoothly, and he's back on his paws really soon. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I hope Walnut's surgery goes well- lots of good vibes from the Bimble and Pimble household! Your tree is the best ever!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've absolutely loved every single one of your LotR/Hobbit posts. I read them when I was 8 and have been infatuated ever since. Your creativity is always astounding and I especially love the Sauron cheesecake.

    Best of luck with Walnut's surgery!

    Cass x

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wish I could get away with that type of christmas! The cheese cake is amazing, so much reativity, can't wait for people to look back at our generation in a hundread years and see your christmas photos! Hope Walnuts gets better, merry christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your creativity know no boundaries. :-)
    Walnut, being world-famous now, will hopefully recover completely and speedily, with all the good vibes heading his way from all corners. Wishing you strength as his cat-mom.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Seraphena sends "Meow" to her friend, Walnut. Poor baby. Keep us posted. Regena in TN.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm loving the Lord of the Rings things. Too fun. Here's some positive thoughts for Walnut. I hope he's recovered and laying on your tissue paper patterns in no time.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sometimes I love you so much there are no words. This is so so EPIC and wonderful!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love the "crango cheesecake", hehe. The end of this article isn't quite accurate with the reasons for the chosen date (it actually had to do with the date of other pagan holidays etc.) but it's an interesting read about Christmas and Tolkien. So your choice of decorations actually makes some sense!

    Praying that Walnut is back to his normal self soon! The light photos of him are so sweet. =)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love the "tree"!!! Poor Walnut, hope he is feeling better soon.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Aww poor Walnut! Best wishes for a successful surgery and speedy recovery though!

    Also, while watching Return of the King last night (Christmas tradition to make it through all 3 LOTR extended editions over break) I had reason to tell the husband of your birthday Barad-dur and Sauron's eye balloon. He was thoroughly impressed and envious.

    Happy Holidays to you!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Get better soon Walnut! Lots of cuddles coming your way xx

    ReplyDelete
  17. Merry Christmas to you! So sorry to hear about Walnut - hope his vet visit went well, and that he is recovering without any problems.

    ReplyDelete
  18. You and your family are utterly aborable, and my heart and best wishes go out to your fur baby!
    -Sandra

    ReplyDelete
  19. Oh, poor Walnut! Give him a big hug from me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PS - am totally loving your Tolkien Christmas. How freaking awesome!

      Delete
  20. I love the tree! I passed on a blog award to you, please see my post today for details. Also, I wanted to thank you for posting about the Art of the Hobbit book - my daughter loved it!

    ReplyDelete
  21. All my best wishes to Walnut. Do you leave Barad-Dur up until it comes crashing down in March?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Best wishes to walnut for a speedy recovery! I love your Xmas decorations!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Holy crap I am IMMEDIATELY moving to CA so we can be friends in real life.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Also, Good Luck to Walnut!

    ReplyDelete
  25. HILARIOUS. Although I'm pretty sure I couldn't eat any eyeball cheesecake. :) Here's hoping that Walnut heals quickly and efficiently!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I hope Walnut is feeling much better - please let us know how things are going for him.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Walnut Love is streaming on him from around the world! Please post news of his recovery to reassure his many fans.

    ReplyDelete
  28. LMAO! at the Mordor, Awww for poor Walnut. I hope he's feeling all better soon.

    ... hubs finally took the kids and I to see the Hobbit today. I enjoyed it an almost embarrassing amount... it's probably a good thing I haven't re-read it since I was a teenager. I kinda want to now, though.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Oh my god that cheesecake is perfect. My kids know nothing of LOTR (they're 6 and a bit little still) but new it was an eye. "Why's there an eyeball in the pie mum?" Brilliant.

    Get better Walnut!

    ReplyDelete
  30. I think you get extra points for creatively melding two sources of inspiration. And I send all my best to dear Walnut.

    ReplyDelete
  31. You are so awesome; I am always inspired by your creativity!! ^_^ Please give hugs to Walnut - I know I'm late but I still sent up a little prayer for him :) xo

    ReplyDelete
  32. Working my way through a pile of unread posts in my reader. I know I'm about a bazillion years late but have to say OMG your tree is awesome! And your cheesecake is hands down the best cheesecake I've ever seen. Your creativity astounds me.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to tell me your thoughts! I appreciate reading them and I try to reply to most, if not all, comments, especially when they are questions. I ask that you keep your comments polite, and if you're a spammer, don't bother because your comment will just be deleted! Also, if you're commenting on a post that's more than two weeks old, it will be moderated.