Knowing my strange habits my family tends to give me appropriate gifts and this year it was gnomes. I love them! I expect I'll get more next year. And if you look closely at the Christmas tree you'll see all the stuffed mice I made this year.
I don't know why gnomes have suddenly become so popular. They are originally Scandinavian in origin... little men who bring the Christmas presents thus giving Santa a day off there. But now they are taking over here. You wait, in a few years there will be Christmas movies about the gnomes coming down from Norway because it's too cold and taking over from Santa at Macy's department store.
But they are now so popular that I found this St Patrick's gnome: 
I used him for the launch of our new Molly Murphy mystery last week. I asked my Facebook followers to name him/her and our own Joan Greenwood suggested Paddy, which I thought was a good choice as it could be male or female. I had considered Phil-gnomina.
And today look what I found! Easter gnomes!! What's next? Fourth of July gnomes? Election gnomes in the shape of Trump and Biden? The world waits.
Despite their cuteness, we have not yet begun to collect gnomes . . . .
ReplyDeleteI have a collection of stuffed animals here in my office, too! A couple of cats, a trio of bears, and a squirrel. No gnomes. However...
ReplyDeleteThere's what remains of an ancient oak tree that fell a few years ago not far from here, and there's a "cave," AKA a rotted out hole, in the base. Someone put a family of garden gnomes inside that cave, facing the road. It was adorable! I managed to catch a photo of them before they were removed. Or stolen.
So cute. I used to build fairy houses in thrrr with my granddaughters
DeleteThat is a very sweet collection. I had lots of stuffed animals when I was a child and I loved them. My son Jonathan had many stuffed animals when he was little but he only slept with Brown Bunny. Now Benjamin has Jonathan's bunny. I gave all the other stuffed toys to a family of boys who had very few toys. Rachel only loved her tiny stuffed kitty and took it everywhere.
ReplyDeleteAs for real collections, my step mother collected elephants and everyone of the grandchildren and children has one or two of them now. I don't really collect anything like that.
I also collected elephants once. Now the collection is packed away somewhere
DeleteMine isn't a collection of gnomes, but some years ago I found a Garden Gnome Chomsky. As a certified (and possible certifiable) Doctor of Linguistics, I snapped him right up. He greets guests, hand on a stack of books (linguistics and political tomes, no doubt), not from my garden but from the steps of the deck, which is how we enter our house. He's my favorite gnome guy.
ReplyDeleteGarden Gnome Chomsky - you MUST post a picture!
Delete(I also studied linguistics, and growing up, we knew the family because we lived in the same town.)
yes!!!! A picture!! Please.
DeleteHow perfect, Edith
DeleteNo gnomes, but I do have a collection of stuffed animals. TWIGS the Beanie Baby giraffe was given to me in 1997 by our research group & still sits on my couch. Giraffes were our mascot. I also keep Monty the sea otter (from Monterey) with him. I got him while at Monterey LCC in 2014.
ReplyDeleteGiraffe and sea otter make a baffling duo, don’t they!
DeleteNo gnomes here, but my childhood stuffie was a little blue elephant, whom I named Babar. I loved him.
ReplyDeleteNo gnomes at our house… that I know of at least! But you are so adorable, Rhys.
ReplyDeleteOh, that was gnome-less me above, coming to you from the Hilton in somewhere in New Jersey and on the way to the airport!
ReplyDeleteSafe travels, dear Hank
DeleteThe Harrumper has made a Fairy Lane. It travels through the woods. In it reside fairies, elves, gnomes, rabbits, mickey mouse, a dinosaur or more, and some Storm Troopers. They are supposed to be in charge of the dinosaur pen, but we suspect they turned a blind eye when JarJar Binks came by and perhaps opened the gate. Whatever happened bedlam occurred. Several fairies had to move in with the raccoons. They know never to trust the Gnomes – pranksters that they are. Even the trolls are better! Some heavy machinery has been seen in the district, hopefully to complete the repairs. The Beagle Boys are driving!!!!
ReplyDeleteThose easily distracted Storm Troopers! Tsk, tsk, on the dereliction of duty.
DeleteYour first sentence took me by surprise. I always pictured him as grumpy. I can’t imagine John making anything with fairies!
DeleteMy grandnephew has a collection of stuffed animals and characters and rearranges them every night before bed. Last year my sister gave him the most adorable Easter gnome in his Easter basket. I had a small stuffed bear once, his name was Gary Bear but alas he is no more.
ReplyDeleteSo there have been Easter gnomes before this!
DeleteSo cute Rhys! No one else could come up with a plot for a Norway gnome faster than you...I love stuffed animals, but Lottie thinks they are her toys so I had to put them away. John is relieved that I talk to our animals sometimes to give him a rest:)
ReplyDeleteGno Gnomes here, except a gnome hat/beard that goes on a holiday wine bottle--a group crafting project. I have a few stuffies--after my dog died, I slept with two of her toys (washed first) for a couple of years, then passed them on to my friend's dog. Now I have a little stuffed golden retriever and a stuffed red tailed hawk that watch over me from the top of the bureau.
ReplyDeleteAdorable!
DeleteYour gnomes are so cute, Rhys. And you made those darling mice? Well done.
ReplyDeleteAll my kids had stuffies galore, but especially the oldest and the youngest. I still have most of them, but I'm about to pass them along. My grandson loved soft anything, including stuffed critters, and he took charge of the Winnie the Pooh characters I made his mom in 1971, especially Pooh, who was made of orange t-shirt knit.
I'm not 100% sure yet, but for our couples costume for this year's bi-annual Halloween party, I think Steve and I will be garden gnomes--Steve already has the snowy facial hair. Last time we were pollinators: him an Old Bat, and me a Monarch butterfly, so this would continue the garden theme nicely, don't you think?
How creative, Karen! Do you have pix?
DeleteThat was Rhys trying to stop Google from
DeleteKeeping me anonymous
I have pictures, not very good ones, of our pollinator costumes from the last time. None yet for this year's party.
DeleteOnly a couple gnomes (so far) but my husband and I collect many stuffed animals-- probably several hundred now--bears, rabbits, meerkat, camels, and on and on all with names of course, mostly collected as adults starting on our 40s now in our 70s. Marjorie
ReplyDeleteI love it when I hear husbands collect stuffed animals. John rolls his eyes and would throw them
DeleteAllmout
Heaven forefend! Gnomes in politics. Roll in my fainting couch! Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteIt would be awful, I agree!
DeleteWhen my daughter and her family lived in Norway she brought back a few cute gnomes. I mean really adorable. Chubby men with long red hats and long white beards. We now have a few and I keep them around the house. They like to experience new places so I move them around.
ReplyDeleteI love PADDINGTON Rhys. We used to have one we bought for our daughter at Hamley's toy store in London. Loved his shinny boots and hat and tag that said "Please look after this bear."
I’ve always loved Paddington and my mom
DeleteAlways had a stuffed Snoopy so I hug him too
I haven't yet, but I see a collection in my future.
ReplyDeleteNo gnomes here. Though I do have a stuffed Sendak’s “Wild Thing” and a few studies that are my daughters’ - a tiger and a pig. I do have a collection of carved wood animales from Oaxaca that I cherish and it’s a good thing they’re not being mass produced or I’d have a fleet
ReplyDeleteI have wooden animals from Kenya. My zoo was my favorite toy as a child and my kids had a brilliant Noah’s ark
DeleteBelieve it or not, I have never seen a gnome doll in person. Only in Scandinavian fairytales, then some Christmas movies and your photos.
ReplyDeleteStill have a stuffed teddy bear from the day I was born. I remember holding it when I was three years old.
Yesterday was National Puppy Day and I thought of Lady Georgie's new puppies, Rhys.
Diana
Related to the topic, when I was an undergrad my science requirement was filled by geology classes.
ReplyDeleteI remember one lecture on mountain formations. The lecture started and words like "horst" and "graben" and best of all "drumlin". GNOME NAMES! I thought, and the rest of the lecture was lost in time as I went a wandering with my gnomes.
I love gnomes, and I've actually loved them for quite a long while, so I guess I might have been ahead of the trend. I don't have an overabundance, but I have some special ones, like the gnome with a book open in his lap. I'm a big fan of stuffed animals, too, the adorable soft ones and the character ones like Mary Poppins. I recently got Frida Kahlo, and she's fantastic. I do have a collection of Beanie Babies for each holiday that I put out, but this year I've not put anything out. They are all adorable though. Oh, and yesterday, I came across the little gray stuffed kitty that my granddaughter used to sleep with here when she was little.
ReplyDeletecheck out the book: Gnomes / text by Wil Huygen ; illustrated by Rien Poortvliet.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t have many stuffed animal as a child, but as an adult I have received many from friends that now fill a whole sofa. Stuffed ones include a large one made out of an old coat that a friend made for me, a small Canadian mountie and a small cowboy I found in San Antonio.
I also have bears made out of all sorts of other materials, carved wooden ones from Switzerland, Finland, Russia and Denmark. Jade from Hong Kong and Canada. A pottery storytelling bear from New Mexico with the mother bear sitting with her arms around smaller ones and another pottery one from one of the pueblos. Others made of quartz, ivory, glass and some unknown material from a variety of geographical locations.
No gnomes here but I have a couple of Curious Georges. CG reminds me of our son in his younger years. When I was in high school in the sixties trolls were a big thing.
ReplyDeleteAs I am half Swedish, our gnomes are called Tomte! They are very shy and live in the woods. So, not many people have seen them. They are mythological creatures from Scandinavian folklore typically associated with the winter solstice and the Christmas season. I have over 50 of them and add to my collection every year. Although they get into a lot of trouble skiing, sledding and throwing snowballs, some of them cook in the kitchen and make wonderful cookies and breads.
ReplyDeleteI don't, but our daughter has them for every season, some of which I have given her. She has dozens of them, as well as signs and other items.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun reading about gnomes.
ReplyDeleteI have some “Christmas “ gnomes that have become year-round gnomes. I dear cousin made them a few years ago and several friends and family received gnomes as gifts. I kept too many for us.
Heather S