I am going to have to dedicate this blog to my dad, I think that he invented the idea of what we in our family call 'snow globes', but it's possible that its a common trick in Sweden where he grew up... either way, it's ingenious and he used to make these every Christmas and honestly they worked great growing up in Minnesota, but now, living in Rhode Island we don't get much of a chance to make snow globes because nothing freezes much around here. So we are sharing this idea with you in the hopes that all over the world people will be making my dad's snow globes!My dad used to make them the night before Christmas Eve (we had a big party for Christmas Eve) and then he would line our driveway and walk up to the house with them. The Minnesota winter always kept them cold enough to last for ever and they were beautiful. They are easy to make, all you do is fill balloons with water and put them outside, depending on how cold it is you leave them there long enough that just a nice hard outer shell freezes (or as much as an inch thick), then you tap a hole into the top, dump out the water and put your tea light inside, and viola! One year my dad forgot them outside and they froze straight through and he used a torch (and some swear words) to burn out the center for the candle.
(above you see the balloons 'trying' to freeze, and below you see my finished globe, yours should freeze more to the top otherwise your candle will not stay lit, but it just isn't cold enough here today to get mine better than this... but you get the idea)These make an elegant decoration for the holidays! or New Years party... or just about anytime you want to have some outside beauty. We happen to have a snow storm in the last few days so we are going to make a go at them so if they work out I will add a photo of our finished snow globes, otherwise I found this beautiful one that captures the idea (at top + bottom), it's from Japan, from an Otaru's Snow Gleaming Festival, it looks amazing and includes a bunch of additional ideas that they have used like adding leaves or branches and other shapes like sqares and such.
We also had a holiday tradition in our house growing up of Aquavit, it's a lethal booze that swedes drink any chance they get, usually together with some kind of fish (I think) I can't really handle the stuff myself, but he used to freeze the bottle in ice with branches of pine and eucalyptus (so you put the bottle inside another container with water, he used a milk carton, put in branches and then put outside to freeze) this keeps it freezing cold to serve and looks beaufitul (this could make a nice way to present vodka as well?)!
Whatever the case we would love to see your images of snow globes so please send them into us!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
I just got an email from Amy Sharp from the blog doobleh-vay and she hast a post with her lovely ice luminaria...really beautiful! click here to read her post with images and directions and her take on them (I guess my dad didn't invent them!)
