Happy New Year!

Bonnie, my newest doll, wishes Happy New Year.

It is the last day of the year 2016 and it has been a rather good year, health wise. My sugar levels are better now and I feel that I am slowly taking control of it. When it comes to my anxiety and depression, it has been okay too. Not good, but I have survived. I still have full medication and will probably have it for a while. Compared to the first year, this has been marvelous year.

It has been slow, when it comes to my hobbies. Have not bought any new ball jointed beauties, even if I have seen some adorable ones. But I found an Animator doll, Merida, a Barbie (that was a surprise, that I bought one) and some Funko Pops. 

I wish that I would have found some more time to paint and sew, but there was always the opportunity to do more tomorrow, mañana. 

I do not make any New Years resolutions, because those often get heavy and more of a burden. But I will promise to do my best and make the most of the coming year. 

There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind – CS Lewis

Happy New Year!

Two Pop!

Box opening. Got even a sticker, wishing me a heavy x-mas.
It made me laugh. Needed that.

These two have been standing beside my computer ever since they arrived some days after Black Friday. I have had my eyes on the McTwisp since I last visited Denmark. The Disney Store in Copenhagen did not have it, so I had plans to order it through the internet. But I had no luck at all. 

And...the Holidays are here!

With this little photo, I wish you Happy Holidays!

Our Christmas Eve has turned to Christmas Day. It has been some busy days or should I just say weeks, and I have not (sadly) had any time over for my dearest dolls. All my energy have gone to preparing for the Holidays. Food, gifts, cards, decoration and more. That's why my hubby often say that the day after our Christmas Eve, is the best. All 'fuss' is over.

Every year I promise myself to take it easy, prepare early and focus on the most important things - family, love and happiness. Even if these are in my mind and I do all the preparing based on it, I still run around like a 'hen without a head'. I do not know why we say that here in Sweden, but it means that you run around without any goals or direction. And it makes you very tired. 

I have always enjoyed Christmas, though the 'hen thing', but not the last couple of years. My mother passed away on Christmas Eve 2014 and the mess with the inheritance made deep scars on my soul. It has an effect, but I hope that it will get better and better. I need to get some kind of closure, still not knowing what kind though. 

This feels deep. But my heart tis filled with joy that I have my nearest and dearest around me. We make the best of it. Step by step and it will be alright. I wish you, my friend, a marvelous Holiday!

Christmas Past

Each Christmas I remember

The ones of long ago;

I see our mantelpiece adorned

With stockings in a row.

Each Christmas finds me dreaming

Of days that used to be,

When we hid presents here and there,

For all the family.

Each Christmas I remember

The fragrance in the air,

Of roasting turkey and mince pies

And cookies everywhere.

Each Christmas finds me longing

For Christmases now past,

And I am back in childhood

As long as memories last.

(Written by Carice Williams)

„La Isla de Las Munecas“

One of my dolls, in a tree, a Christmas tree.
It is in porcelain and very tiny, but very cute!

Before I go to sleep, I usually read something short enough to keep me concentrated and awake. For some evenings ago, I read an article about „La Isla de Las Munecas“. I had heard about it, but never really got deeper in to the story. 

But this time, surfing the net, I ended up on a newspaper page with different short stories about strange places in the world. There was deep caves under water, burning holes in the ground and other stories. This one, about some dolls on a island caught my eye. 

About an hour from the Mexico City lies Isla de las Munecas, the Island of the Dolls. It is a chinampa, a floating garden and is in Xochimilco. On the island lived a man named Julian Santana Barrera and he was a native of the La Asuncion neighborhood. He was a loner and lived on the island all by himself. 

There is a legend that tells that Julian found a little girl drowned in mysterious circumstances in the canals. He also found a doll floating in the water, nearby the girl. He assumed that these two belonged together. In a sign of respect he hung the doll in a tree. Then he started to hear whispers, footsteps and wails in the darkness, even if he was miles away from civilization. He got scared and for 50 years he collected dolls and doll parts and hung them in the trees, just to appease the drowned girl’s spirit. 

Julian died in 2001, in the same place as the girl was found drowned. The place is now a popular tourist attraction and some visitors bring more dolls, just in case as something that appease the dark spirits there. The new doll connects then with the other dolls on the island. The place is not haunted, but charmed, as the locals say. Some visitors hear whispering and think that it is a creepy place. It was never meant to be a tourist attraction, but some paranormal happenings made people interested. 

Even if this island sounds like a very scary and odd place, I am still intrigued. At the moment I do not think that I would take a trip there, looking at some photos is just enough. And if I visited the island, I would take a doll along. Just in case.

The dolls are still there, with marks from the sun, rain and wind. It looks like the dolls have had a rough life. No-one knows what brought Julian to start putting dolls all over the island. His family says that Julian believed that the island was haunted by the spirit of a little girl and he thought that he could make the dead girl happy and keep evil away, by hanging up these dolls.