Thursday, December 15, 2011

Hard Candy Christmas 2011

**From the show producers notebook:  The 'Hard Candy Christmas' show is over for another year. All the props are put in the closet for another year.  I can settle down and prepare Christmas for my family.  It is a time of reflection and thinking about how my faith has carried me over life's trails .
Many people ask me how did the "Hard Candy Christmas" Show get it's name.  It hark ens back to the mountain heritage of celebrating Jesus birth.  It was and is important.
     I grew up in the post war days when  we children always got stockings with an apple, orange and a piece of hard candy no matter how slim the year had been.
  It was a wonderful time when the Christmas Spirit came  to me.  IT seemed that angels sang over our little mountain  home.   My family members created magic from the pastures and fields with cedar limbs and cones.  I always helped "bust" open the coconut and grate the meat for the divine once- a- year-  mile- high- cake.  I  patiently cracked Black walnuts to  sprinkle over the chocolate one and Mother's secret  recipe fruit cake is still made today .  The ham baking always woke me up on Christmas morning with promise of a bountiful feast.
Our tree was always Cedar, No fancy farmer grown was known.  It was spotted out in the fall, usually in the field full of saw briar's and scrub bushes.  My sister and I crawled through the thickets to find the best one.  It was somehow smaller in the field than when we got it home.  The farther we drug it,  the larger it became.  (We managed to cut it  down it with a hatchet saved  just for this sacred project).  We did not feel the sticky resin or prickly limbs.  The anticipation of that decorated evergreen overrode all else.
The decorations were colored paper chains held together with flour and water glue. I remember the first bubble lights to adorn the branches.  My big brother had just came home from the war with them.  He had no idea the wonder those colors brought to my  artistic eyes.  Later on we had angel hair and silver icicles that we hung carefully one by one on each branch. The lights were multicolored.  Only later did white become popular.
Not many folks had light on their trees, much less in the yard .
Dr. Furman Angel had a tall pine in his back yard.  Sometime the first of December , he would turn the switch on and a million lights would shine down toward our house. Our kitchen sink window looked out that way.  My three sisters had dish duties each night. Whoever saw the tree lights first was 'special ' that year.
    The best presents then were handmade with love.  That joy and excitement has never left me.  It is what inspires the show each year.  I still believe the best presents are handmade with the human touch on them, from the heart.
Back to Christmas 2011:
     The big tree in the entrance has gone home with my daughter for her geathering  room.  The show could not happen without her calm guidance .A big chunk had to be cut out to make it fit her door.  She is hosting our growing  family this year .
We will be celebrating Christmas  early with my son and his family before they fly across " the pond "to Germany to our inlaws  there.
Meanwhile , winter is a quiet season for shows.
The artisans will rest, clean up their studios and plan the 2012 show schedule.  Already we are filling the 'Summertime "show. There are some surprises for you .
        The Ramsey Center, on the Western Carolina University campus, is a wonderful venue for the shows.  We are blessed to be inside the 18,000 sq ft arena  for both shows.  The arena has good lighting, convenient parking, and is comfortable no matter what the weather.  The Ramsey Center staff is busy behind the scenes and they  "make it happen" for me each show.  They are a joy to work with.
     The arena is where the Catamounts play basketball but it will come alive two times each year  with a dazzling variety of original arts and crafts from the hands of 100 quality artisans!  Some are local, but many drive from surrounding states
     The Mountain Artisans shows are held two times each year in the Western Carolina University Ramsey center in Cullowhee, North Carolina. Cullowhee is a tiny college town that nestles down in the Cullowhee Valley with big, soft mountains all around.  It is  soothing to the soul to be here.  If you park in the left lot,  you will walk the bridge over Cullowhee Creek to the show.
     This has been our 6th year at the college. I thank you all who came to our 2011 shows and purchased  work from our artisans.  Thank you for supporting our American Craftsmen.  You will not be disappointed this year.  It just gets better.  Wishing all you a very Merry Christmas and a hopeful New Year .
 Doris  Hunter, show director

Welcome to the Show Promoters Blog

Welcome - I am currently in the process of updating the Mountain Artisans website to make it easier to navigate and read.  I have uploaded the Hard Candy Christmas Video to youtube to allow it to be viewed by more people.  Keep checking back as I will have updates from time to time of the shows that I visit each week as well as updates of the upcoming shows