Alex's Asteroid Astrology

‘Tis the season, and it’s Year Two of my Yuletide décor rotational scheme.  A couple years ago, I realized I now had way too much in the Yule collection to display everything every year.  Rather than delegate some cherished pieces into the outer darkness of nonuse, I devised a three-year plan, where I would pick a theme and then rotate these, repeating every third year.  At least this way, everything gets its moment in the sun, even if it has to wait for it.

I chose traditional red Santas for the inaugural year in 2024 – in 2025 it’s the turn of white and burgundy Santas, backed up by a display of holly and poinsettia-themed china.  It’s been a fun project, getting my creative juices flowing, and I’m enjoying the process. 

With one major exception – reorganizing the Yule section of the basement to comply with the new system.

With my Virgo Moon, I’ve always been a good organizer, packing like with like in well-marked boxes and bins, so it’s been relatively easy to identify what I’m looking for.  The problem is that previously, when everything still came up for display every year, it really didn’t matter how it was organized within the section, as long as it was all marked “Yule,” and sitting in the right corner.  Placement there became a function of how things fit best, on the shelving, the tables, and the floor.  Stocking the basement is like assembling a puzzle with no picture of the finished product to guide me – things fit where they fit, but there’s no prior plan.

But changing from an “everything must go” mentality to a “pick and choose” perspective has been an absolute nightmare, exacerbated by the fact that occasionally, if things just won’t fit into the allotted box or bin, I might slip them into one with more space available, without duly adding that to the list of the container’s contents (since it’s likely to change again with the next year’s packing).  After all, when it all comes up together, what difference do a few stray pieces make?  They’ll surface in due course, and be properly placed.  But no longer.

So the past two years has been a painstaking process of trying to shift the existing stock into groups for each new theme, which seems to require endless shuffling back-and-forth in a basement so crammed with tchotchkes that there’s barely room to pass.  Not a lot of fun.

But there’s light at the end of the tunnel – once this year’s chosen pieces go back and are redistributed, whatever has been left unmoved for two years should belong to the third theme – Snowmen and the Victorian Yule Village.

In theory.

But that’s January’s problem.  For now, it’s best to just focus on the beauty of what’s on display, and let the future take care of itself.

And so we shall!

White Yule has always been one of my favorite collections.  Santas galore in every shade of white, from cream and eggshell to ecru and parchment, are supplemented with Santas in grey, silver, and clear crystal, and backed up by trees in snowy, silver-frost array, and a bevy of woodland animals in similar tones. 

There’s been a bit of a hiccup this year, with many of those trees and animals no-shows, doubtless due to misplacement such as described above.  I checked, and I know they made it through the Great Migration to this property in 2020, because I have pics of them on display here since.  But the last the White Yule collection came out to play was 2021, and apparently when I packed away that year, they found their way to a new home in an unmarked location, and haven’t surfaced since.

They didn’t come up for air in last year’s Red Yule bins, and they’re not where they properly belong this year.  Fingers crossed they pop up in the Snow Yule collection next year, though if so, it’ll be another two years before they’re featured again.

Burgundy Santas are another fun collection – distinctly different from traditional red, burgundy Santas are very lush and rich-looking, in my opinion.  I’ve extended their sway to include the very few pink Santas I have acquired, plus a few that, if I must confess, incline more to the purplish than burgundy per se.

Although I hadn’t planned it, the relative sparseness of these two collections allowed me room to display another small color-themed collection, the Brown Santas, which have often gotten short shrift in the past, but will now be used with this theme regularly.  Again, the variation in color runs from tan through chestnut to ocher, but they’re all under the “brown” umbrella.

It’s been especially fun to haul out the poinsettia china collection again this year.  For three years, since they were last displayed, whenever I came across a poinsettia plate at the local Goodwill Thrift Stores, I’ve been slipping them discreetly into that bin, but not really keeping tabs on the totals.  As a result, even I was shocked at how that collection has grown.  Now dominating the dining room hutch, with additional overflow relegated to the hutch in the guest room, it has exploded to at least three times its original size.

The holly plate collection, on the other hand, seems less than I remembered.  Hopefully it’s not another case of misplaced stock.  The poinsettia plates are typically a more traditional flat, round construction, which lends itself to erect display on a hutch.  But the holly pieces are not intended as utilitarian eating platforms, they are designed as accent pieces, or shallow bowls suitable for candy or nuts, and should be displayed flat.  Thus, they show better on the long back coffee table in the living room.

The holly and poinsettia theme this year has also allowed me to use several garlands of these on doorways and arches, where typically snowflakes and icicle garlands are displayed.  I’ve added some mistletoe garlands this year as well, as fitting better with this greens-heavy theme than any other, and it’s been a joy to see all this again.

Every Yule, in addition to the theme of the year, there are also displayed collections which I term “Immortals,” items that are brought out every year regardless of the particular theme, due to the particular affection I bear them.

These include the three small white fir trees, one trimmed with snowflakes and cardinals, another with pinecones, and the third with Santas; as well as two white bare branch trees, one with white wooden snowflakes, the other with miniature glass ball ornaments in red, white and silver.

Also on the Immortals list, my collection of green Santas, the soap/lotion dispensers displayed in the bathroom, cardinals, the hinged box collection, faux chocolate molds and tins at the kitchen sink window, linens, and “Santa & Frosty’s Tree Lot,” a collection of decorated evergreen trees, some lighted, that brightens the bedroom bureau.

Mother Nature has cooperated this year, and granted me several light snows, and one of 5”, since early December, which, due to unusually cold temps, have persisted for weeks.  With my Yule Dinner looming on the 20^th, it’s looking like a White Solstice, though rising temps afterward could bring things down for a brown Christmas.

My guests may find the sweet fare a bit lacking this year, however, as the baking didn’t go at all well.  It seems every recipe, formerly tried and true, decided this year to show its hidden flaws, and I’m not at all pleased with the results.  When I tell you that the cookie press is now cleaned and residing in the Goodwill donation box, you can gauge the level of my baking frustration.

After several days of defeat, I turned my eyes skyward, and wasn’t at all surprised – if uncomforted – by the sight of asteroid Alex combined with asteroids Baker and Nemesis.  Sigh.  To everything, there is a season, and 2025 wasn’t my season for baking!

From Christmas to Hannukah, Kwanza to Yule, whatever you celebrate, AAA wishes you all the best, the merriest, happiest of holiday seasons, and better confections!