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Saturday, December 23, 2017

Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I was feeling in a festive mood and took a little trip to the neighborhood famous for its "tree ball" displays.  Capturing a good picture of it has always eluded me, but maybe the top picture, taken on approach to the neighborhood, gives an idea of the wonders to come.





















Also, I finally found candles to fit this decoration we inherited from John's mother.  I don't know if it's really old or not.




I thought the candles were supposed to make the vanes turn and rotate some of the figures within, but that didn't happen.  Hmm, let them burn longer before giving up? A little WD40 on the axle? Hmm.


Still, pretty to look at, and I'm happy.

 Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or Happy Holidays to you all.
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6 comments:

  1. Kathy Niklewicz4:14 PM

    I thought it might be a German-made item, and I finally found one under images of 'German Christmas houses with candles' and discovered that it is called a German Christmas Pyramid.

    Then I found a youtube (see below) of one actually moving, so you are correct about the candle heat driving the fan and moving the figures.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b90dvugtXw

    There is a good explanation in Wikipedia under 'German Christmas Pyramid' although they seem to be called different names on some Etsy sites.

    It's a beautiful decoration and I hope you can get it working, but be careful with the candles!

    Wishing you a lovely Holiday Season!

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  2. Martha10:22 PM

    Kathy, thanks for all your information. I'll keep trying with the candles.

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  3. Margarets designer cards9:13 AM

    Yes before I saw Kathys comment I thought it was European. Very pretty house, hope you get it working

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  4. Unknown10:24 PM

    Martha, We lived in Germany years ago and do have a Pyramid. As far as I know, ours were all made in Germany. If you pull the fan section up, the spindle part at the bottom rotates on a tiny glass concave disk..smaller than 1/2 ". Those can kind of wear out over time and I had to replace ours but don't have access to them anymore. Be very mindful of the lit candles if the fan isn't spinning as the blades will burn! Aren't you the lucky one to have inherited such a beautiful one! Oh...if it came in an original box, look carefully as there may be an extra disk.

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    Replies
    1. Martha11:52 AM

      That's very interesting. There is a tiny wooden bowl in the bottom, but no glass disk. I'll have to see if I can locate where to get one, thanks.

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  5. Unknown10:26 PM

    I forgot to mention, that you may just need to adjust the angle of the individual blades so that the heat will move them. I haven't used ours for a number of years as it's quite old now and I was having trouble getting it to rotate. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete