Egyptian miniature project

Kassandra was telling me the other day that a member of her family is a woman born and raised in Egypt.  Then confessed that for obvious sunny reasons she has never visited Egypt, but also confided that some of her grandparents were supposed to have acted as pharaohs.  I am not sure how that could have been possible, but she is quite sure about the fact.  She also pointed out that vampires have been using the Egyptian cross, the Ankh, for many years as a symbol of eternal life.

In any case, she has developed a recent interest about all things Egyptian, and has acquired some art: a statue of a lying Anubis, that came from Stewart Dollhouse; and a collection of papyrus.  She says she likes Anubis because he is one of the gods of the Dead.  She is not quite sure what to do about the papyrus, so she is keeping everything at hand in her table of curiosities:

Images found on Google

She is also reading a book about Egypt, and some guides to learn to decipher hieroglyphs:

I scanned my own book to make the cover for this.

And of course, a famous Hercule Poirot novel that is set on a cruise through the Nile:

She says she feels fascinated by Egyptian history and she must visit the country soon.

Oh, if you would like your own Egyptian minis, you should definitely check Lilliput's Treasures!

Solstice decorations

December is here, and the holidays are around the corner!  Surely most of you are already getting your house ready with your preferred decorations.  

Yesterday, I found out that Kassandra also is, which was quite shocking.  I asked her if she would be celebrating Christmas or some other tradition.  She said that it is the use of her family to celebrate the December Solstice.  She specified that the longest night of the year was something worth celebrating for a vampire - unlike the Summer Solstice.

She has set up a lovely and tiny Winter tree in her parlor; but the most intriguing thing for me were the gift packages under it:

I found them very curious-looking, and asked if they also had the tradition, like humans, to exchange gifts.  "Of course!", she responded.  "It is the only moment in the year we get presents.  We do not celebrate human holidays, such as Valentine's Day, or birthdays.  Most vampires tend to forget what day of the year they were born.  I cerntainly do not know what day I was born.  I only know that it was Summer."

And then I asked about the original boxes she had used to wrap her presents.  "Oh, are they not delightful?  A very talented designer made them.  I do not like the overuse of shiny red, green and gold humans tend to use this time of year.  It all looks very fashion and stylish, but people have forgotten about the elegance and good taste we used in past times to wrap presents."

She proceeded to ask me to sit down to enjoy some spirits, and was talking about how difficult it would be for her to keep her daughter Perséfone from munching on the decorations.