Merry Christmas Night. . .

A big day here in The Grand Duchy of Stollen. We began with The Young Master racing downstairs at about 10am to see if Santa Claus and the reindeer had eaten the treats left for them and to read the annual letter to him from Santa as his mother and I readied breakfast. We wrapped up the day with my tucking him in a short while ago at 8:40pm with a final wish of Merry Christmas one more time, a brief recap of the day, and a kiss on the forehead before I closed the door to his room and stole quietly back downstairs.

The Young Master is now 12 although rather immature in some ways due to ASD and related learning disabilities. At the same time, he now seems so adult in other ways. I am sure Santa Claus will not hold the same excitement for too much longer. Our little boy is growing up with a consuming interest in natural history and the sciences as well as cartoon strips, social and political history, and working toward his black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

So, this Christmas Day has been bittersweet for ol' Dad. It was not that many years ago that he stilled slipped his mittened hand into mine as we walked to the school bus stop at the end of our driveway. More recently, Paul now and then admonishes us not to treat him like a baby (his words). Sigh. Well, I suppose this is all part of being a parent. A wild, thrilling, and occasionally frustrating ride, but tinged at other times with wistful desire that things will never change.

Of course, we adults all know that the only constant in life is change. As my late maternal grandmother once told me when I moved into my first apartment at 21, "You teach your children to walk. And when the time comes, you must also teach them to walk away."

Still, we've got him for a few more years before university and whatever else life has in store for our son as he moves toward and into adulthood.

On that note, the photographs above were too good not to share here. The Young Master was also excited by the prospect of painting a squadron of newly received Minden Russian dragoons together once we finish last year's Christmas gift, the Prussian musketeers painted as garrison infantry. Watch for a few updates on those as we move through Christmas Week and into 2022.

Merry Christmas 2021!

-- Stokes

Comments

tradgardmastare said…

Excellent photo and reflections from you. It was my nephew’s son’s first Christmas, which caused me to look back too.

2:46 AM

Der Alte Fritz said…

Happy Boxing Day to you and your family.

I hate to give parenting advice to others, but here’s a brief bit based on my experience with Lelia ( now 23). After age 12 start treating the kiddos as adults (placing more mature expectations on them) and they follow your lead. I wish that someone had told me this at the time because we held onto some of the kiddie routines for too long.

Ah, never mind me, you and the Grand Duchess are doing just fine.

Jim

12:46 PM

Comfortable Rules for Games of Glossy Toy Soldiers in the Old Style. . .

Introduction A Tangled Mass is a game of toy soldiers in the old style, set more or less in the middle part of the 18 th century. Our miniature forces are colorful and, we hope, glossy. Although the latter, like so much else, is up to the discretion of the players. But it is the modeling, brushwork, and unit organization of hobby greats like Gilder, Mason, and Robinson that provide our visual touchstone and continue to inform "the look of the thing" even now. Tabletop armies in A Tangled Mass can be historic, semi-historic, or whimsically fictitious, but the more flags and mounted officers, the better. Formations, while bearing some resemblance to their historic precedents, are generic: column, line, or extended order for lighter types. Squares, while possible, are less common than during all of that later Napoleonic madness with its guillotines and Spanish ulcers. And we'll simply choose not to mention patent leather dancing pumps, or that unseemly bedr

Prussian 3rd Garrison Regt. Update. . .

Still a few small things to do, including apply fleshtone to a left hand on an officer that I somehow missed at some point plus lace on the drummers and officers , but we're very close to the glossing stage. L ots of painstaking work to clean up edges, highlight folds, and touch up various bits and pieces the last few evenings. My trusty little Sony Cybershot, I fear, has gone to that big electronics place in the sky and no longer seems to be working. Well, I've had it since 2013, and small electronics don't last forever, so I cannot complain. With that little hiccup in mind, I snapped today's shot with my iPhone, brightened, and cropped it in Fotor before sharing it here. Again, the blue is not quite so bright in reality, but the auto-improve, or whatever they call it, makes for nice bright photographs in which everything shows up. Not long before these are done, and The Young Master was suitably please when I asked him to have a look a few minutes ago. -- Sto

A Break in the Radio Silence. . .

S till plugging away at the 60 or so Wied Infantry currently on the painting bench as and when work and family life permit. Using three different whites for the clothing, shoulder belts, and officers' wigs plus trying some Army Painter quick washes. My friend and one-time online magazine co-editor Greg Horne (the man behind The Duchy of Alzheim , still one of my blog and hobby touchstones) suggested I give washes a try a month or two ago, and I think he might be onto something. Admittedly, he suggested the Citadel contrast range, but what I purchased eventually is in that general direction. I am especially pleased with the Army Painter flesh wash, which picks out the facial details on the Minden figures very nicely. I've applied it on top of my usual Windsor & Newton alkyd oil fleshtone and then highlighted the brows, bridges of noses, cheeks, chins, lower lips, and knuckles/thumbs the next day with more of the fleshtone. Suddenly, and with relative ease, my paint

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