Handmade Tomten

by Mother of a Hubbard

Easy

My Facebook newsfeed has been lit up over the past few weeks with photos of an elf named Jingles. From what I understand, Jingles is one of Santa’s spies, contracted by parents to sway their children into being good rather than bad as Christmas approaches.
Facebook is showing me a darker side to Mr. Jingles, however; he apparently likes to indulge in tequila, climb the Christmas tree, and phone in pizza orders late at night while the children are asleep. Well, that is what I can gather from photos that some miffed parents are posting to their Facebook walls, anyway.
Did you know that there is a sweeter elf that you could keep on your mantle this year? An elf that doesn’t spy on children, but protects them from harm? An elf that also stays up all night, but does so to make sure that your home, animals, and garden stay safe?
Move over, Jingles… make way for the Tomten!

handmade tomten, christmas decorations, crafts, seasonal holiday decor

Oddly, I had never heard of these little creatures until recently, although their history can be traced back for at least five centuries in Scandanavian folklore. Every family has a Tomte as a protector, who works especially hard at night while everyone is asleep. Tomten are happy to provide these services, requiring only good behavior from the family all year and a bowl of porridge on Christmas Eve in return. Rudeness or uncleanliness invoke a gentle reminder in the form of a prank from your Tomte. And don’t pull the cat’s tail! All Tomten are particularly affectionate toward animals, and will even bring misfortune to the family that mistreats their pets and livestock. With these kinds of repercussions for bad behavior, who’s worried about presents?

Astrid Lindgren’s sweet and beautifully-illustrated story, “The Tomten,” inspired us to create our own Tomte protectors for our mantle, using materials leftover from my daughters' many craft projects.

Cut cardboard tubing and felt to desired length, and glue together.

Create a felt scarf and stuff the tubing with cotton.

I don't sew regularly, but sewing Tomten hats was easy (more photos of hat pattern on my website).

We made unique beards from cotton for each of our Tomten. Although traditionally one Tomte guards the homestead, we created a Tomte for each of us using our favorite colors.