Last night Mom and I sat down and manufactured a whole bunch of canedeer. For those of you unfamiliar with this term, it denotes a candy cane attired with a red pom-pom nose, googly eyes, and pipecleaner antlers, which theoretically resembles one of Santa’s sleigh pullers. A Christmas craft classic.

In high school I used to make a huge production out of producing them for my friends. Each one was unique: some got bridles, others had fantastically elaborate articulated antlers, and in my less tasteful moments, the odd few were rendered *fully* anatomically correct.

This year, I wanted to do Lord of the Rings canedeer as a tie-in to ROTK. I had it all planned: white pipecleaners and pom-poms for Shadowfax, black pipecleaners and pom-poms (and red googly eyes) for the Steeds of the Nazgul. This has not yet come to pass, but that’s no guarantee I won’t make them eventually.

Right now I am at my desk at work, subtly slicing and dicing one of my old red velvet shirts to make miniature stockings for my coworkers. So crafty.