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Show Lakeside Review North, Friday, Nov. 25, 1983 f?.' i 1C H and Childrens Playhouse is Home for Bears, Too The second story level is main- LVNDIA GRAHAM Review Correspondent - for Cinnamon Bear. The den or library type room has a pot belly stove to keep warm a globe of the world, a desk, some books, and some lanterns to light his reading late at night. Besides the bathroom, the ly a LAYTON If Cinnamon Bear and Honey Bear had searched every woods in North American for a cozy, home they couldn't have come, up with a better one than the one they . have found and inhabited in the center of Shar Hughes living room in Layton. The house is made from an old hollowed tree stump and has three floors, not counting the attic, making it spacious enough to accomodate the flurry of friends that drop by such as Bummer Lamb, Snooty Pig, and Easter Bunny. And the living room at the Hughes home is spacious enough to accommodate the flurry of neighborhood children who love - to stop by and take some time out for pretending and playing with. the animals, the beautiful doll house and the countless ' miniatures that furnish it. - The project is a dream of Mrs. Hughes who has collected miniatures almost all of her life. Many of the tiny ' items that decorate the tree house, or any of the several displays of miniatures that grace her home, have been saved from her childhood. She had been thinking of making a home for her little bear friends and when a neighbor had some large cherry stumps from an old orchard he was cuttting down, the project blossomed with the help of her husband and two sons. The biggest debate over the actual architecture of the house came late one evening when Mr. Hughes was asked to add one more room to the outside of the log on the third floor. He asked what it was for and I told him it was to be the bears bathroom, Mrs. Hughes said. He said bears didnt need they were creatures of the woods, but I told him Cinnamon Bear and his wife Honey Bear were educated and sophisticated bears and that they should have a bathroom. The bathroom was put on and get-aw- ay third floor houses a beautiful bedroom. The feather tic bed would coax anyone to sleep, especially snoozy bears who might be tempted to hibernate. Lest they Oversleep, an alarm clock smaller than a dime stands ready to sound its bell and eyelet curtains can be tied back to let in the morning suh. Above the bedroom is the attic, which is inhabited in turn by elves or leprechauns, depending on the time of the year. During the winter the outside of the house is covered with snow and nestles in a snow covered yard. Icicles hang from the x t Kv y. i eves and the crooked smoke stack emits evidence that there is a warm fire inside. The smokestack is crooked as are some of the other details, because, as can be seen by Cinnamon Bears glasses, he is very nearsighted and cant see well enough to build everything as vwawa'wwmmm Ater all, said Mrs. Hughes, i the Easter Bunny leads a normal life during the rest of the year and he has to live somewhere. The kids love him. It is the delight of the children that keeps life in the Bear home. Boys and girls both come and bring friends to play with the miniature house. The boys are just as fascinated with it as the girls are, Mrs. Hughes said. In fact, often their play is more creative than that of the girls. She added that, as she observes , . , si the children playing with the house, they always pretend that the bears are slightly humanized but always remain bears and not people. Mrs. Hughes has a degree as a childrens librarian and her love for childrens stories has influ- enced the building of the tree stump house. A special delight to her is to sit quietly and observe the children at play and listen to the story plots they come up with. She eventually plans to incorporate the plots into a scries of chilt drens stories she plans to write. Miniatures have run over into many areas of Mrs. Hughes life. She is in the process of making a scale model of a Mormon farm house that will be complete and accurate enough to be a teaching aid for early Utah history. She also enjoys making Christmas shadow boxes with miniatures. She uses decorative dim$ store boxes and sets them on end, sometimes with garland strung across the box openinf and sometimes with a regular picture frame stood against the opening. Pictures from magazines, framed and hung, decorated the walls, wall coverings are made from wrapping paper and the scene can vary according to the miniatures on hand. According to Mrs. Hughes, miniatures are the worlds third most popular collector item; falling behind stamps and coins.- It is also one of the worlds' oldest hobbies. It probably began after wealthy royalty used miniatures to plan their estates in detail before the actual building bath-foom- s, comes complete with an ftater closet, a sink and a bathtub full of bubed bles. , The idea may have stemmed from a leftover childhood image tucked away in Mrs. Hughes memories. She was raised in a small Colorado town which had a tiny zoo. One display featured cinnamon bears, so named because of the color of their coats, and an old bathtub filled with water was kept in their cage. It was so funny to go to the zoo and see one of the cinnamon bears, laying on his back relaxing in the bathtub full of water, said Mrs. Hughes, we really enjoyed it." The bathroom isnt the only convenience that the bears home has. The first floor has an open kitchen just outside the hollow tree house. It has the usual table and chairs, an old ice box, a wood burning kitchen stove and lots of tiny detail items. A dish of donuts made from salt clay sits ready for snacking. The living room is also on the main floor, inside the tree trunk. This time of the year it has a decorated Christmas tree. Stockings hang over the mantel as does a wreath, and the piano stands ready to accompany a round of Christmas carols. - - straight as it could be, explained Mrs. Hughes with a sly smile. " In the spring months, the house is nestled in a bed of East er grass and jelly beans are hidden for the neighbor children to find in the grass. The Easter Bunny becomes a more prominent character at that time of the year but he can always be found visiting at the Bear home. t began. She said that the opened tomb of an ancient Chinese emperor revealed that he had been buried with the miniature replica of an entire city that he had built, in- cluding the tiny miniatures of people. Palaces, summer homes, and royal estates were often planned in miniature before they were built, then were given to the children to play with, she said. That is where we first got doll houses. . But as with most collectors of miniatures, the joy pf collecting and assembeling belongs to the Stall Photo by Rodney Wright created by Shar Hughes (right) is en- Debbie Bassett, daughter of Ken and Kathy joyed by BEAR HOUSE v Bassett of Layton. A pet kitten seems to want to move right in to the completely furnished miniature mansion. adults involved. The children certainly add a further element of happiness as their delighted faces show the fun they are having playing and pretending with Mrs. Hughes doll house but no one could deny her own pleasure in providing .the object of the fun' for her family and friends. Christmas Customs Have Origins in Beliefs of Past i r sleigh is forest green. Ever wonder Review Correspondent why shades of crimson and green Even the smallest child knows seem to dominate the Christmas everything there is to know about Color scheme? According to tradiChristmas. Right Wrong? The ori- tion, green represents the continugin of many holiday traditions is ance of life through the winter and steeped in folklore and heresayMn5 the Christian belief in eternal life many cases npbody fctfows how a through Christ shed in the Garden Dec. of Gethsemane and , at, his cruciparticular way of celebrating ' ' 4 ' ; " fixion. 25, came about. , ' Howeyer, Robert J. Myers, con-- , Devout .Christians sometimes tributorfto the World Book Ency- lose patience with advertisers, ediclopedia, coeditor df American' tors, and other people in a hurry, , Christniasand author of Celebra- who abbreviate thewopd Christtions: The Complete Book of Amermas, by substituting an X for ican Holidays, offers interesting the first syllabtevButijjhje custom actually began in the titty Christian insights into several Christmas trachurches. In Greek; X is the first ditions. Santa Claus wears a red suit. His letter of Christs name and was fre- SRARON STEELE . , t T on the front door during the Christquently used as a holy symbol. The first Christmas tree was mas holidays probably originated in probably decorated with bright red ancient Rome where people used apples. Originally called a Paradise decorative wreaths as a symbol of Tree, a type of evergreen was used victory and celebration. Like the ' in a popular German play about , evergreens used as Christmas trees, Adam and Eve. By 1605, the trees Christmas greenery stands for the had found their way into German strength of life in overcoming winhomes, where they were trimmed, ters desolation. The word holly may have with fruits, nuts, lighted candles; and paper roses during the, Christ- come from the early Christian perimas holidays. The custoni spread to od, when the glossy leaved plant with its crimson berries was used to the United States in, German 18Q0s, when immigrants brighten homes and churches at settled in Pennsylvania with Christ- Christmas time. Because the point-e- d leaves supposedly resembled the mas tree, decorating becoming a seh sonal standard throughout the , grown of thornsi that Jesus wore when He was crucified, His follow- world by the mid1800s. The tradition of hanging a wreath ers called the shrub holy tree. The - the-earl- y red berries were said-tsymbolize Christs blood. , 1 ' ' ' The practice of singing Christinas carols actually evolved, frcjnrthe custom of performing , a popular Greek dance called the chorau-leiwhich was accompanied by flute music. As the dance spread throughout Europe, the French replaced the flute music with smging. Carols were originally performed on several occasions throughout the year, but by theT60QY Christmas had become the main holiday for their performance. By, that time, the joful background singing had replaced the dance as the primary form of entertainmnet. n, |