Magical Mice - Leopard & Gift

Dimensions: Approx. 8 x 13cm each (Sold as a Pair)

Why we love it:

Our handmade mice are the sweetest little things we’ve seen in Christmas décor for a very long time. Poseable and hangable, they have us all dewy eyed, thinking of fairytales; of the night before Christmas when no creature was stirring and how they must have dressed so quietly in their finery – from beautiful bow ties to top hats, waistcoats and felted pantaloons, to accessories, ready to scamper out and play. Bless these little darlings; their little feet, arms and tails that are effortlessly movable, making them posable alone or as couples for display throughout your home, from sideboards to trees to table settings, where the mere sight of these little cuties will make you smile deeply, remembering what it’s like to believe in magic.  

We think they’d make gorgeous gift for story telling with children. You could pair a mouse couple with a copy of Clement Clarke Moore’s delightful book The Night Before Christmas and read it to them on Christmas eve. It could become an annual tradition. Or you could print out a copy of the poem, we’ve included below and fold it into a special envelope to gift along with the mice. You could also christen the mice. Or encourage the child to name them. 

As a gift for yourself or a loved one, there are endless possibilities to personalise and interpret the couples as you so desire. For example, I can see a striking resemblance between the leopard pearl couple, to my Tony and me so we’re going to gift this pair to all of our children so that they can hang their parents and grandparents - ‘Birdie and Toto’ on their Christmas trees each year and remember us long after we’re gone.

A Visit from St. Nicholas
BY CLEMENT CLARKE MOORE

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a lustre of midday to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the housetop the coursers they flew
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too—
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”