Better Late Than Never

Finally set up the Christmas Tree this morning.

Mr HP helped me, it's not often he helps with the Christmas tree but Little Miss Seven is hard to get a hold of these past few weeks. I've had three days of flu so he helped with assembling the tree and adding the lights.  I finished off the decorations while he set up the fairy lights on the verandah.

We'll have a tame Christmas this year as two of our boys and their partners will not be able to visit this year.

Letters

I went shopping today, and I just happened to make a purchase of a bunch of letters that when put together made some inspiring words.

Getting ready for Christmas!

Mismatched Tea Cup Trio

I can't believe it's taken me this long to tell you about our Christmas tradition.

Is it February 2014 already?

Well, here goes anyway.

Since the publication of the first Guinness World Records edition of the year 2000 (previously published as the Guinness Book of Records)Son Number Three has received a copy under the Christmas tree from Santa. 

So, Christmas just gone makes it his 15th copy of the book and he still enjoys pouring over it during the month of January.

All our children are adults now, so we haven't fussed too much about the fact that no one else receives a surprise gift from Santa.  That is until the past few years...

Only because our Grand Daughter, Little Miss Six, is liable to pick the fact that only some people and not all, receive gifts from Santa.

You see, when Eldest Son was about eight years old, The Easter Rabbit brought everyone in our house a mug nestling an Easter egg; everyone that is, except me.

For mother's day the same year, Eldest Son gave me a beer stein.  (It was a weird gift to receive from him, since I loathe the taste of beer). When I asked him why he had made the purchase he said he bought me a mug because the Easter Rabbit had not left one for me.  What a silly Easter Rabbit!

So this year Santa left me a tea cup trio that I know for a fact cost the grand sum of three dollars...yes, three dollars.

The set comes in the regal colours of royal blue and gold, on white.  (I'm guessing the above is a George Jones & Sons mark).

Their shabbiness means I feel comfortable using them daily for my morning coffee...which has to be an affogato. 

To make an affogato, take a decent scoop of the best ice cream you can afford (or make your own; recipe here).

Over the ice cream, pour a double shot of espresso coffee, freshly made.  I like to allow my ice cream to melt a little before enjoying.

We purchase our coffee from here / here   

Well, as you can see, the cup proclaims its royalty, since it's a Royal Albert cup.

Poor Santa, he must have been in a bit of rush to pick these up and not realised his mistake...after all, I think they're a pretty good match don't you?

(Whispering: I think Santa made his purchase here or perhaps at the Markets because Peppa Loves Vintage also loves to visit the Glenbrook Rotary Markets once a month on the 3rd Saturday).

Linking to Terri's Tea Cup Tuesday.

Day 360/366 Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, she's got the whole world in her hands.

Day 359/366

Day 347/366

I've been busy.

Potting marmalade...

Sewing pouches...

(Instructions here and here)

(My Grand Daughter chose three fat quarters from her mother's stash and asked me to make the pouches for her Mum for Christmas.  The orange and pink ones are my prototypes).

and paper crafting.

Once I get my database sorted and my Christmas card labels printed I will start writing up my Christmas Cards.

These are handmade too...

here is a sample...

I found a tutorial here for the Christmas tree cards (the tutorial is for Christmas tags) and other fun things.

What have you been up to lately?

Day 344/366

Sunset,

Norman Lindsay style,

Last night,

Christmas Carols Night.

I wonder if Norman would have approved?

Day 342/366

Finally, the Christmas tree is up.

This year's tree putting-up has evoked many memories.

I assembled the tree with a colour theme in mind which meant that not all the decorations would be used.

As I packed away the multitude of left over decorations I felt bad and decided that we should have two trees in the house this year.

The second (mini) tree should hold all the decorations that evoked the memories.

Our family had our first ever Christmas three in 1975 when we moved into our first family home.  I have every decoration from that day...and more.  Each year I buy a box of decorations to add to the collection but the ones that hold the best memories are the ones that were hand made by all our children.

Last year...our Grand Daughter added her first hand made decoration to the tree.

And here is the 'big' tree.

With one wrapped gift beneath it.

"Who's the present for Nanna?"

"It's a surprise."

"Is it for me Nanna?"

"Be careful with that, it's glass."

"Well if it's glass, it mustn't be for me then Nanna."

"Well you never know!"

(Don't tell anyone, but I was desperate for pink and gold and silver decorations this year and after I took these photos I went out and bought some pink baubles to replace the red ones!)

Christmas Eve

Christmas light displays from around the neighbourhood.

Wishing you all a stress free and a happy Christmas.

It's Time

There's nothing like a Grand Child to remind you that life's not all that bad and for getting you back into the Christmas spirit!


After a week of seeing the Christmas tree still in its box, sitting in a corner of the lounge room it was time!


In a short space of time it went from this...

To this

Our family owns so many Christmas tree decorations it's almost impossible to put them all on the tree at once.

So usually I have a different colour combination each year.

This is the first year that our Grand Daughter is old enough to really help so I asked her what two or three colours she'd like for the tree.  

We started out with red, blue and gold and ended up with....you guessed it...as MANY decorations as we could fit on the tree!

We stopped when there were no more spots to hang our decorations from.

As we picked out each decoration I told her how old her mum was when we acquired certain decorations and, if they were hand made, who made them.

Our Christmas tree decoration collection started some thirty five years ago.

I guess it's children that help to make Christmas that little bit more special.

I hope that your Christmas plans are all on track.

Twelve Days of Christmas.

Suddenly, Christmas has lost all its glamour.  First with the news that our nephew's partner has been diagnosed with bowel cancer in her mid twenties, and then when I contracted a stomach bug that afflicted me  not only with vomiting but with the vilest stomach cramps I have ever experienced.  

Now I have laryngitis and just the act of speaking is painful.  My energy levels are low.  My Christmas cards haven't even been written let alone posted and the weather has been appalling.

On the bright side though - our Eldest Son is arriving next week, flying over from the west coast and this has spurred me on to do the Christmas food shop today, before my visit to the GP.

This year we've decided on Kris Kringle for the adults so gift buying has been made a whole lot simpler. 

With only twelve days to Christmas this is the most un-organised I ever been I'm sure.

I can only hope that 2012 is a bringer of better news than what 2011 has been.

Upcycling - Christmas Cards. #2

No Sew Christmas Bunting.

Start off with a wide-ish Christmas card from last year.  About 12cm wide.

Cut front of card away from back.

Mark centre of card front on the back of bottom end. (The top of illustration should be at the widest end of your piece).

Rule a line from this mark to both top corners.

Cut.

Once again rule a line on smaller pieces from  bottom corner of triangle to centre of cut edge.

Cut along this drawn line and you should now have five pieces as shown above.

Form a 'crown' shape with the longest narrowest strips and use staples to hold together.

There are two of these shapes.

One will be a napkin holder, the other a place card.

Punch circle from backs of cards, write names on circles and staple to upturned 'crown' to form a place card.

Repeat the above until the required amount is achieved.

Use the back of the card for notes, shopping lists, etcetera.

To complete the bunting staple the bunting shaped cards to a strip of ribbon. Alternate between the large and small shapes.

Use whatever ribbon you have on hand that might be suitable.

I used gold ribbon left over from last year's gifts for the above bunting.

For my larger bunting I used some cotton tape that I'd purchased from the op-shop with a whole lot of haberdashery.

If you wish add lots of glitter by outline edges with glitter glue.

I've linked to Artful Affirmations

Visit Terri at Artful Affirmations to see 

what others have been making in preparation for Christmas.

Linked to stamping-ground.blogspot.com Whats-on-your-workdesk-wednesday