Christmas Preparations

Well! I'm a little bit busy and a big bit disorganised but I wanted to post some photos from the last week. After seeing Chritsmas trees up and decorated on other people's blogs at the weekend I was motivated to get a move on with ours, it looks and smelled nice (I can't actually smell it at the moment due to a completely blocked up nose!)

At the last minute I now have family descending on the 20th for a meal and a present swap so Christmas has suddenly moved forward 5 days. Added to that, aside from baking, writing cards, present buying and wrapping, I still have a mirrror order to complete... (help!)

We had freezing fog the day we collected the Christmas tree.

Earlier that morning I did manage to get a Christmas cake made. It's this one - Nigella's chocolate fruit cake though I added Pimms No3 instead of coffee liquer.

I'm not that keen on rich fruit cakes, this one was suggested to me as an alternative which I might like.

It still looked & smelled pretty rich and fruity to me though so I'll wait till I actually taste it before recommending/condeming it! I've not decorated it yet either, so the final ta-da photo is yet to come.

Festive mantlepiece.

A close-up of the little nativity scene in front of the clock on the mantlepiece. It's so small that all the pieces fit into one matchbox.

The crafty books shelf.

My favourite Christmas card received so far.

Santa!

A little sprig of holly with berries rescued from the holly tree in the garden which is now bare, the blackbirds and thrushes having taken their fill.

Fairycakes for N's toddlers Christmas party.

I had some icing left over so iced these gingerbread hearts from Ikea. They've not been hung up, just eaten!

I thought this fairycake was really pretty, I kept it back for A.

Some pelargoniums still flowering in a frost-free spot.

One morning we awoke to fantastic frosty scenes though by the time I'd dropped A at nursery a warm front had moved over. I took this photo when I got back from nursery not long before the frosty spider's web on the gate disappeared completely.

A long distance shot of a bluetit enjoying the fat ball. I like to think the out of focus quality makes it look more like a painting than a photo.

A's robin. I love the colours.

So, a bit of a photo collection with not many words I'm afraid. I hope your Christmas preparations are going better than mine! Have fun...