Beginning December

 Mrs Snowman from a few days ago. Only a tennis-ball sized blob of Mrs Snowman was left this morning.

 This year, not only did I finally remember to buy an advent candle but we have so far managed to keep up with the days and, more importantly, not to leave it burning too long. Have I spoken too soon...

 I dried some orange slices and attached twine for hanging. They were for selling at the nursery fair on Saturday. They didn't sell well.

These did better though - my felt Christmas decorations this year included little houses and a new tree design. We filled them with cloves and allspice berries instead of stuffing. Several Mums got together over a few evenings for decoration making, fuelled by mulled wine, winter pimms, chocolate cake and mince pies. Overall we probably made about 25 decorations which all sold.

 I completed my Christmas spiced pillows.

 These were made to order. I'd like to make one for myself, sometime...

 I didn't make these...

 ...but aren't they lovely? Sadly they didn't do too well at the fair either, I did buy one though.

 Some baking happened too...

 ...chocolate cake, chocolate caramel shortbread and tablet.

 And concert #2 has been and gone. It's an annual charity concert mainly of Christmas carols and it was on Friday night. It over-ran and by the time I got out the car park (quite a few cars without tickets were blocking the barriers) it was midnight before I got to the supermarket on the way home to buy condensed milk to make the caramel for the chocolate caramel shortbread which I was half way through making earlier in the day before realising I didn't have all the ingredients. So there you go.

Yesterday we went for a little walk in the woods.

 The sun had already set by the time we reached them so there was only enough light for a couple of branchy shots...

 

Finishing up with another sunrise. From this morning.

 

 

Lovely to see the sun. I wouldn't like to live so far north that there is no sun for some months of the year.

A rush again, but that is the way things are at the moment. Just managing to keep up!

Edited to say... I've added some music! It's the Laudamus Te followed by the Domine Deus from Vivaldi's Gloria which is one of the pieces we'll be playing at our next concert on Saturday...

It's Christmas!

Well, nearly. Three more sleeps to go. A finished school today and hubby has just one more day at work. The tree is up, presents are wrapped, the cards are posted and the turkey is in the fridge. I'm feeling strangely organised this year!

So much so I even had time to make this little chap. I first saw him on Andrea's lovely blog Apples and Pears. She said he was "super quick to make", to me he represents three evenings of my life, I'm obviously a slow crocheter...

This is my favourite tree ornament, given to me by a Canadian family friend when I was little (eek, that'll be over 30 years ago now!)

For the first year ever I made my own mince pies. When I was young, I remember watching my parents making loads of mince pies each year (six dozen apparently!). Life's too short, I'm not doing that, I thought to myself...

...And after an evening spent faffing about rolling, cutting and filling... I'd still say life's too short for making your own mince pies! I have to say I'm rather partial to the Co-op's "Truly Irresistable" range of mince pies, certainly much less effort involved and they taste pretty good too.

Reminds me, must go and get a clementine and keep my vitamin C levels up.

Nativity ornament from Peru (funnily enough from the same Canadian lady who gave me the angel tree ornament).

Now on to the weather! We had a little fall of snow at the weekend and it's been very cold since, complete with mist and fog during the early days of this week, as you can see behind the snowmen on N's window.

We have icicles growing.

Spider's webs are thick with frost.

But today the mist lifted, the sun came out and all was sparkly and beautiful again.

The back door.

My robin suncatcher.

The sunlight made the colours of the glass friendship ball gorgeously glow.

You can see the ball in this picture too, it hangs on the centre panel of the bay window.

Another Peruvian nativity, these characters are tiny and all pack away into a match box.

Enough of inside...

...A's school finished for the holidays today at 2:30pm. N and I took the sledge with us when we went to collect her.

Lets go sledging!

Heading along the street bordering the park.

Into the park (looking absolutely beautiful in its snowy mantle)

Making our way towards the hill (with a little detour near the fountain for a photogenic scene)

And she's off, N prefers to watch as A zooms down the hill.

The trees are amazing, I've never seen the frost so thick on the branches before.

Surprisingly we seem to have the park pretty much to ourselves. A has a great time. Despite wearing an extra pair of woolly sock my feet are getting so cold they start to hurt. Time to go home (taking photos on the way!)

It was also a bit of a sad day today. I normally play badminton once a week with some of the other Mums. The local Sports Centre has an excellent creche which N really enjoys attending. The creche is in a lovely little room with big windows, it has a great selection of toys and fabulous staff. Today was his last day, the council are closing the creche from tomorrow to save money. So much for encouraging participation in sport for all - certainly for me it makes it dificult to use the sports centre now till N starts nursery which isn't till August. The creche was also an excellent way for N to get some time away from me (he can be rather clingy), and the staff were excellent. I agree it probably was under-utilised but it was really badly publicised. We only found out it was there through word of mouth, I suspect they've been trying to get rid of it for a while - too much paperwork and regulations involved. Bah humbug!

Anyway, incase I don't manage to post again before the big day, I hope everything goes well for you all. Having spent last Christmas feeling rather unwell (nothing major fortunately, but I did feel very sorry for myself) I espeicially wish everyone Good Health. Merry Christmas!

Reflections

A's school Christmas Fair is this weekend. In addition to the crocheted scarves I mentioned in a previous post I will also be donating...

... tree decorations. Made from felt and hand sewn/embroidered/embellished. Several of the Mums have been making these, the ones above are all the ones I've done so far. I'm hoping to add a couple of gingerbread men to the collection before Saturday.

I also had a go at some crocheted snowflakes. Two of the ones shown here were made using Lucy@attic24's tutorial, the rest using this pattern. I also tried another couple of patterns but these two produced the best effect though I still think they look rather wonky even after blocking & stiffening. I think Lucy's pattern is probably the more forgiving in this respect.

Again I'll try and get some more made before Saturday. The show I was doing is now over and I have a little bit of time in the evenings. It was Crazy For You, all the songs listed at the end of this post were from it. It went really well, the cast on stage did an excellent job. By the fifth night in a row it does get a little wearing, though looking on the bright side it was five nights in a row of not having to deal with bed time for the children! I'd been asked to play as they needed a double bass for the Slap That Bass solo. I understood there wasn't much money in it but I would get something. I have to admit to being a little disappointed to find that the "something" for four nights performance (and four nights rehearsal not to mention private practice time) amounted to less than what I received per night for playing bass in shows when I was in my teens. So much for inflation!

While I'm moaning, I'll also note here that the pesky starlings have discovered my birdfeeder, grrrr! It's a squirrel proof one which keeps out the jackdaws (there is another feeder they can use) but not, it would appear, those greedy starlings. I'll need to find another way making sure the sparrows, blue tits and robin get their fair share undisturbed, any suggestions?

This morning was gorgeous. N and I went for a walk at the loch. Yet another current bug bear is the speed (or lack of) at which toddlers walk.

Frozen puddles delayed us quite a lot today.

On the otherhand, were I at work (I worked for 13 years in a factory on an industrial estate in the middle of nowhere, all the windows in the office area were obscured by those loathsome vertical blinds and there were no windows at all in the fabrication line area) I wouldn't even have been able to get out at all. For being able to have the choice of whether or not to go outside (albeit "lumbered" with children) I am glad every day.

The folly on the hill (still unvisited, perhaps next year...)

Reflections in the loch. The surface of the loch was mirror flat until N started jumping about in the shallows. All those tiny little ripples on the water were caused by him.

We then went to the cafe for an ice cream each, mmm.