Merry Christmas

 I had planned on another post before Christmas but time got away from me.  Preparations have gone right to the wire this year, I only got round to wrapping the last of the presents late this afternoon and I haven't had time to make the stollen cake I usually make for the girls.

Other happenings have been taking all my thoughts and have sapped a lot of the joy from this Christmas, everyone is ok, there is just some sadness at the moment.  Perhaps I'll share at some point in the future, but not now.

My youngest daughter and son in law are cooking tomorrow so after we have done the rounds of visiting all the grandchildren to see what Santa has left them and to take them what he left them at Nanny and Grandads house, me and Mark will be heading to Stevie and Darren's house for dinner.

Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and say that I hope you enjoy the day tomorrow, however you are celebrating and I will try and pop back in to share the last of my finishes for the year before the end of the month.

See you soon

-X-

All is Calm

After all the hustle and bustle of the last few weeks today has been surprisingly calm and relaxed.  I was up fairly early and made the stollen for the girls, It's become a bit of a tradition now that I make them gingerbread granola and stollen at Christmas.  I made the granola a couple of days ago and that Is already in their hampers with their other gifts.  

I also made some rustic looking sausage rolls, one batch with cranberry and one with caramelised onions, my taste tester tells me they are lovely despite their rustic appearance, lol

My Christmas cake is all ready too, I used Delia's Christmas cake recipe but instead of buying and soaking all the fruit I used a premade fruit/brandy mix from Lidl.  I did the same last year and it turned out lovely, fingers crossed this is too.

We had a couple of birthdays this week, my youngest grandson, Jacob, turned 4 on Thursday and my eldest daughter, Jenny turned 41 on Friday.  For Jacobs birthday Joanne had booked tickets for Winter Glow at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern.  We were all looking forward to seeing the lights and getting into the Christmas spirit, but it wasn't to be.  For a few days the weather has been very windy and because of that they had closed the light trail and the fairground.  Supposedly they had sent out emails but some didn't receive any notification that it had been closed.  We were told that we could exchange out tickets and go ice skating or perhaps come back over Christmas as the Winter Glow was on until January 6th.  It had taken us just over an hour to get there so we decided to give ice-skating a go. The kids enjoyed it, Bonnie was a bit nervous at first but she was ok after we'd been round a couple of times, just a shame we couldn't see the lights.

Jean, who blogs at shrimptonandperfect recently had a giveaway on her blog and I won!

I was so surprised when I read my name as the winner on her blog, It came at the right time to cheer me up too.

And look what came, a lovely card, book and christmas tree broach.

Isn't it pretty?  I'll be wearing this on Christmas day, thank you so much Jean :-)  I shall enjoy the book in the new year.

Well that's about it for now, I haven't done much blog reading over the last couple of weeks, Ill try and catch up on all your goings on in the next few days, 

There will be five, (mabe six) here for dinner tomorrow, Stevie, Darren, Joanne, me and Mark.  Stevie called to say that one of Darren's brothers is on his own tomorrow and could he come too, there's plenty to go round so that's ok.  Bonnie and Jacob are going to their dads to eat and then will come here late afternoon,  Jenny, James and the boys are eating at home and coming here in the afternoon too.  I'm really looking forward to the day now.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas

-X-

December 29th - Christmas Eve Wishes Blanket

We are enjoying some quiet days at home, I did venture out yesterday, I needed to get a birthday present and a card, I managed to find both at a local garden centre.  I haven't ventured to any shops to look at sale items, I'm not great at rummaging and there is nothing I need anyway.

It was my birthday on Tuesday, the girls came round together with all the grandchildren in the afternoon and I was spoilt with some lovely gifts.   Jo also sent me some thoughtful gifts too, thank you again Jo.

We had planned on going out for a meal on the night but I felt as though I was coming down with something and didn't feel like making the effort to go anywhere, Mark cooked and we had a quite night in instead.  Now I'm 61 nights in are much more appealing than nights on the town, not that I was ever much of a party firs anyway, lol.  I felt much better yesterday and today, whatever the 'something' was didn't develop into anything.

I finished my Christmas Eve Wishes blanket the week before Christmas, I fell a little behind on the CAL what the other things going on but I did want it finished for this year otherwise it would have been stuffed in a bag until next year.

I'm quite happy with how it turned out, it's the first time I've attempted tapestry crochet, it's not hard, the stitches used are basic ones but I did find it a bit fiddly holding two strands of yarn, one working and one being carried.   At first I didn't like how the snowflakes looked, you can see the white yarn that has been carried but actually now I think they look very effective, almost like fair isle.  The hats and bobbles I loved doing, the gingerbread men not so much, I think my tension was too tight when working them but perhaps it will all loosen up when it's washed.  The gingerbread men will remain faceless until I feel like doing them, by the time I'd finished the boarder I was ready to call it done.  

I'm happy that I did it but I won't be making another, some people in the fb group made 2, 3 or 4 of these blankets in the run up to Christmas, goodness knows how!

The pattern is by Madebyanita and is on her website.  Its a free pattern and the instructions and video tutorials are excellent.  

There are a couple of things that I want to try and finish before the end of the year, so hopefully I can get those done and get another blog post up before we ring in the New Year.

-X-

Boxing Day

I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas Day, however you chose to spend it.  

After all the stress of preparations, wrapping countless presents and house cleaning, Christmas Day was quite a relaxing affair.  We ate out so didn't have the hassle of cooking, it was lovely to get up and just enjoy time with the children and watch them open their presents.  Santa left Arty a stable with lots of horses, you can tell how happy he is with it, lol ,  Although Oliver is now ten he still loves his stuffed toys, his favourite animal is a sloth and Santa left this one at nanny's for him.   Usually you don't get much of a reaction when he opens presents but he was thrilled with the sloth, who's name is Dave by the way 🤣

Bonnie and Jacob came back to ours after dinner for present opening.  There was no frenzied opening with Jacob, he opened each one and looked at it properly, even stopping to read the book he opened, bless.  He hasn't been very well this last week and had to go to the walk in centre yesterday afternoon, his throat is red but they don't think is tonsillitis  but have given him some antibiotics anyway, hopefully there will be a chemist open today to collect the prescription.  

I managed to make some stollen on Christmas Eve.  Jenny, Joanne and James love it so they each had a box on Christmas morning.  The recipe came from the same Sainsbury's magazine I had the granola recipe from which I shared last time.  

(If anyone is interested in either recipe I will put it on the recipe page at the top of my blog sometime this week)

I also found time to sew together the pieces for this star mat.  You may remember that I bought the pattern and the fat quarters when I visited the Creative Craft show in November.  I'm happy to have been able to make use of these this year instead of them sitting in a drawer waiting for next Christmas.

My lovely blogging friend Jo (http://jo-throughthekeyhole.blogspot.com) sent me a something to open Christmas morning.  Thank you Jo for your kindness.

We are having a lazy day today, we had a lie-in this morning and I did a bit of ironing, now I'm going to sit down and treat myself to a new stitching start.

speak soon

-X-

December 23rd A magical walk

It was Jacob's 3rd birthday on Wednesday, Joanne had booked tickets months ago to the Enchanted Garden walk at Webbs garden centre.  At the time I said I would go with them I wasn't expecting much of a show, sometimes these light shows are a bit of a disappointment.  Not so this one, it was truly magical, I think I enjoyed it as much as Bonnie and Jacob.

The theme was fairy tales with wonderful scenes created along the walk, here are just a few of them

The walk through the enchanted forest was amazing, they had managed to create a great atmosphere with the sounds of birds and animals and the trees all looked frosted, I took the photo of the trees looking up and you can see the effect the light has on them, so beautiful.

There were beautiful light displays all the way along.

Santa was there at the end, waving and talking to the children, when he found out it was Jacobs birthday he got the crowd to sing Happy Birthday to him which was lovely.

Today I have been trying to get the last few things wrapped and the stockings filled, I'm happy to say that everything is now prepared, the spare bedroom resembles Santa' grotto at the moment, with four grandchildren you can just imagine it can't you, lol

I found some time while I was cooking tea to make the some gingerbread granola, I made it for my daughters last year, and It went down really and they, (and my one son in law) have been dropping hints about getting it this year.  I've made loads so hopefully I may get to taste it this time.

The recipe was in this Sainsburys magazine from 2021, although if you know how to make granola the only other thing to add is the rind and two tablespoons of the juice of one orange and two tablespoons of black treacle.  

Homemade granola is so much better than shop bought and it's just so easy, I first tried making it while we were in lockdown and it's not very often I don't have a jar of it in the cupboard.

I've got one more thing I want to make but that depends if Mark can find some soft brown sugar tomorrow, I went to two shops today and neither had it.  Fingers crossed because I would really like to make this, it's a favourite of mine and the girls.

-X-

It's never too early to start

 Christmas goodies have been arriving in the shops for a good few weeks now but this past week I have seen a lot more added.

I think it's a British thing, but we do like our tubs of chocolates come Christmas.  I've bought three, Celebrations, Roses and Quality Street, I do put them out for anyone who comes to help themselves so like to have a good supply.  I buy Oliver and Arty a tub of Haribo to share as they prefer sweets over chocolate.

When the girls were small they used to open the 'Christmas biscuits' on Christmas morning to have while they were opening their presents, I still buy a box of biscuits out of tradition more than anything else really.

The box of Lindor and  Dairy Milk will be to put with two of my Son-in-Law's presents, I have to get one more of something similar for Darren but needed to check with Stevie first to make sure what he liked.

I popped into Home Bargains and treated myself to a wax melt advent calendar, I do love all the Christmas smells and will enjoy opening this each day leading up to Christmas.

As far as presents go, I give Jenny and Joanne money to get the children's main presents, they know more what they are into than me and it ensures that they all have the same amount, they will then give me what they have bought to wrap up,  I do make up a small sack for all the children as well with little extras, which I have been buying and stashing away for a while. 

I don't buy for extended family and me and Mark don't usually buy for each other, so that only leaves the girls and their other halves to sort out.

I've no idea what's happening about Christmas day yet, except that Jenny, James and the boys want to have dinner in their own home, I don't think Stevie and Darren will want to eat alone and I know Joanne would prefer everyone to be together, neither me or Mark are fussed either way, as long as we can see the children open their presents on the day I'm happy for them to do what they want to do.

I hate a last minute rush for things so like to get things when I see them, how about you, have you started buying?  or is it too early?

-X-

Christmas ornaments

I finally managed to get the kids ornaments finished off

For Oliver

For Bonnie

For Arthur

I also finished this Heart In Hand 2018 Santa

This was going to be for Oliver but it turned out too big to hang on his tree so he chose the snowman one instead.  I have to confess that i'm happy to have this Santa staying with me because I absolutely love him!!  I already had the frame and he fit it perfectly, so I laced him onto some foam board and luckily the back still fit on the frame too.

Below is a five minute craft from last week

The picture is from the box my Christmas cards came in and I already had the box frame and coloured bells.  I just thought the picture was too lovely to throw away and It makes a nice decoration.

I've managed to get quite a bit done this week not being a work, including almost all of the present wrapping.  I've run out of paper for Olivers so will have to get some more tomorrow and get those done.  I have a hair appointment tomorrow afternoon then a good tidy up of my little crafty space is on the to do list.

See you soon

-X-

If only the snow had waited another 2 weeks we could have had a white Christmas!

We've had a lovely weekend visiting Lincoln Christmas market. 

On Friday morning we woke up to quite a bit of snow and we thought it would take us longer than the estimated 2 hours to get there but when we reached the other side of Birmingham there was no snow to be seen, so we made good time and got to the hotel just after 2pm.  We dropped our bags and drove into town and managed to park the car on the retail park a short walk from the centre.

The hotel was further from the city centre than Booking.com had said (!) so on Saturday morning we caught the bus there and got a taxi back in the evening as we thought it would be busier than the day before.  We browsed the shops in the day and after a late lunch we made our way up to the Christmas market again.  The market is mainly centred around the area of the Cathedral and you make your way up via lovely pretty cobbled streets, very steep streets, in fact one of the streets is called Steep Hill.

I wish I had taken my camera on the Friday as on Saturday there were so many people it was impossible to get any decent photos at all, and also very hard to look at any of the stalls.  If you ever think you might like to visit Lincoln's Christmas Market take my advice and go on the Friday, it's much less stressful.

The wonderful Cathedral

This morning we woke to snow in Lincoln too, so we set off for home as soon as we could, again expecting delays.  The traffic was quite light so we got home safe and sound by just after lunchtime.

The conditions got worse the closer we go to home

I couldn't resist taking some photos as we were near home, everything looked so pretty!

Turning into our estate

And then our road

Then seeing our garden turned into a lovely white wonderland :-)

Looking over the garden fence

 (Below) Two doors away, part of their garden transformed into a magical scene

One of the first things I did once we had got the bags in was make sure the birds had some food.

My little Robin was soon back once he knew there was something :-)

Along with our other regular visitors

Sorry, I do seems to have posted a lot of photos again!

I have tomorrow off work so I'm going try and make the most of it and have a rest after all that walking.

See you soon

-X-