Holiday Memories

Christmas for us started with T's grandma's chocolate birthday cake...


Then snow fell...


So we made a snowman, threw snowballs, stamped out a heart, made a snow angel and played frisbee with the frozen water from the bird bath. We drank hot tea, snuggled by the log fire, decorated the tree, iced a cake, played games, did crosswords, ate plenty, gave presents and went to church.


It was a Christmas of firsts for me - first turkey, first time away from my family, first snowy Christmas, first martini, first flaming pudding with coins in. This new part of my family have different traditions, different routines, and it was fun finding out a little about how T's childhood Christmasses would have gone.

We also went for a walk and ended up at this beautiful frozen lake, it was magical...


New Year round up coming up soon...

Winding Down

On Wednesday night we had our home group over for a Christmas party - food and games and much merriment ensued. We even made hot apple punch (inspired by some friends a couple of weekends ago) which went down very well.


Last night we went to T's work Christmas party - my first experience of the infamous do. And we enjoyed it. It was fun meeting some new people, talking about life, books and food. And when we walked out of the door it was into swirling whirling snow that was actually settling! It was so exciting. I should have taken some photos when we got home but by that stage we were so freezing we just wanted to get inside and curl up in bed, so here's a few from this morning as it melts.


Today: a squillion jobs to do before tomorrow. Packing, laundry, cooking, present wrapping, tidying, cleaning, organising, crafting. This morning so far has been mostly spent wrapping and ribboning to a background of the Little Women DVD. Which has resulted in a warm fuzzy feeling and blinking away tears at the really sad bits I'd forgotten. (I'm also rapidly running out of paper and ribbon, and have forgotten gift tags as usual so things are on track for a late night and busy Saturday morning!) Nevertheless - loving the prospect of Christmas holidays.

Have a good weekend lovelies.

Warm and Twinkly

I've had a sore throat for a couple of days but I've been distracting myself by enjoying lovely winter things. Like decorations going up in our house...


Christmas cards going in the post...


T coming home from work for a lunch of hot crumpets and tea...


And enjoying wintery drinks, and an evening on the sofa with T...


What's making you excited about winter and Christmas these days?

A Christmas Weekend

Good friends. Mulled wine and mince pies. Walks. A pine tree hung with lights and shimmering decorations. Sitting on the floor to play games. Laughter and catching up. This all added up to a lovely weekend for us.


Aren't these word decorations (made by our lovely hostess) beautiful?


Christmas is on it's way...and I'm loving every day of the build up.

Documenting

One of my favourite things to do this year has been to collect together photos, leaflets, papers and ribbons and make mini books documenting our adventures. I've decided to follow the example of a very creative lady and make one for the whole of December:


Mine is very low effort so far - just papers punched and tied with a ribbon. I went for Christmassy greens and creams with gold highlights as the theme. I think December will manage to fill and festivise it as we go...

November...

...started and ended with a wedding.

...was rainy.

...meant time spent with friends.

...brought adventures - like this one.

...got me excited about Christmas and shopping and buying gifts.

...saw me wearing my new boots almost every day.

...introduced me to new ideas and plans for the future.


November was GOOD. So I'm off to enjoy the last few hours of it with T. See you all in December.