Happy New Year!

Wishing my dear friends around the world a

very Happy and Blessed New Year.

Going towards a new year.

What a good thing that we can't look forward to see what the next year will bring. 2016 has had ups and downs for us, and for many others. We hope and pray that 2017 will be a peaceful one.

Decorations are still waiting to be taken down, but one of my plans for this coming year is to find some more reading time. 

Ebooks are fine, but I was given a selection of 'real' books as a gift and love the feel of holding a book in my hands rather than an e-reader.

One of the books was

'The dog who dared to dream' by a Korean author named Sun-Mi Hwang.

I found this an unusual book, centred round the short hard life of a dog called Scraggy. She lives with her owner, and assorted hens, cats etc. It isn't a comfortable tale. Her little life is full of sadness, her puppies are taken from her, her dreams are unfulfilled. I wanted so much more for her, but it wasn't to be.

I wonder if anyone else has read this?

I have a choice of different genres to work through now with my gift books, so I'm enjoying the thought of a few quiet days after the bustle of Christmas.

I'm going to be a hedgehog, wrapped in a quilt and hibernating with my pile of books. And coffee.

Christmas.

'The time came for the baby to be born, and Mary gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the Inn.'

Luke 2, vv 6/7

 

Amidst the rush, the bustle, the fun of Christmas, may there be moments when we have time to pause and reflect on this wonderful

event.

Nativity

Live Nativity scene performed at a village in Surrey.

Wintershall hosts this annually with up to ten performances, starring fifty local people, sheep, and other animals.

What a honour to be part of this amazing story.

Wishing you all a truly blessed and happy Christmas time.

Wreath making.

Continuing with a little decorating, a friend and I made wreaths this week.

I found some very solid moss covered bases on Ebay. We gathered lots of greenery, ivy, fir, holly and whatever we could find from our gardens. Then armed with wires and glue guns, ribbons and fircones we created very pretty wreaths.

Somehow more satisfying than buying a ready made one.

I wound mine round with little lights. They come on in the evening and switch themselves off later.

And a little tree now sits in a corner of the sitting room.

We're done.

Just in time to welcome my daughter and grandson, coming from Canada to be with us for Christmas.

Memories. Again.

Christmas childhood memories.

I know I have written about my childhood Christmases previously, but I still love to go over the memories.

A little decorating has begun, with my Austrian angel busily announcing the news.

The rushing home when term ended, knowing it would be time to put the tree up. The excitement of finding the box of decorations, pawing gently through the shiny baubles, remembering them from years of use. The favourites, the Angel, the star for the top of the tree. The discussions/arguments about just how much silver tinsel to use. (For me less was more. For my cousins...throw it all on!) Being allowed to clip the real candles on the tree, but not to light them.

And then mornings of making, what we would now term Craftwork. Making paper chains, laboriously licking the ends of each paper (no pre glued papers then). Painting walnut shells silver and making tiny boats to hang up on branches. Artificial 'snow' from a can being placed on the ends of branches...how we loved putting it on everything else too! Wrapping up our home made presents and hiding them. All our family Christmas cards were home made, messy, struggled with, but real.

The scents, oh, those Christmassy smells of spices, currants, citrus wafting from the kitchen as Grandma made the puddings. Then the savoury, sage and onion, used to stuff the turkey. The one and only time my Grandpa had a glass of sherry, an annual treat, the rich scent of that as he poured a glass.

No prepacked, no frozen, no supermarket last minute buys.
No media telling us what we most 'wanted' for a present.
But the fun of writing a letter to Father Christmas and sending it up the chimney.

And the best bit, saved till last, the arranging of the little carved wooden Crib scene on the side table, painstakingly placed amongst tufts of straw and with the baby in just the right position.

Decorating, a beginning.

I have recently woken up to the fact that everyone but me is doing amazing things with decorating for Christmas. I guess it's because decorating was always something that was never done before mid-December when I was growing up.

I have started with my blog background. Does that count as decorating?

Last weekend, the first of Advent, I did get out my Advent candle ring. We bought this in Liberty's many many years ago, and although it's a bit battered, it comes out every year with new candles.

Christmas cards have started arriving, three so far, but there will be many more.

And although it isn't strictly speaking, decorating, I made a dozen mince pies this morning.
Oddly, there seem to be only eleven?

I am hosting a wreath making morning for a couple of friends next week. So decorating is slowly getting under way.
I so admire the lovely decorated rooms on many beautiful blogs.