Christmas Village

Christmas Village

Sunday 24 January 2016

Choices, choices ...

We are making good progress towards the Christmas 2016 theme.  We shortlisted half a dozen and have four of them running neck and neck.

Over the next week we will be reviewing all our craft materials ready to make a final choice after 2nd February, when Christmas 2015 really will be over.

Watch this space ...

Monday 11 January 2016

Packing away

With my mother's birthday duly celebrated, the Christmas greenery is now down and the decorations packed away.


The Christmas village (complete with 'snow') is safely stored away in the large hat box in which it lives for most of the year.  My St Lucy embroidery is still up, of course, and she remains in place until the real end to Christmas on 2nd February.

Other than that, thoughts are turning to next year's theme and we are going to the various sales of Christmas goods to see if a theme emerges; it usually does sooner or later.  With Easter early this year, I am thinking about that too ...

Wednesday 6 January 2016

Number 12

My final item is another good all year round one


Not being all that tall, this small step is invaluable at any and every time of the year but really does come into its own when there are decorations to go up or come down.  The fact that it folds flat makes it even more useful as it can be stored away but remain readily available.

So we have reached the point where most people's decorations are down and the towns and villages no longer sparkle with Christmas lights.  As we packed away the office decorations, we ate the mince pies baked and sent in to us by the mother of one of our team.

It can feel a bit flat at this point but happily we have my mother's birthday celebrations to come at the weekend and, of course, I will be stringing Christmas out until 2nd February anyway!

Monday 4 January 2016

Looking back, looking forward

Today's photo is not items that I've used over the 12 days of Christmas but rather items that made the preparations easier.

It is difficult to single out the craft equipment to be called the 'most useful' but these three would be high up my list -


Guillotine, scoring board and bone folder.


Simple but effective

Back to work today, making yesterday one of the last days of festive family meals.  

Meals generate quite a lot of washing up and even if you use a dishwasher you want to rinse things off before washing, so this is something I've done for many years to make that just a little easier -


A jug of hot water for the cutlery and a bowl for plates, etc. and put the used ones in when you go to get the next course.

Sunday 3 January 2016

Renewing the greenery

With the Christmas season starting to draw to a close the greenery inside the house was getting a bit tatty - not helped by central heating, of course.  However, as I am keen not to finish Christmas until I really have to, yesterday was a day to go into the garden, cut some more foliage and renew some of the decorations.

That requires decent secateurs



Saturday 2 January 2016

Time saver

This one is something that once upon a time I would have considered the height of laziness but now is part of everyday life.


Foil roasting dishes save me much time and energy!

For use on their own I buy the slightly more expensive ones as they are more rigid, but the cheaper ones are excellent for lining a real roasting tin.


Friday 1 January 2016

Safety First!

For New Year's Eve (because I'm posting these items a day late) I have chosen:


Very Useful Indeed, especially if you have a few candles to light.  I also use tapers, but last night it was a long match.

My mother used to have a tradition of gathering up all the stubs of candle used during the year, putting them together and then lighting them on New Year's Eve.