My Christmas Journal

3rd December

2010-12-03T14:16:00.001-08:00

The forecast for today wasn't far wrong, it stayed below freezing all day but did remain dry.
I had another little snowman in my advent calendar again.

This is an odd photo for today, it was actually taken in colour - not sure where it all went though. I took the photo on the way home from work. To be honest, there were nicer views but I couldn't stop the car to take the photo. The trees looked pretty with the frost and snow on them, why did I take this drab photo?

Cards!

So, I've decided this year that I'm not going to send any cards until I receive my first one. I had expected to receive a few by now, but not one. I used to post my cards on 1st December, but I went for a change this year (living dangerously!).

I've made all my cards this year, I like to make my own, but sometimes I don't get round to it. I started early this year as I'm waiting to go into hospital for an operation on my hand and I didn't want to get caught out and have to buy them. I went to a card making marathon at the end of October and made quite a lot of my cards there, it was run by Julia and Ali, the 2scrapladies (they're here if you'd care to look

http://www.2scrapladies.blogspot.com/ ) and a fabulous time was had by all.

I always think I send too many cards. I swing from wanting to send only to people I know well and see or speak to regularly, to want to send only to those people I don't see often. I send to and receive cards from people I haven't seen for fifteen years - Should I carry on sending cards at Christmas when I haven't seen them for donkeys years?

I never write "round robin" letter, I can never believe that people are in the least bit interested in what my family and I have been doing all year. One family send a letter every year and it's written almost like a diary, everything each individual member of the family has done all year is documented! I usually just sign the card and post it off.

I haven't photographed any of my cards so I can't put them here. May do that later.

Well, dear reader, that's all for today.

2nd December - It's snowing

2010-12-02T13:11:00.000-08:00

What a good prompt today from Shimelle, we have snow! Just before going to bed last night I realised it had started snowing and took this photo. There has been snow in a lot of places for a few days now, but we hadn't had any. When I got up we had about 3", I hoped school would have a snow day, alas - no. Most of the kids came in to be fair and the ones who had wellies could go out and play on the field which they loved. I also had a little snowman in my advent calender.

I suppose it's a bit early for the snow to last until Christmas. I expect by then it will be cold and wet and horrid. We don't often have snow at Christmas. I always think that it snowed at Christmas when I was little, but I'm not sure if it did. Last year we had lots of snow, the good thing about writing a blog is that I can go back and check what it was like then.

Well, we didn't have snow this early last year, I don't think we've had snow this early in the year for decades. I wonder if it's going to be a long long winter.

Here's the weather forecast for tomorrow in Wiltshire:

Friday
Mainly dry for much of the day, with frost lasting through the morning. Cloud may reach the far west by evening. Remaining cold, with light southwest winds.

Let's see if they're right. It doesn't look as though we'll get anymore snow. So, dear reader, until tomorrow stay warm and safe.

1st December 2010

2010-12-01T05:56:00.000-08:00

Here we are, December again! I'll try and remember a little bit more about my Christmases past. Also a little bit about this Christmas too.

I've made all my cards this year, even the ones for the children at school. They're all ready to post, but I'm not going to be the first so as soon as I receive one I will post mine.

Most of the Christmas presents are bought too. Wow! I am organised aren't I? Watch this space. I know some people who have their decorations up already, but I think it's too early for that. I will update here when I put mine up.

So that's the start of my Journal Your Christmas this year. I will try to add a photo each day and this one is my first. A lovely lady who I work with gave me this Advent Calendar today, I was very touched. The chocolate today was a little Christmas tree. Lovely. Thank you Beryl. I haven't put up my Countdown to Christmas layout on my magnetic calendar yet, I'll do that later and put up a picture of it tomorrow. Until then, dear reader, take care and keep warm.

10th January already

2010-01-10T01:44:00.000-08:00

Well, I wasn't a very good blogger was I? I may fill in bits about Christmas as I go. I would like to remember Christmas's from my past, so that's what I will try to do.

Wishing you a very happy 2010.

Day 18

2009-12-18T15:39:00.001-08:00

Oh goodness, five days since I blogged. I don't even have a photo for today, or the days I've missed.
I've finished the cards and they've all gone in the post. The gifts are wrapped and are under the tree. The house is decorated. Now I'm just waiting for my brother and sister-in-law to arrive from LA on Sunday.
I can't believe the weather this week, it's been freezing and there's been quite a lot of snow in some places. We've had a few flurries, but nothing has settled. I want it to stay that way until the Americans arrive then it can snow and give us a lovely white Christmas. I just hope they'll be warm enough, it's freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing in my house.
Well, dear reader, that's all for today. I promise more later. Take care and stay warm.

Day 13

2009-12-13T14:42:00.000-08:00

Woohoo, the tree is up and decorated. It's taken all weekend, but I've done it. I would have enjoyed decorating more if I'd had the rest of the family to do it with me. We always do it together but this year I was alone. DH was cooking dinner, Big girl is away now and Little girl is stropping about something - who knows what (she can strop for Great Britain, this is day 2 of this strop already and I still don't know what it's about). The tree looks a bit lopsided in the photo, I hope it doesn't fall over, I sit just to the right of it!All the other decorations are up too, well except for the dining room ones. That's because I haven't quite finished wrapping presents yet and the room is a mess.
I made this nativity scene about eighteen years ago at a ceramics class I went to, it's still my favourite. Pity I cut the baby Jesus off the photo! He is there really.

I've probable had this one almost as long, but I've only just bought the kings/wise men and shepherds this year.

I love my little village scene. I add to it each year, the lovely little olde worlde shop in the centre is new this year. I wonder how long it will last when my nieces visit!

We had a Carol singer yesterday. A lone singer, who sang "We" Wish You A Merry Christmas. One of my Facebook acquaintances said they'd had some singers in November, she said her husband was going to give money to them only if they could sing at least two verses of a recognisable Carol. I think that's an excellent idea.

When I was young we always had Carol singers from the church. My Mum used to bake mince pies and ply them with home made wine, I don't know if the people they visited after us enjoyed their singing as much as we did, LOL.

I always put on a CD of Carols when I'm putting the decorations up. I was irritated this afternoon not to be able to find my favourite CD. I did find it eventually, but I had to listen to some very ropey stuff while I was looking. My father-in-law gave me a couple of CD he got free in the newspaper and there are some really weird Christmas songs on there. I like traditional Carols rather than Christmas songs. I love singing along with them, I'm not a very good singer at all, but that doesn't stop me. I don't think I have a favourite Carol, but I love singing The First Noel. I love the Noel, Noel, Noel Noel chorusy bit.

Well, dear reader, that's your lot for today.

Day 12

2009-12-12T14:10:00.000-08:00

Here we are on day 12 of Advent. I suppose that means we're half way through doesn't it?

Well, what fun and games we've had with the tree, LOL. I decided I would get a bigger tree this year. I should have realised that the size of tree we normally get just fits on the table where we always have it, so a bigger one is not going to fit. Hmm, obviously I didn't think this through, so I bought one which is about two feet taller. I'm sure you're ahead of me here!
First the trunk was too thick to fit in the pot we have so my poor darling husband spent ages shaving it down so it would fit.

We then realised we'd have to put the tree on a lower table as it was too tall to fit on the table we usually use, but it was still a few inches too tall. We now had to chop the top off. I'm not sure we've ended up with a much bigger tree after all! With all this going on, and having to clean up before we put the tree up, it was too late to decorate it. So, as you see, it's sitting very prettily on the table in the corner waiting to be decorated tomorrow. It looks better than it did yesterday though and I'm hoping it will look even prettier tomorrow.

I've been thinking about Christmases past and how they've changed. To be honest, I'm not sure they have changed an awful lot. I think we spend more these days then in the past, but then that could apply to most things (I remember my parents spending 17/6d on bed and breakfast for four of us when we went on holiday. For those who can't remember old money that's about 75p! Goodness, how old am I?). I remember Mum complaining at Christmas time that we had enough food to feed an army and that people shopping seemed to be stocking up for weeks rather than days. So what's changed there? The shops are only closed for two days, so why do we all have to have overflowing trolleys and groaning shelves in the cupboard?

When I was little I used to get a new paint tin every year. I loved the paint tin, it was all clean and neat. I've always loved colouring in, and another favourite present was a colouring book and new crayons. Can you imagine giving a child a colouring book and crayons these days? I always got a selection box at Christmas when I was younger too, every year I ask for one even now but no-one ever buys me one. I buy one for myself just so I'm not disappointed. I don't think a selection box is an unreasonable request, do you?

I find it more and more difficult these days to decide what I want for Christmas or birthdays. Last year neither DH or I could think of what we wanted so we bought a new television, it seemed much more sensible than just having something for the sake of it. I think we'll do the same this year too, not a TV you understand, we're thinking we may buy a new sofa. The family are buying/have bought me an electric blanket this year. I was going to get some crafting stuff but to be honest, my craft room is bulging with stuff. I was clicking away on the laptop one evening thinking how cold I was and I decided that I could do with an electric blanket so in less than two weeks I will be the proud owner of a lovely new comfort blanket with a special bit at the bottom to keep my feet warm (regular readers will know of my passion for comfy feet).

So, dear reader, there we have it. I think as you get older, or maybe as your children get older, the magic goes out of Christmas, but I'm not sure anything else has changed. I'm sure our parents got just as stressed as we get these days. And maybe I'll get a colouring book, some crayons, a new paint tin and a selection box this year. Wouldn't that be nice?

Day 11

2009-12-11T14:41:00.000-08:00

Day 11, time to get the decorations up I think.

I bought "the tree" today. I do love a real tree. Now I know it doesn't look much here, all blurry and trussed up but it will look lovely tomorrow when it's decorated.

When I was young we always had an artificial tree, I think we had the same one every year. Dad would get the box of decorations down from the attic and we'd spend ages sorting out the lights which would have been thrown in the box the previous year. Now I keep mine wrapped carefully in their boxes.

The baubles were also just thrown into the box and we'd have to carefully sort through to remove any broken ones - baubles were made of glass or really thin metal in those days and were very fragile. It was a lethal job and I'm surprised we came away with all our fingers intact. My decorations are always packed away in tissue or in their own boxes. My tree will be decorated mainly in red and gold as usual. Our tree at home used to be a mish mash of lots of colours, but it always looked really pretty.

When I was young we had lots of streamers and those paper decorations that start flat and take shape when you turn them back on themselves. I don't have those sort of decorations, does anyone I wonder! I love Christmas ornaments and have them all over the place. The living room ones are mainly red and gold, like the tree, but I have blue and white/gold ones in the dining room. I'll have to keep those rooms decorated in those colours so they go with the Christmas decorations. I like candles too and I have quite a few decorations that have candles, they are so pretty.

Well, dear reader. Enough for now, I'm going to go to bed so I'm fresh for the big decorating day tomorrow. No prizes for guessing what I'll be blogging about tomorrow. Hopefully with some lovely photos. So, for now, goodnight.

Day 9

2009-12-09T13:34:00.000-08:00

At school we have the most beautiful advent wreath. Gilly makes it every year and it always looks spectacular. I love advent wreaths and I always try to make one but I can never find the correct candles. I can buy white or gold and enough red ones to light up a small village, but I can never find purple and pink ones. I really must ask Gilly where she buys hers.
So, because I never get the correct candles I'm always disappointed with my advent wreath. Last year I found the lovely wreath in the photo and decided to buy it. It's not a proper advent wreath - it doesn't have any candles, but it's pretty so I will give up on trying to make a lovely wreath and just enjoy the one at school.
Ah, I've just popped over to Wikipedia to check out advent wreaths and all has become clear. I was brought up, and still am, Church of England, however I've been married to a Catholic chappie for twenty two years. I've only just realised that the purple and pink candles are used in the Catholic church but in the C/E church it is more common to have red candles. So, I've learned something tonight! The school I work in is a Catholic school, hence the purple and pink candles in Gilly's wreath.

I don't ever remember having an advent wreath at home when I was younger. I don't think we really followed any family traditions at Christmas. Yes, we always ate turkey, but I don't think we had any traditions really.
Darling Husband's family always give stocking presents, just small things, but they all give every other member of the family something for their stocking. Mum always made us a stocking, it was usually one of Dad's welly socks as they were the biggest ones my brother and I could find. We'd get the usual stuff in there, chocolate, satsumas, nuts. Nothing very much. I bought these two stockings for my girls when they were quite young, someone who lived near us made them.

I've used them every year for the last thirteen years and they're still going strong. The girls get more in their stockings then I ever did when I was young. I put lots of little gifts in there for them. I've started filling them this year, but I still have more bits to get. I've eight stockings to fill this year as we're having Peter and Angela over from America and the girls both have boyfriend who will be joining us for part of the festive season.

It would be nice to have some family traditions that the girls could carry on when they have their own families, maybe I could start some!

Day 7

2009-12-07T13:59:00.000-08:00

Day 7, just over two weeks until the big day. I feel as though I'm getting organised, but there's still so much to do. Not least, I still have to buy My Darling Husband's present. He must be the most difficult person to buy for. I know if I ask him what he wants he won't know so I suppose I'll have to suggest something. We need a new sofa, maybe we could have that as a joint present.
Most of the other present are bought or ordered but I still have some stocking fillers to get.
So, what's left to do?
1. Food shopping. Of course there is the turkey to buy but I always buy a fresh one so that won't be bought for a while yet. My brother and sister-in-law are coming over from America for Christmas and the New Year, so I will have to make sure we've got good stuff to eat. We've got the family coming over on the 27th so I'd better sort out a menu for then too.
2. The cards. Heehee, I STILL haven't finished writing them. They're here at my side, waiting. Maybe tomorrow night.
3. The decorations. Darling Husband brought the boxes down from the attic at the weekend so I've checked them all over. I have got a couple of things up already, My lovely little birthday ornament and a nativity scene I bought yesterday. We are going to get our tree at the weekend so I suppose the rest of the decorations will go up then.
4. The cake. It's made already but I'd better ice it. I know if I don't ice it it won't get eaten. I love Christmas cake, but I end up eating far too much of it.
Well, if that's all it's not too bad. Only four things on the list, if I say it like that it sounds OK.
1. The shopping will be horrendous, it always is. Why do people buy so much? The shops are only closed for a couple of days but trolleys are piled high. I'm as bad, I spend a fortune and the cupboards are groaning.
2. I'm still only up to "D" doing the cards and I missed out the "A"s! So only 23 more letters to go. I must, I must, I must get on with that job.
3. The decorations will be fun. We always put on Christmas music and all muck-in. I'm looking forward to that job.
4. Yes, the cake. I'll probably just do a snow scene for ease. My mum was an amazing cake decorator, she was amazing at lots of things, but I'm not very good at doing elaborate stuff. I'm not very keen on the sort of icing that you roll out and pop on the cake. I prefer proper icing so it will be the snow scene as usual.

Day 5

2009-12-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

I didn't manage to post yesterday and I almost didn't manage it today either. The Internet thingy wouldn't let me upload my pictures, kept saying the page couldn't be displayed. Anyway, just as I was going to give up and go to bed, they all appeared, so here we are.

As you know, my advent calendar this year is a page I made for my lovely magnetic calendar. The little tree turns round each day to count down to the big day. On January 1st it will turn into a beautiful calendar that will change monthly until I get fed up with doing the layouts. I already have one full years worth of pages which I made at a fabulous workshop run by my two good friends the 2 Scrap Ladies (http://2scrapladies.blogspot.com/), so it's good for at least a year. Lets hope those 2 Scrap Ladies repeat their workshop next year.

When I was young we used to have a little card advent calendar with a nativity scene on, I'm not sure when we started getting chocolate ones. I don't suppose my parents could afford them, at least with the card calendar we only needed the one, if we'd had a chocolate one my brother and I would both have wanted one. At some stage we did get chocolate calendars, but I think we were much older. I wonder when they started making the fancy calendars you get today, I'm sure they were very basic when I was little.

Last year I made advent boxes for my girls (and lots of other people too, but you may already know this if you read my ramblings regularly), and my Little Girl is using hers again this year. My Big Girl is away at uni now so I'm sending her a little something daily.

Well, I told you that you'd be the first to know when I received a Christmas card, so here they are. Two cards arrived today, one from my very old auntie and the other from friends I haven't seen for years. I always wonder about sending cards to people I know longer see. Part of me thinks I should, after all it's a way of letting people know you're thinking about them - but am I? Thinking about them that is. To be honest, I rarely think about the people in my address book and I'm only thinking about them now because I've got my address book out to send them a card. So, should I just send cards to the people I see or do in fact think about on a regular basis? It's a quandary I have every year. Maybe I should send fewer cards and donate the stamp money to charity. What do you think? Do you have any thoughts on the matter?

I did start writing some cards tonight. I only got as far as the "D"s before I'd had enough. At this rate it's going to take me months to write them all. Maybe time will dictate who I send cards to this year.

I also started wrapping presents. I sent my darling husband into town today with a list of shops and code numbers of things to buy. In fact, he only came back with one present! He did order two others though, so I suppose it was a successful trip. When I got out the presents I'd already bought I discovered I'd bought two presents each for two of my nieces. That will teach me to try to be organised won't it? I'm not sure they will be suitable for any of the people I've yet to buy for, especially as the nieces are not much more than babies and the people I've yet to buy for are teenagers! Heyho! I suppose I could save them for the niece's birthdays, but if I couldn't remember that I'd bought them a few weeks ago it's unlikely I'll remember in the summer.

OK. I've rambled for long enough now. You see, if I'd gone to bed when the Internet was playing up I'd have been tucked up for ages by now. So, dear reader. I'm off. Until tomorrow then, take care and keep dry. Goodnight.

Day 3

2009-12-03T14:10:00.000-08:00

Look at that - only 22 days to go!

Do you love or hate Christmas shopping? I've think I hate it! I should be getting into the Christmas spirit by now, so why aren't I? I went into town after work today to do a bit of Christmas shopping and I just couldn't get any enthusiasm for it at all. I think what I needed was a nice stall in the market selling mulled wine and mince pies, maybe that would have put me in the mood.

The market place looked lovely with the Christmas lights on. I'm not sure that this photo shows how pretty it looked. I spent quite a while taking photos instead of getting on with the shopping.

I haven't written one card yet! I haven't received any either, you'll be the first to know when I do receive one. I started making cards a while ago but I never really got the momentum going. I've got loads of images printed out and quite a few of them are coloured in, but they're not put together yet. I've been to a few workshops at my local craft shop, run by my friend Julia (She's here: http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ ) and I made loads at the marathon run by the 2 Scrap Ladies (They're here: http://www.2scrapladies.blogspot.com/ ) so I'm hoping I've made enough for friends and family. If I haven't I will be buying some this year.This card here is the first one I made this year. I love this little stamp which I bought at a craft show. Sorry the photo is not very good.
Well, dear reader. I'm going to bed now because it's late, the heating is about to go off and it's freezing. Until tomorrow then, keep warm and safe.

2nd December

2009-12-02T17:00:00.000-08:00

Was the weather so much more seasonal when we were young? Was it always hot in the summer and snowy at Christmas? To be honest, I don't think it was. I remember the winter of 1962/63, The Big Freeze. I was brought up in Yorkshire and the river near us froze over. This wasn't exceptional during that winter, lots of places were snowed in and temperatures plummeted to about -20 degrees. Last winter was pretty cold, the snow lasted a whole week in my garden, but that's nothing compared to The Big Freeze which lasted from December through to March. How did we manage? My mum was a district nurse and she HAD to go out to tend her patients, I'm sure she managed it every day. I remember Dad shovelling snow for a mile and a half before giving up and driving home again. It had taken him hours before he admitted he would have to miss work. Can you imagine anyone doing that these days?
Yesterday it was pretty cold, about -3 degrees when I left for work. Of course I was taken by surprise and couldn't find the ice scraper to clear the windscreen. However, today is back to that awful damp, cold, dark weather that we're so used to in England at this time of year. I hate this weather, it does my arthritis no good at all.
The photos below don't show how pretty the trees looked on this misty morning. I took the photos in my garden when I went to let my chickens out. The chickens didn't seem to mind the damp, unlike me. They were, as always, eager for their freedom.

1st December

2009-12-01T10:30:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Advent one and all. This is my Countdown to Christmas LO that I made for my magnetic calendar, you may have read about this over on my other blog.

December, can you believe it? I really must write some cards and do some Christmas shopping. I've done a bit of shopping, but not much. I'm going to get caught in the rush again, I expect.

I made this Advent box for my Little Girl last year. I have bought some things to put in it, but I still need to get more, some of the drawers are still empty. I must get myself organised. My Big Girl forgot to bring her box home when she visited from uni the other day, so I'm going to be posting something to her each day of Advent.

I will tell you a bit about our crop/craft Birthday Bunny nights out.... It all started last Christmas when eight of us went out for a Christmas meal together. We each bought a gift for one other person, a Secret Santa swap. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to do it monthly. At Easter we called the swap Easter Bunny. So for the last year we've been having a meal out together monthly and exchanging presents. It so happens the we were able to celebrate a birthday on most months, hence the name Birthday Bunny. Some months we don't have a birthday to celebrate but we still go out and buy a gift for one another anyway. It's been fabulous and I've had some fabulous gifts some crafty and others not. The little Santa was my gift at last months Birthday Bunny, which as it happens was my birthday month. I decided he could sit on the mantle piece straight away so he was my first decoration to go up this year. Isn't he gorgeous?

Shimelle's prompt today was to write a manifesto with our intentions for this Christmas journal. Well, I intend to write a blog post each day from now until 6th January. However, I know how life has a habit of biting me in the bum when I make rash statements like that, so I will say that I will try and I will do my best. Please forgive me if I fail.

So, dear reader. Until tomorrow, keep safe and warm.

Advent box

2009-11-22T12:58:00.000-08:00

Today I made this advent box for my niece. I made her one last year and she loved it. It's made from matchboxes, 24 of them. Last year I made about ten of these, you should have seen the pile of matches on the compost heap, LOL. I was worried they would ignite and set fire to the shed!

I've filled the drawers with chocolate and trinkets, there are more chocolates than trinkets though so I may have to change that before I send it to her, I'm not sure her mum will approve of so much chocolate.

I really need to get on with making some more cards, I've made some and I'm going to a card making marathon next weekend run by my friends 2 Scrap Ladies http://2scrapladies.blogspot.com/, so I should be able to get a few more done then. I like to have my cards ready to be posted by early December but I'm not sure that is going to happen.

So, dear reader, that's all for today. See you anon.

Wecome..

2009-11-21T08:27:00.000-08:00

..to my Christmas Journal. I'm going to follow Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class again for the second year. Last year I blogged some of the journal on my Daily Deliberation blog, but I didn't complete it. I didn't finish my album either!

As I've just completed Shimelle's Blogging For Scrapbookers class, I thought I'd blog Christmas this year. It won't just be about this Christmas, but I hope to include memories of Christmas's past also.

So, here we go. I'm going to start today because the weather is awful and I'm trying to avoid going to Tescos. Anyway, I have started to plan Christmas so I may as well begin.

This is what I've done so far, well it's a start. I know it's not much, but I have bought some presents and this little bag is it.

My brother and sister-in-law are coming over from America to spend Christmas with us this year and I want it to be really special. We went to them last year and my SIL really went to town. I don't think she went to town just because we were there, I think she always does. The tree and the presents were lovely and the whole experience was fabulous. The whole town was decorated, as only the Americans can, and we went out in the evenings for drives around the neighbourhood to look at the fabulous decorations. I don't think we'll be doing that this year, LOL.

Well, dear reader. That's all you're getting for today. I promise there will be more to follow. I'm off to Tescos now!