Decorations everywhere!

Well here it is, my beautiful Christmas present from my daughter.  All hand stitched by her and far too lovely to pack away.  It is in the dining room and looking across the room it has a real 3D look.  A real treasure it makes me smile every time I see it.

Nature is giving us her own special winter decoration at the moment and I have been wearing wellies for a week now as there is still snow on the paths.  I love looking at the snowflakes.

Looking out across the snowy gardens I spotted rather an unusual snowman, unfortunately I can only see the back of it, but it is on the roof of a garage!  I think it looks as though it is in a giant shoe but hubby thinks it is a plane. 

I have two snowmen in the garden and my sons have been doing lots of sledging and snowboarding!   My daughter and her friend built an igloo.  It took them quite a time but it's not often you get enough snow to make something like this.

 

The cats both love the fresh snow, rushing out to play in it, then back inside and laying as flat as possible on the heated kitchen floor until warm, then off outside again.  Chasing snowballs is a favourite game and Marlee will even stay outside shivering if someone is throwing snowballs.  I have never seen a cat shiver like her before, but she is quite small.

 

Even though Samba is much larger the snow was still deep for him.

Packing away Christmas

Did you watch the Christmas special of 'Great British Bake Off Masterclass'?  I thought it was lovely when Mary Berry was showing the silver bells her children had made when they were small and saying how much she enjoys them each year. Well, having just got around to sorting some photographs I remembered that I had taken some to share with you.

Marlee thought tree decorating was a fun game to play.  That is a guilty expression on her face as she tried to pretend she was being good. Actually she did manage to leave them alone after the initial excitement...

These three ornaments are polystyrene shapes decorated with sequins and pins and I sat making them with my mother many years ago.

 This one I cross-stitched from a free kit that came with a magazine, again a good number of years ago.  My Grandad's name was Noel and it always reminds me of him.

 


I didn't make this one but bought it at a craft fair the first Christmas I was married, 30 years ago. There was a lot of work in it although I am sure I cannot have paid much for it.  Wouldn't it be lovely if the maker knew it still went on my tree each Christmas?  Interestingly I have never seen another like it.  The outside is felt but it feels as though there is card inside.

My favourite hand made ones of all are the ones my children made.  I didn't take pictures of them all.

There is always debate as to whose angel should be on the top of the tree.  The one my younger son made at Sunday School...

or the one my daughter made at home, totally her own work, she just surprised me with it.

 
I wish I had made a note of how old she was at the time, but regretfully didn't.  Both of these angels go as close to the top of the tree as possible.

 My mother knitted nine little Santa hats this year and each had a chocolate underneath, to go on the Christmas dinner table.  My daughter decided that Samba should not miss out on Christmas fun!  He didn't get the chocolate though! 

I also had a new decoration for my tree and have realised that I don't have a photo to show you.  I love it so much that I have kept it out and will make sure I show you very soon.

Packing away all the Christmas things is always sad but looking back at these photos has certainly made me smile.  If we didn't pack them away there would not be the excitement and fun of getting them all out again though!