Sights and sounds and smells…

at this time of year are so evocative! 

The dark evenings are lit up with Christmas lights on houses and shops.  Maurice and I love to go for a walk to our local ‘house with all the lights’ and try to guess which structure is new this year!  There are beautiful Christmas displays in the shops.  A large Christmas tree has recently appeared in front of the town hall, right in front of our offices at Citizens Advice Bureau!

I opened the front door the other night to 2 little children singing for me!  They sang ‘we wish you a merry Christmas’ quite beautifully.  We haven’t had carol singers knock our door for years!  Their Mum was waiting at the end of the drive to keep a watch and keep them safe.  I popped some coins in their tin and they were off on their way.

I went to our local garden centre recently – they have a HUGE coffee shop!  I made sure I sat near the big Christmas tree to sip my latte. I am afraid I don’t go for flavoured lattes, like gingerbread, give me just plain old frothy latte anytime! It felt all warm and cosy as the outside light was fading, the tree lights were twinkling, and I was sipping my latte, trying not to think about the 101 things left to do!

 

Number 7 advent gift:  A lovely bangle, just in my colours!  Photo tomorrow as I am off to my Christmas scrapbook crop now

5 ways to enjoy a Grown Up Christmas

I’ve written extensively in previous Christmas journals about how sad I felt when the kids grew up and we had to let go of the magic that is a child’s Christmas.  In recent years Maurice and I have tried to do things to make Christmas magical for us.  Here’s some things we enjoy:

A Christmas Concert

This year we have tickets for the Brighton Festival Chorus Christmas concert at Brighton Dome.  We have been a couple of times before and have taken Mum with us.   It takes place on the last Sunday afternoon before Christmas and is sooo Christmassy!  We have also enjoyed a Christmas concert at a local church with the Salvation Army band (really enjoyed their jazzy interpretation of Christmas songs!), and the carol service at church.

Christmas Mugs

I have a little selection now, and they only come out for use in December!

Christmas Tree Festival

A few years ago, a local church had a Christmas tree festival.  I took my camera along for some sparkly shots!  They are repeating it this year, I must get along there later.

 

Christmas Markets

Nicholas’s university town was Bath, which probably hosts the best Christmas Market in the South!  We went a couple of times.

A town walk

Maurice generally has some holiday to take in December.  I try to finish all the shopping before so that we can go to one of our local towns and just wander around taking photos of the signs of Christmas.

 

Day 6 (already??!) of my Christmas advent parcels.  Coincidently, with Shimelle’s prompt of ‘cosy Christmas’, I opened this:

I think I might just use that this evening when cosying up on the sofa!

Christmas Cards

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Christmas cards.  I love to receive them, and love stringing them up to decorate my hall and dining room.   I love opening the post during December, to see what cards people have sent.  I particularly love a sparkly traditional scene, so magical!

I usually quite like making them, unless I have left it a bit late, then I get stressed! This year I made them back in early November in good time.  I have reduced the number of handmade cards over the years, and now send them only to people I know appreciate the work.  I love it when someone says they get my handmade card out every year!  I didn’t buy any new card making stuff this year, just used the scraps I already had.  At the craft cabin, Burnice, Tash and I did a Christmas stamp exchange.  So this year my cards are quite simple, a patterned paper background with a reindeer or tree stamp.  I mounted the stamped images onto a die cut doily, cut with my nesties I bought in America.  I used off cuts of cardstock for the card blank, so didn’t even buy those! Sorry, I forgot to take a picture!!

I hate writing cards!  Years ago, we used to include a newsletter, which Maurice wrote rather humorously.  A few years ago, I got very organised and now have a file of addresses on the computer that I can update each year and print out onto labels.  That has definitely simplified things.

Here’s some photos of previous year’s cards:

And now onto my advent present day 5.  I love to drink coffee, especially latte and cappuccino, so Burnice very thoughtfully bought me some instant latte!  I just made one to have after my lunch.  It’s a bit different, but very nice  Thanks Burn!

Best ever present!

I am finding it really difficult to remember what my best ever present was!  I don’t really get surprise presents now, and even as a teenager I think I knew what my present was going to be. 

As a teenager, I think our best present was a red shiny canoe.  We knew we were getting one, but didn’t know what it looked like.  Mum and Dad hid it under a sleeping bag in the lounge.  I remember that my grandparents were with us that Christmas.  There’s a lovely photo somewhere of me and my brother unveiling the canoe, must dig it out and scan it in so I can show you.  We were all dressed and canoeing on the river in no time!

As an adult, our best present was a baby!  Nicholas was born 25 years ago this Christmas!  (Actually on 27th Dec)  3 years later, we did it again when Lucy was born on 8th Dec!  I haven’t got any photos of them on as babies on the computer, so here they are a few years later, about 6 and 3. 

Now they are grown up we get some terrific presents from them, such as tickets for the MotoGP race at Silverstone last year, and further back, a weekend away!

 

Anyway, it’s day 4 of my 25 gifts from Burnice, and today I unwrapped this lovely photo frame:

And here’s a peek in the bag at what is to come!  Not sure if you can see but the little stamps that Burnice has used for labels have spelt Christmas wrong!!  It’s spelt Chirstmas on them - LOL!

Happy Plans and 25 presents!

I am following Shimelle’s Journal Your Christmas again this year, but with a twist.  I am not making an album,just posting on my blog.  So today’s prompt is about making plans for happiness!  I love that!  I have some happy plans to celebrate Christmas with family and friends.

Last year I had several social engagements, such as a dinner dance at the Amex Stadium, an 80th birthday party and a wedding celebration.  I bought 2 new dresses, and had a super hair-do.  It was lovely!  This year, I feel happy that we don’t have so much to do.  I am happy to have a quieter Christmas season.  I have made a few plans to celebrate with friends, such as a dinner with gym friends, and a dinner at a friends to celebrate her new house, and ‘warm it up’ for Christmas!  We are sad that both Maurice’s nephews are abroad for Christmas this year, but will have a lovely quiet Christmas day with their Dad, Maurice’s brother.  Later in Christmas week, we will invite my brother’s family for a get together.  They have their first grandchild, who I have made a baby quilt for ….shhh! don’t tell!

 

Tash, Burnice and I decided to make each other an advent box this year.  I’ve done 25 presents for Tash, Tash for Burnice and Burnice for me.  Last night we had our usual get together at Burnice’s craft cabin, and exchanged the gifts.  Here they are on Burnice’s sofa:

Don’t they look fab!

So I’m going to blog my present each day:

Day 1, a basket to put all the presents in

Day 2 cute bird pegs, and Day 3 cute doll hook

Tash bought me this fabulous book.  I have already seen this book on Julie’s blog here and was very keen to buy it.  Tash beat me to it! The perfect present!

And a little extra present from Burnice, a nail file that fixes to a key ring, and a slab of chocolate, moulded in Christmas words

Thoughts on an early start…

I like that Christmas starts early in the shops.  I like to see the lush stands of Christmas decorations go up at the end of September.  I like to browse the stands to marvel at the pretty tree decorations and the new ideas, and be amazed at the prices!

Here’s a local garden centre a few years ago. I love to see the elaborate Christmas scenes that they come up with each year.

I like to bake my Christmas cake in October or November, and to get a head start on gift shopping.  Last year, I had almost finished all my shopping by the beginning of December,  It was a lovely feeling that I could sail through December and enjoy all the parties and events I was going to.  This year I am not so organised!  Still plenty of Christmas shopping to do…

A Christmas Manifesto

Over recent years I have documented Christmas in various ways, using prompts from Shimelle’s Journal Your Christmas and Ali Edward’s December Daily.  I have quite a few Christmas journals now!  I like to put them in a basket on my coffee table for December, so I can flick through them whenever I like. 

This photo sums up my wishes for Christmas this year:

I want to create a cosy and magical atmosphere, when I am in my home, and when spending time with family and friends.