Getting cosy

Hi everyone, how are you all doing?  I hope you are all way ahead with your Christmas things, (if  you celebrate Christmas of course), and your tinsel remains untangled!!!

Yesterday we all popped out to get things like cranberries, chestnuts and decided to go to Aberaeron instead of the big supermarket...I could not face queues...I am feeling rather chilled and intend to stay that way as much as I can thank you very much!!!! We got everything we wanted including husband's cheeses and locally made oatcakes...he was very happy when he came out of the deli with his little brown paper bag...he had sampled some new cheeses, one of which he bought which was very stinky and now in it's very own box in the fridge!  The turkey and veg DH is collecting today from the farm butchers and then hopefully apart from Little Miss' birthday we can snuggle down, really get cosy and hopefully not have to venture out for days!!!

Today I intend to spend at least a couple of hours having a bit of "me" time .  I seriously have two things to finish off and well I have decided I deserve a break!!! All the bits of making I had had planned are still waiting and we need to empty my stuff out of the dining room  to get the table "back" for Christmas lunch.  The table is always done by me and our sweet girl...she loves it especially when we get the crackers out and always wants balloons.

DH always (well apart from when we worked over Christmas....oh I do not miss that) 

does Christmas lunch and begins Christmas Eve....the house smells lovely and I put my feet up,

and he will need the dining table for when things begin coming out of the oven, so between today and tomorrow I need to finish off any last minute wrapping and relocate craft items back to the craft room.

Little Man has a cold and although 10 , it's flu apparently !!! I told him to put his slippers on , his reply " you do it, I am too ill mum". That was after he had been jumping around playing his Minecraft game like a bag of mad frogs, seriously he is a terrible patient.   

oh I do do hope DH doesn't get it...two sick men in one household , I will be running for the hills to save my sanity!!

I intend (if this rain ever stops) to have a stroll through the village in the next day or two to collect some holly and foliage...this is our second Christmas here and last year I made a little centre piece for the Christmas table and would like to try to do it again.  Our village has holly (in Welsh) as part of its name so it seems rather fitting and apt to have holly somewhere in our home.  Last year I had clusters doted here and there and it did look nice though we had to be careful of the berries because of our Dexter as they are poisonous and he will eat anything!

Here he is our  beautiful boy.

I hung his stocking up

his is of course the spotty one.

Dextie can be so vocal 

and when he saw it , oh it was funny,

he grabbed it and ran off

I grabbed it back

and I wish you could of heard 

the groans, grunts and

and funny noises as

I hung it up out of his reach

(He isn't allowed upstairs )

He is so funny

I just know he knows goodies 

get put in there.

Oh we love our spotty boy

never ever had a boy like him.

This is our 5th Christmas with him , 

at night he sits watching the lights..

I'm sure sitting near the fire going ,

lights twinkling is one of his favourite things.

Yesterday those  that took part in Amy's "love made our home" Christmas card swap linked their posts and I have enjoyed receiving lovely comments from bloggers who took part and doing the same  by visiting their blogs and commenting.  This community of ours is fantastic isn't it, ? if we girls ruled the world we could sort all the woes of the world out I'm sure.  Thank you Amy..this swap has spread a lot of happiness..have a wonderful Christmas and New Year....

Well this little tree displays the handmade decorations I have received and made too this year in swaps and decorations gifted to me.  It brings lots of smiles when I see it and wow what lovely ladies I have meet this year through the blog and swaps...very happy times.

Both mice have new scarves now

Lists what lists?  I only have one little list left..yippee ....and that is to remind me what to take out of the freezer on the 23rd for my lovely husband ...... Hope your lists are getting shorter and somewhere in this busy time you find time for "you".   Take care

Oh dear!!' I wanted subtle but got bling!

The decorations are done, tweaked here and there and now everyone is happy.  Well now I stand back  and just potter my favourite thing... Nothing makes me happier than to potter.
We did consider getting a real tree this year, but memories of a certain spotty pupster made us rethink!!
Well dextie thinks every live tree is worth a tiddle against so old faithful artificial trees  again have been put up.  No doggie tiddles  inside thank you very much...puppy days are a pleasant distant memory , i do not want the repetition of when he was a pup and tiddles up again the Christmas tree again and again !!!
DH asked why we never have twinkling lights...so much to my regret ..oh my why oh why did I say go on buy what you want ?!?!  And so after DH Christmas shopping at Carmarthen , we went to Tesco.  Out of the blue I spotted a new lovely blogging friend who I met a few weeks ago dear Bovey Belle
we  had a huge hug , so lovely to see her, well her hubby and mine must of thought hey what's going on until we explained..lots of smiles and our men smiled when we explained, I am sure neither of us are up to embracing strange women in supermarkets !!!!! What were the odds of us bumping into each other? I don't know but it made me smile.
After a quick chat...
well  I let husband then choose new lights.....he asked what I thought and I said White or clear would be lovely.  I didn't take much notice what he chose. Well we came home and he was all smiles, said he just had to do the lights straight away!, anyway  he put the new lights on and I know he is a northerner but our lights would not have put Blackpool illuminations to shame. Green, blue, red and yellow, they have some sort of random sequence where they blink every now and then and then suddenly seem to explode a little time later into blast of colour like a soundless firework display...oh dear not my cup of tea,!!! but DH said they are the best lights ever!!!!! Oh dear!  Even now 6 days
later they still startle me ....  I will be happily sitting in my armchair, needle or hook of some variety
in hand and all of a sudden they are off again, a few dropped stitches have occurred as a result!!! And the worst bit..... The kids love them...they say they are the best lights they have ever seen....so outnumbered 3 to 1 I may just have to get used to them ......

Told you!!

What a week...  A lovely week.  Hats to be made still for the Christmas show...Pom Pom maker to find in the annex......need to find it to make bobbles for the hats..according to my internet "research" oh I hope they fit.   I have a few new projects to do with both children, one even little man I think will like, clay and cutters , so hard to find things Little Man may join in with... He might this time .   Next week is busy school wise , plays and concerts, parties and above all fun.  We are watching Christmas films and Christmas music in the background seems the
norm now at Breakfast and tea and when I fancy it in between . I find a Christmas jingle is keeping
me going on these dark school morning, when everyone is tired and so longing for the time off before
Christmas it seems everyone can still manage a smile and of course everyone who loves Christmas has a favourite song of course.

After all the Christmas making for gifts and the fair I have been so desperate to finish something
.....  anything that is just for us!!! Some new addition to our home, something ...anything!!!! Do you feel like that? Some non Christmas theme knitting is on hold..... The stitchery ongoing but that will take some time I expect ...so today I took the afternoon off to have a play........

Well that was after we decided to leave the house for some fresh air , because for the first time in days it had stopped raining.   We nipped down to Llangrannog .  The kids had ice cream!!!! I know!! It was perishing cold but that's what they wanted????? Then we had a wander on the beach...

2 surfers were out ..they must of been bonkers'

This stream leads down from all 

our villages

it was so fast flowing

We have had so much rain..I was not

surprised at the amount... 

during the week water has been pouring  off 

fields near the main road ,

some little lanes have been flooded 

and little streams also on others.

The beach 

 was deserted but a few people. 

were in

the pubs and cafe

so we too nipped into 

the Pentre Arms..

they have a huge picture window 

overlooking the beach

and we sat there for a while

I was naughty, well it was after 1 o clock

and had a glass of wine 

and DH was driving so had 

coffee and the kids

crisps and lemonade.

It made such a change 

not to be stuck inside again

Dextie 

stayed at home 

as he had tummy trouble this week

and we didn't want him

to get car sick 

or drink sea water like 

he always does!

Then...

I have quite a bit of Christmas fabric left...so once back home again I got
the  die cutter out, iron out (needs must very creased fabric!!!haha) big quilt square die out
and a hour and a bit later this little pile ready...160 in total enough for 40 squares....

lots of scraps too , (but another idea for those), usually these go in the reject bin but oh not this time

DH and Little Miss

made these while I was amusing myself .

Oh homemade baking smells

mmmmmmmmm

Coffee, coco , crumpets 

and these,

memories of December Sunday

childhood afternoons 

come flooding back.... 

A few more glimpses of decorations..

I love these deer, they  so remind me of 

my childhood in the 70's  when 

these  were in ours and my friends homes.

The elves on the shelves have arrived too

more about them another time

I just love 

the old style decorations.

Until next time ..