Christmas Festivities

Greetings lovely friends & readers

It feels like December came around really fast!

Last weekend I sat on the floor & wrapped 48 tiny parcels in red tissue paper ....  I was filling my grandsons advent stockings again, even though it only feels like yesterday I was filling them for last December.

On Wednesday the 1st December I hand delivered them & both boys got to open their first one. 

 I picked Alec up from school which he was very excited about.  Also he had forgotten it was December 1st so his advent calendar was a real surprise.

Last December I made myself this Advent Angel just prior to Christmas & only got to enjoy her for 7 days before 

"the big day" arrived.

So I was delighted to pull her out this year & get to enjoy her for the full lead up. Each day I change the swing tag on her dress.

Go to this older Post if you want to read the details about her.

Early in December our small craft group usually go out to lunch as our little "break up" for the year.  This year we decided to go across to Tirau, about an hour away.

Last year a couple of the ladies handed out bags of baked treats at our lunch so this year I decided to do something with the multitude of cotton dishcloths that I continually knitted during our Lockdowns, to help keep myself sane.  

I frequently buy soaps from this lovely little craft shop out at Pirongia & store in my gift box.  I added a soap to each dishcloth & wrapped it up nicely in cellophane with a Christmas swing tag tied to it. I did up 7 packages & popped them in my vintage cane basket so the ladies could each choose their own.

The Craft ladies were all just delighted with their little surprise gifts 💙

Speaking of dishcloth cotton, I purchased these two new lovely colourways from Spotlight last week when I went across to visit Alec.  You can see from the photo that a certain ginger 4-legged furry creature took a liking to the bottom one while I turned my back for barely 2 minutes !! 😖

We had a lovely outing to Tirau for our lunch & I purchased a couple of Christmas gifts for hard-to-buy-for people.  I usually buy a couple of new Christmas decorations each year & these above were my purchases from Tirau as they had 25 % off all Christmas stock. 

I belong to a small private group on Instagram of 8 ladies & this year we all agreed to take part in a Christmas Ornament swap.  The ornament could be handmade, shop bought, or thrifted.  I decided to make the girls these felt mice in stockings, a free pattern off the internet (which I can no longer find) & I began stitching mine back in early November as I knew they were labour-intensive & fiddly.

Once finished I thought they looked a bit tiny so I decided to add a box of my citrus potpourri to each parcel as I was sure the girls in the group would love this.  I purchased these Kraft favour boxes online from * Here * & just love how attractive my potpourri looked all packaged up in them.

Recently I called in to see my friend Gail at the Op Shop where she volunteers - she was just about to toss this broken section of Christmas Tree in the skip.  Being the "Steptoe" that I am, I asked her if I might please have it.  I chopped it up with The Mr's wire cutters & the greenery has come in so handy this year for both decorating And gift wrapping. 

Madam Butterfly (aka Pippi) was off colour for a few days last week -  She gets like this from time to time.  I came home from Tirau to find The Mr had tucked her up sound asleep - I am rather thinking she might put this on for all the fuss & attention she gets 😉

Thank You all for your ever-welcome visits here today dear friends,

I hope the coming week is good & kind to you,

With much love & friendship to you All,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x