Christmas Prep ........................................

Greetings lovely friends & readers

          Well the 1st December came & went in the blink of an eye.

  I got my Grandson's advent calendars filled for another year & delivered to them in time.   It is getting trickier as they get older, to find things small enough to fit in those tiny stockings.

 

I have had to be a bit inventive & found I could tie the larger size packages to the peg with some string &                                                                then clip the stocking over the top. 

  I keep a written sheet for myself, so I know each day what they will be opening.  It would seem - from checking in with his parents - that Alec has done a bit of a re-shuffle with some of his 😉

A couple of weeks ago, Spotlight had huge reductions on all their Hessian so I treated myself to another length for my decking table.  

Every time I walk outside that $6 length of fabric just brings me so much pleasure.  I tizzied up the table a bit for Christmas & the red petunias just set everything off nicely.  💗

While I was placing my online Order I thought I would re-cover my outdoor cushions as well - they were looking quite a bit "worse for wear".   I decided to purchase the doiley print this time round & had great difficulty getting to actually Sew it  ... due to a certain Ginger Miss who thought it made a lovely soft sleeping spot when I was down on the floor cutting it all out !!

Finally I got them both done & am so pleased with the end result.  Yes of Course she had to test it out for comfort &                                              snugability !! Look at her there with her ample proportions lovely furry tummy!!

I received another order for my potpourri from Brandy's Botanicals - it seems to be very popular this Christmas.  I have been experimenting with drying some Calendula flowers in my Dehydrator - they don't take long so you have to keep an eye on them or they shrivel too much.  They add such a nice pop of colour to my citrus potpourri.

I've been re-doing my coffee table display for Christmas & filled a lovely silver plated dish with some of my fresh potpourri.  I will show my festive coffee table in my next post. 

Our craft group had our end of year Outing.  We went to Cambridge to view the Christmas display in the town hall which was wonderful.  I wanted to gift the ladies a little treat each - last year I did the Soaps wrapped in Dishcloths.   I had some peat pots that I'd recently painted roughly with white chalk paint so I stood at my kitchen bench & decoupaged paper serviettes onto them using mod-podge.  It was a fun, simple craft & looked effective.

I had planned to fill the pots with baked treats but simply ran out of time & energy.  The Warehouse had large boxes of Ferrero Rocher choccies on sale so I purchased one to fill my pots, then wrapped them in cellophane with a Christmassy tag.  The ladies were delighted.  Let me tell you dear friends .... quite a few of those choccy treats landed in my mouth while I was putting these together !!!! 😏  I've no idea how !!!

Sid has 3 new family members of the 2-legged variety.  My son Kayne has built this wonderful hen-house & they have 3 baby hens.  Sid has named his one (pictured above) Frankfurter (!!!), Sid's Mum has named hers Gertrude, & my son has named his Wingy 😉 .. I shall try not to fill my future posts with too many chicken photos.  

I had started my Christmas preparations early this year (mid November) but it still feels like it's going to be a mad rush to the end.  We are having our family Christmas this weekend as I will be travelling down to spend Christmas Day with Mum at the Resthome.  I will be back before then with another post.  I hope the lead-up is going okay for you all.  Remember to pause, to breathe & to try & enjoy the festivities.  (Yes - hark at me talking 😏)

Thank you, as always, for your visits here today,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Love Julie & the furry ones x0x0x