Greetings lovely friends & readers
Wishing you all a happy & healthy (& creative) 2026.
Today we have a jug full of Alstroemeria (Christmas Red) & white Penstemons.
Well Christmas & New Year came & went for another year. I hope it was a time of contentment for you all.
Even though I got very organised early this year - it still felt busy as it drew closer.
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Sue came over one day & we visited the Lavender farm just around the road from me.
Sue gifted me a piece of her gorgeous Daisy Chain Pottery & a wonderful fragrant candle. I was most excited about the angel wrapped around the gift - Sue had made this from egg cartons & toilet roll wings 💓😇
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The Sunday prior to Christmas day we had my Stepson & his family over for lunch. My step grand-daughters Juno & Sadie opened their gifts & we all enjoyed a lovely time together.
A rare photo taken in the garden - this is my stepson Jared, The Mr, myself & the two girls.
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On Christmas Day itself, Sid & his family came for a roast lunch & he opened his stocking. It is always special when they send me photos of what he has made using what I gift him - I enjoy this.
A little tradition that Sid's Mum has started is to give me a handmade card with a photo of Sid each Christmas & I have kept every single one. The bottom right one is this year's.
I hang these in my sewing room & enjoy them so much - he always writes me a message in the card. It is wonderful to see how he grows each year.
We have not seen (eldest grandson) Alec's family as yet but I hope to travel down to Kinloch in the next week & catch up with them all.
I haven't taken any photos of my Christmas decor this year but if you are on Instagram go * Here * & you can watch a video of my lounge that I uploaded. It is over 2 minutes long.
My decorating was very similar to previous years but my favorite this year was this wall in my dining room.
Some of you may remember the Woodland Santa that I made back in this post in July. He needed his own special place so I hung a vintage sieve on the wall & sat him on top of this.
Some days he was on a bit of a lean so I'm not sure if he had a hip flask hidden in his jacket (!!) 😳
The Angels beside him have all been handmade by myself over previous Christmas's.
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Christmas has all been packed away now for another year.
It took two weeks to set it all out to my satisfaction ... & two days to pack it all away.
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I think I could probably manage to pack it away in one day if a certain ginger fairy 😺 didn't insist on going to sleep in my storage containers (!!) 😖
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| All that remains of the Kauri stump is the pale trunk broken off. |
Four days after Christmas Day we had a nasty wind storm go through our area & lost power for 8 hours. We had trees down between us & our depot yard, though this was not the cause of our power outage.
A large old tree simply uprooted & blew over & unfortunately broke a lovely native Kauri tree in its fall.
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| That is the Kauri lying to the right. |
This saddened The Mr & I a great deal. We have not begun the clean up down here as yet, though I have managed to clean up the damage up closer to the house.
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While the storm raged for many hours the furry three took up residence inside - 2 in my sewing room & Little One on the bedside table ... The Mr put a blanket down for him.
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New Years Eve was spent drinking Christmas tea, eating fruit mince tarts & reading my book. I was in bed by 10 & it was quiet all around as the weather was still nasty.
I have been harvesting vegetables most days - I picked the last of my cauli & baby cabbages yesterday ... I will blanch the cauli & freeze it for winter stews.
This above was picked this morning - my tomatoes in the hothouse are growing well & we have had good success with cucumbers this year - The Mr prefers the apple variety. I have been able to share a lot of produce with friends & family.
I wish you all the very best for the coming year dear friends.
Thank you for your ever welcome visits here today - I still really enjoy my blog after all these years & the friendships I have made,
Sending much love & friendship out to you all,
Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteHappy New year. Shame about the tree. I don't blame the furry 3 being inside. :)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you and your family .
ReplyDeleteThat looked a bad storm .
What lovely Photos . Your veg looks great .
Enjoy your new year and I wish you good luck for 2O26 .Hugs June.
Happy New Year to you and the family. I'm intending to pack most of the Christmas decorations away today. Cats do love to be in boxes, don't they? They definitely had the right idea during the storm. I love that the Mr put a blanket down for Little One!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about the tree - do you think it might grow again from the stump? If not, could you plant another one as a positive start to 2026? Your veg has done well for you and here's to a successful season in the coming year too.
Best wishes
Ellie
Happy New Year! Your blog is verry, verry interesting!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year Julie. xx
ReplyDeleteWell....It's 'ALL' happening, isn't it..Goodness! :).
ReplyDeletehere, there, and everywhere...Must try and slow
down a bit...HeHe! Fat chance...
Still..just got home, went down to Poole as l need
a new battery on me mobile...did'nt have one in
stock, so, one was ordered, be here tomorrow,
l'll travel down on the bus on Monday and get
it fitted...! ).
AND...I do love the Woodland Santa...Bless! Him...! :).
AND the ginger fairy of course...Bless!x
AND..The boys look good with their Christmas toys,
bet they had a great time....ME..? Of course l did, got
up to a lot of mischief...HeHe! My daughter kept
telling me to behave, or she'll send me to bed early..! :O).
But! We got through it all...No damaged done...HeHe!
Roll on next year...Hopefully...! :O).
Must get on....Way past lunch time...Must be summat
dead in the fridge...HeHe! Bless!
Here's to 2026...May everyone have a 'great' year, blessings
all round...God be with you...Always....! :O).
🍀🌸🌷😺💙🍀🌸🌷😺💙🍀🌸🌷😺💙🍀🌸🌷😺
Julie, Happy New Year to you and the Mr. Oh how bad the storm must have been. It seems you are always cleaning or clearing some kind of yard damage every summer. Not fair. Sid looks good and happy with the cast off. And those girls looked like Santa empties his entire toy bag there, lol. I know you decorate early, so it makes sense to take it down already, but it was so very pretty that I miss it for you! My small tree is all we have and it stays up until Jan 5 or so. I have a very needed massage on Jan. 7, so the tree stays up until after. All the boxing and moving boxes, and furniture to get the flooring done just 1 1/2 weeks ago, and the 10 inches of recent snow shoveled, I am sore as can be. Precious home now since Wed. afternoon. Today she did eat her breakfast. Wed. and Thurs. were not good days. Wish I knew her mind and body to figure out what is going on. But she does still want her hair brushed over and over, so I do, lol.
ReplyDeleteLynn and Precious XX
HI, I'm popping over from Junes (Butterfly) blog. I loved seeing all your family photos of Christmas, very different from our cold and damp weather at the moment, and we even had a bit of snow today, yayyy.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Maggie, for leaving me your sweet kind comment. Yes it is hard to imagine our different climates I agree. It is hot here now & I for one, don't really enjoy the heat. Take care Maggie & thanks again. xx
DeleteAll the best to you and yours for 2026...
ReplyDeleteHugz
Happy New Year, Julie. May your year be filled with joy, love, family and lots of crafts to share with all of us.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Happy New Year Julie 🎉 The mess of the tree damage is huge. Gutting for your garden. The wood might be good for firewood later in the Autumn 🍂 Your produce looks delicious. Fresh and homemade is best xx
ReplyDeleteThank you dear Sandy. We will trim the trunk of the Kauri tree & hopefully it may shoot away again - I hope we live long enough to see this (!!) Have a great week Sandy. xx
DeleteGlad you all had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well, apart from the storm, Well summer has arrived here at long last, over 30s all week (yuck) Take care Julie, hubby and I are babysitting our grand fur baby for a week, a 10 month old chocolate lab:-)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year Julie, so sorry to see your kauri tree knocked over, the storms did a lot of damage I hear. So good to be getting tomatoes and cucumbers etc from your garden, my tomatoes are struggling (again) they have tiny green tomatoes and a few flowers. Wonderful to have the yearly photos of Sid. The ginger furry fairy is as helpful as usual I see, good the cats were all inside during the stormy weather. Have a wonderful creative year Julie.
ReplyDeleteSuch a pretty jug of flowers, Julie!
ReplyDeleteThat is a gorgeous piece of pottery from your friend, and I got a chuckle from the fact that you were most excited by something made from an egg carton and toilet roll!
Love the family photo with your stepson and his girls. You are all looking quite happy!
That is such a sweet tradition of the photo card of Sid each year. Fun to see his growth at a glance.
I also had to laugh about the slightly "tipsy" Santa amidst the angels. I wondered if they were trying to help him straighten up and mend his ways. LOL But they are all adorable creations!
I have to say, with all the "help" you have, it is amazing how much you actually accomplish!
Wow--that must have been some storm! It is sad to see large old trees meet such a demise. And the furries tune it all out and sleep!
I have never heard of the apple variety of cucumbers. Is thedifference only in the shape, or is the flavor unique as well?
Happy New Year to you, my friend!
Happy New Year my sweet friend! Your 2 step granddaughters look happy with their gifts. I use to take photos of my kids each year & make them into Christmas cards for my parents too, in fact when we cleaned out Mum & Dad's stuff when they passed away I found some, so now I have them back. I'm thinking that Santa might have a couple of mince pies in his pocket along with the hip flask! Oh dear that beautiful tree pruned by nature, there's been some wild weather around. I wish I was closer to share in your gardens yummy bounty. Talk soon....xoxo
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers. Lovely Christmas photos and those of Sid through the years...a real treasure. Your Christmas decorating is always gorgeous. So sorry about your tree. I really hate high winds! Great veg bounty. I haven't had an apple cucumber since my Nan grew them.
ReplyDeleteLove the beautiful gift from your friend and that little angel is very sweet.
Happy New Year Julie. Wishing you goid health, a large dose of creativity and peace...hugs xxx
Hello Julie, Im just about to watch your lounge video. I like the little toilet roll/egg box fairy - what a lovely idea, I would like to make a row of them and hang them along a wall next year. Its a lovely idea too from Sid's mum to send you a card each Christmas with a pic of him, thoughtful and special for you to keep and look back on. Im so sorry to read that your tree got damaged in the storm. Thank you for your friendship over the years both on blogland and email. Wishing you good health and happiness in 2026 Happy New Year. Betty
ReplyDeleteSo, I'm sitting here with Pete, watching your video and he said "oh wow"! And...I'm in total agreement. How I would love to wander around your Christmas wonderland and slowly look at all the gorgeousness. I have a feeling it might take a while. It looks as if you enjoyed special times with your family over the festive season, Julie. Wishing you the very best, too, for the new year.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you & yours Julie. So sorry to read about the tree. I look forward to reading & sharing your many creative posts for the coming year ahead. Sarah USA xx
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as though you have a lovely family orientated Christmas Julie - as I believe Christmas should be :) You decorations are beautiful - and I love that woodland Santa on a lean :)
ReplyDeleteSo sad about loosing the Kauri - they are so very slow growing... and stunning trees altogether.
You had me at 'lavender farm' - was that Alphra lavender by any chance? I love visiting there.
Your pottery and angel gift was exquisite
Out three cats all tried to help us dismantle the tree etc this year - mine was quite restrained, but the two young ragdolls were another matter - in fact they were the reason the tree was taken down sooner rather than later..
My cauli's were nowhere near as successful as yours - the weird weather made them 'bolt', but the broccoli has done well, and I have the second crop in, along with the second planting of lettuce ... My tomatoes are setting fruit now, as are the beans - the sweetcorn has a way to go yet...
May you have a wonderful 2026
Blessings
Maxine
Happy New Year! Your decor was lovely, sorry to see you lost that gorgeous tree :'(. The ginger assistant is just making sure you know how much those containers can hold, lol!!
ReplyDeleteHi sweet Julie! I love all of the "people" you make for Christmas! It took me forever to put all the stuff away but I had fun doing new things with new colors afterwards. Aw! Your grands are good and sweet! And those rascal fairies are wonderful! xo
ReplyDelete