Abi at Creating Paper Dreams had this lovely idea of inviting us, at around this time each month to catch up over a cup of tea…
November 2013
“Hi! Come in out of the cold. Gosh the temperature has plummeted in the last day or so. I’ll take your coat and put it by the radiator to get warm for you.
Come in and sit down.” You ask where the dog is.
“Oh Pepsi is here but she thinks you are one of the painters and doesn’t bother to get up for them anymore. I know you’re not a painter of the decorating kind, but she doesn’t! She is such a daft dog, when she hears me talking with you she will be along and bounce all over the place as usual.
We have had the hall, stairs and landing painted and the painters have only just finished up this morning. Everything is dry, they just came in to look the job over and make sure I am happy with it.
Poor old Pepsi has been in such a muddle with them.
Do you mind the Christmas Carols I have playing? I love them and have been playing them for a couple of weeks while I have been making bits for Christmas.
I’ll bring the tea in, I’m still trying to find the perfect mince pie, would you like to try my latest find?
So, how’s you?”
And you tell me what you have been doing, preparing for Christmas, listening to Christmas Carols too and crafting of course.
It is really lovely to talk about crafting and blogging to someone who doesn’t look at me whilst trying not to shake their head in total bemusement. Have you ever tried to explain to someone who doesn’t blog what a blog swap is? I think my one little word for next year could be ‘secret’…as in, keeping my blog activities a secret. We laugh, because of course, you know exactly where I am coming from.
You ask me about my festive swap and I am able to tell you that all parcels have been posted and a few have started to drop through letterboxes all over the world. It has been a great journey but a journey filled with mixed emotions really. Fear of asking, fear of rejection, pleasure when people started to say yes, excitement as the numbers built, anxiousness as the posting day approached and absolute joy when people started to let me know they had posted and then on the day I received Jacky’s gorgeous little robin I had the biggest smile on my face.
You ask if I would do it again
“Yes I would love to do it again; a couple of people have asked already if I might do it next year”.
Then I tell you about this mad idea I had: I decided to make 23 little tree decorations to post out to say thank you. And yes, I did it, they are all wrapped now and some have been posted. Although it was a lot of work, of the nicest kind, it distracted me from posting on the blog which was a good thing for me as so many people have been feeling ‘Meh” about blogging I could so easily have been sucked along with it but I’m fine doing what I do. I try hard to remember that comparison really is the thief of joy.
We talk about the various December Projects around blog land every year and I tell you that I’m looking forward to my December Days project which I have been doing for a number of years now. It started off with Shimelle’s Journal Your Christmas but as the years have gone along I go my own way. I have the book ready and I’m hoping to be able to join in with Sian’s last Story Telling Sunday of the year, which will be on the first of December and will become my first page.
“Are you doing a December project?” And we talk about the joy of doing it on the one hand and the time constraints on the run up to Christmas on the other.
“Would you like to meet up at the end of December? My brother will have just returned home and I won’t have tidied but the kettle will still be warm and I will have found the perfect mince pies by then so do come…”
And as I help you in to your toasty warm coat we hug each other, wish each other a Merry Christmas, and I will wish you didn’t have to go as I wave you into your taxi. Pepsi comes by to see what the furious nose blowing is all about and I hug her too.
Linking to Abi where you will find lots of tea and chat, do pop over to see her and I’ll see you back here on 27th December?…all being well of course.
Lovely photos Lovely your work!
Thanks for another lovely tea and chat. I haven’t clicked on my festive playlist or eaten mince pies yet – they and my festive mugs will appear on the 1st. This year I’m doing a big picture class ‘picture the holidays’ and hoping it clicks as I haven’t clicked with any of the other December projects I’ve started in past years.
The swap has been wonderful. My decoration has arrived and I’ll be posting a picture of it very soon.
If I turned up at your door today I’d love to be invited in for a chat about crafting and blogging. The blogging is a crafty lifeline for me as I don’t have any friends round here who like to make things. They like to see what I’ve done, but it’s not their thing to try themselves. I get a lot of enjoyment from sharing what I’ve done and admiring what others have made and I’m a bit sad so many of my favourites are slowing down. Maybe the New Year will see an upturn again
Thank you once again for a lovely get-together. I didn’t mind the cold – it’s actually warmer where you are than I am. (If there’s a prize for “Coldest Tea-Time Place” each month, I think I’m going to win it every time!) The tea and mince pies were wonderful but, of course, it’s the conversation that’s the best. Blogging, and crafting, and holidays. Perfect! Looking forward to seeing you in December!
Oh that was so lovely Miriam. If I was with you now I would give you a big hug and thank you for all the work you put in with the swap. It was so much fun to send my parcel off! I just hope it arrives in American safely- I’m sure it will!
I love your pictures of hearts – so festive! What a warm, cozy post that was. I feel as if I’ve actually been to visit and if we knew each other, we would be friends! The festive swap seems a great idea.
your blog’s a pleasure to come and visit xx
Hi Miriam,
Loved the chat as always. It was so nice to take a breather from all of the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving and “visit” with you!!
So glad you decided to take a deep breath and do the swop 🙂 – and hoping there us lifts of pleasure ahead for you as we post photos of our gifts. I will happily pop in any time there are mince pies on offer and look forward to your analysis of the best. Glad you are still enjoying creating and blogging too. I don’t feel ‘meh’ or that I am slowing down – it’s just that the needs of being a carer are continuing to increase week on week and I have so little time and energy left over for anything creative that there is little to share right now. I am sad I find it so difficult to leave comments on every post, but do read as often as I can …it’s one of my favourite places to come :).
Lovely catching up. The swap looks like it was good crafty fun – glad you shared photos with us.
We have started the Christmas music but not the mince pies (yet). The tree is up, but not full decorated and we seem to have lost the fairy for the top. An excuse to hit the German markets for a replacement!
Have a lovely December.
What a lovely catch-up. I love the 23 decorations! I finally did pop Alexa’s in the mail yesterday.
Rinda
I spy the batting-and-cross stitch heart that arrived in my mail a day or two ago. Thank you so much…definitely above and beyond, but just as definitely appreciated.
And I did enjoy the cup of tea…