“Hi, come in, thanks for coming over. I have the heating on, you’ll soon warm up”, is pretty much how I’ll greet you if you did come to visit me. I’d hug you of course.
Abi at Creating Paper Dreams had this idea of an imaginary catch up over a cup of tea (or whatever you like to drink) once a month.
We begin as always with our family news, fortunately ours are both well. Ben & Lotta seem happy in their new place. We met her parents last weekend. They came over from Helsinki to visit her & Ben in their home. It was all very exciting and we had a really lovely evening with them in a restaurant in Bristol.
We have decided on a hot chocolate to drink this afternoon and of course a mince pie or a piece of Stollen? or both?
“My health has not been too dusty since I last saw you but I am on the mend now. I have gum disease inherited from my poor ‘ole mum and seem to be constantly at the dentist. It gets me down, not to mention the pain sometimes, but my dentist is so lovely, kind and gentle. She doesn’t mind my little rituals either. I take my shoes off and bring my beautiful purple mohair cardigan with me and between us we wrap me up in it. I feel like a child, I remember my mother and the horrors she went through and sometimes I cry. It’s the anaesthetic of course. But dentistry has changed so much over the years, my practice is very modern with all the latest equipment and up to date thinking and wonderful care.
Enough! lets talk craft and Christmas!”
I have been making some small christmas tree decorations with narrow ribbon and beads and showed the girls how to make them at our craft evening this week. I saw them on You Tube last year and bookmarked them. If anyone knows where the idea originated I will happily give proper credit for them.
I made a very pretty advent calendar for Ben & Lotta using a 24 hole mini muffin tin.
I bought a new tin so that Lotta could use it after the holiday. The little holes have their favourite sweets in apart from three which have a christmas tree decoration which I made for them. The covers for the holes are punched from old Christmas cards and attached with a little bit of blu tac, the ribbon just makes it easy to pull the disk away.
I am altering a book following Julie Kirks free tutorial, for my December Days Challenge.
I show you some postcards I have just received from Moo.com, I am determined to get them in the post on time this year.
I have written a few out over the weekend.
Something strange happened on Friday evening, I was addressing an envelope to Helena when my Mac alerted me to an e-mail just coming in…from Helena!
I am still sending out my art postcards each week. They seem to be going to family at the moment. I don’t quite know how that happened, I was sure I mixed all the names up.
I have been listening to Christmas music for a couple of weeks now, wearing festive socks and feeling generally organised. Oh! and I just bought these jolly looking gloves!
You may have already seen them, sorry!
Cheri’s soundtrack to your life challenge is of course Christmas music. I still can’t pick a favourite, but when I hear this I know that Christmas is on it’s way.
We only buy gifts for each other these days so no major shopping & wrapping to be done.
I have my brother and his partner to stay over the holiday and of course, much as we joked we would all be going to Ben & Lotta, they are in fact coming here!
We will be seven for Christmas lunch and have decided on a Secret Santa this year.
Oh hark at me, your poor ears! and it’s getting dark, time for you to hit the road.
Thank you for visiting, for listening, for bringing your beautiful art to show me but most of all thank you for your support, especially as I was away so long.
Oh! and I am trying to get the hang of Instagram, promise!
This is the last time Abi will be hosting her wonderful meme. She has done a great job every month and it was a particularly lovely thing to do.
Thank you Abi. x
My goodness, you have been one busy lady, my friend.
Congratulations to Ben and Lotta on their new place.
Truly an exciting time.
One of each for me (mince pie and stollen)!!
I wish you a wonderful week ahead! xo.
Oh, I think mince pie and Stollen, please! What a lovely catch-up. I love seeing all your crafts – your cards, your altered book, the lovely little trees. And oh what a wonderful Advent calendar!! Plus the daily challenges you keep up with. I wish I had that kind of discipline!
PS I love those gloves!!
love the advent calendar – such a clever design – and I’m off to find some ribbon to make some of those lovely trees. I too am so thankful for the advances that have been made in dentistry – by my age both my father and grandmother had mostly false teeth but I just have lots of fillings. Thanks for the lovely tea and chat
I have loved visiting everyone for a chat and a catch up every month. It’s going to be missed, that’s for sure!
I’m sorry to hear about your trips to the dentist and the sadness. It sounds as if you are in very safe hands though
Thank you for your sweet words Miriam. I feel so blessed that so many people enjoyed stopping for tea each month! I always had so much fun catching up on everyone’s news! Those decorations are lovely and the calendar is a work of art. How clever to put it in a tin!
Wow, you have a lot going on Miriam! Thanks for the shout out for Life Tunes. I love those tree ornaments and will have to have a try at them myself. And the muffin tin Advent calendar is such a fun idea!
So sorry to hear about your dental visits. It’s so great when you have a Dentist you like when you have to go through these things. I’m off to see mine in a couple of hours (just the usual 6 month checkup). Those little trees are gorgeous and what a neat idea for an advent calendar.
This post is jam-packed with good ideas. The ribbon trees are so very clever. I envision them as window decorations with a bit of nylon thread to attach them to the window latch. And I love the idea of the muffin-tin Advent calendar–and I’m sure the lucky couple is enjoying each day’s little surprise.
Great catch-up – love that countdown calendar.