Christmas with Family

It's three days until Christmas. Three days to get last minute present wrapping done, Christmas cooking finished, and music prepared to be sung at midnight mass. The last days before the big event. I've finally finished my present shopping and I'm ready to throw myself into the last preparations for Christmas Day.

It's been a busy few weeks of Advent as we've prepared. We've made over thirty salt dough angels. We've cooked dozen of biscuits and mince pies. We've even put the Christmas tree up in preparation for decorating it this weekend.

And now we're nearly ready to celebrate. Soon it'll be time to go to midnight mass and welcome in Christmas Day with carols. It'll be time to unwrap the presents that flow out from under the tree like a river. But what I am looking forward to most is being with my family and seeing them smile. I'm looking forward to giving them the presents that I've bought them, (and hoping they like them). And I'm looking forwards to the peace and happiness of Christmas Day.

Because it's nearly Christmas, I shall be taking a blogging break over Christmas week. See you all in the new year!

What do you look forward to most about Christmas?

Feels Like Christmas

Salt Dough Christmas Tree Ornament

It's truly starting to feel like Christmas now. This week we've brought out our cook books for this year's baking, and we've cooked up a batch of salt dough to turn into decorations. The Christmas music is playing and we're planning our activities all the way up to Christmas Day.

Once we hit this time of year, when we're cooking and making things, and practising Christmas music, that's when I start to feel that we're getting close to Christmas, that it's actually coming, and now the days seem to be racing by and we fill our time with preparations.

Now that we've reached December and Advent, I've got my hands into all kinds of sticky messes both in craft and cooking. Our traditional Christmas music is playing non stop every day. Everyone's hiding secrets and presents, and beaming big smile. And I know that Christmas is really coming. It just feels like Christmas.

It's the feeling of excitement buzzing through the air as we talk about the big event, the music, the smells, the fun and the laughter, the traditions kept up every year, the craft and the cooking that says Christmas to me. We're hunting the three wise men, and eating biscuits, and waiting for the day. It feels like Christmas to me.

What says 'Christmas' to you? Does it feel like Christmas is coming yet?

Feeling Like Christmas

Around the house it's feeling like Christmas. The Christmas tree twinkles from it's corner, presents from friends and extended family strewn about it's trunk. Christmas decorations hang from the windows. Cats sit around the kitchen, their noses quivering as they try not to jump up and investigate the wonderful scents of food.

The air is filled with mouthwatering smells. Chicken and turkey smells mixed with the tang of lemon and the luscious smell of chocolate. Christmas dinner is in the making. Cinnamon scented candles give off a spicy scent that tickles the nose.

Christmas music floats through the house. Beautiful voices, delicate music and bells charm our ears. Hissing and bubbling, rustling and clinking noises come from the kitchen as Dad continues to cook.

In a few short hours we'll be placing our gifts under the tree. They'll spread out over the floor in a sea of wrapping paper and curling ribbon. Then, filled to overflowing with excitement and anticipation, we'll hurry to bed and hope that morning comes soon.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Real Tree, Fake Tree

My cousin emailed me a couple of day ago with the news that, for the first time ever, her family had a real Christmas tree. This was a strange thought for me, as our story has been quite different.



For years and years we used to have a real pine tree for our Christmas tree. Dad would set off, two weeks before Christmas with an empty van and one son in search of the perfect tree. Many hours and several tree farms later they returned, always with a beautiful tree shedding it's needles in the back.

Then the stand was nailed onto the tree and the boys and Dad carried it in through the door, covering the carpet with more shed needles.

The real tree filled the house with the smell of pine. Every day the floor needed cleaning, but the real tree was so perfect for us that we never minded the extra work it caused.



But then, two years ago, disaster happened. The van returned without a tree of any kind. The tree farms had no trees for us.

What to do? Dad had checked everywhere for a tree. Were we doomed to a treeless Christmas?

No, it wasn't that bad. We were only reduced to a fake tree. Mum and Dad bought one at once and we girls started to put it up. I was ready to hate that tree. How could a fake tree compare to a real tree? There was no possible way.



But I couldn't hate it for long. The tree hardly shed any needles. It went up so much easier than the real tree. It even looked real. The only thing missing was the smell. And, though it was fake, it was a tree.

This year I don't mind the fake tree. It can't help not being real. And it does it's best to be a real tree. Plus there is space for all our many ornaments.


I love real trees. I love the smell and the mess. But the fake tree is tidier, more perfect, and can be used year after year. It's not real, but it is still a tree. And I don't hate it. I think I might even love our tree.

Handmade with Love

As Christmas draws closer, we're pulling out the family traditions, dusting off the Christmas music, and have finally swung into proper advent mode.

One of our greatest traditions is to handmake decorations for the house and tree. Over the years we've accumulated these treasures. Our advent wreath is made of salt dough, and has been used for 12 years. Our nativity scene is made of felt and cornflake boxes. This year, our Christmas craft is tree decorations made of felt.

We girls all sat down today, with a pile of felt, a neat bundle of threads, and several pattern pieces. All beautiful and orderly. It didn't last long. Soon snippets of felt littered the table, beads and thread covered everything. And in the middle of all this mess we four girls sat, needle in our hands, creating the first craft of advent.

Gemma-Rose chose to make a felt bell, despite not knowing any of the stitches needed. With my help, she soon learnt though, and flew through her work, her needle more sure than mine as she sewed her pieces together.

Sophie wanted to make a bird. Despite knowing how to sew quite well, she insisted on thinking her bird wasn't any good, and left the table as soon as it was done, though she'd sewn her brid beautifully, and without my help.

Charlotte chose the hardest project: a beaded, tasseled hanging ornament. Her needle never stopped moving. Every time I looked over, she'd taken her felt to a higher level of beauty.

My own project isn't finished yet. It's not even original. I decided on the spur of the moment to make a bird like Sophie. Only, when it was finished, I didn't really want to stop. I wanted to make a whole string of them. So far I've made two out of five.

Though there are many nice Christmas ornaments in the shops, which take less trouble to buy than to make, I believe that homemade things are still the best. So many of my memories are bound up in our handmade decorations. Each one is an old friend, used year after year, never thrown out or forgotten. Yes, the factories may make fine decorations, but they'll never beat a felt ornament made with love.