It's Christmas! Stay safe everyone. xx ..read more

'Tis the night before Christmas, Now what have we here? Christmas tree lit To give Christmas cheer. Presents are wrapped, Decorations are hung, Food is all ready And carols been sung. But all are not happy, Sad, lonely, depressed. Their Christmas is spoiled, Their joy is suppressed. From the story of Christmas May love and peace Flood though the world Causing worries to cease. Stay safe everyone. xx  ..read more

What things do you HAVE to have at Christmas? For me it's ... a real Christmas tree a Christmas arch lights a poinsettia greenery In this year's pared down Christmas I had to decide which I wanted. I could have chosen ... garlands Christmas ornaments streamers Christmas pictures Your Christmas must haves are? xx  ..read more

I exercised to music today - Christmas music on the juke box. Christmas songs and carols herald the nearness of the big day.   I have to have 'I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas' first. (Not that I am!) xx   ..read more

Ok, I didn't have the self raising flour so I used plain with baking powder. And I didn't have icing sugar so I blitzed some ordinary sugar. I didn't photograph it before I decorated it as it looked as though it should be in the bathroom - if you get my drift. It doesn't look much better decorated as it has a shiny, lumpy quality that didn't get any better with knife smoothing. Putting it on a wooden platter may have helped the composition of the shot but I'm not convinced. Under the suspect icing is a homemade Swiss roll. (I didn't have greaseproof paper which didn't help the rolling up after ..read more

Which room do I spend most time in? I think it must be the kitchen so it's got most of the decoration this Christmas - in the form of lights.  Can you see the new set of lights in the corner? Just a glass bowl with a candle in and a few bits of plastic greenery, baubles and orangey pieces plus  the set of battery lights. The bowl I took from the fake wreath table decoration in the back room. It now has the poinsettia as its centre - plus some lights. These lights will stay up for all  of January to light the gloom in the new year. xx   ..read more

Our holly tree, which is really 3 trees together, grew nearly as high as the house so we chopped it down as it was too big. Our holly tree decided it didn't want to be chopped down so it grew again - 3 main shoots. Our holly tree is now as high as halfway up the house.  I use some of its branches every year to decorate in the house. Our holly tree got covered in snow one winter. Looks very Christmassy with a coating of white. No snow this year ... ... yet. xx   ..read more

I chose one of the recipes from my Christmas Planner. Scones don't have many ingredients and are quite simple to make - I still manage to make a mess in the kitchen as well. Look good and taste good. The festivities have begun. xx ..read more

I use my Christmas Planner in the run-up to Christmas. Let me give you a quick tour. The planner is a Filofax Classic Cross which won't mean much to most people but will to Filofax devotees! It's very battered and is the first one I purchased a long time ago. I have a few more now which seem to have formed a 'collection'. It opens up to a welcoming card that says it will soon be Christmas. Soon will, won't it! A couple of dividers set the festive scene. Ok, a couple more than a couple. The first section is a Christmas Checklist which notes things to do for Christmas from October onwar ..read more

Two more small decorated corners. Stay safe. xx   ..read more