Years ago on Christmas Eve when the children were about 8 and nine we would attend our Church crib service at 4 o’clock and then go into town to the local cinema to watch a Christmas film – for some reason it was never very busy. Afterwards, we would have a Pizza at one of the Pizza chains and both events were a great treat for the girls and after days of rushing around a lovely way for us all to wind down together and begin Christmas.
This was eventually superceded by the purchase of our first DVD player one year just before Christmas and the first DVD we watched was the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It is this film that has become our family Christmas film; in fact Christmas would not be Christmas without it. We watch it at some point every year – though often we each watch it separately now our girls have their own homes and children. Over the years as you can imagine we have become word perfect but their partners like DH are still mystified as to why we still howl with laughter at the moment the Griswald lights are switched on and Aunt Bethany wraps up the cat for a present! (It must be a girl thing).
Picture from Google
Now we have a whole Christmas channel on the TV so we can watch as many Christmas films as we want to at any time of day in the run up to Christmas. I find they are great to watch when ironing or baking, but my favourites are always films like Little Women, in any of the versions, and more recently The Christmas Candle has been added to my list.
So when I woke up to the grayest of days with lashing rain I knew today was the day to snuggle down on the sofa, light the candles and switch on the twinkly lights and watch my Christmas film – not forgetting to make the moment a little more special with a mug of hot chocolate and indulge in one of the recently bought Ecclefechan tarts.
I don’t know about you but I love to see twinkly outdoor lights at Christmas, though they are increasingly becoming a year round occurrence and I have mixed feelings about that as it does water down the Christmas season and the feeling it is something special.
Today we attended to our outdoor lighting, I say we, but in reality it is DH that does most of the technical stuff – attaching cables and timers and winding lengths of lights around branches. I daresay he does it just for me as if he were on his own I doubt he would bother at all.
I would love to say any of the more spectacular lights in the photos above are our lights but of course they are not….the one below is actually ours. A simple Christmas tree with tiny lights and a star on top and to the side (off picture) we have a few more in the climbing Clematis. But they look quite effective as you approach the house.
When our two girls were young we would all pile in the car one evening after tea during Christmas week and drive around the neighbourhood to survey the lights awarding people first, second and third prize with a highly commended for anyone who had made the effort but it had just not worked out. You will know the ones I mean where they have started to decorate a tree or the edge of a house and partway have run out of lights.
My friend and neighbour up the road here would fall into this latter category and now they have moved I will miss Mr J’s efforts at decorating. Urged on by Mrs J and a bit of nagging Mr J would eventually put a single ring of lights around the bush at the end of their front garden. Every year it was wonky, as if he had just opened the front door and hurled it onto the bush, and every year it looked forlorn as if there were more lights to come but they had run out of time. It was the only Christmas gesture he made and he didn’t make it quietly but Mrs J had to be satisfied with his effort lest he took the whole thing down again!
Although I would never decorate my garden to the extremes some people go to there is something quite appealing to me to come across the house and garden that has been decorated to within an inch of its life. There is always one to be found on every street and I think they are good fun; though how the neighbours sleep with the multi-coloured, show stopping, flashing lights all evening I don’t know.
My own outdoor decorations seem pretty minimal in comparison but I always look forward to a bit of twinkle, whatever we can manage. Some years we have done more and some less. Last year I hung some large silver baubles on our Cherry tree in the back garden – I bought them years ago from a junk shop, I think they had been shop window decorations. I was pleased with the effect but they didn’t fare too well in the cold weather up here and the coating came away in patches and some broke. I suspect they were not really for outdoors but they were nice whilst they lasted. This year I have more pressing things to attend to and hanging the baubles won’t be one of them.
Once done DH can relax and his only other Christmas obligation is to fix the real indoor tree securely into the pot when we decide on one. I think he is all in favour of the small rooted ones that come ready to put in place in a decorative pot – it cuts down on the effort to wedge a larger cut one in place and lift it into the living room whilst avoiding losing all the needles.
I usually complete the outdoor trimmings by adding a wreath or spray on the door or filling my wire cone with Christmas flowers – but that will be another day.
Today we had a stroll down to the village after lunch to post birthday cards and parcels. I have so many in December including my younger daughter who is 40 this year and my neice on Christmas day. They are all extra tasks on an already lengthy To do list. The walk was a welcome break though and we kept off the main roads as much as we could as the traffic is just unbelievable – where is everyone coming and going to?
Tomorrow I have one last birthday to attend to, a dear friend who is 70. After I have sorted a card for her and the present I will get back to the Christmas list. I have baking to do and the cards – perhaps I will toss a coin.
Day 2 and the Christmas preparations are in full swing even if I am not.
The weather is cold and nippy outside and DH is bravely going outdoors to fix up Christmas lights and finish painting the bench, so what could be better than to retreat to the peace of the study with a warming brew of ginger and honey tea to write our Christmas Newsletter. We always send one each year to friends and relatives who we see very little of (like our Australian relatives and friends who live far away) but want to keep in touch with and we find this is a good way of doing that.
Years ago, for those overseas, I would buy those specially printed airmail sheets with a different Christmas scene each year, do you remember them? – I wonder if they still do them, Post Offices have changed so much over the years I daresay they might be something no one wants anymore.
I would buy 5 airmail letters each year and painstakingly hand write, in my best handwriting of course, the same news over and over on each letter and as you can imagine it was quite time consuming. Once these were out of the way I would concentrate on writing the Christmas cards and scribble a few notes on the blank side of some of them fitting in whatever bits of news I could in such a small space.
This was often limited to the same kind of ‘quick‘ news that friends would scribble in theirs;
‘Hope you are all well, we have X amount of new grandchildren, been to XYZ on holiday and so and so or the dog has been quite unwell all year’…….having similarities with the postcards you received during the summer months that always began ‘Having a wonderful time, wish you were here – food good, weather awful’… or sometimes reversed to say ‘food awful, weather good.’
And then computers came along and digital cameras and eventually we got an old second hand printer from my brother so the whole process speeded up and our Christmas family newsletter was born.Â
I tend to type a general letter embellished with a few photos – a bit like a blog post really – and the whole document has to fit onto two sides of an A4 sheet so it can easily be included with a card and not go overweight. Even better these days, many are just sent by email (for those friends and relatives that have email) but I do still send them a proper card as well by post, though alarmingly, the two books of 2nd class Christmas stamps I need cost me a whopping £15 84 (we probably paid less than that a month on our first mortgage!). I do still enjoy a trip to the Post Office for the new Christmas stamps and, just like buying the decorated airmail letters, admire the latest design – it always feels like a fundamental part of the enjoyment of Christmas.
I usually have to look back at both my blog and photos to help me remember what we have done over the past year and often tweak the main letter a bit for some of the recipients, adding news that is more relevant to them. – I do tend to stay away from the ‘bragging’ letter that we sometimes receive…you probably know what I mean here if you have ever received one, mine really are just updates on our general life so far – an expansion of the ‘scribbled’ note.
I know some bloggers probably love these round robin letters whilst others will hate them. I think if the person I am sending it to doesn’t like them then they can just ignore it, but I haven’t had any complaints so far and I personally do like to receive theirs.
So with my newsletter in hand I now need to get on with producing the cards. I nearly always make my Christmas cards – sometimes a lino cut, sometimes watercolour whatever idea springs to mind at the time when I sit down to do one.
I have a busy day today after lunch I have an appointment with my Cranio-sacral therapist who is doing wonders for my tight muscles in my back and then on to M&S to pick up a parcel going via Sainsbury’s on the way home to see if they have any milk today (shelves stripped bare yesterday, like many foods…is there more panic buying again?).
Oh and just a little mention that to look at my past Christmas crafts on yesterday’s blog post you have to click on the wording on the photo to link through to the blog post, clicking just on the photo will just link through to a bigger version of the photo! I can see that has happened from the log I see on my blog admin page.
Well December 1st is finally here. In some ways I am glad to welcome December and in others I am feeling a mild panic; can I get everything done in time for Christmas, even a simpler Christmas?
For some reason this year my mind is a complete muddle, too many outside things going on and now the new variant news adds to the feeling of disruption and unrest.
Today is the day we reveal the first advent window. According to Google the first printed Advent calendar originated in Germany in the early 20th century with Gerhard Lang. The story goes that when Gerhard was a little boy his mother made him a calendar with 24 small candies attached to cardboard, one for each day before Christmas.
Throughout November I have kept thinking about an Advent calendar and had a look back at previous ones.
In 2012 I made these simple A5 sized calendars for myself and friends using some tiny stamps and different coloured ink pads.
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In 2018 I made a series of little cards – one for each day – with a different Christmas activity written on the back…great fun but a bit of a marathon and so very time consuming to stick with the daily cards and fit everything in.
You can read more about each daily activity and all the things I made by clicking on the wording at the bottom of each picture below to link back to the post. Alternatively click on the picture Creating Christmas in the side bar to read previous posts on everything Christmassy.
In 2019 I decided to try and create a much simpler Christmas and found it was still as much fun. I was given a Pukka Advent calendar with a different tea bag to sample each day. I still made Christmas cards and presents but kept everything quite simple. You can read more about this by clicking on the wording at the bottom of each picture below.
This year I had no plans and no time to make an Advent calendar so imagine my delight when we arrived home from Scotland last night to find this cute little surprise on our doormat from my sister in law.
I could have hugged her. Such a lovely surprise and a great start to the festive period.
Our Christmas will once again be a much simpler affair and although I cannot promise to blog every day I will certainly share all my makes and bakes as the Advent unfolds.
where the journey takes me 2 