Handmade Christmas - next year

(image from here)

Christmas is over for another year. Tomorrow we will take down the christmas tree and pack away the decorations. I want to say thank-you again to Tracy for hosting the Handmade Christmas Challenge. I had all of the best intentions in September when I willingly put up my hand for her challenge, but during the months of October and November, our little world got so very busy, leaving me with little time for crafting. But what I did manage, was to have my christmas shopping all done by the beginning of December. This is a first for me. And with the exception of books, all of the presents under the tree, were either hand made by me or handmade by someone else. This made me very happy.

However, there were many things on the christmas handmade list that did not get made. Here is the list of things I would like to have done by next christmas!



• I love these jar jumpers (sweaters) and crocheted garland from 'dottie angel'. "How to's" can be found here and here. Of course I will need to learn how to crochet first. A minor detail.





• embroider some linen napkins for our christmas table, I love these from 'mousehouse'



• make these felted christmas trees from 'purl bee'



• embroider christmas aprons, something like this from' red, red completely red.'



• embroider pillows for the children, maybe something like this, from 'cats and quilts'



• I love these from 'smiley sunday', since I've never cross stitched, I might just have to buy these!





• make some christmas decorations, something like this from 'light blue grey'. So beautiful.



• make a snowflake garland like this one from 'little glowing lights'. Oh how I wish I had a mantlepiece. Snowflake templates can be found here.



• make christmas decorations like these, from 'mom in madison'



• make a simple countdown calender to countdown the days just like this one from red, red, completely red.

• make these snow globes with the kids.

• make origami star garlands like these for the windows.

• I love these gift ideas, a photo book, something like this or this and photo pillows

• make a new countdown (advent) calender. Our is made from paper bags and after fours years is looking a little worst for wear. See a picture of our current countdown calender here.

Some thank-you's

Thank-you Grandma.

Grandma has let us borrow her knitted nativity scene, as she has two. I love, love, love it!



Thank-you Nanny Marjie.

Nanny Marjie (my aunt) stopped into our house this morning to drop off our christmas presents. This year she will be spending christmas in the country. She turned up once again with a bag full of goodies. The photo above is a very small peek at what was inside.... this is not even my christmas present. I was super excited, the kids and I played with fabric scraps and trim for hours after she had left.



Thank-you Future Shelter.

I bought this t-shirt and these christmas decorations from Future Shelter. How I stopped at just two things, I do not know, I wanted it all! It arrived earlier in the week and not only was I really happy with the things that I had bought, but there was a little surprise inside - Christmas badges! I love them so much.

I am feeling very lucky and grateful during this festive season. It truly is the season to be jolly.

I'm grateful for...

I have seen 'maxabella loves', I'm grateful for.... on other people's blogs. Today is the first time that I am taking part and will do so every Saturday from now on.

The reason I started my blog was to help myself stop and focus on the little, but very important things in life. The last couple of months have been all consuming, with things that I have not blogged about. And even though I have still been blogging, I've usually been in a rush, just to get the memories down.

I have not been sitting with my thoughts long enough to really take them in. To really be grateful for them.





It's Christmas, so it's easy to be grateful. So incredibly grateful, for all that we have, my goodness take a look around. We have it all. There is no need here.

Today I'm going to tell you about my Christmas tree and all the memories that hang on it's branches. We bought a large Christmas tree with money from our wedding. I won't go into the whole fake tree/ real tree thing now. But let me quickly remind you, that I live in Queensland and tropical heat and pine trees don't mix, believe me I've tried, on more than one occasion.

So back to the tree... A large tree was bought to hold my collected Christmas decorations and one day, the decorations made by my children. Decorating the tree this year, was my vision coming true. The kids are old enough now, that I didn't worry about decorations being broken. They were just as excited as I was, as each decoration was unwrapped and remembered. It used to be just me, remembering which country I had collected an ornament or which friend had given me a certain jingle bell.





But this year it was all of us. Spunky Monkey, remembering the decorations he had made at kindy and daycare, Miss Moo Moo, remembering decorations given to her from her Nanny. It was such a joy to hang a pipe cleaner candy cane, Spunky Monkey had made last year next to a Venetian glass angel, a gift from Grandma. Such care was taken by all of us, as we hung each decoration.

Yes, I am grateful for my Christmas tree and for the love and memories in every one of it's decorations. I am grateful for the beautiful people who have given decorations to me as gifts, many brought home, carefully packaged from overseas and some handmade.

It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Oh, Christmas. It is the season to be jolly!