Festive Friday Photo. 🌲❄️⛄

Decorations – a favourite one – was it inherited, did your kids make it or was it one you bought on a whim and love dearly.

That is the prompt from Hawthorns December Photo Hunt , she has asked us to share a photo every Friday in December. A lovely way to spread the cheer.

I have decided to show you my Snow Globe which I bought last Christmas in Keswick. Wil, Hugo and I spent the festive period in one of our favourite towns. This pretty souvineer will forever remind me of our happy holiday.

A fox 🦊 amongst swirling snowflakes. And if you look closely, 2 tiny robins in the branches of the tree.

Confession ~ I leave it out all through the year, as I love it so much. ❤️

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

A Christmasy weekend. :)

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  I guess that particular phrase is starting to pop up everywhere at the moment….but in my case ,it felt quite true for me at the weekend. 🙂

On Saturday I met up with a couple of friends in town and we had lunch and did a bit of Christmas shopping. It was Shop Local wknd so it was nice to wander round the little independant shops, small towns like my home town of Clitheroe have in abundance. I’m trying to buy as much as I can from these smaller businesses this year as they really do offer something a little different to the gifts you can find in the more well known stores.

I love the Christmassy drinks you can try in December. A friend and I enjoyed a delicious hot chocolate called ‘The Purple One’ inspired by my favourite Quality Street. 🙂

Just thought I would show you this Frozenesque ( Is that a word? 🙂 ) wedding gown in the window of ‘Orchid Designs’ in Clitheroe. I have walked passed it several times and wondered who will be the fairytale bride. I’m not sure if you can see clearly…but look at the blue snowflakes on the train.

And below is the Crib that goes up near the Castle. As soon as the little nativity figures are put in , the town feels so much more Christmassy.

On Sunday I went round to my friend Beckys and helped put the decorations up. My niece and nephew came too and we had fun with glitter, glue, crayons, paper, scissors and a singing dancing Christmas tree. Total chaos but lots of fun!

So the best thing so far about the build up to Christmas has been spending happy times with family and friends. Ho Ho Ho.And to round up this post here is a photo of little Hugo. I really must get him some antlers! 🙂

Cath Kidston does Christmas. :)

If Cath Kidston was Santa , this is what I would put on my Christmas List. :0) Especially loving Billie the dog ! X

Billie Long Pjs. £50. Very Bridget Jonesie.

Stripy Scarf £24.

Star Pudding Bowl £14.

Bah Humbug! jumper £70.

Christmas Decorations Book £15.

Billie Hot Water Bottle. £28.

London Christmas Carry Bag. £28.

Stripy Crochet Scarf £35.

Billie Bed Socks £8.

Striped Gloves. £20.

Star Anise Christmas tree Decorations.

When I put the tree up I totally forgot about the handmade tree decorations I atempted a couple of weeks ago. I found a tutorial in LandLove Magazine about using old candle wax to make festive decorations. I thought these star anise stars looked very sweet.

You will need.

saucepan
milkpan
roasting tin
cookie cutters
star anise
candle wax

1.Line roasting tin with baking paper.
2.Melt some wax over a bain-marie.Remove remains of the wicks.
3.Cover base of tin with a thin layer of wax and place cutters on top.

4.Lay one star anise in the middle of each and fill with wax, making sure star anise still peek out. This is where I had a problem! The wax seeped out the edges of the cutters. Maybe covering with something heavy super quick as soon as you’ve poured it in may help.
5.Once cooled and set remove from cutters. I lowered them briefly into warm water to loosen.

6.Heat a needle over a flame of a candle and make a hole in each decoration so they can be hung up.Use parcel string or ribbon.

Most of mine came out to thin and broke.But I managed to salvage a couple and hung them on the tree last night.
So thats my attempt at Christmas crafting.:-D

Oh Christmas Tree

The Tree Is UP !

Home Alone is on the telly. The Tree is up and decorated. Suddenly feeling very Christmasy round here. 🙂

Decorating the tree is one of my favourite Christmas traditions.I’m not one of those people with a colour co-ordinated tree, no siree. Its all a bit of a mish mash but that’s what I like about it. I love to open my boxes of tree decorations each Christmas and rediscover each and every one of them all over again. Through the years I’ve tried to pick up bits and bobs for the tree from wherever i’ve been on holiday. Its surprising how easy it is to find them,even in the summer. Among’st my favourite baubles are a merry red bell discovered in Sorrento, a beaver peering from behind a tree given to me by a friend when we were visiting her in Canada, a white dove I bought last Christmas in the Yorkshire Dales, a stripey bauble a friend gifted me from Harrods in London and a trumpeting Angel found on a trip to st honorat island in the south of France.

I do seem to have lost my star from the top of the tree though so I had better get looking. Have you decorated your tree yet?