Christmas Chaos

 

Christmas with one extra person and a dog seemed more chaotic than usual. I did not get to do my jigsaw puzzle much because there was nowhere safe to leave it out. I have often accused Nessie of eating one piece so leaving set up with a curious puppy did not seem like a good idea. Nessie ended up mostly opting out of the sitting room - she and Fizzle kept out of the way, probably hatching plans for revenge.

Freya made me a cute little sconce from clay, Nella gifted me a non-alcoholic blood orange cordial and Fergus got me edibles (chocolate - not magic mushrooms!) My sister gave me a fabulous swimming hat with rubber petals because I expressed a desire to try out the local pool. 

We had 2 bouts of very heavy rain which caused more flooding hereabouts so I have not bothered to give my workshop a pre-New Year tidy as I still have sandbags and towels by the door. 

The kitchen was a bit chaotic - George brought a haunch of venison that did not fit in the oven and he was not accustomed to our casual approach to oven temperatures or timings. I got a bit flustered and accidentally turned the top oven onto the grill function so my hot oil for spuds created one or two slightly alarming flames. 

It was lovely to have guests for the holidays but I think we all (especially Nessie) secretly heaved a sigh of relief when they departed. I will be heading to Norfolk with Nella so it will feel like an extended holiday but at some point January will hit me hard and I will have to get stuck into lists/projects/quilts!

Festive Drama

I had to collect Nella from Aberdeen bus station so went for a wee wander around Union Square shopping centre while I waited. I went into the new Seasalt shop which already had a sale on. I stroked the velvet dresses to see if they were as wrong as the ones I had seen in Norwich and to my horror, I discovered that all of the nap was running in the wrong direction. When I helpfully informed the sales assistant, she insisted snippily that the designers would have requested that. It made me shudder to think that if I ran my hands down my imaginary party frock, the fabric would feel bristly!

The week was spent endlessly making grocery lists, trying not to eat the food that I was stock-piling for Actual Christmas. In between hot chocolates and schmaltzy Christmas films, I did at least some “Art and Stitch” practice.

Freya arrived with boyfriend, George and his rather scatty young collie, Poppy. Poppy has made it her mission to terrorise Nessie. Freya unwisely got in the middle of a dog fracas and got hit in the face which broke off her front tooth crown (that she smashed when canoeing at Uni). Obviously, dentists are all closed for the hols… Poppy has also decided that it is a good idea to poop under the Christmas tree even after she has been outside to go to the toilet. The seagrass matting that we have is not the ideal type of flooring from which to remove squashed-in poop. Nessie and Fizz have decided to spend Christmas together in my room, minding their own business. On Christmas Eve morning everyone is walking on eggshells, hoping there won’t be any more drama. I honestly think I should write a sit-com. I am almost tempted to pour a large gin and cranberry, despite having been teetotal for almost a year;)

Only a Week to Go!

When my children were younger Christmas did not begin until after Fergus’ birthday on December 11th. We have an artificial tree now so it has been up with only its lights on, waiting for Nella to “dress” it when she arrives home. I must admit that I sort of miss the frantic round of Christmas concerts and performances. The trouble is that since the festive season starts so early nowadays, the whole thing is spread out and there seems to be no definite Christmas period (for me, at least).  All of the Christmas Fayres are over already and I never go into Aberdeen where there probably are not any jolly carollers anyway;)

Fergus was 22 this week and I made him a semi festive cake. It was gingerbread with cream cheese frosting and cranberry sauce in between the layers. It was meant to be one of those “naked” cakes ie. inexpertly iced. I had a shortage of plain cream cheese so mine was a bit bald. I had bought 3 cartons of the stuff but had not checked the labels and discovered that they were the garlic and herb version! It tasted great - the sharp cranberry sauce helped to cut through the super-sweet frosting. I put together a fancy breakfast box as he is a bit of a foodie. I was going to order it online but the company did not deliver here. He was very pleased and gets to keep the IKEA crate.

I finished the bunny cushion but forgot to take a photo before I wrapped it. A DIY customer who has been waiting a while came and completed her grand-daughter’s quilt. I continued to work my way through digitising tutorials for Art and Stitch. There is a lot that I don’t feel I would ever want to bother with but I need to know how it all works. I have also signed up for a pricey digital Quilt-a-Long but I am treating it as a learning experience. 

Other than that, I have tried to wrap some gifts, scrawled a few cards, done some grocery shopping, and cleared the junk out of Nella’s room that had been dumped by other members of the household who did not want it in their rooms! Nessie had a pre-Christmas trim and was not impressed while Fizz remains oblivious to everything.

Woeful Weather

 Nessie and I travelled back to Scotland by train which is a long way with a dog on your lap, sometimes the floor. She was very good, especially at Edinburgh Waverley where we had 10 minutes to change platforms. Thistle (Fizz) was delighted to see me and was especially pleased that she could get access to my bed. Meanwhile my room had been turned into a recording studio and Nella’s room seemed to have been filled with the junk that everyone else had decided they no longer wanted in their rooms. It seems that I will have some serious sorting to add to my list of pre Christmas preparations and my general ever expanding To-Do list. 

We had extreme weather again this week with temperatures so low that it was minus something in my workshop. Since I had received chase-up calls from customers wondering what had happened to their Christmas quilts (they did not say they were Christmas quilts), I had to wrap up and get on with it. I am so glad that I was on top of things before I went away so I “only” had to quilt 2 and bind 5! I have now declared that I will not try to do any more customer quilts this side of Christmas:)

After the freeze, we had rain and more rain and I had to put sandbags outside the workshop door as the water was rushing off the field and 6” deep in the trench outside. This used to happen occasionally but now it happens several times a year and I have to shift everything and hope for the best that I just have to dry the carpet out afterwards. 

I caught up with Mo and asked her very nicely if she would be able to staple some scrap fabric onto a swivel chair that I found in the yurt. She found some fabulous leopard-print corduroy and I had the chair back together later that day.

I have been frantically doing some online shopping without any success for Nella then realised that I had intended to make her a bunny cushion from an Elizabeth Hartman pattern. Luckily, I had already cut out the 60-odd tiny pieces to make a small bunny in dungarees. I took most of a Saturday to do the single bunny block then I made a random patchwork cushion back in case she does not want to see the bunny all the time. 

Festive Felbrigg

 This is my third and final Sunday in Norfolk. Things have been hectic but having routines has helped. My Mother is recovering well and arrangements are in place to lighten the load of caring for my Dad. My sister is nearby but cannot be expected to put her life on hold and she has not persuaded me to move to Norfolk;)

I had an outing to Felbrigg Hall with Nella. It is a National Trust property in North Norfolk and it had put on a Christmas display of Christmas trees, lights and drawings of countryside creatures. I was intrigued by the notion of mushroom music but it was not even playing so I have no idea what it was meant to sound like. 

I am looking forward to getting back to “normal” back home. I am sure it will be a hectic couple of weeks as Christmas is looming fast with Fergus’ birthday before that!