Christmas 2022 was The Best!

I don’t know what it is about pre-Christmas week but it either feels like Christmas will never come while at the same time the days go as fast as when calendar pages flip to show time passing in a movie. I did some last minute Christmas shopping in a junk shop which actually meant that I made a couple of fun but unnecessary purchases for myself including vintage orange Tupperware and an ugly lamp.

For the first time since 2018 Nella enjoyed preparing festive food and eating it! This was what really made it our best Christmas in a long time. We did not watch much TV - instead we played a couple of board games, gave up on a Brussel sprouts jigsaw puzzle, rediscovered some old home videos and ate plenty of chocolate. It was a very relaxed holiday and we enjoyed each other’s company. We had a couple of nice walks with Nessie, showing off new hats and jumpers. 

I have not got anything I must do before the New Year except pencil in a few teaching dates for 2023 and attempt to reset the wifi extender password so I can get my fancy wireless printer to talk to my computer again. If I get around to doing any sewing or post-Christmas cooking that will be a bonus!

Pre Christmas in Norwich

 

I had a very festive pre-Christmas week in Glasgow and Norwich. It was Fergus’ 21st birthday so he spent the weekend with his pals and he looked a little worse for wear when Freya and I collected him on Sunday morning. Freya and I did a mini pub crawl in Glasgow with her boyfriend, George, and Nessie, of course.

I was a bit worried about the weather reports for our journey south but we had no problems at all.

Norwich was very cosy and festive - the Christmas lights were lovely and we had a pleasant wander around, buying sprouts from the market, trying to avoid slipping up on the icy pavements. Nella finished her first term at Uni with an A for her work and was full of enthusiasm for her course and her new friends, She has even got next year’s student house sorted out which is very exciting.

We have not been to Norfolk around Christmas time for years and we had a lovely time. When we got home to Crathes we found a lot of snow still on the ground and the river was quite frozen. It will be lovely to have all 3 of my children home for the week and we plan to decorate the tree and do lots of cooking together. I have not added any more stitching to my patchwork coat but there is no hurry to get it done. There are far more precious moments to enjoy with family and memories to make together.

Chilly December Activities

 It has been getting colder this week and we had a little snow. I felt justified in spending only a little time in my workshop then coming inside and watching a Christmas movie while I did something else in the afternoon.

I made a cut-out Scottie Christmas card one afternoon so I could make sure that all of my cards got posted early due to postal strikes in the UK.

I cut my crazy quilt into coat shaped pieces using a “Sew Me Something - Bianca” pattern. I have made this coat previously in boiled wool. I have been attempting to add some hand-stitched motifs but I am really a total novice so it looks pretty rustic. 

I drove Fergus and a couple of pals down to Glasgow to celebrate his 21st birthday and I stayed with Freya. I had a lovely catch-up and dog walk with my chum, Ellen in a dog-friendly cafe. On Saturday Freya, her boyfriend George, Nessie and I went on a mini pub crawl in Finnieston and I discovered that I really liked hot toddy from an enamel mug;)

Despite severe weather warnings we drove from Glasgow to Norwich on Sunday without incident and will be here for a week spending time with family, enjoying a “Fine City” at Christmas time and collecting Nella for the Christmas holidays.

Definitely December

December started with a flurry of activity. On Monday I went to Glasgow for Freya’s Masters graduation. The university looks rather like Hogwarts - all Freya needed was a cat and a pointy hat to look like Prof. Minerva McGonagall. It was a proud day - she worked hard on her Masters for two years as well as coping with a full-time job and covid restrictions that affected her studies.

I had two customer quilts on the go this week and since they were Christmas themed, I decided to put on some festive tunes and do some gift wrapping.  I knotted the second of 2 macrame jam-jars which look far more glamorous in the dark. 

I started on my Lindt advent calendar and was a bit disappointed that the first window held a tiny chocolate ball. I thought it would all be bears and reindeers, whereas it would appear that they are rationed;)

Nessie and I were surprised to see a salmon on one of our walks. At first I thought it was dead as it was not moving but it glided away much to Nessie’s annoyance. 

I don’t plan on starting any new projects this week as I will be getting ready to make a trip to Norfolk and make Fergus a birthday cake. I hope to cut the crazy quilt into coat-shaped pieces, overlock the edges then add some more stitching…