Thursday 24 December 2015

Christmas Eve

I am sitting in the lounge at my in-law's with the lights dimmed and Carols at King's on the TV, their beautiful voices getting us ready to celebrate the birth of Christ.  This Christmas Eve the weather has been sunny and bright and so, as the last few days have been wet, we took advantage and went out to Saltram House, a National Trust property, for a walk.  Some of the rooms in the house had been decorated for Christmas; they were lit with "candles" and other discreet lighting.  They were very atmospheric and quite beautful. Sorry about the shaky photos but I was using my phone.

 
In the kitchen - The temple at the back was made of sugar cubes
In the kitchen the Saltram chef was making bread, mince pies and soup.  We had some of the soup but didn't wait around for the mince pies. 
Photo from the Saltram Web site.
 We had lunch in the very busy cafĂ© and then walked around the gardens making the most of the weather.  We are now settled in and getting ready for tomorrow where nine of us will exchange gifts and share Christmas lunch; we are so blessed.

We here at Su+2 wish you all a very happy Christmas and a peaceful new year. 

Friday 18 December 2015

Christmas Thoughts, Angels and a Crocheted Wreath

There has been quite a long gap since my last post but life gets busy, especially at this time of year. 

On the 1st day of December I got out my Advent calendar; I love Advent calendars - ever since I was a child they have seemed magical and exciting, you never knew what was behind the next window.  That was in the days when Christmas decorations didn't go up until Christmas Eve and the shops started putting Christmas stuff out in the Middle of December rather than the end of September.  So the calendar really was all about waiting and anticipation just as Advent is. 


When I was a child my Grannie lived with us and had her own sitting room/bedroom.  Every year she would get out her own Christmas tree; it was a small silver one which she would put on a little table near her fireplace and around the base would go cotton wool snow and a plastic church that lit up.  For me as a child it was completely magical, it was even better than the tree we had in the family lounge which was bigger and green.  When she died and I helped to clear out her things, the Christmas tree was a rather scraggy balding scrap of silver but the memories it provoked were very precious.

This year we have an artificial tree as we are not at home for Christmas; we do have a house sitter but we thought it a bit unfair to ask them to water a tree. 

As you can see we have a nativity scene as part of our decorations, for me this is central to everything for the Su +2 household.  Advent is the waiting time and Christmas day and season the celebration.  You may have spotted that I have rather a lot of angels in the scene - these stay out all year round, scattered about the house but they come together to be part of the heavenly host for the nativity scene.  (and yes, there is the odd snowman, star and a Winnie the Pooh too)

I have made a Christmas Wreath; it took a while but I am happy with the result.  Its jam packed with holly leaves and berries, pompoms, stars and snowflakes, all crocheted and is definitely very Christmasy.