12 Days 'til Xmas

Today we got a special delivery. The lovely Lee from Killiecrankie Farm dropped off our beautiful Xmas Tree. (We thought about picking it up - but it meant making room in the car by losing a couple of our offspring ... after a very small pause we decided it was best that it was delivered). Sustainably farmed and cut fresh this morning, the tree is a vision of the festive season and has already filled our house with the most beautiful pine aroma ... feels like we are taking a stroll through a forest and we are only traversing from the kitchen to the lounge room. If you have yet to get a Xmas tree - get in touch with Lee - They have 4 sizes and they are so incredibly beautiful!

We hauled out the 'Christmas Box' and began our annual ritual of dressing the tree. Our decorations have been lovingly collected from our travels over the past few years as well as saved from special friends and times that seem so far away now. The collection of an ornament from each place we have visited started late (we pilfered the idea from my sister and bro-in-law) but we have still managed a few. Each year, as they are placed on the tree we get to reminisce a little ... I love this time! And now that Edie is a little older she too is keen to hear the stories as each piece is placed on the tree. I have many favourites ... these are but a few ...
This guy, St Nicholas is from Prague. We were there a couple of days after Xmas in the snow, drinking gluhwein. Each time I see him I think of white Christmases!
This one is up there as my number one ... cheesy, kitsch and hopelessly tacky it commemorates our halcion days of living in Edinburgh ... where pipers (good, bad and just plain ugly) adorn street corners, playing for a few coins from tourists. You press it and it plays Scotland the Brave. I will truly be gutted when the little battery gives up. We still miss Edinburgh (Hi Sharkey xxx). We know we will live there once more!

This one is actually from Loz. She got it in Russia when she embarked on her Trans Siberian Railway adventure which she undertook for her 60th birthday. She had been booked to go in 1968, but got married instead. I grew up hearing how much Mum regretted not going, despite getting married. This wee ornament reminds me that you never have to give up your dreams. I love Xmas.

Dangling a Carrot (or get thee to a market)

Some of you need no encouragement to attend a market. Some of you only need get a faint whiff of handmade items arranged enticingly on trestle tables and your inbuilt market meter goes radioactive. Some of you may need a bigger carrot. So I am dangling one. Tomorrow (that's right a market on a Monday!!), I am participating in my last market for a wee while. Time to slow down. Time to regroup. Maybe even reinvent. But as a little mark of appreciation for the support I have received in Launceston for my little venture I am marking my dresses right down - some as much as 40%. Think of it as Xmas cheer if you will. So if you can spare a little time for a foray - come along to Launceston Church Grammar Junior Campus' Resource room tomorrow (8.30-11am or 2-4pm). I'll have other goodies too and will be in good company if you are not the slightest bit interested in my humble wares. (see side bar for more info)

PS Those lovely, loved up carrots were in our Hilbarn box this week. They canoodled in my crisper until I could keep them from the wee girl no longer. Felt nothing short of barbaric to divide then munch them ... almost cannibalistic!