Happy New Year ✯

Wishing you all a happy and elfy healthy new year

I hope all of your new year wishes come true

❤

Thank you so much for popping by to see me every now and then

I truly love that you do

x

and thank you for letting me share a little of your lives too

you inspire me in so many ways

 I feel very excited by the thought of a fresh new year 

waiting just ahead

I wonder what it will bring?

Love to you all

See you in 2012!

j x

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

We decided to visit the seaside today to blow away the cobwebs

It was cold, grey and drizzly

We had fun though

All wrapped up in coats, hats, gloves and scarves

mugs of cinnamon hot chocolate 

a jar of quality street

my family all together

it was perfect

Yes it really was that grey!

Later at a different part of the beech 

we stood on the pebbles watching the crazy surfers

whilst eating steaming hot chips with lashings of salt and vinegar

they were the most delicious chips we had ever eaten!

I can't even begin to imagine the number of calories 

that I have consumed this Christmas time

in fact I don't even want to go there

it would be far too shocking to consider

anyway I like calories and plan to eat a LOT more yet

I hope you are having lots of fun too

more soon j x

Merry Christmas ♔

 I just wanted to pop by to wish you all a beautiful Christmas time

with lots of love, laughter and good times

oh and mulled wine

Do you like my new bauble??

isn't it cute?

my best friend sent it to me all the way from Australia

it is so delicate but amazingly arrived in one piece

it is our little tradition, we send one each year

makes us feel close

thank you Angi

❤

Sweet B and I have been cooking up a storm in the kitchen

this last few days

I'll leave you with a few photos

Hope you have a good one

and I'll see you in 2012!

❤ MWAH ❤

 j x

Holiday happiness ❤

Well here we are, just five short days away from the big day!

I can't believe how quickly it has whizzed up

We have had the most wonderful weekend

in my mind it has been the happiest weekend I can remember in a 

very long time

our sweet B returned home from uni last Friday evening

I feel so happy and content knowing she is home

my heart feels complete once again

❤

Saturday was spent putting the decorations up

we had a fab day

lots of laughing at our ginormously fat tree

being heaved in by the men of the house

we have never had a tree this wide...EVER

I asked the man for a 'bushy' tree

it was muddy and rainy so we happily took the one he suggested

it was all netted up and ready to go

but my goodness when that net came off....what a sight

don't get me wrong it is a beautiful tree

it really is

but it takes up the whole of one end of our sitting room.

On Sunday my lovey G 

who started his first ever grown up and proper job a few months ago

treated us to a Christmas Sunday lunch in a gorgeous country pub

it was so sweet of him and I could see how proud he felt

(it melted my heart x)

There were conditions though....

1. we had to have a roast

2. and drink tap water!

....so funny

we decided to pay for our own drinks!

It really was a weekend to treasure

 

On boxing day we will have lots of family visiting

so in preparation

there has been LOTS of kitchen activity 

It has been a bit of a Delia day today

I made

Delia's Gingerbread puddings with ginger wine and brandy sauce

these are absolutely gorgeous

I make them every year, they are lovely G's all time favourite

and have become a boxing day lunch tradition

I shall pop them in the freezer

I love the feeling of making ahead and stashing away

I also made 

Delia's eighteenth-century chestnut stuffing

I make this every year too...yummy

Tomorrow sweet B will be my cooking partner

*happy dance*

we will be making

Nigella's fully loaded potato skins 

again, these are yummy and freezable too

and 

peppermint meringues with chocolate filling

although I won't fill them until the day

later in the week we will be making a gingerbread house

I will try to post some photos

Oh how I love this time of year

❤

Hope you are having lots of festive fun too

more soon 

j x

Me...but mini

Monday night was our 'craft guild' meeting

and Oh my lordy what lovely evening we had

all five of us

Not only was it a birthday celebration 

and a little housewarming 

it was also secret santa night

✮  YiPiDyDoDa  ✮

   Did we have fun??? oh yes we did!

aside from wonderful company

we had delicious Japanese dumplings

chocolate birthday cake and gifts galore

what more could anyone possibly ask for?

The secret Santa rule was that it had to be handmade

(of course!)

There was a beautiful knitted scarf

stunning bird decorations

hand embroidered bunting (surprisingly not from me!)

vintage tea cup candle and glasses case

and take a look at my gift

It's me...only mini...a mini me!

remarkably like me too...only younger...how kind x

I'm loving my shocking pink jumpsuit

I have always steered away from such outfits

but, seeing how good my mini me looks maybe I should reconsider

She came nestled in a bag full of American peppermint candies

I have been lusting after these having seen them in Martha 

for our gingerbread house this year

they are very moreish though, so may have to hide them from myself

:o)

 

I have been unable to get them anywhere in the UK

and my lovely Santa got her mum, or should I say Mom

to send these all the way from America especially for me

thank you lovely C 

(and lovely C's very kind mom)

I feel like I am making progress on my naughty 'to do' list at long last

yesterday was spent wrapping, cleaning and a little panic internet shopping

more of the same for me again today

 (hopefully with the exception of the panic shopping!)

but I really don't mind

it feels nice to be getting organised

We are not very Christmassy here just yet

just a few odd little festive reminders here and there

This cutie is from Michelle at A pinch of Prim on Etsy
 

we are waiting until this weekend

our sweet B is coming home from uni for Christmas

she will be back on Friday evening 

❤ HOORAY ❤

This weekend will be FULL ON Christmas for us

we have the Christmas tree waiting patiently outside in a bucket

This divine little angel is from Trish at Sweet Nellie also from Etsy

We are so excited...we have missed our lovely girl so much

me especially

❤

My sweet B

❤

I am feeling all behind on the blogging front
on visiting all of your lovely blogs to read whats happening
or just to say 'Hi'
and on posting on mine
 for some reason that I can't fathom that makes me quite stressed
or maybe it is everything else that is making me stressed??
It feels like life is on fast forward at the moment...don't you think?

Before I go ...
my lovely Christmas decoration swap partner has been blogging
about our swap
 pop over to see my lovely new friend Celeste
at Prettee Craftee
I know she'd love to see you
❤


I will love you and leave you now as I have an Australian phone date
(oooh I say!)
with my best friend in the whole world
"I'm dialing Angi"
❤

Have a great week
more soon
j x 

Swapsies!

 I entered a Christmas decoration swap organised by

the wonderful Laa Laa

It was my first EVER swap

and it seems that I have been missing something special

due to the fact that I am new(ish) to blogland

IT IS SO EXCITING

We were allocated 'swap partners'

I was partnered with Celeste from Prettee Craftee blog

We shared lots of emails and got to know each other

that was just lovely

We sent our parcels to each other

we planned to open them at the same time
 and chat by email
(just look how beautifully they were wrapped...love those little hearts)

It was such fun knowing that we were both unwrapping at the same time

and look what I received...

Lucky me hey?
I L❤VE EVERYTHING
Thank you Celeste

It felt wonderful to be spoilt

I do feel sometimes that us ladies spend so much time

looking after and spoiling others

that we neglect ourselves

so a swap was just perfect

I shall definitely be joining in next year too
Thank you to Laa Laa for organising it

I was so excited to send my parcel off 

that I completely forgot to take any photo's

(I really have been the biggest scatterbrain lately)

so I am hoping Celeste will do that for me

❤

I have had a busy little spell with my shop

all of the little Peckers flew out

;o)

They have all flown the nest

to spend their holidays with lovely new families

They have been so popular that I shall be making some for Easter

Bertie Blue

  Maybe Bertie Blue will have a little family next

I have added some more Christmas buntings too

Liberty Christmas bunting

Christmas tree bunting

Now I need to concentrate on making some Christmas presents

Quick Smart

Hope you are having a good week

more soon 

j x

Return of the little peckers!

Hello my lovelies

 ❤

I am just popping by very quickly with a little shop update

Eleven baby robins have flown into my shop

ready and waiting for lovely new homes this Christmas time

There will be a few more little Peckers

making an appearance early next week too

Life is a little crazy at the moment...wouldn't you agree?

It is a truly lovely time of the year but crikey it's hard work

my 'to do' list just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger

and my brain seems to be getting smaller and smaller and smaller

I hope your 'to do' list is behaving!

more soon

j x