Christmas has arrived

I am pagan, I love all the mixed berries, ivy and trees, plus loads of candles everywhere, most of the candles are fake, but these days they look so real.
I had to get all my Christmas boxes out myself this year, hubby still not allowed to lift, luckily when our bedroom was built in our attic/loft space they left storage room on the same level, so I only had to pull things through a small door rather than the normal hole in the ceiling. BUT still I have far too  much, I did pass loads to the charity shop a couple of years ago, again this year I have not put everything out. I have 4 sets of tree lights?? why, one set is new purchased last year in the sales, just in case my set refuse to light.
The bottom photo, is me using one of the huge lower branches from the tree, with loads of other silk branches, with lights, makes this corner brighter.
Normally this time of year I do my 12 days of Christmas, where I find 12 items to send to the charity shop, but this year I am changing and my 12 days of Christmas is going to be 12 acts of kindness, all done in December. I will keep a note and list them when all are done.
Will slept over on Saturday night, so the tree was up before he came, he was wide eyed and very excited, but has not touched anything, even our singing Santa on the motorbike, he does ask for him to sing, you can see him here.
Sunday morning we walked to our local community center for their Christmas fayre, where Will found 5 trees, we did not take him to see Santa, mummy and daddy get to do that the 1st time. We are having Will today so every thing is back to normal.
Has it stopped raining where you are, I can't remember the last time we had this much rain, which is very good for our water table, It's so mild as well, nights still feel too warm with our winter quilt on.

Making savings.

Another good month, under spent by £35

and I am £100 below last years spend

We had a smart meter fitted this morning

 Going to help us keep track of our bills

Batteries included

12 days of Christmas

1 Large family photo frame

1 small silver photo frame

1 Cross stitch book

1 Book full of cards (flowers)

2 Christmas hardback reading books 

1 Christmas Robin mug

2 Soft teddies

3 Lace table runners

1 Framed poppy plate

2 Nanna plaques

3 Red beaded cushions
1 Cupcake stand

I try and do this each year, 12 different things to the local charity shop. I also took a couple of hardback novels, most of the above was good enough to sell as presents, as many of them were given to me a gifts. I also gifted to the little girl across the road my two level light box, I purchased a three level light box, I can now use longer words in my quotes. 

Hubby has been in our small attic to get my decorations down, he has been sorting and we now have two holdalls for the charity shop.
We spent this morning sorting paperwork, I have thrown away loads of out of date things, we now have an empty drawer. Hubby burnt all the papers in our chimera as none of our neighbours had washing on the line. 
Also this morning we had smart meters for both gas and electricity installed, it took less than an hour to fit, all our meters and pipes were checked as well. As you can see from the photo's we can now keep tracks of our bills, we are already good at turning things off, have energy saving bulbs, and good insulation, but it will be useful to keep an eye on our winter bills.
I have been busy cleaning ready for the decorations to go up, I want them all sorted before Will comes back from Grandma's house, I will start this afternoon and hope to get them finished by tomorrow, we have a busy weekend coming up and I have Will on Monday. To help distract him from our tree, we spent £3 and got a couple of noisy toys, both will stay at our's, his house is like a toy shop.

Getting ready

£123.00

 Finding gifts

Christmas cake

With Christmas coming up so fast, we are trying to stay ahead, this morning I emptied our lovely coin jar, after much counting we had £141.68 inside, so a good years saving. We can only bank full bags, so £123.00 is ready to go to the bank, £6.68 was put back in the jar, the difference £13 were all pound coins so they were passed to hubby, he uses coins most days. The savings will be used for the purchase of our meats and other food items for Christmas. I have already a collections of nibbles, biscuits and sweets stashed for the holiday period. We have £46+ on our Co-op loyalty card, which will be used for fresh veg, cream and last minute purchases. Plus we have points for Tesco and Sainsbugs, but neither are a huge amount. 
We have a second piggy bank, in which we save £2 coins, on checking there is £72.00, which has been returned and left to grow, I think it will take over 100 coins to fill it.
I am also looking out 12 items, all new and unused, to be passed to our local charity shop, I call it my 12 days of Christmas, I have done this for the past 4 years, it's a useful way of passing on good unused items. We are also getting 2 gifts for elderly people in our local hospital, we did this last year, it's nice to ensure no-one is forgotten at Christmas.
I have put the marzipan on our Christmas cake, and had some left over, so I intend to cover these balls with a rich dark chocolate and some sprinkles, a simple home made treat.

Christmas

It's arrived at our house

 I love to see all our old favourites out again

Plus a few new items 

A tree full of memories 

I love this time of year where you have little pools of light around the room, very festive, I don't use many real candles, I love the little set's of lights which are battery powered, and popped into nice tealight figures, it feels so safe.

I have done my 12 days of Christmas, where I give to charity 12 items,

This year it was from my over large Christmas stash.

Candle holders x 3

wooden hearts x 3

Material stockings x 3

Stocking hanger

Santa bell

Candle glass holder

Paper trees x 2

ceiling hangers x 4

NOEL sign

Huge hanging gold star

Cross stitch heart

Bauble and tree dec's x 1 bag full

loads more than 12 when added together. 

I have done very little in the past week, I read Tell it to the Skies, by Erica James, work is very busy, so I don't plan to do much in the evenings. 

Yesterday hairdressers, picking up leaves in the garden, youngest daughter popped in, looking beautiful with her perfect baby bump,  and out for a meal with friends. 

This morning Rod and Maureen popped in, it's nice to catch up with friends, Maureen's memory is much worse, which is sad to see. This afternoon friends popped by with Jack 1 and Maddie 5, lovely to see their faces looking at our decorations. Home made mince pies (hubby) coffee and chatter, perfect way to spend the 1st Sunday in December. 

Now I am off to catch up on blog reading. 

We are looking for a new vacuum cleaner, our Dyson blew up yesterday, it was over 7 years old, so we are not unhappy, we are looking at expensive modern Dyson V8, but I do like a clean house and with a couple of cats we require a powerful model. 

Later a quiet evening in together, maybe a film to watch, all cosy and warm, I love weekends like this. 

Money real and saved.

We are not opening the jar this year

we are hoping to fill it again in time for next Christmas

I did my 12 days of Christmas

12 things from my office to a charity shop

1; Cotton reels and pin cushion (unwanted gift)

2; Onyx eggs x3

3; Skipping rope 

4; Leather purse

5; Photo frames x3 (1 unwanted gift)

6; Poster frames x3

7; Pretty tin (unwanted gift)

8; Flower pot (unwanted gift)

9; Nana poem in frame

10; Wife poem in frame

11; Snowman ornament

12; Loads of little stand for plates and frames.

Most of the items came from my big storage drawer,  it's nice now as I don't have loads of stuff in there. It was a shame to have so many unwanted gift's, but hopefully they will end up with some one who will love them, the decluttering is so rewarding in many ways. 

We have watched so many different programes on TV regarding Christmas and the extravagances or lack of funds people have, the difference between them are unbelievable, I would not want to be so rich I have to find weird things to buy, reindeer tarts with a ruby nose (is that just stupid to me), we have both given to charities this Christmas , it's easy to forget how lucky we are, we have our health, family, a warm house and the Christmas we want. So whilst we are having a family time, we are avoiding all the extra's, eliminating as much waste as we can.

We have just a final food shop to do, we have £38.00 in Nectar points, £50.00 of Waitrose vouchers and £50.00 vouchers from Co-op. We will pop to Sainsbury's to pick up a few cupboard store items tomorrow. Later in the week hubby will go to Waitrose to get veg and last minute things. The Co-op vouchers we plan to keep to the New Year. 

The garden is so bare at this time, this is from my back seating area, next door has finally cut back their shrubs along the fence, they are still high but not above the top of the fence.  I was down this end, putting more food out for the birds and squirrels, we are not hanging things in the tree this winter, something s digging up our lawn.
We are enjoying another weekend without going into town, so no crowds, no panic and no loud Christmas music.
Sam was brilliant yesterday, we walked to our village to take the items to the charity shop, which confused Sam, but he did find a nice ambulance car with working lights for 50p, he was offered to choose another, but was happy with just the one car.
My brother did not have the greatest of weekends, his car played up just as he arrived on Friday, he left it at ours and called out Green Flag today, who was able to repair the car, but had to wait 90 minutes for the part. Martin started the drive home, felt the car was still playing up came back to ours and recalled the mechanic, who then had to get Martin and the car taken home.
PS like so many others I lost a few followers over the past two days, I am still amazed you all follow my twittering on about any and every thing.

12 days of Christmas

I am having my own 12 days of Christmas, today I am taking 12 items from my wardrobe to our local charity shop, it is something I have been thinking about for a while.

2 tops

1 skirt

3 pairs of summer trousers

2 pairs of sandals

1 pair of boots

1 hand bag

1 cardigan

and loads of scarves (counted as one item)

Each item is in good condition, but I don't use them any more. 

 Hubby for Christmas got me an Xcut express machine, so my Xyron above with all the shapes and spare cutters I am giving to a friend who has just become a infant teacher, she will have loads of use for it.

 Some of you are doing sealed pots this year, above is our version, we have had this bottle for years, it came back with us after a holiday in Germany, each year we empty it and have a treat. when the girls were young we emptied it in August and used the money for their school shoes.  We expect about £70 from it, and will use some of it to go for a nice meal, which is our treat. What is left over goes back into the jar for next year. 

We never miss our loose change. 

 Two Orchids, the back one is still growing buds,

 more free flowers.

 Amaryllis is doing well, it was a l;ate start, and my Hyacinth is still growing, 

I have moved both into the sitting room.

My lemon and lime plants like their new pot and are happy in their sunny spot. The Avocado is much the same, I think leaves are all I am going to get from it.

Sunday night the lower lights on my Christmas tree failed, so yesterday I packed the tree away, I still have cards and a few festive items out, so it's not totally bare here, again this year I have sorted and loads of small items are being passed on, my daughter Su will have first choice at them, her much larger tree was sparse this year.
I have also left loads of white lights around the house, in the dark cold evenings it makes the place look warmer.
We had another hard frost last night, every were is white, but we are warm and snug inside. Later I want to go to The Range, to see if their Christmas lights are half price, I can get a new set for next year, also they sell Xpress cutters, I already have a few, but again I am hoping their Christmas ones will be int the sale.
I think I am feeling a bit happier, getting the house back to normal and giving it a good clean helped, just a couple more days at home. Back to work on Friday, we have our neighbours 100th birthday tea on Saturday, Win is amazing for her age. January 1st is Logans 4th birthday, 2nd is Wins birthday and my brother Martins birthday, we are not travelling back to Somerset, the roads are horrendous, our last journey home took 5 hours, which was 2 hours longer than normal.
Still no stitching, but I have joined a stitch along which starts on Jan 10th.