The Mish Mash
My planned week of military-like precision on all things Christmassy prep didn't quite go off as planned. In fact it hardly got going at all.
Sigh.
Basically I had too much on and wasn't home enough to do all the things I had hoped to do.
Instead I managed to fill the week with a mish mash of necessary and self-inflicted activities (including the odd visit to an op shop, café and catch up with friends - not that the friends were odd..) interspersed with a toddler who is nearing the age of three but who has decided to make a last-ditch effort at mastering "the terrible twos"!
You know what's coming, don't you?
Yes there were tantrums. Both public (a doozy involving enraged toddler throwing his lunchbox under someone else's table, in the café of a Christian bookshop - why (me)? Why? WHY?); and private (half an hour inside the front door because he didn't want to come straight home after the school run. Yes it appears I do have a toddler addicted to op-shopping. Oops.).
I'd been avoiding the fact that prior to the unearthing of the Christmas finery (buried under the house), there has to be a military-style clean-up of the detritus from July through to October that has been accumulating, unabated by the disruption of being tidied or sorted.
The dust balls were starting to resemble bowling balls.
Scary.
Hence a small highlight, and I was rather desperate for one by Thursday (and yes, we were out again), was finding a basket of great toddler shoes (Campers and Garvalin) in a junk shop for $2 a pair.
These gorgeous feet belong to the very cute Clementine, a little friend who put them on instantly, and has possibly refused to take them off ever since.
Nice to have one satisfied little person in the world.
And then there was the Christmas prep.
WaRNIng: I'm just going to ramble now, in the absence of anything big to report on, like putting up a stupendously decorated tree or festooning the roof with 4000 fairy lights...both of which didn't and, who knows, may never happen if I don't get my mo-jo back. And fast.
Found these sweet blue + white wooden decorations on holidays. I'll pass them on to a friend of mine who has one of those beautiful Nordic-style all white rooms I sometimes dream about (along with having a toddler who never tantrums and a life free of public humiliations - yeah right), complete with a white snowy stick Christmas tree on which these decorations will serenely sit.
ahhhhh
This book was a great find. I love decorating with vintage Christmas postcards. And because these are reproductions I won't feel evil about cutting them up... Not saying I will cut them up... Just saying.
Oh and we have real holly growing in the garden. I'm not boasting because it has just sprung up from who knows where (is it a weed? I don't know) and I am having wonderful visions of it adorning our Christmas table, food, gifts, clothes, children.... Though it is very very prickly. It would cause a tantrum for sure.
Maybe I could gather it in (gloved) bunches and sell it on ebay? I could be known as the Christmassy woman to come to for holly. Now there's a thought.
Green holly = green holiday accents.
And I loved this Aynsley tea cup and saucer on sight. Its gold floral pattern screamed Christmas at me! And look how well it appears sitting on the red-covered book of Christmas stories I picked up in the same op shop for 50c.
Meant to be.
Am also hoping to follow through on a crafty idea of putting up a wall display of embroidery hoops with Christmas themed fabrics and crafty bits and pieces. Hopefully this idea will be more achievable and visually pleasing than my Christmas craft fail of 2012: Bunting.
(Notice I'm not putting a link to the past post here, as my past enthusiasm was way over the top. So please respect my wishes and refrain from searching for it. I have.)
I only have two hoops so far, so a wall display is a little way off.
Hoop #1 is only about 10cm high. I've framed one of the embroidered Christmas napkins I bought at the Linen and Lace sale a couple of months ago. Love it.
Hoop #2 is about 40cm high. Still deciding what to put in it. This attempt contains a green vintage linen napkin (needs ironing) and some thick cotton doilies that I thought/hoped looked like snowflakes. Hmm. Needs a little finessing before it's ready yet.
Finally, here's some of the holly atop a Christmas gift box. Sized just right for two jars of jam and a box of tea. My ideal gift for a class teacher, or some neighbours. What do you think?
Bonne Maman Blackberry Jam and Bonne Maman Caramel Spread ($5 ea at most supermarkets/delis); Dilmah Exceptional Arabian Mint Tea with Honey ($5 box from supermarket); gift box ($1ea) and holly from the garden. I suppose you could substitute the jam for a sugar-free variety if you knew the recipient had dietary issues.
Still it feels like the perfect gift to me.
May have to make a box up for myself and the terrible-twos toddler. I'm sure he wouldn't complain about being at home more often if we ate jam on toast every day.
Worth a try.
I'll let you know if it works.
Tee hee.
Sigh.
Basically I had too much on and wasn't home enough to do all the things I had hoped to do.
Instead I managed to fill the week with a mish mash of necessary and self-inflicted activities (including the odd visit to an op shop, café and catch up with friends - not that the friends were odd..) interspersed with a toddler who is nearing the age of three but who has decided to make a last-ditch effort at mastering "the terrible twos"!
You know what's coming, don't you?
Yes there were tantrums. Both public (a doozy involving enraged toddler throwing his lunchbox under someone else's table, in the café of a Christian bookshop - why (me)? Why? WHY?); and private (half an hour inside the front door because he didn't want to come straight home after the school run. Yes it appears I do have a toddler addicted to op-shopping. Oops.).
I'd been avoiding the fact that prior to the unearthing of the Christmas finery (buried under the house), there has to be a military-style clean-up of the detritus from July through to October that has been accumulating, unabated by the disruption of being tidied or sorted.
The dust balls were starting to resemble bowling balls.
Scary.
Hence a small highlight, and I was rather desperate for one by Thursday (and yes, we were out again), was finding a basket of great toddler shoes (Campers and Garvalin) in a junk shop for $2 a pair.
These gorgeous feet belong to the very cute Clementine, a little friend who put them on instantly, and has possibly refused to take them off ever since.
Nice to have one satisfied little person in the world.
And then there was the Christmas prep.
WaRNIng: I'm just going to ramble now, in the absence of anything big to report on, like putting up a stupendously decorated tree or festooning the roof with 4000 fairy lights...both of which didn't and, who knows, may never happen if I don't get my mo-jo back. And fast.
Found these sweet blue + white wooden decorations on holidays. I'll pass them on to a friend of mine who has one of those beautiful Nordic-style all white rooms I sometimes dream about (along with having a toddler who never tantrums and a life free of public humiliations - yeah right), complete with a white snowy stick Christmas tree on which these decorations will serenely sit.
ahhhhh
This book was a great find. I love decorating with vintage Christmas postcards. And because these are reproductions I won't feel evil about cutting them up... Not saying I will cut them up... Just saying.
Oh and we have real holly growing in the garden. I'm not boasting because it has just sprung up from who knows where (is it a weed? I don't know) and I am having wonderful visions of it adorning our Christmas table, food, gifts, clothes, children.... Though it is very very prickly. It would cause a tantrum for sure.
Maybe I could gather it in (gloved) bunches and sell it on ebay? I could be known as the Christmassy woman to come to for holly. Now there's a thought.
Green holly = green holiday accents.
And I loved this Aynsley tea cup and saucer on sight. Its gold floral pattern screamed Christmas at me! And look how well it appears sitting on the red-covered book of Christmas stories I picked up in the same op shop for 50c.
Meant to be.
Am also hoping to follow through on a crafty idea of putting up a wall display of embroidery hoops with Christmas themed fabrics and crafty bits and pieces. Hopefully this idea will be more achievable and visually pleasing than my Christmas craft fail of 2012: Bunting.
(Notice I'm not putting a link to the past post here, as my past enthusiasm was way over the top. So please respect my wishes and refrain from searching for it. I have.)
I only have two hoops so far, so a wall display is a little way off.
Hoop #1 is only about 10cm high. I've framed one of the embroidered Christmas napkins I bought at the Linen and Lace sale a couple of months ago. Love it.
Hoop #2 is about 40cm high. Still deciding what to put in it. This attempt contains a green vintage linen napkin (needs ironing) and some thick cotton doilies that I thought/hoped looked like snowflakes. Hmm. Needs a little finessing before it's ready yet.
Finally, here's some of the holly atop a Christmas gift box. Sized just right for two jars of jam and a box of tea. My ideal gift for a class teacher, or some neighbours. What do you think?
Bonne Maman Blackberry Jam and Bonne Maman Caramel Spread ($5 ea at most supermarkets/delis); Dilmah Exceptional Arabian Mint Tea with Honey ($5 box from supermarket); gift box ($1ea) and holly from the garden. I suppose you could substitute the jam for a sugar-free variety if you knew the recipient had dietary issues.
Still it feels like the perfect gift to me.
May have to make a box up for myself and the terrible-twos toddler. I'm sure he wouldn't complain about being at home more often if we ate jam on toast every day.
Worth a try.
I'll let you know if it works.
Tee hee.
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