January!! (Photo heavy)

As well as the excitement of a brand new year, with goal setting and aspiring to keep resolutions, I think the beginning of January can also be a little sad. All the colourful decorations are taken down, the tree is bereft (see above) and suddenly the house looks bare! The decorations have to be carefully packed away, but I promised you I would show you some of my ornaments, some hand-made by me or by special friends, or some really special ones, tied forever to loving memories. We were supposed to be going down to see my grandchildren, to give them their presents this week, but the snow is so bad in the whole of Britain, (the worst winter for 50 years, according to the News tonight) we have had to cancel our plans. I was going to show these photos on the blog, when I was away, but it looks as if we won't get down for some time, so Christmas ornaments in February would look a bit strange!! A lot of my ornaments are a little 'tired', but they will never be thrown out!

I think I have mentioned Santa below. He is my all time favourite. My Mum got him out a Cornflake packet during the war (before I was born, I hasten to add), painted him red, somewhat faded now, and he has been on the tree ever since.

The next eight photographs are of ornaments I made for a workshop I used to run. Every summer I used to hold a 'Christmas in July' workshop. In the morning the ladies would make a lot of small items in a variety of crafts. They would then be given a Christmas lunch, with turkey and all the trimmings, sherry trifle and cream, tea and mince pies, and in the afternoon they were given the choice between two patchwork wallhangings. It was great fun, and so I have a lot of Christmas ornaments I made for the class.

Very simple wreath wrapped with ribbon

Cross stitch, wrapped over thick card, with either cord on its own, or cord and lace. (above and below)

Mini patchwork squares (about 3" - above and below) and material scraps pushed into a polystyrene ball. I also used 3D paint to edge the sledge - yuck!!

Lace gathered into a wreath and then stiffened.

Paper mache heads made into Santas.

A bad example of Suffolk puffs.

I am really proud of these. I made these with the ladies, but years later, I got my pupils with special needs to make these for Valentines Day. Every one of them managed it, even the boy with cerebral palsy, and he gave it to his Mum!

A crochet stocking. You start off with a Granny square, but on the last row you do some extra stitches, fold it over, sew together and you have a mini stocking!

I also have had some lovely ornaments from friends. This was a gentleman, who knew I loved beading, as much as he did, so he gave me these for my tree.
These ornaments were made by my Mum, who died over 22 years ago. She got a lot of mini milk cartons (the one you get in a cafe for your coffee). She emptied them, washed them carefully, and then got my son and daughter to help her decorate them. I love them!

I got my son to wrap up a lot of matchboxes when he was wee. This is the only survivor!
Thankful Thoughts

The weather in Britain has been dreadful. Snow, snow and more snow! We have had some hail and a little furry here and there, but mainly it has just been cold. I went out into the middle of the bay this morning with our dog. You can see the water is slowly coming back into the bay, and in the other photo, you can see the sun shining on our house. Aren't we lucky? Thank You.

tich