All the Christmas Feels

The last week has passed in an exhausting, festive blur and while it's been fun, I'm ready to stop now. We finished work and school on Thursday lunchtime. My colleague gave me a manicure after work and I was feeling bold so I chose to add glitter to my nails. I rarely paint my nails (the drying time interferes with crafting) but I love this bit of Christmas sparkle. Then we got dressed up and went out for our staff Christmas party which was brilliant fun. It's so nice to get dressed up sometimes, and see all my lovely colleagues in their beautiful outfits when we usually see each other in our everyday work clothes. 

Friday and yesterday were industrious and productive. John took the kids and the dog out for a couple of hours so I could clean the house, which was in a pretty disgusting state. I did enjoy this brief moment of solo housework and tidying up the piles of crap that accumulate all around the house when we are busy. I get so little time alone, to myself, and I treasure it, even if I am steam cleaning the floors. The Big Food Shop was delivered, then I went to Waitrose to collect the turkey and ham and buy everything that was out of stock in my order. I have done five loads of washing and a large pile of ironing. The gifts are wrapped, but they won't be put under the tree until tomorrow morning because Ziggy will, without question, rip them all open if we do. Our Christmas tree is currently dressed in a unique style in which all the baubles and decorations are on the top third of the branches, so badly does Ziggy want to get to them all. The monkey. I do love him though - he is snuggled up against me right now, snuffling and snoozing, like a noisy velvety hot water bottle. While his blue eyes have faded, his fur is still so, so soft. It's lovely. 

I have baked, and then baked some more. Most of this was done last weekend. Do you remember the little baked bean tin Christmas cakes I made back in November? Well I gave them a little festive icing.

I bought ready rolled marzipan and fondant icing and just cut out disks in the same size as the cakes.

Then I finished them with a little ready made edible cupcake topper. Aren't they adorable? Anything miniature is always appealing to me. I initially made these for my grandparents but they also made excellent teacher gifts along with a jar of chilli jam and a bag of peppermint bark.

The peppermint bark I made exactly the same way as last time, and made sure there was lots leftover for us. 

 And there was just enough marzipan and icing left over to ice our Christmas cake. I don't usually bother but it seemed a shame to throw the leftovers away, and I only iced the top.

Finally, I made a Yule Log. I haven't made one of these for a few years and I'd forgotten how much fun they are to decorate. They are much easier to make than you would think - I followed the recipe in Nigella Christmas - and totally delicious. We ate half for dessert last night and will finish it tonight. 

If all that sugar looks a bit much, don't worry, we have fruit in the house. Don't the clementines look beautiful with their green leaves still attached?

But now, I am stopping. My in-laws arrived yesterday afternoon and there is not a lot more I can do to prepare for Christmas, so It's time to enjoy it. I have made my peace with the fact that, for the first time ever, Bella and Angus's crocheted toys are not going to be ready for tomorrow. It doesn't matter. They don't mind. They will have lots of other things to unwrap and we are calling them New Year presents now. I felt guilty for a while but I'm over it. I can't do everything. 

I think we'll take the dogs for a walk this morning (my in-laws have a Jack Russell) and then maybe go out somewhere for tea and cake this afternoon. Or just chill at home, I'm not sure. I've got prosecco in the fridge, chilling, and I bought some Chambord so I can make myself a kir. It's my Christmas Eve tradition.

Merry Christmas friends! I hope you all have a happy, peaceful time with lots of laughter and good food. No doubt I'll be popping back here before New Year so say hello. 

Christmas Gifts: Treat-Filled Jars

Oh my, this last week has been busy. Yesterday and today were busy. Tomorrow, and the day after that, and every day now until we break up for the Christmas holidays on Friday 20th December, will be the same. I've given in to it. Life is full and rich and I wouldn't have it any other way, but I am starting to get the feeling that I'm living in an anxiety dream and I've gone to the supermarket in my underwear. I've still got lots of Christmas presents to make...seven in fact. I am worrying that they will not be done. I have a birthday party to plan from scratch and carry out, cakes, balloons and party bags and all the other things. Christmas cards to write, presents still to buy. It's time to write a Really Good List.

So today, in a free half hour between coming back from the post office and going to help in school for the afternoon, I made these little gifts. You might think it a silly use of my time but activity like this relaxes me. Other might meditate, but I put the kettle on, turn on the radio and make something. It was a pleasing task in that it required very little time or skill, but looks pretty and festive, and cost very little - about £1 per jar I would guess.

You need:

Jam jars - the sort that contain pesto are just the right shape and size.

Small plastic deer, one for each jar. I bought these.

Ribbon - any colours but I opted to match the sweets.

Sweets to fill the jars.

I chose to spray my jar lids white as I had some white spray paint in the garage left over from various crafty things last summer. I then glued the deer to the lids with a glue gun as I didn't think PVA glue would secure them well enough, then filled the jar with sweets, tied a ribbon around it and called it an emergency Christmas present. 

I filled three jars with red, white and green jelly beans. I bought a huge box a few weeks ago, ate all the pink, orange and yellow sweets and saved the rest for these jars. I used marshmallows and chocolate coins for the others. 

I especially love the look of the shiny wrapped coins.

It was good to spend a moment doing this. A small job done. I haven't even had time to bring the Christmas boxes down from the loft yet - the only Christmas decorating I've done is hang the advent calendar. I'll make a start this week. How about you? Have you started to decorate you home yet? Are you busy too? This time of year - it's crazy but I do love it.

Christmas Gifts: Homemade Sugar Scrub

Thank you for all your comments on my last post, particularly the Christmas rant. I feel I should qualify it a little by saying that I do absolutely love Christmas. I made a felt gingerbread house last year, for heavens sake. What sane person does that if they don't like Christmas? I enjoy choosing gifts and I revel in the festive build up - sending and receiving cards, the advent calender, all of it, and I love the big day. It's the countdowns that irk me, the way they panic people into buying, and over buying too. 

I don't think making your owns gifts is superior to buying them; I have chosen to make gifts this year as, for many reasons, we have more time than money at the moment. I'm sure next year will be totally different and there might (hopefully) be more money but a lot less time and I'll be Christmas shopping in earnest. My need to budget and organise is also partly because we have five close family birthdays in December: my mother in law's falls on the 9th, Bella's on the 18th, my sister Anna's is on the 23rd and my sister Katy and her son, my nephew, celebrate their birthdays on the 27th of December. It's joyfully hectic but must be planned carefully! You can't leave all that until the last minute.

So, whatever your thoughts on Christmas, here is a little something that I made this week which is ridiculously easy and very cheap, and takes all of twenty minutes and looks more than the sum of it's parts. If you google "sugar scrub recipes" you will find hundreds of different combinations with different sugars, oils and scents or flavours. Essentially, you need sugar, some oil to bind it together, and something to fragrance it with. Some recipes suggest two parts sugar to one part oil, some much more. I ended up using a lot more sugar and a lot less oil - I just kept playing around with it until I was happy. I found that too much oil in the mixture left too much oil on the skin after use and I wanted my skin to feel moisturised, not greasy. I used:

 2 x 500 ml airtight jars from Ikea, excellent value at only 80p each.

1 kg granulated white sugar

100 ml coconut oil

100 ml olive oil

essential oil - a few drops

Mix the sugar and oils together in a bowl until you have something that resembles damp sand.

Add the fragrance a few drops at a time, until you're happy with the amount and mix well. I chose bergamot oil. Essential oils are very strong and you wont need much - maybe ten drops in each 500 ml jar. Pour into your clean and ready jars.

Pat the mixture down with the back of a spoon, pushing it all the way down to the bottom and seal the jars.

Now the fun bit - play with ribbons, washi tape and labels. If you're like me, bemoan your horrible, scrawly handwriting. 

Admire the pleasing colours.

It will be packaged up prettily with the wash cloths and some other bits and bobs. 

And best of all, there was enough left over for a small jar for me. 

Christmas Gifts: Crocheted Washcloths

I think this post should really be called "Something for the Ladies" as the colours and nature of these gifts mean they are unlikely to be well received by my brother in law. I finally finished something on my Christmas gift list - six cotton washcloths. I'm really, really pleased with how these turned out. The colours are dreamy and the yarn is smooth and soft. The cotton gives them such a pleasing weight and substantial feel in the hand. 

They were a delight to work up, each one taking only a couple of hours at most (and that's with my slow hooking skills) and a pattern easy enough to memorise and do a little of here and there, or an solid hour in front of an episode of Homeland. 

They are basically a sort of granny square, working out from a central circle. The pattern is from here, via Ravelry. 

I used Debbie Bliss Eco Baby yarn, bought from my local yarn shop, and used a 3.5 mm hook. Each cloth measures 18 cm or 7 inches square and cost about £1.70 each to make. They would certainly be cheaper if I'd used less expensive cotton yarn, but I love this organic, un-mercerised yarn and think it was worth the extra money.

Look at them, so neat and pretty in a pile. I want to keep them all.

But they are not for me, and will be packaged up in twos with a jar of homemade sugar scrub and some other bits and bobs into boxes of pampering goodness. 

Lucky ladies. 

A Card For Your Love

Card, buttons and glue - all you need to make a simple card for your love. I had fun playing around with a few different arrangements but decided in the end that the simple, off-white heart shape was my favourite. I like the way it turned out. I will give it to my love on Thursday.

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Thank you for all your very kind comments lately - they really do make my day. I haven't had much time to visit your blogs this week but I will get around to it, I promise. Every spare moment I have right now is spent frantically crocheting for Operation Finish Baby Blanket. It will be finished, but it will be close. As usual. And hello there new followers! It's lovely to have you here and you are very welcome.

An Apple for the Teacher

It is the last day of term here today. At 3.15 this afternoon, Bella breaks up for the six week summer holiday. It has been a crazy couples of weeks, filled with appointments, meetings, errands, messages, things I Must Not Forget To Do. I have a list as long as my arm on the fridge and I am slowly ticking things off. Bella's already busy social life went into overdrive this week with end of term parties and celebrations and her first school trip, not to mention the usual round of after school activities and play dates.

We all really need a holiday. 

But probably not as much as Bella's teachers who, I imagine, are pretty exhausted by now. I've spent the past week making two bags, simple shopping bags with a little applique picture (designed by me but the apple is inspired by one in Chloe Owen's All Sew Up). The bags contain a card made by Bella, a pot of jam, and a bag of homemade fudge. I hope no-one's diabetic. 

One is for Bella's teacher (Mrs C) and the other for the teaching assistant (Mrs B). They are fantastic at their jobs and passionate about the well being of the children they teach, and they have made Bella's first year at school a very special and rewarding time. Mrs B, in particular, worked in Bella's nursery and has known her since she was three. Bella is now preparing to move up from reception to Year 1, where there are more tables and chairs and less sandpits.

In other news, Angus has been having "settling in sessions" at the school nursery, in preparation for when he starts attending every morning in September. On Monday, when I left him, and he cried so loud and for so long that they went to get Bella from her class. (I am not happy about leaving a crying three year old, honestly, but Angus cries when he is left with anyone except John and I, and he really needs to go to nursery and get used to small amounts of independence.) Apparently, Angus stopped crying the minute he saw Bella. They held hands and she played with him. When I went to collect him they were playing with the train set. I don't think he let go of her hand the whole time.