Christmas Blessings

Well, it's nearly time!  'Time for what?' I hear you ask. 
'Time for Christmas?'
No, not Christmas....something even better than Christmas!

This time tomorrow I'll be in granny heaven! My granddaughter is coming to spend Christmas with us.  I'm so excited, and of course, pleased that my daughter and her partner are being so thoughtful in wanting to spend this special time with us.

It's been a tough few weeks but I'm doing ok healthwise and I'm more than able to bounce a toddler, sing to a toddler, tell stories to a toddler, and, er, have a naptime with a toddler!

I may even get some time to work on the crafty things that I have on the go but I want to wait until they're finished before I share them with you.  Both cross stitch and crochet...and I'm having a ball!
Who knew I would love crochet so much?

Now, as most of you know, I don't send out Christmas cards and usually forget presents.  It's only hit me today that Christmas is so close!  How did that happen??

It also only hit me today that Christmas is a lot of work.  Way too much work so guess what?

 I, Environmental Science lecturer, eco warrior, friend of the Earth and everything on it (except worms and slugs...we're more colleagues than friends), have bought disposable plates (paper), cutlery (plastic and yes, I feel bad about it) and foil cooking trays.  There will be NO washing up in this house on Christmas day!

It may be my last and I'm darned well not spending it in the kitchen!!!

Oh, sorry, I got side tracked a bit..presents. We were talking about presents.

Well, I usually forget them completely but there is one present tradition I never forget. As I said, I never send out cards.  Instead I donate money to a charity as a gift to you all.
In the past I've bought goats and chickens, women's legal aid in India, education for children and vaccinations (all through Oxfam).

It's a little different this year.  I have three facebook groups and the blog.  A Stitchers Anon group, a Holmsey Hare group and the Witch's Coven of the Year group....and all three wanted to get a slightly different charity gift which they want to share with you.

The Stitchers Anon page, which is a safe place for my Dickens Characters and of course the Victorian Maids, asked for a donation to made to UNICEF.  And so we did!

This charity helps children living in poverty or in turmoil (war etc) and so was a worthy cause.  We are all disappointed that despite Charles Dickens trying to raise awareness of poverty and social injustice so long ago, we still live in a world where such things exist.

I hope our donation helps some poor child to keep warm this winter.

Holmsey and Fergus wanted to adopt a donkey...and so we did.  We adopted Lorcan!

Lorcan's ears were almost completely severed off when kids chased him into barbed wire.  Poor little fellow.
The Donkey Sanctuary is a global charity and it's such a worthy cause.  What better than to help a donkey at Christmas?

The witches were harder work.  After much discussion, arguments and a few poorly aimed and well-dodged spells, we decided to buy three gifts for you from Oxfam.  I will give you the links and you can see what they are. Can you guess which was ordered by the Coven's walking, talking compost heap (if grrrrrrnnnnghhhhh can be classed as a talking!)?

Just click on the Gifts xx

Gift One
Gift Two
Gift Three

Please read the details fully as the gifts are not as they would seem on first glance... Horace's gift certainly isn't. Well, a gift from a compost heap wouldn't be, would it?

The witch's gifts correspond to some of their stories which are on fb.  If there's demand, I'll put them up here too..there's still a few to go but we are nearly there with all twelve!

Talking of gifts, I had some lovely surprise post from Cath, of  Stitching Chicken fame!  It was completely unexpected and brought a smile on a difficult day.  Thank you so very much Cath.  It's gorgeous.  And chocolate raisins, they are one of our five a day, right?

I love the little hare mug...it's perfect.  It's all perfect.

And on that note, I will leave you.

I want to wish you all a happy, healthy, peaceful and safe Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

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