Have a happy holiday!

Wishing readers of my blog (hoping for many of you!)a happy holiday. I am making sure I get to relax myself! Watching TV, knitting (skater hat for my nephew), eating good food (too much of it of course), reading, listening to the radio, taking walks with my dog....

My oldest daughter went to her first Christmas ball at the Junior High school and had to have a new dress of course. She got her hair cut and had recently gotten a pair of high heeled shoes, so she was all set for the event of the year!She had a friend come over so they could get dressed and put make up on together. Here she is to the right.

Showing off this year's and previous year's presents

I usually show off some stuff that others have made for me/us, and this is of course the "bestest" time of the year for that!
my aunt made my girls advent calendars when they were babies; here is one of them.
My sister made them stockings some years back. At the time we still kept the tradition of savingsome of the presents for Christmas Day (the Canadian way) so she made them really big. Now the girls have to dig into them- down to their shoulders- in order to find the goodies hiding in the toe, haha. But no complaints- and the stockings look great hanging by the fireplace!
This wall hanging of a Christmas angel she made me a couple of years ago and I just love it! This year I hung it in the kitchen where I can look at it more often than when I had it in the hallway.


My niece was quite young when she made us this wool angel.It's in my living room every year!

My mother in law painted this and gave us for Christmas when we still lived in Canada.


This year I got a beatiful vintage style table cloth from may sister and family. I put it on the dining room table as soon as I got it! love it, sistah!!!


AND she made us this gorgeous wall hanging that we can put up for Hallowe'en. Isn't that great!?!? Who else has something like this in Norway!!! She is really getting to be a wiz with the needle!


AND IT DIDN'T EVEN END THERE!: She took a sewing course before Christmas and learned how to make these little purses- and I got two of them!!!!! I am so overwhelmed and grateful. All those hours of beatiful handcrafting- for ME.

My Christmas presents got done! Believe it or not!

I had to use the wee hours to finish the table runner for my mother. The damned mistakes I had made earlier took me hours to undo. And still...well, I told her that it had a built in hobby "Find at least 5 mistakes". If you have nothing to do one day, go hunting for little blemishes... Still- it turned out nice i thought.

My sister also got the shawl I knitted. Hope she'll like it..

I also finished my husband's sweater, but chickened out about the assembling the parts.
Tomorrow I'll call a lady in town who does that kind of work for people. I'll post a photo of it when she has done the job!

Decorating is a fun hobby!

And decorating for Christmas is an event that is even more fun- because it only happens once a year. I love doing it. (And when the New Year is here- I am more than ready to clear it all and reclaim my living room!)
One of the things we do is get some fir tree branches to put on the fireplace together with dried slices of oranges. I also bought two new baubles for my silver tray...My redwork tablerunner comes out (my grandmother made it for me years ago- and I just love it so much!)I buy one of the traditional plants you'll find in every home at this time of year (can't stand them when Christmas is over- but right now I love having one..)The kids have made santas out of little clay flower pots at school, and I have made a salt dough santa and a fabric wreath years ago- it all comes out as it should!
I bought two silver baubles for the window too this year. (Yes I know the band for the birds is upside down outside - never you mind!!)

Merry Christmas!

I can still say that, can't I -- even though it is the 26.th of December.
I admire everyone who found time for blogging during the last days before Christmas! Personally I had my hands full with some baking, helping Mom, working full time, and at night knitting ans sewing to finish the presents!
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Anywhooooo- I have soooo many photoes tp show off now! All good things will come to those who wait, you know. And today I woke up (too) early and decided to make up for all the days of no blogging:My daughters baking gingerbread cookies:

We have thought of the birds this year,too. Here they are making all kinds of birdfood. We were hoping to attract birds of all kinds. We know for a fact that the squirrel is a sure guest!!


It is a tradition for us to go to the local tree farmer the weekend before Christmas to pick out our tree, bring it home and decorate. That is an evening almost as sacred as Christmas Eve for us.(Christmas Eve is the main Christmas celebration day for us in Norway.) The Christmas CD comes on, some cookies come out and we all collaborate to make the living room as christmassy as possible. This year we went for the blue and silver, but my husband insisted we still put on our Norwegian flags as well as his Canadian flags that he made himself!

Second candle lit. Proudly presenting selected crafts!

I have put my Christmas curtains up in the kitchen, here they are.And here's the funny thing: I had finished the crocheted ones last year and hung them proudly up like you see on this photo. THIS year however; I noticed that I have only made picots along the edges of the ONE curtain, not both. Howe could they hang there all last Cristmas without no one noticing??-- won't bother with it though, I'll finish the little picots after Chrismas beefore I wash them and put them away. No perfectionist on this end unless you haven't noticed!!


My sister made me this lovely decoration some years ago. It is put out on December 1. every year. Nice, eh?


I am VERY near the last stitches of my seemingly never ending shawl! Thought I was about to give up when I was at 200 stiches, but I have been faithful and will finish it today. Then I will wash it -and HOW THE HECK am I going to find a good spot for blocking it? Any tips will be appreciated!
Here is another item my sister made me years ago. I have used it so much- and still love it to death. I have had to repair some of the crocheted stitches here and there because of wear and tear! Lots of hours went into crocheting this beautiful table cloth- but it was given to a person who really, truthfully and sincerely appreciated the gift!


A last picture of my felted Christmas gift bag. I have never felted with Peer Gynt yarn(do they make it any more?) but I was quite happy with the result. The glitter yarn came out nicely too, not too gaudi looking. maybe not easy to see it on the photo...


I am planning on starting a skater hat for my oldest nephew this week, shouldn't take too long knitting it. My knitting cafe partner, Marianne is coming over on Tuesday, bringing her knitting, so I 'll start it then probably.
The next photo is of my oldest daughter's angel craft. She made it in school last year and I thing it is a wonderful piece. in fact it's been on my hutch all year together with some other cream coloured shabby chic stuff I have there.It came aout a bit too white this picture, but it'll have to do..


Last but not least today I am showing off my daughters yearly tradition of putting out our Santa village. This is a great tip for all you folks who have children at home! They always come home with these little santas form school at this time of year. And- if they had their way they would put them all over the house, one here, another there, and this would drive you nuts when dusting. SO: gather them all, mark a cardboard box: Santa Village and pick a good spot where all the little santas are going every year.Take the vox out every year and assign the task to your kids. We are using my old doll house, too! My dad made this for me- i think I got it for my 4th birthday- which means it is now 43 years old!!!!! Enough about that! (I found a grey hair the other day.I am too devastated to ramble on about that. All I can say is it doesn't match the inside of my head.