Christmas is Coming

Today I hung the wreath... and decorated the tree to surprise James and Eleanor when I collected them from childcare...

(It's very hard to photograph a Christmas tree adequately. I spent a while tonight with the camera on the tripod, trying different 'filters' on the flash, to get a bit of light and still the glow of the fairy lights. My 'filters' were translucent coloured plastic baby bowls! They weren't all that bad!) Given it's probably my last opportunity to control what goes on the tree, I chose a monochromatic theme of blue; purple through aqua. Next year I'm sure James will want everything on!

I'll wrap the presents on Christmas Eve. There's no point putting them under the tree earlier with Shadow, Cocoa, James and Eleanor around! James made 'reindeer food' (main ingredients oats and glitter!) at child care today, and I'll help him scatter it on Christmas Eve - it needs to be spread out so all the reindeer can get some while attached to the strings (the harnesses!). Father Christmas will fill their new stockings while the reindeer eat. I'll have to see if he thinks Father Christmas might get hungry, too!

Then tonight I finished James and Eleanor's promised stockings. I was really happy with them. They went exactly as planned, without unpicking a single stitch! Joy generously embroidered their names on fleece for the cuffs, and the rest of the outer is quilting fabric. They are lined with red satin.

It's hard to tell in the images above, but the background is a rich burgundy. This is the 6.5" block in accurate colour:
And this block is just 2.5":