...and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even.....

Billy....

my sweetest boy is dozing as we wait for the family to arrive. I opened the last window of my nostalgic German advent calendar, no surprises what was was there ;0) It has been such a joy to see these vintage pictures behind every door for the last 24 days.

Everything is ready. My food delivery arrived on Friday night and the fridge is stacked full. My parents, my daughter and son-in-law, my son and his girlfriend will join us tomorrow for lunch at 1pm. Christmas is such a special time for me. Today is actually quite relaxed and I have made some more mince pies. I have used lots of different cutters this year to decorate them (and yes of course there has to be a pig amongst them, thank you dear Mia x)

Yesterday, despite the flooding on the A27, we managed to make it to the Christmas Carol service in Chichester Cathedral. My son in law was a chorister there between the ages of 7 and 13 so it holds some old memories for him. I do like to attend a carol service at this time of year too and we were invited to join him and my daughter there. The cathedral was packed and it was the perfect place to sing the carols I have known and sung since I was a child.

Afterwards we walked to the cloisters and enjoyed a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie in a very atmospheric setting

My last challenge card before Christmas has a special greeting.(A quick edit added, do you remember my Tradition Santa card here... I just found out it made Top 3 on one of my challenges I entered..woop woop!)

I have used one of my dear Lili of the Valley stamps called Angels with crib. What a sweet stamp this is, just so peaceful. I coloured it using my Promarkers and highlighted with Prismacolor Pencils. I added stamp dimension to the wings to make them stand out. The pine branch die cut is Marianne and the snowflake is from my stash. The papers are Papermania from last year...Enchanted Forest. I so loved them and now have very little left. I added some lovely new ribbon I bought in festive red and green with a gold fleck. I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Sweet Stamping Seeing Double my double are this sweet pair of angels but I also have 2 pine branches here too so perhaps I am seeing double double!
Lili's Little Fairies something new my new is my new festive ribbon I bought.
Totally Gorjuss Easy does it #163 I think that the baby Jesus is really taking it easy in his manger ;0)
Stampin for the weekend anything goes #24
Natalie and Amy Anything Christmas
Cutie Pie #34 Christmas
Really Reasonable Ribbons anything goes #34
Simon Says Stamp Merry Christmas
Divas by Design anything goes #66
Papercrafting Journey anything goes
Winter Wonderland wish upon a star
Crafts and Me Bumper Christmas Challenge
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challengeanything goes #104
Woopsi Daisy Celebrate
A+T Emerald Faeries #38 Christmas

This is my last post before that most wonderful day of the year for me. Thank you for sharing my Countdown to Christmas 2012 and for all the wonderful comments you took to time at this very busy time of the year.I would like to wish each and everyone of you a very Merry Christmas. I hope that wherever you are in the world and whoever you share the day with, as my card sentiment says,

"May Christmas bring friends to your fireside,
Peace to your pathway
And success in your New Year"


My daughter and her husband will arrive around 5pm and my Hb has a half day at work so he will be home soon. We are going to wander down to the pub for a winter warmer and then watch the new Snowman and Snowdog animation on TV.
On Christmas day I will raise my glass to everyone in this world and also remember those who are no longer with us. Celebrate the joys of all the Christmas' past, present and yet to be.  Cheers!
All is at peace in Jane's World.

See you all very soon and I hope that if you have been good that Santa slips something very special in your stocking tonight ;0)

Bye for now,

Jane x

No more days til......

I cannot believe we are here already, it's Christmas Eve and the big day is tomorrow. I am all ready for the family to arrive. My daughter and her fiance are driving up from Essex after work tonight...poor girl, doctors never seem to finish early. My parents will be over in the morning and my son and his girlfriend are with us most of the time anyway! The house smells so festive...mmm and my wonderful tree is still twinkling in the corner. I have even made some of Vivienne's fudge, it is superb, thank you Vivienne for sharing it. Nigella eat your heart out..!

I have my crib up which holds some treasured wooden crib figures we have bought over the years,some
from the German Christmas markets and others from of all places, the Vatican. Their gift shops sells some wonderful crib items.

It's very hard to photograph my crib as it sits on the archway between by hall and dining room. I love it, nothing is really to scale hence the huge hay fork but it is a perfect reminder for me of the season. The wise men are not real wood, we hope to buy those on another German visit.

I cut greenery from the garden: holly, ivy and fir to add to the mood. This year I have no berries on my holly, the hungry birds have eaten them all. Never mind it has been a hard time for the wildlife this year.

I have opened number 24 of my Advent Calendar and would you believe I actually have a number 25...it's such a rarity I have only ever seen one once before. My brother had one as a little boy and I was so jealous he got the extra window. Well it's my turn now, I only had to wait 40+ years!

 (For those who have Eagle eyes this photo was taken when I first put up my calender which is why number 14 is shut. The pictures inside this have been really delightful.

My cards are all hanging in the hall. Here are some of them. You will see that I have also hung the chocolates from here as we are not having our "chocolate tree" as we are in the middle of decorating. I am not sure that my son has spotted them yet as they all still seem to be there! Once they are seen there is usually no stopping him.












The weather for this Christmas has been truly festive, it's the whitest Christmas for many, many years. The last time I can remember thick snow on the ground on Christmas Day was our 1st married Christmas in 1981! I have enjoyed taking all these local snowy scenes.

Some  parcels have started appearing  under the tree (minus those which Father Christmas of course delivers tonight for my children)

The mince pies are made.

The fridge is stocked and the champagne is chilling as it will be such a special Christmas for our family celebrating my daughter's and her now fiance's, engagement.

I have also been busy creating an engagement card with a slight Christmas twist as you can see below - a heart with holly leaf. I had such trouble finding engagement peel offs and this was the very last sheet in a local craft shop.

I also used my trusty heart punch.

I really liked this rather funky heart paper. It was quite hard to get as this is certainly not the time of year to find heart themed paper.

I have used a photo of Milly's ring for the centre of the card. Sadly we did not get to their "engagement" lunch last weekend. It snowed so heavily that we could not make the journey.

This is the end result on the left.
I can't wait to give it to her and Tom. I am also so looking forward to seeing the ring in the flesh and hearing how the wedding plans are starting.

Billy will be getting a new collar. He is very good at not touching the tree but he so likes to give all the parcels a good sniff - this one is not even his!






I have also  received  2 wonderful parcels from my dear blogging and Etsy friend Mia.

This was the snowman scarf I won at the beginning of her Christmas craft calender which she wrote everyday from the 1st December. I was so pleased to win it and it has kept me warm during this bleak weather. But last Saturday the postman arrived with a new parcel from Finland....

Just look what she made for me........................I squealed with delight when I opened it up and found this darling candy pig inside ready to join us for Christmas. Mia knows how much I love pigs. Thank you so much by dear friend. It really cheered me up as it arrived on the day we were unable to get to my daughter's engagement lunch. How kind can someone be??

I think that is now about time to bring my final countdown to Christmas post to a close as it will soon be time to think about welcoming our guests and perhaps opening up the sherry this evening. I have got to work today until 1pm ish but I will then be home until after the New Year, bliss!

I have so enjoyed sharing this countdown to Christmas right from my very first ** days to Christmas post back in November. Thank you for all so much for joining me. I have been delighted to read all the comments and that you too have enjoyed sharing my Christmas traditions and preparations. As I am quite sure you realise by now I really do love Christmas. I am such a kid when it come to this time of the year and I cannot see me ever changing.

So I will close Jane's Journal for a few weeks. I will be back in the New Year and  intend to reopen the pages of my journal on Thursday 6th January 2011. To help to ease us into the new year I will also be holding my very 1st giveaway! Without giving too much away it involves my handmade jewellery and cards...so spread the news and do come back to visit me then.

The final thing I want to do is to wish everyone who reads my blog the very merriest of Christmases and the healthiest and happiest New Year. Enjoy spending time with your loved ones and catching up with friends. 2010 was the year I started my writing blog and it has been such fun - thanks to all of you who take the time to read it.
Here is my last piece of Christmas prose which I would like to dedicate to you all - wherever you are around the world!

Somehow not only for Christmas
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others
Is the joy that comes back to you.


And the more you spend in blessing
The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart's possessing
Returns to make you glad.

(Written by John Greenleaf Whittier)

Merry Christmas everyone!
 
Bye for now, see you in the New Year
 
Jane x