Before I go....

Thought I would show something before I go. This is a painting from a little friend of mine. One day I saw a lovely sculpture by him at his aunts. It was just so artistically done and I told him so and said he should continue making art. He is only 9 yrs old and so talented. He must have taken it to heart as two days back I got a parcel and this is what he had sent me. Isn't it so beautiful! I am really touched that he thought to send this to me. Just like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year! Thank you for being such good blogging friends and for all your support through the year. See you all in the New Year.

This and That

Firstly thanks to Chris for sending me these wonderful goodies which I won in her blog. Chris especially went into the trouble of choosing things so that I could use them in my doll making. Thank you so much Chris you are too kind. Sorry I have been bit of a bad blogger lately. It is due to all the renovations taking place in the house that I have just not been able to settle down into anything. Looks like it is all going to take quite a while to do that. At the moment I am going around with a duster in one hand and a vaccum cleaner in the other like a demented woman lol! I somehow got my beads out yesterday and made these which I will be giving away to my nieces. The middle one I have decided to keep for myself but will most probably take it apart as it is a bit too big for me. These bracelets don't take that long to make so that is why I love to do them. One just needs to layout the beads the way you want and string them. They can be done in 10 mins. I am off to Royal Albert Hall today to listen to the King's College Choir. I know it will be lovely. I have always wanted to listen to them live so today is the day

Cards

Today I have just been making a few cards to send to friends. I am sure they won't mind my feeble attempts at card making because the wishes go out from my heart.

Christmas Traditions

India wrote in her post about the traditions she had in her family during Christmas and wanted to know what everyone else did for Christmas. Since she asked I decided it would be better for me to write it down in my blog as it will be quite long. So here is what we did for Christmas when I was a kid

1.The main celebrations for us started on Christmas Eve. We would attend the Carol Service in the evening which was a combined affair with the Catholic Church and Protestant Churches since the town we lived in had a very small group of Christians. The choir consisted of nuns some ladies from the congregation and men's voices from the School of music of which my dad was in charge. Invariably the choir had people singing from all faiths. I always thought that was so nice that even people from different faiths joined us to celebrate Christmas the Carol Service also used to be attended by all faiths.

2. Then we would come home have a quick dinner before we went to the midnight mass.

3. After coming from attending the mass mum would cut the Christmas cake and we would have some coffee or tea with it. I used to be so impatient to open the gift after that lol! Which I did.

4.On Christmas day we used to attend the morning service which is quite early in India so we would be back home by 10 in the morning.

5. On Christmas day it always was a day spent with many friends for us. Since being one of the few Christian families all our non Christian friends would come to visit and wish us on Christmas day. So there would be a constant stream of visitors throughout the day.

6. It is a tradition to make lots of sweets and savouries for festivals in India so mum would make plenty in anticipation of visits from our friends.

7. It is also a tradition in India to send sweets and savouries to your neighbours and it is something everyone does for their festivals so we would go and give this to our neighbours.

8. After the last visitor had gone in the evening. We would then sit and have a very simple dinner as a family and sometimes dad would play some carols on the piano and we would accompany singing.But if we were very tired we would go to bed.

9. We would always have a coal fire on for Christmas.

10. On Boxing Day we spend the evening with some close friends. Each family would bring a dish and we would share and eat. Usually this was like a feast.

. 11. After I got married and moved to a hot place Christmas is more of a family affair 12. Christmas Eve is more of a normal day.

13. Christmas day we go for the early morning service come back and have a sumptuous breakfast with the family.

14. We then give gifts to each other. To make it more of a fun we ask someone to dress up like a Santa Clause so that the kids have fun.

15. Then we go and give sweets and savouries to an orphanage close by.I love that the best as to see each child's face light up when they see the sweets is a joy.

16 Rest of the day is then spent waiting to devour the lovely smells wafting from the kitchen.

17 Lunch is Briyani a traditional Indian rice dish cooked with spices and meat or Chicken you will find a brief description here

18. Then rest of the day is spent relaxing with the family.

My favourite carol is 'It came upon the midnight clear'. I don't like Christmas cake but I do love Panettone. I bought some today and it is yum.....

Christmas tree but no dolls

This year looks like I am not going to be able to put all my dolls under the tree. Infact I don't think I can put any decorations even as there is so much of renovation going on and so dusty. I thought I should at least have my tree otherwise it just does not feel Christmasy. My dolls are all under cover and I just don't have the time or the inclination at the moment to put them all out. I will be going away as well so they will have to hibernate and have their own Christmas party under the covers. I still have to do my shopping where on earth does the time go....

Thank you

First of all thank you to all of you for giving me tips on how to wash my antique laces and ideas on how to spruce up my lovely box. Most of all for visiting and supporting me with your lovely comments in my blog. Chris very kindly gave me an award. She is so generous that she even gave me a choice of 3 awards to choose from so I chose this one. Thank you so much Chris . Marilyn had tagged me sometime ago but it took me so long to write this up as I really don't know any interesting or funny or weird facts about myself. I am just an ordinary person. However I have written something that might or might not interest you about myself so here goes.....

Here are the rules....

1) Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog 2) Share 7 facts about yourself, some random, some weird 3) Tag 7 more people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs 4) Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs

1. I am very petite only 4ft and 11" tall. I even got called a midget once lol!

2. If hubby is away on his business trips I like to switch on all the lights in the house and have the music on loud.

3. I get most of my creative ideas either when I am just dropping off to sleep or as soon as I wake up.

4. Quite a few times I find that my creative ideas someone else has already thought of and just done it lol! Thats ok by me as I know we creative people think on the same wave length many a time.

5. However I definitely do not like when people steal ideas from others and pass it on as their own.

6. When I go to restuarants I like to try different types of dishes.

7. In a group I am more of a listener than a talker but I love to correspond via emails and like to chat with my doll group friends online a lot.

Whew! I did it!

Now I would love to tag many of you but since it is a busy time of the year I would just say this that please take this as me tagging all of you and write a little bit about yourself in your blogs.

Picking your brains

You must think I am strange. You know if I like something I just keep it in view to doing something with it at a later stage. I got this box as a gift well not the box but what was in it, but I fell in love with the box. I think it is beautiful so I kept it long after the biscuits were gone. Now I want to pick your brains on this one a bit cause I know many of you can turn an ugly looking box into a work of art with the snap of your fingers. I am no good with that sort of art so I have to ask you all. I will use this box for something doll related but firstly I would like to know what sort of edging to the box corners would you suggest. The reason is that the box had a sort of black tape to the 4 edges. Unfortunately that black tape was something like an insulation tape which started peeling off and left a horrible sticky rubbery glue residue which I am having trouble taking off. I took all the tape off it but want to replace it with something else. What would you suggest. Should I edge it with some sort of lace or should I use some paper perhaps and colour it. I am in 2 minds really also I don't think I will alter the whole box as I really like the images on it as is. Any suggestions?

Snowy days

I have not been doing much except spend money Lol! A friend posted this link in one of my groups, just thought I would pass this link along for you to play around with it as well cause I just did lol! Hey, I made you a snowflake! Check it out at HERE Post a reply to let me know what you think!