This blog is for my family primarily, but the rest of you are welcome to join in the perusing as well. :) I'm fairly subtle when it comes to delighting in Christmas for those of you who don't know me. --Pause-- That's a huge lie. I LOVE Christmas and so it has been an adventure to do Christmas in England. Finding the tree was a bit of a saga. You see, all my life I've been a Grand Fir girl--I mean the smell, the look, the feel--this tree is perfect. But over here one can't find them very easily and they've likely been shipped from the US if you DO find them and that just won't do. I like a fresh tree and if I can't cut it myself, it better be at least under a week from cutting. So I did some tree homework on line and found that a Norwegian spruce would be nice and cheap from a hardware store. Mistake. I know better too. Pre-cut and in plastic netting these poor trees probably haven't been living for two months. But, I thought I would be saving us some pounds. Ha! We put it up and notice the wasteland in the middle immediately. So I started trimming up from the bottom and soon we had.... a tree bush. But we thought we'd just make do. Until the next morning when it became quite clear that we were going to have a fire hazard on our hands in two days. Needles are FAR more attractive on the tree, not the carpet. So we went back to the store and got a refund which was nice. The man informed me that a tree shouldn't be dead like that. No kidding. Thus, why I was back with all my Northwest Christmas tree experience ready to let him know I didn't just fall off the apple cart. :) So this past weekend, Mark and I set out down Gloucester road where many different tree vendors had set up. We found our lovely chap on a lot only four blocks from our flat! It was rather amusing too, because the trees were located down a narrow dark alley which opened into a parking lot. It looked from the outside rather like a man in a black trench coat should sidle up and whisper from the side of his mouth "Hey buddy! Wanna buy a Christmas tree?"But it was all perfectly respectable, with lovely trees and a big selection and so we did not have to turn to the black market. We now have a Nordman tree. I cannot remember if it is a pine or a fir so we'll say it's a fir. It's a lovely dark green and has softer needles than our first one. I'm already sold on this type for next year. It's not as fat or thick as a Grand Fir but I think it's just as pretty. As if to prove to us that we had made the perfect choice, once the tree was up we looked around to clean up and... found about five needles on the floor. Yep. Since my vacuum was still FULL from the shower of the old one, this was a comforting thing. And so my Grinch heart grew three sizes that day, because I was getting a bit put out with dear old England and finding trees. But, I have been spoiled living in the Northwest all my life.
So, without further ado, here's my Christmasy home. :) And for good measure I added pictures of my lovely Christmas party with some friends.
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| Linda's creations |
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| Katie mostly behaved herself |
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| Jolsna made fabulous Christmas cards. Caz made work of art cookies, but is taking a break here. |
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| We made wrapping paper and cut shapes into potatoes to stamp on it. Went rather well given that it was our first time. |
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| This is Bryony, my cop friend. You cans see she confiscated some pot from a felon and put it in her pocket. (She later turned it in, don't worry) |
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| Linda showed us how to weave paper baskets |
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| Katie made Barbie and her accesories |
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| Cookie Christmas tree by Katie and I. |
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| Annnnddd... there's Katie. |
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| The desolation of Smaug. The first tree. |
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| There is balm in Gilead. My Christmas flat! |
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| I made a wreath too. |
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| Artsy reindeer shot |
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| I love my advent train. |
