ADVENT

I am snowed in, well actually girls I am snowed out of work , the road to the farm where I work is closed due to snow.. yesterday I only actually got to work because they came from the farm with a four wheel drive, they did joke they were coming in a tractor for me, but a 4x4 car came, still a very hairy drive in though as i actually live in a valley and the roads are both very very steep from my house, so today girls I am having a bonus at home day.

This is the front of my cottage this morning ..

went out briefly with the dogs.. and on my return I rushed in to grab the camera as I was been watched ... the look said I am so glad to be in the warmth .. nice and cosy..

he was watching the snow flakes.. as I had gained a day, I decided to have a me day and try and do only me things.. things i like.. so,

When my eldest son W was a baby I spotted this in the 1991 edition of country living , a hand made advent calender ,i thought it lovely but did,nt want to copy it so, but wanted to make something that would be come part of our Christmas and I could bring out every year , so as I was very into cross stitch. at the time I made this...

its from an American cross stitch pattern, it didn't take long ,I adapted it as it was framed piece in the pattern book.. I added little brass rings to hang chocolates from and D made the wooden hangers..

So for the last 20 years it has been brought out of the cupboard, I like it a bit more every year as its Beginning to look aged.. and I always think of past Christmases,

So I sat with a mug of hot chocolate, a couple of biscuits, played some christmassey Celtic folk music and tied all these chocs on, only the odd one ended up in my mouth officer!

Here it is fully laden . I used to put two chocolates on every day for the two boys, but as eldest is not home for advent ,i have only put two on the odd day ,well the string tier deserves a chocy treat don't you think??

I remember one year my eldest W ate all the chocolate on day two, when i discovered what he had done , he said his little brother had eaten them , Nat was 5 weeks old!! Also the dogs spend time under it as they remember a few usually drop off! Don't you think Christmas is a time for tradition's? Starting new ones and keeping the old ones up.. last year Nat was 16, so decided the advent calender should be put away for grandchildren, ( NOT FOR QUITE A WHILE PLEASE!)but on the first of December ,great wails of you have,nt done the advent , from Nat, so dash to buy chocolate, so I guess the the retirement of the advent is not to be yet.. and I am glad .....what tradition in your home would you be sad to see end??? Linda x x

LET IT SNOW

Well hello girls.Thursday is my usual day off from work, and I was going to enjoy a lie in this morning as I have been feeling a bit yucky, cold and cough, tired and so on, but those of you with children even 17 year old all most adult children will know , the cry of mummm.... sorry to wake you buttt.. how do you make porridge?? Mummm .. mummm have you seen my dissapearing belongings that only you can find , and its snowing , really snowing mummm.... so as I throw back the curtains too early this morning, this was the sight that greeted me...

After porridge duties and finding the lost holy grail , government and politics A level course work,in the down stairs loo of course, the big child announced college is cancelled because of the weather, you should have stayed in bed mum he said, harrrrr.. So me and the old furry babies headed out in to the winter wonderland, so so cold we did a brisk walk i can tell you, could hardly operate the camera..

this beautiful blackbird was trying to feed on the Hawthorne berries, it reminded me i need to buy more bird food and top my feeders up, hope yo all feed the birds?

It was so picturesque... but never stopped snowing...

fergal enjoys the snow but ends up with big snow ball hanging from his fur, Flora has a coat but wont walk when shes wearing it, its only a sheep skin waxed jacket , but i an sure she thinks its embarrassing to see her friends in it!!

All of us were glad we were head back home, berrrrr...

So warmth was needed as I intended to cosy in today and potter about..

This is the original Georgian fire place in the sitting room.. with all the pine cones I have been collecting as kindling the fire was soon alight..

As you can see working full time takes its toll on the house and I started to tidy the sitting room, every body uses it as a dumping ground and its the most used room in the house, so cosy in winter as we have shutters on the windows..

I lite some cinnamon candles I had bought in Kendal in the Lake district, we had a day out there on Sunday, will tell and show about it next time..

Soon I could hardly get near the fire as the dogs crept near the warm..

Edging ever closer....

Real and not so real..

My two mogs Orla and Malachey laid on my snuggle throw and also the radiator is behind them..

They look like they are admiring the dog painting but were actually indignant when the post man dropped things through the letter box ,how dare he!! wake us from our snuggle sleep.

And thought I would share with you the lovely Maileg Danish elf I treated my self to in Kendal, I love them and have wanted one for ages , so jolly,and the wonderful little elephant came this week from the very talented Sarah from north field primitives,you can find her in my blog list, is,nt he adorable??

I love his little rusty bell. They make a great pair don't you think ?

Well just don't know how much tidying up is going to get done as look what the post man brought and that fire is so nice and I need another coffee and I am at work tomorrow and i am not well.. cough cough.. this is what i will tell D latter , when his eyes swivel round the room which is the same as he left it this morning!! Keep warm girls and I will back soon ..

CHRISTMAS IS A COMING,

Christmas is in deed coming.. I work at a family run farm ,farm shop and gift shop and award winning tea rooms and Christmas as been on our minds for weeks .. we have been taking orders for turkeys and geese etc for weeks, and last week I started decorating the very large building a daunting task as we needed a huge amount of decorations, as I am the " arty one " it fell to me!!we had made a huge mdf ring made and with the help of a builder and the farm lads after i decorated it it was hoisted up into the rafters ,then we added garlands. because of the farm connection we went natural, poinsettias, holly ,pine , berries etc, it took me four days , fueled by mince pies been made by the 100,s in the kitchens, every time i went in the kitchen the smell of Christmas puddings and cake over whelmed me and really made made me feel like Christmas had arrived even though its only November! Idecorated all round the old cart doors now windows in fact if it didn't move I decorated it, all the people who work there ( 30 odd ) kept moving!!!

I also have been making 100,s of hampers and have included some Cath kidston which we sell,

mugs and other pretties made it into some hampers..plus a few chocolate Santa's and walkers violet creams also a few went into my mouth!!! .

But the most exciting development at work was the arrival of two young rain deers, Santa left them with us ,but of course he will need to borrow them back next year as Rudolf and Blixen will be getting old,but not this year as they need to do some growing, they are so sweet and very gentle pair and we have done lots of owing and haring over them.... no names yet, any suggestions?.

But soon they will look like this..

As I have been decorating work I have began to think about decorating my home, i love decorating and have collected X mas decorations over the years , I usually have two tree and huge 9ft artificial tree in the barn/dinning room ( if its finished after my flood, progress so slow)and a smaller real one in the sitting room , but I have turned to American country living for inspiration ,so hear is varied Christmas styles to give me and may be you some ideas...

really like the kitsch santas..

love this traditional room ,but I also love this retro mannequin look erm??

I have bought all the Christmas magazines as they are my favourite of the year,I get so excited ,when the ones I subscribe too drop on the door mat, love country homes and interiors ,homes and antiques great ,but I feel very disloyal saying this ,as i used to be my favourite Christmas mag by a mile, but country living was very disappointed, no real Christmas homes featured and ho I don't know just disappointing, even the cover was,nt the best,so i will leave you wit h a picture from the cover from a couple of years ago, wonder why i love it so much!!! hope you have a great week ,whats left of it and hope I have put you into a Christmas mood, Linda x