A little bit of Christmas

A lot of folks are showing their lovely Christmas trees on the blogs and Facebook.  I do have a bigger tree which is a fibre optic variety, but these two trees have much more meaning to me, because Geoff and I put in the work to put them together.

The individual days are a kit from a company in Birmingham - their name totally escapes me at the moment, but as soon as I remember or excavate it, I will post it.  They came as tiny pieces of aida, with the paper patterns and needles, threads and frames.  I cannot remember if the ribbon was with them or not, but I think it was.  They did not take long to cross stitch, the ideal project to take away in the caravan over the summer.

Once the stitching and framing was complete, then it was deciding how to best display them.  The suggestions that came with them did not suit our purpose so a bit more thought was required.  The idea for the two wooden trees actually came from another friend who had made one for his wife to display some other little cross stitches.  They were made from some offcuts of wood lying around in the shed.  I think the trees were painted with Humbrol, but it might have been ordinary emulsion, I cannot remember.  The trunks were painted with Sadolin outdoor treatment because that was what we had.

I have not put much in the way of decorations up this year, partly because the decorators have only just finished, but these had to come out as they were hand made as a joint effort between Geoff and me.  So they have great sentimental value.  

Christmas to me has always been a mixture of old and new.  I have several tree ornaments that are certainly from my childhood, and some that are older than that.  We always tried to buy something new each year, even if it was just one bauble.  We have never colour co-ordinated in any way, preferring the more gaudy bright colour mixes

I will show you another historical treasure tomorrow.  Meanwhile, I am off to do some dinner and relax after finishing and getting rid of the last few cards.  Never again shall I do 130 cards in one slow panic.  I hate doing more than one copy of a card, let alone 130, so I shall start early and just play with all the stamps I have, keeping a list for who each card is intended for.  I just need to find room this afternoon for the Sainsbury's delivery and then Christmas will be here.  I am not shopping again apart from filling up with diesel, until New Year is over and done with.

Google is having fun with my photos all by itself.  Look what it has just done with this one.  I still have no idea how this is working.