Christmas preparations, a gorgeous gift and little visitors

Today Lyndal and I headed into Civic for a little Christmas shopping. We had a lovely time getting a few needed gifts and I managed to buy a dress!!! Very hard usually for me to find one that fits and today I found 2. Am beginning to think I should have bought the second one as well. We just had to stop for a coffee and some scones and these were the decorations nearby.

 I was very spoilt on Thursday when Fiona visited as she gave me this gorgeous, framed stitchery for Christmas. I just love it and have just the right place for it once the decorations come down.

 This saying is so true! Friends are so special.

 This afternoon I think I have finished wrapping all the gifts.

 When we arrived home, we were so pleased to see little Benny and Sammy visiting. I had bought this Little People nativity a while ago and it was fun to get it out for them to play with.

 They had been for a swim and as it was hot they just had their nappies on. So cute!!

They enjoyed a lovely rumble with Mum and with Pa.

 Then it was time to do a little preparation for the next few days. This chocolate slice is a beauty....thanks Janet.

Must make a bit more shortbread but probably have enough for tomorrow.

 The peppermint crisp meringues are baking right now!

I think dinner tonight will be very easy as there is lots of eating to be done in the next few days!

Parties and gifts

The last few days have been very busy with parties and celebrating. On Wednesday night we celebrated with the Friday night stitchers but I forgot to take any photos. I then had lunch with these lovely ladies yesterday. Delicious food and such special friends.

 In the evening, it was time for our party here with the Wednesday night class ladies. The "ladies of the night" brought yummy things to eat and we enjoyed a delightful evening together.

 We even had a special guest as Fiona was in Canberra visiting, which was very lovely. She took all the photos with me in them and I didn't get one of her!

 Thanks ladies for a lovely year of classes and for coming last night.I had a gift for Fiona and can now share it with you as she has it. I stitched this nativity picture from Anni Downs panel to hang on this frame and decorated the teatowel below.

It's nearly Christmas...

Where has the last week gone!!!! Not long now till Christmas. The decorations have been up for a while and do make me smile as I wander around the house. This wire tree is still one of my favourites and I have overloaded it a bit this year. The new decorations are on the tree...Anni's little bags, my dresden plates and the little felt ones too. I also made the little red Marg Low one this year with the reindeer on it. Some of the others were made years ago but are still special.

 This metal tree holds some lovely hardanger, cross stitch and lace decorations. Thanks Fiona for the hardanger ones!

 Here are just a few other little areas in the house.

 My teddies are much better behaved than Lisa's....or I think they are!

 The tree is very full! Little Sammy enjoys taking one decoration off when he visits.

 Couldn't resist making this one though! Thanks Barbara for the inspiration.

 We were treated to these yummy honigkuchen yesterday at the shop. Barbara P cooked them and brought them to share and we were very pleased to help her eat them! It was her Grandmother's recipe and she came from Germany.

 Barbara is also making this gorgeous table centre! Looks so beautiful

 Josie has been busy too and made her lovely dresden plate by MACHINE!

Parties and a few finishes

Last Saturday we had a lovely Christmas dinner and party at church. I took a few photos early on and then forgot all about the camera. The food was great ( I helped make a warm vegetable salad) and it was a really lovely night. You were supposed to dress up a bit Christmassy and some of the outfits were amazing. I wish I had taken photos of some of the children. Here are Meryl (great hat!), Sue and Kathy all dressed up.

 The decorations were really good too.

Nice to see some lovely stitching too, on Tuesday at work. Anne has done a wonderful job making a decorated hanging from this wonderful panel. Looks so good. The stripy border works very well.

 If you look closely you can see that she has added beads and sequins to decorate the tree.

 Audrey also popped in the show me this lovely red quilt she has made for her little fellow's teacher. What a gorgeous gift!

 She also stitched the label!

 I am still doing a bit of Christmas stitching and here are two more of these little felt decorations.

 Today we headed to Gold Creek to Sweet Copper for high tea! The food was wonderful and it was just delightful sitting outside in the shade and chatting, eating and enjoying each other's company.

 Little Audrey was so good. She sat in her little high chair for the whole time. She is a good little eater! She even got her own little gift thanks to kind Sue!

 We had a secret Santa too and that was fun. Some of the gifts had gone by the time I remembered to take a picture....the bag had been overflowing.

 Here are some of the lovely gifts.

The ladies also donated a little extra money and we are purchasing some charity gifts for overseas as well.