Sunday Catch up
Hello everyone hope you had a good Christmas.
It has been a lazy day here today - I am recovering from how not to do Christmas - everything went wrong at the last moment - but Christmas still happened even though not how planned and I nearly made myself ill in the process. But apart from that it wasn't too bad. Needless to say that is not going to happen again so I have decided to start Christmas early i.e. from the 1 January 2013 in an effort to get things done so that I can in future enjoy the run up to Christmas properly and take pleasure in the preparation work.
OH was not around due to his working commitments when he was needed and because at the moment I do not drive and have problems carrying things it became a bit of an unnecessary and sometimes painful slog. I have also decided to budget for Christmas and my preserving exploits from early in the New Year so that I have the pennies there to take advantage of seasonal fruits and also have Christmas paid for without having to dip into the bank account. I also thought that I might be able to pick up some lovely presents for friends and family and/or make the same (taking advantage of if I have a bit more time to play with and get myself organised a bit more. I have already had my large page a day diary out plotting and planning things for later on in the year and I have a large plastic box in which I am going to pop the prepared items basically so that I can find them when they are needed. Besides I am a little tired of the excessive consumerism that seems to hit any kind of celebration it is excessive an a lot of it is totally unnecessary.
Christmas by my reckoning is not over until Twelth night i.e. 6th January 2013 - I still have a few decorations up not many as that was part of the shambles - yes we have New Year's in between but I went round to my local Co-Operative store yesterday only to file Cadbury's Easter eggs in bags (the sugar coated ones) and the Malteser bunny rabbits! I thought that this was more than a little off and out of order. Consumerism Argh!
It has been a lazy day here today the cats have
been sprawled on a sofa each for the best part of the day both sprawled
both comfy thank you very much. Occasionally Missy pops down to check
that I am okay and that I am still in the land of the living and to
sprawl on the new bright red hearthside rug and to roll on it. She is
quite taken with it as am I, I have always been a bit of a beggar on
sprawling on a fireside rug since being small whether there was a fire
there or not (we sadly have the fireplace with a dreadful gas fire in
situ which is disconnected) I would love a proper fire and then I would
be in my element. One day.
It has been grey and dull again today with the occasional drizzle. I
have a lovely new book which I have been trawling through and which I
got for £5 from our local remainders shop (The Works) on Friday called
Gifts from the Garden by Debora Robertson ISBN 978-0-85783-081-4. It
has a lot of lovely ideas in it and some lovely recipes. It will go
very nicely with the other books I have. The idea being to create
presents to give to your nearest and dearest from what you have
available to you including a section on how to propogate your own plants
from cuttings, ideas on how to prepare your own materials for gift
wrapping, making home made cassis, mushroom ketchup, herb cushions, moth
repellants, fabric conditioner, Antiseptic vinegar, fragrant
firelighters, home made cosmetics, lavender ironing spray, lavender hand
warmers; parsley dog biscuits, Queen of Hungary water, etc etc etc. It
is basically a little gem of a book with some lovely simple green ideas
in which has a different take and a very creative bent on those things
that many of us could have to hand with ideas of what to add to expand
the repertoire. It is nice just to occasionally slob out and come too
and breathe again and to start plotting and planning for the year yet to
come.
I always have mixed feelings at this time of year as it is sad
to say goodbye but it is also exciting because something new is coming
in to replace that which has come before and to rejuvenate our situations. As one door closes
another one always opens.
Here's hoping that you have as relaxed an
afternoon as me.
Pattypan
x
Sorry to hear that Christmas didn't go according to plan this year. It's like gardens though - there's always next year:)
ReplyDeleteHi Rowan
ReplyDeleteIn the greater scheme of things I am very lucky; its just that I had put a lot of time and effort in before Christmas which all seemed to have gone to pot a bit. Never mind its just frustrating on the creative bent. But as the saying goes we learn by our mistakes - hence for me doing things right from day one this year I want to make things where I can so that come next year I can really get into the swing of things and a less commercialised life style and Christmas. Its made me realise more about who I am and what I am about and that I need time to do things rather than try and do things in a hurry which tends to slow me down. Hey ho things are going to be different a strong learning curve.
Take care
Pattypan
x
Yeah we really don't need that much stuff to have a great time do we. First time ever that we just got six slices of turkey instead of getting a full bird. Miss the thrill of making use of the leftover though...
ReplyDeleteI have been reading the last couple of your blog posts (January 2013 - backwards) and it appears we have much in common. Actually, I have been reading your blog off and on for the past couple years. Lasped due to stolen computer and all my "favorites" were lost, but I recently found you again.
ReplyDeleteI started planning for Christmas 2013 just after Christmas of 2012 ended. Due to health issues of other family members (my sister and her husband)there basically was no Christmas this year. I decided that I wasn't going to let that happen again, so the plan is to have back-up preparations in the future - even if I end up staying home on my own (which is not a bad thing).
Part of my planning is to get organized for the holidays. I don't do a lot of decorating, but I do want to do more baking and knitting for gifting. I have a big filing system for recipes which I just cleaned out (duplicates and those I know I will never make). The holidayish recipes are all going into a notebook for quick access. I also made a list of all the holiday food items(Thanksgiving, Winter Solstice, Christmas Eve, Christams Day, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day) that my extended family (I'm single)tend to serve. I can print that off and use it for menu planning. Those are the recipes in my notebook along with the recipes I want to use for gifting. I have also collected recipes for other items that I have never made and will be testing them out to determine the best tasting (7 or 8 pumpkin bread recipes)for serving and gifting.
I knitted several simple hats, neck warmers (cowls), shawls, and scarves for gifts this year with a little bit of baking too. My knitting "likes" are simple items - what I call "mindless" knitting. I don't want to have to do alot of counting, etc. This type of knitting can be done while I watch TV. So for 2013, I will be on the lookout for those type of patterns - and of course they need to be practical.
Decorating is kept simple. Evergreens, holly, natural beeswax candles, and a few older/vintage kitchen items (pudding molds),etc. around the small home I live in.
Less commercialism and consumerism are both important to me.
Wishing you the best in 2013.
Diane / Washington State, USA