The Christmas Slideshow

Well I certainly couldn't have done it without the help of my youngest daughter. Any of it really! It's all done and the day went really well. We even managed to find time to walk the dogs after lunch. I hope everyone's day was happy and as restful as it could be.

Happy Christmas Everyone

   That's it what isn't done isn't done. The house has had a last minute tidy up, the dogs have been bathed and the presents wrapped. I'll worry about the food in the morning but for tonight we are opening a bottle of Baileys and enjoying a chat in front of the fire. I'm almost too scared to take the dogs for their evening walk incase they get dirty before the big day.

Bud In His Christmas Neckerchief.

Cassie is her usual cheeky self.!

Poppy Has Seen It All Before.

    As if by a Christmas miracle poor little injured Sammy the cockatiel flew across the room whilst I was cleaning out her cage. When I rescued her and put her back for the first time she started balancing on her perch. She needs to steady herself with her beak but it is such a step forward we're so pleased.

   Happy Christmas to every person who reads this blog and their loved ones. I hope you all have the happiest, safest and most peaceful Christmas ever. Jane xx.

Too Fat To Fly!

   I went to my Mum and Dad's house today and the little robin was never off the new bird feeder all afternoon. My Mum says it starts in the morning and keeps going until dark. If it carries on like this it will be too fat to fly by the New Year I said. As I was looking through the Christmas cupboards this evening I thought to myself I better be careful else I'll end up like the little robin!

    I'm still pressing on with the Christmas slideshow and video but I'm getting a bit worried I won't get it finished by Christmas Day. I'll try and get some music for it tomorrow but I need to take some more Christmassy videos and everyone but my youngest daughter doesn't want to be in it. I bet Steven Spielberg doesn't have these problems.

A Day Of Bargains

  We went to out local charity saleroom today not to buy stock but to try and find a new (secondhand) rug for Christmas. We have varnished floor boards in our rooms but it can be cold particularly on windy days, as draughts blow through the gaps, and if storm Barbara is on the way we want to be prepared. There were lots of modern looking rugs but we found this one we liked, it is ever so big and in lovely condition. It is so big I struggled to take a photo of it in our little room. It only cost us £15 and when we got it home I noticed the label on the back is Laura Ashley. I'm sure it would have been over £100 new. It made my day to find such a bargain.

   When we got back we walked down to out local Co-Op to buy our turkey. We had £31 worth of points on our Co-op card so this turkey was free and we have another £10 to buy some wine for Christmas Day. It's a shame I'm a vegetarian I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more knowing what a bargain it was!

   I took another Christmas photo for the slideshow today. This little fairy has been tied onto our wreath on the front door since the children were little. Every year she blows about in the wind and rain and I always feel a little sorry for her. As I was putting the wreath out this year her string broke and although I tried to tie her back on she wasn't very secure. I didn't want her to blow away when we have had her so long so I said "That's it you can retire inside to the Christmas tree.!" I think she possible looks slightly relieved with the way things have worked out. 

Why I Love The Winter Solstice

    Today, the Winter Solstice is a day I look forward to. I go into Autumn thinking of cosy evenings by the fire, crisp frosty walks with the dogs and of course Christmas. To be honest by this day every year I'm getting a bit sick of it! I'm worrying about heating bills, most of the sunny frosty days just seem to be cold rain and mud in the park and Christmas is all getting a bit stressful. However today is such a positive day. I can start counting down to spring and all the things I love to do. Even though January and February can be cold and miserable I can see every day a few minutes more of light. Today apparently we get just 7 hours and 49 minutes of daylight, but every day there will a couple more minutes added on. Every evening when I walk Bud I think won't be long before we are walking in the light in the evening and every day the hens get put to bed a tiny later. Definitely a cheerful day!
    In our countdown to Christmas things are going quite well. We are still using local shops and tomorrow we will be buying the turkey with points saved on our Co-Op loyalty card. Last minute presents will be bought tomorrow using my eldest daughters Amazon prime for next day delivery. I'm a bit bothered things may be going too smoothly, something has to go wrong! I hope everybody is having a stress free run up to Christmas.  Here is another photo for our Christmas slideshow.

 

No Time For Work

    That's it I'm too busy getting ready for Christmas to work. I wish I could close my ebay shop until after Christmas and put a closed for Christmas sign on my two websites. Unfortunately it's not really an option but it's so hard at this time of year and there is nobody else but me to do the work. Last week I got a Christmas email from a customer who said Happy Christmas to you and all your staff! It made me smile, so that's me and the dogs then sitting in the little scullery at the back of our old house that we have converted into an office for me. My staff! What a laugh!
   I went to my Mum and Dad's house today and was thrilled when my Mum excitedly told me the robin has been on the feeder all day eating the special robin food I bought. She was so pleased. The food must be very nice as I thought it would take a week or two for the birds to get used to it. I think I may buy some for the robin in our garden.
  Here's another of the Christmas photos my youngest daughter has taken for the slideshow. It made me smile as Tom and I were out when she took it and our old beagle who is 14 is happily lounging on Tom's chair when he is not there and Cassie our little Yorkie is sitting at the window waiting for us to come home. What goes on when we are out!

Countdown To Christmas

   My youngest daughter has been taking photos ready for Christmas. We had the idea that we would make a video and add a slideshow of the photos to send to my Mum and Dad as they can't get over to us. I'll have to get it done for Christmas day so we are starting now. Youngest daughter is very artistic and all the photos are being carefully planned and taken. Here is the first photo, I'm not sure that they will be thrilled to see our constantly leaning Christmas fairy but I am bowing to her superior artistic leanings and will include it!

     There has been a lot of talk on the news today about 999 calls to the police that are wasting there time and we were laughing today about an incident that happened to my eldest daughter. She is in CID now so is not affected the same but when she was in uniform she did a night shift on the front desk of the police station. At about 11pm a woman brought in a goldfish in an ice cream tub which was swimming in a very sickly way on it's side. She said she couldn't find a local emergency vet. 

    My eldest daughter who is very kind and an animal lover spent nearly an hour, much to amusement of the other PCs on duty, going through the phone book trying to find an emergency vet. Unfortunately not one would agree to open the surgery at midnight for a goldfish and by this time the fish was floating in a very ominous way. The woman snatched the ice cream tub and as she left said "You have been hopeless. I'm going to write to the local paper about our uncaring police." Sometimes the poor police just can't win!