Oh Christmas Tree...

Two years ago, I finally gave in to the decision to buy a fake tree. It hurt a little bit... its all about the scent, you see. I'd really rather have a tree that doesn't shed needles, and the fake trees these days look so realistic that you could almost believe they were real (apart from that they're slightly too perfectly symmetrical) but its that fir smell that lacks when you have a fake one... and saying goodbye to that scent did break my heart a little bit!

But with three small children, it really does make sense to have a fake one... and I discovered a candle which totally smells of christmas tree, and has totally won me over to the whole fake tree thing! So last Saturday afternoon, we braved the attic, got down the tree and its billion-and-one decorations, put the christmas music on, lit the Christmas tree scented candle and off we went.

Operation Deck the Halls began!

We let the girls do the decorating... they were so excited! I had it in my head that I would let them decorate it, and then repair the damage once they had gone to bed. But I totally didn't need to! They did an amazing job, and aside from moving a few decorations higher up the tree (it was a little bottom heavy) I have left it just as they did it!

Of course, the girls had an audience the whole way through... the boys sat on the sofa and watched, and even Bestamor and Bestafar from Norway got in on the spectator action!

We are so excited about our first Christmas with this little man... he is at such a lovely age - mesmerised by the lights and decorations, and always entertained by his big sisters!

After all was decorated, everyone hit the sofa for a christmas movie... and I totally skived on dinner and we got fish and chips.

It was just one of those days, you know?!

Let's just say there were no complaints!

Any of you been won over to the fake tree side? Or are you all hard-core genuine tree-lovers?!

How To Make A Christmas Rag Wreath

Ever since my year spent living in Austria, wreath-making has been an annual part of my Advent... whether it be a candle-wreath, or a door wreath, there is something lovely and festive about those colourful rings...

This year I went for a slightly different angle.

I am so thrilled with my rag-wreath, dirt cheap to make, quick and easy... you genuinely need no craft skill at all to make it... and even the kids can get involved! As long as you can knot, you can do this!

I led a workshop making these last week at our Church Christmas Craft Evening, and showed 42 women from our local community how to rustle up themselves a wreath... and without exception they were thrilled with their creations, and all commented how quick and easy it had been!

So I thought I'd share a little "How To" on how to make them... if you have a free 45 minutes somewhere, why not give it a go?

YOU NEED:
1m garden wire
Material/ribbon in your colour scheme of choice

Step 1: 
Cut your material into approximately 75 strips measuring 3/4" x 5"

Step 2:
Bend your garden wire into a circle with a diameter of approximately 20cm. Double it up and twist to strengthen.

Step 3:
Tie each strip onto your wire with a simple knot and bunch them together...

Step 4:
Once you have knotted all the way around your wreath, use a little decoration to create the top (I used little mushrooms on wire, but you could use a bell, bauble or some holly!)

Step 5:
Stand back and admire. I loved this craft... a little project that is so effective.

Watch out... I think there may be some seasonal wreaths planned for next year!!

Why not have a go?!

October's Coming...

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers!" 

Anne of Green Gables

I've always been an Anne Shirley fan... And maybe this quote is why... I am always, always ready for autumn, no matter how wonderful, or how terrible, the summer has been. Autumn calls with its golden hues, vibrant leaves, cosy scarves and darkening evenings.

It always has been my favourite season.

I am so ready to pull out winter boots and warm woollen jumpers... I am ready to plan trips to pumpkin patches and firework displays, I am ready to cook up a storm with roasted squash and spiced apple. 

Ready to thank God for his provision... autumn points to the giver of life... As we harvest crops, the season of thankfulness begins. An opportunity to reflect on all we've been given.

This week I will sit down with the girls and we will write our autumn bucket list. I have no doubt it will include leaf crafts, hot chocolates and a certain pick your own patch...

But I'm after inspiration... Any favourite autumnal activities, leave them in the comments section below!

In the meantime, we're gearing up to welcome October...

Are you?

"Listen, the wind is rising and the air is ripe with leaves, 

we have had our Summer evenings, now for October eves" 

Humbert Wolfe 

Goodbye Summer...

It's rained a lot this week, the evenings are closing in earlier and Heidi and I baked apple crumble this week... That means only one thing...

Autumn is on its way.

And with the arrival of my favourite season comes the slow farewell to summer; goodbye to warmer temperatures and long evenings, goodbye to the freedom of summer holidays, goodbye to bare feet and tanned shoulders. Farewell to a summer of wonderful memories made.

And so our little house is ready for the changing seasons too... Beach scene frames look out of place in front of a rainy window and blues and whites are ready to be packed away in favour of oranges, reds and browns...

It's been a wonderful summer, but I'm ready for change...

Autumn, my old friend, you are welcome here!

Our Easter Weekend...

There were Mini Eggs, chicks, Easter bunnies and chocolate galore, but it was not those things that made our Easter this year. Instead it was remembering the real meaning...

Good Friday kicked off with a fabulous family service at church where some of the Easter characters shared their stories. The girls were mesmerised... and it brought the truth of this amazing season back home for all of us. I won't deny I shed a tear or two when listening to "Mary Magdalene" at the empty grave... it was such a creative, helpful way to remind us what its really all about...

Photo courtesy of my lovely friend Kirsty!

The afternoon was spent with school friends... an Easter lunch, lots of little people running around, and lots of cups of tea and catching up.. and some little people who were sad to go home/say goodbye at the end of it all. It's been so much fun this year, getting to know Ava's little school friends and their families... we're all on countdown to the big primary school reveal on April 16th now (oh help!)

Easter Saturday was a normal Saturday - finishing unpacking from our trip to Wales last week (more on that to follow), a shop in Lidl and some down time for some girlies still recovering from a fun-packed, full-on holiday. We all needed some quiet time, and Saturday was perfect for it.

And then came Easter Sunday... the highlight of our year, the celebration of the greatest day in history. And it kicked off in the usual fashion with our Easter breakfast... hot cross buns, strawberry jam, a good amount of chocolate (yes - even a little for breakfast... are we bad parents?!?) and the highlight... the revealing of our Easter garden; the dead leaves and flowers were gone, and replaced by a lively, colourful garden... and the tomb? Well, the stone was rolled away, and the carefully laid linens had disappeared...

JESUS IS ALIVE!

The girls were delighted with their goodies, and we bookended our breakfast with the Easter story from a combination of the Bible and their children's bible...

Church was celebratory, with a couple of wonderfully moving baptisms thrown in, and was just as it should be. A joyful remembering of all that we have to be thankful for... and more important than all else, the Saviour who has made us right with God... and is living today! If you want to find out more, check out this video...

I think as I get older, Easter means more every year. I guess slowly (yes, I will be bidding farewell to my twenties later this year!) as life experience grows, you lose some of the heady optimism of youth. I'm still an optimist at heart, but the last few years have taught me that life is not perfect, that there are hard roads, and valleys, and dark journeys that everyone walks at some point in their life... Easter is a reminder that all is not as it should be, but that there is a plan to make it right again. That this life is not all there is. That this life is not what it was meant to be. There is so much joy and hope in the knowledge that Jesus has done the deal. Made the down-payment. If I trust in him, I have a certain place with him for eternity. So the hard stuff in this life is given a new perspective.

I am daily thankful. 

Easter Sunday afternoon was spent in the glorious sunshine with Dave's brother, his wife and their gorgeous baby boy... a few pictures of our fun-filled afternoon below.

This Easter, as always, leaves me thankful, joyful, grateful, amazed, in wonder...

I am so undeserving... and yet blessed beyond hope.

Happy Easter to all my lovely readers :-) 

 

Spring in the Huette...

Our house is not the only residence on our little piece of property that likes to have a seasonal makeover... our little ladies house also enjoys a seasonal spruce-up, and this spring is no exception. So yesterday, while Heidi napped, Ava and I headed down to the playhouse to give it some TLC...

We took down the remaining Christmas decorations (cringe... yes, the odd few had escaped!) and put some little springtime touches onto the Huette.

Of course, a bit of spring cleaning was the order of the day too!

And then Ava decided to concoct some soup before her little sister woke up...

... to very great excitement! Heidi was thrilled at all the changes in her little house and sat down to eat her soup straight away!

They spent the whole afternoon playing down there, popping their heads in and out of their little house, visiting friends, playing restaurants, travelling to Norway (yes, apparently they fitted that in too!) and looking after their babies. I'm hoping for lots of quiet hours in the summertime adjusting to baby number three while these two occupy themselves whiling away the hours in their own little cosy home.

Spring's greatest joy

beyond a doubt,

is when it brings the children out!

- Edgar Guest -

Spring's in the House!

I make no secret of the fact that I love a little seasonal decoration. Our walls are a pretty blank canvas, which gives me the opportunity at the turn of every season, to inject a little seasonal something into the decor... (you can find out how and why we do that here...)

... Spring has been a little late coming. By the start of this week, my winter decorations had had enough; the white stag was eyeing me suspiciously, the candlelit houses were looking a little forlorn and the lanterns have ceased to be lit. Somehow in the cold sunlight of early spring, the reminders of winter seem out of place, lonely and lost, and yesterday, I finally had the chance to transform it into a little spring wonderland.

A few chicks, some eggs, a little wooden cross and daffodils, daffodils and more daffodils... all helping little hearts and little minds to prepare for the most important season of our family calendar.

Easter is coming!

Our Winter Wonderland... Savouring the Season Finale...

Over these past few years I have learnt there are seasons for everything... savouring the season is not just about what time of year it is, but the season of life you're in as well. For the past 16 months #SavouringtheSeason has been my happy little place for storing up all our seasonal memories, but it has also become so much more than that. It's become a place where I have made blogging friends, where I've discovered some new blogs which I've come to love and where I've been able to nick loads of fabulous seasonal ideas!

But I'm realising, slowly, that I'm entering a new season of life. Come late spring, we are going to be welcoming a new addition to the family, and I want to be able to savour this season now with just the four of us, and then that season as well with our new little arrival... for all its worth.

I have LOVED #SavouringtheSeason, and I have LOVED that so many of you have got involved and shared and supported and encouraged each other as we try and appreciate the small things of motherhood throughout the seasons, and I am sad to leave it to one side, but for now, I feel that #SavouringtheSeason has run its course.

Of course, it may come back one day...

So here we go... my official goodbye to #SavouringtheSeason... of course, I don't intend to STOP savouring the season... I just won't run it as a linky any more, and I won't be feeling the pressure to always produce something on a Thursday. Somehow, when you start feeling pressured, you realise something's gone wrong with your blogging somewhere...


I will still be here, blogging my little heart away, and would love you to stop by, say hi and keep in touch! And of course, I'll still be popping over to your blogs to see all the wonderful seasonal things you are up to...


But as this is the very last one, I wanted you to share your favourite wintery post EVER... it can be one you wrote this year, last year or five years ago... but share it below, and I'll leave you with some cosy pics of our little winter wonderland here in our little corner of London...

Please make an EXTRA special effort today to pop round the other blogs who have linked up and leave a comment, and don't forget to keep visiting each other in the absence of the linky!

THANK you for all your fabulous support and encouragement over these past 18 months... I'll be back running a linky in the summer with #GetGoodSummer...

... see you there!

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Advent Day 22: Christmas in the Hytte...

Our little piece of Norway is situated in our back garden...

In a little corner, right by the vegetable patch, is a cosy little Hytte specially built for two little ladies.

In the summer, it is practically lived in... in the winter, its been a little quieter down there as bugs and colds have hit us hard.

But this weekend, while two little girls were enjoying "nap time", Mama went down to our little Norwegian haven and turned it into a winter wonderland fit for two little people.

A few baubles, a christmas tree and a move around of the furniture and the place was transformed.

Needless to say, the little people and their friends spent most of yesterday afternoon cooking up a storm down there.

A few Christmas nibbles.

And a little place to rest, ready for Father Christmas of course...

Our little piece of Norway... Christmas Scandi style...

A special Merry Christmas to all our Scandinavian friends and family today. xxx