Day 6 of the Christmas Advent Swap

It's become part of the routine now....I get up, make breakfast, find the present of the day and make my way to my craft room. I fire up the computer to see if Mrs HMM is up and if she's blogged my gift yet. Or I ring her and see if she loves my gift as much as I love hers to me. I think today's gifts were win wins on both part.

Here is the cutest little decoration for me. Apparently it was going to be a card, but there was too much work in it not to celebrate it. 

What a wee cutie!!

Here's my gift to her- red and white bunting:

Bunting- too nice just to save for Christmas.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow after work as we're planning another craft catch up. We were given our lovely foodie gift bags from work and there's some Christmas mince pies just begging to be shared over a cuppa and some craft.

TTFN Mrs SFP XXX

Christmas Advent Swap Day Five

Oooh I was very spoil today- 3 gorgeous little hand knit stockings from Mrs HMM. Knitted on 4 ply wool- that's sisterly love for you.

Three cute little Christmas stockings.

Very sweet on the tree.

Here is what I gave Mrs HMM- a linen tea towel on which I'd added patchwork squares to the corners. The idea is for her to wrap up any WIPs in to keep them clean and together.

I'm making progress on my Christmas garland. I probably won't have it finished in time for this Christmas, but it's ticking along. It's so nice to be making time to craft for myself and to spend time in the garden. Balance is an underestimated concept.

Growing bag of Gingerbread goodies.

 Back tomorrow with day 6...TTFN  Mrs SFP XX

Christmas Advent Swap Day Four

It's definitely more fun getting out of bed in the morning knowing there will be a present to be opened. I'm still feeling like death warmed up with a nasty cold, but I managed to get a few hours of sleep last night.
It's funny Mrs HMM and I tend to frequent the same shops, but I hadn't seen these gorgeous wee ladies on my travels:

Cute little Russian doll tree decorations, aren't I lucky!!

Six cute little faces looking out from the tree at me- last year it was kittens LOL.

One of five of our kitten ornaments from last year- 2 are now living in Mrs HMMs tree......

Sweet felt decorations which were a WIP for a couple of years and now complete.

 

 

I'm off to read my book in the bath and try and feel better. Can't wait for tomorrow!!
TTFN Mrs SFP XX

It's beginning to feel a bit like Christmas and day Three.

I've been awake most of the night and up since 4.45 am with a painfully sore throat and runny nose. Drat, just the wrong time of the year not to be feeling 100%!!

However, all was made a lot better with opening day 3 of the Advent Swap from Mrs HMM. Look at the gorgeous lavender bag she made me. I have a bit of a thing for the Eiffel Tower, not sure why, and she cross stitched this on the front and stuffed it full of very aromatic lavender. It's a wonder she didn't here the squeal of delight at her house.......well she might have if I actually had a voice this morning. I'm loving this Advent swap....a lot!!

Gorgeous hand embroidered lavender bag...ooh la la.

I managed to drag my feeling sorry for myself body around yesterday and got the Christmas decorations up. This year Mrs HMM and I purchased new trees on a 2 for 1 deal, but they are huge!! Luckily I have a lot of decorations to go on it. As part of the family Christmas tradition I buy the boys a special Hallmark collectible decoration each year. Although if they ever leave home, I don't know if I could let them take them with them. They're boys, so they might be with us for a few more years. 

Here's some pictures of Christmas at our house:

Tree before.......

Ta da....tree afterwards.

Close up of the tree.

Some favourite decorations on a shelf.

Advent calender- non chocolate.

Advent stockings- finally found a use for some of that Christmas fabric I keep buying from Spotlight on special LOL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Advent Swap Day2.

What a nice way to wake up knowing there's a special surprise parcel to be opened up. Wouldn't it be nice (but very exhausting) to do this for 365 days of the year!! I hunted through the box and found present number 2. 

Dearest Mrs HMM had cleverly put together a hand crafted decoration featuring a picture of my lovely Dad as a wee fella sitting on Santa's knee. Boy, did that bring a tear to my eye. You forget your parents were once little and had the same excitement for Christmas that your own kids have. Thank you Mrs HMM, this is very precious!!

My darling Dad as a wee fella sitting on Santa's knee.....melt.

I hope to get the Christmas tree decorated very soon. Unfortunately I've succumbed to a flu bug, so I think I'll just be taking things slowly here today.

TTFN Mrs SFP XX

Christmas Advent Swap Day 1.

On Saturday my sister, the lovely Mrs HMM and our Mum met to exchange presents in our 24 day Advent swap. Mum hasn't participated this year, but maybe next year..... It was so exciting knowing that there are 25 presents to be unwrapped and no one has any clue of the contents. This is very important from a Mummy point of view- most years we organise our own presents as well as everybody else's.

We sat down to a nice morning tea of homemade pikelets and swapped boxes of gifts. Here are the results so far:

My box of goodies for Mrs HMM.

My first present to her.

An Advent Calender- please note the absence of chocolate, Dora the Explorer and Barbie. Not an easy feat these days!!

My lovely pile of booty from Mrs HMM

Mum enjoying a cuppa.

My first gift from Mrs HMM- very appropriate!!

We had a lovely morning catch up, with more presents to be opened. What a lovely way to count down the days to Gods most precious gift to us.

Garden Update....it's been a while.

Sorry, it's been a while since my last post. Things have been busy in the lead up to Christmas. This is my big boy's last year at High School with exams, graduation and preparations for University next year. Younger son has had his first real taste of exams and the pressure to perform. I think I've been more stressed out then he has.

The lovely Mrs HMM and I committed to a Christmas advent swap between ourselves this year. A bit of a frantic last dash before the finish line, but we made it. We've had lots of fun.....I think, and so we've decided to do it again next year. Less pressure when you have the whole year to prepare. More of that to come later.

Here are some pictures of how things are growing in the garden at the moment. The chooks are delightful and getting bigger. No eggs yet, but looking forward to our first one!!

Strawberries, garlic, blackberry and blueberries.

Flower garden.

Eeeek, my guilty secret....hopefully a before picture.

The other side of the garden, unseen by bloggy eyes to date LOL.

My first attempt at growing broccoli, not too bad, but the plants are SO big.

Silverbeet for Mr SFP and the girls, lettuce and peas.

I've managed to fix the irrigation down the back which was a big job- I must of turned it off and on about 50 times. So, I think overall I can see a pin prick of light at the end of the tunnel....if I use the binoculars. I'll be back soon with the Advent swap goodies.

TTFN Mrs SFP XX