T'was the night before Christmas...

Merry Christmas to all of you my lovelies, all around the world.

Santa as he is often seen in NZ, complete with sheep, Kiwi and Pukeko

We have my 17yr old stepson, Wolf Jnr, here for Christmas, and so the day will include me embarrassing myself on X-box, trying to convince him that old Bond movies are the ONLY ones worth watching (a bit of young Sean goes along way), and fighting for the phone (he has a girlfriend now).

We are also hoping to pop by to see the serpentine swimmers - a keen and over-eager group who have a race in the serpentine pool in Hyde Park. They race for the "Peter Pan Cup".  Peter Pan...as in the (ahem) little boy who never grew up... you can  read something into that sly English wit that says as much about the  freezing temperature of the day as the youthful nature of the participants.

Tinsel and poinsettias festive up my false rose display

For lack of interesting, vintage-inspired photos, here are some of our decorations we have out.  I only bought one new thing this year and I can't find it. I think it is lost in the sewing/storage/dumping stuff room - in fact I know will be on the bottom of a pile of stuff along with my sewing mojo!

Instead of new purchases, this years decorations are a bit of a mash up of things we have had before, not a bad thing since the tree was new last year. So it was cheap, quick, and a bit make-do-and-mend.

Our platinum coloured tree, in likeness of the aluminium ones that were popular mid-century (and were too dear for us!)

Easier to see the colour of the tree the without the light behind - I love it!

Mash up of odd bits that made our wreath

I hope you all have a nice day planned, and can avoid some of the stresses that come with it.

May you drink enough that you don't remember what Granny caught you doing, but not so much that you can't hit the post Christmas sales. Get yourself stationed next to the mistletoe and enjoy!

Shona x