A Painting and Other Things

After having a wonderful Christmas dinner that turned out just as it should, we opened our presents and all three of us were lucky enough to receive some lovely things.




Notice the Disney films? I collect the animated feature films and LM had bought me four! Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas and Dumbo. Lise bought me The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspain so I’ve plenty to watch this week :)

One present really brought tears to my eyes though.




This is a picture that my best friend Jo painted for me. Now she’ll be the first to admit that she’s no Van Gogh but there’s a story to this.

About a month or so ago she came to stay for a girly weekend. We had a laugh, solved the world’s problems (as you do) and went off on a zillion tangents. At one point we were talking about our dream homes. Mine’s a little white cottage that’s overlooking the sea, with flowers in window boxes and an old fashioned garden out the front. There would be a little wood nearby where I could go for cool picnics and be close to the trees and the animals that live there, and there would be mountains in the distance. Somehow Jo had managed to remember all of those details, got hold of a canvas and painted my vision!

Now this is a woman who has a young family to look after, a responsible job that keeps her busy, her grandmother’s been ill during the run up to Christmas meaning she’s had to travel from Manchester to Blackpool several times a week to make sure she’s ok, and she obviously had all the demands that running a home otherwise brings with it. And yet somehow, amidst this and the Christmas rush, she managed to find the time to paint this for me. Can you wonder that I had tears in my eyes?

Happy Twixmas, everyone.

Sharon J xx

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Merry Christmas

I hope each and every one of you has the kind of Christmas you're hoping for. Thank you for keeping me company on my journey through life this year, for being so kind, interesting and funny. You've all helped make life a bit more special.



Sharon J xx

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Yay! I Did It!

My Christmas food shop has been delivered and Richard's been out and bought some extra bits and bobs for me so as behind as I was, everything is now on target.

We're having turkey this year for the first time ever. I was brought up with beef at Christmas then moved to Norway where their Christmas dinner is belly pork with a special type of sausage and pork cakes but this year, after watching Jamie Oliver, I decided to go for the bird. I've never prepared and cooked turkey before so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't go terribly wrong. A lot of the preparation will be done tomorrow - the veggies will cooked ready for rewarming and the turkey stuffed and buttered. At least that way the day itself shouldn't be too stressful with the work being shared between LM and myself.

My mouth's watering already.

The cherry vodka that I made back in August is looking good now so I'll be trying that bottling that up later today and there's a bottle of Bailey's with my name on it.

The presents are all wrapped and those that needed to be sent have been. The embroidery didn't get finished but I'm not beating myself up over that. I don't have too much left to do so they should be sent during Twixmas. People will understand that I was ill and lagging behind.

With help from Richard and LM, I don't think I've done too badly.

Sharon J xx

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Image Credit: Bucklava

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O Christmas Tree

Just when I thought we’d never get the tree up in time, my daughter stepped up and did the business.

Here’s the final result.




It’s a sod to put up as each individual branch has to be put on and their colour coded by size, only we don’t have the code list anymore so it’s anybody's guess where they go. She managed it alone in an evening though (yes, it takes that long) and the next morning the lights and baubles went on. Not all 300 of them, that would have taken her too long alone, but all of the best ones and some of the smaller ones. It may not be quite as laden as usual but I still think it looks pretty. Thank LM, a job well done.

Here are a few pictures of my favourite baubles collected over the years (although some aren’t strictly baubles, but you get the gist).






And bless her, she'd even bought a bunch of pretty roses to cheer the place up during the run up to Christmas.



Now there’s just the other bits and bobs to be dotted around the living room. I can do that as I go along over the next few days though. Christmas, it seems, is coming to our house after all :)

Sharon J xx

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Yuletide Celebrations

Today is Yule, also known as the winter solstice, the original winter celebration that early Christians tried to stamp out by introducing a Christian celebration during the 4th century instead. You know the one I mean, it’s called Christmas.

A lot of people still mark Yule though, in one way or another, because tonight will be the longest night of year meaning that the days are gradually going to start getting lighter as we once again head towards spring. If that’s not something to celebrate in the midst of a grey and dismal winter - and that’s what we usually get here in the UK, after all - then I really don’t know what is.

I don’t make a big fuss about Yule because our family celebrate Christmas too, although not from a religious point of view. We celebrate it as the turning of the year, the mid point in winter from where things can only get better. Basically, a delayed Yule celebration but I do mark the actual day in my own quiet little way by lighting lots of candles and making a meal that I particularly enjoy. The lighting of candles was originally to persuade the sun, through the Sun God, Mithras, who was born on the shortest day of the year, to reappear as quickly as possible, grow strong and drive away the darkness. As for the food, I don’t have a tradition, I just go with what I fancy. This year it’ll be marinated pork loin with cherry sauce, potatoes and fresh vegetables. The cherry sauce has been frozen for a couple of months but that’s ok, it’ll thaw out and warm up nicely and will be a reminder of the glorious fruit that will once again adorn the tree in the garden following the setting of the blossom, a true mark of spring. As for the pork, I just love pork loin, especially if it’s been marinated properly, and a few winter veg never go amiss.

In Scandinavia they still use the name Jul (pronounced Yule) to describe Christmas, rather than anything religious. Try as they might, those early Christians just never managed to ‘persuade’ them to entirely drop their Pagan traditions. They still have ‘nisser’ - naughty elf like creatures who you have to be kind to during the celebrations otherwise they’ll bugger up your crops next year - and they still use apples, oranges with cloves in, straw goats and other typically Pagan festival decorations.

Mind you, having said that, a lot of what we have originates from the Yule celebrations, it‘s just that most people aren‘t aware of them. Holly, Ivy, Yule Logs, Mistletoe, and even some ‘Christmas’ cards have a Yuletide greeting on them, being sent by people who have no idea that Yule is not the same as Christmas. The twelve days of Christmas also originates from the burning of the Yule log for twelve days.

As somebody who feels the cold something dreadful, I’m sooooooo looking forward to the sun gathering strength and warming us up again, so for me the winter solstice is definitely something to celebrate.

Sharon J xx

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Wooly Things

I’ve finally finished making the things I was knitting and crocheting. A few bits had already been wrapped before I thought about taking photos but here are those that were left. I’m not saying who they’re for though - you just never know who’s reading here :)

Socks for keeping cold toes toasty

A crocheted brooch - the colours are slightly more muted than they appear in the photo though

A bundle of tiny hats for the preemie department at our local hospital.

I think it’s nice to give something to charity at Christmas and although I’ve nothing against donating to charity shops or putting money in collection boxes at other times, I do feel that ‘giving to charity’ should also mean actually putting yourself out a bit to do something, whether it’s a sponsored walk or other activity, helping out at a shelter or making something for those less fortunate than ourselves. The hats take no time to knit up and the yarn's all left over stuff from other projects so giving a bundle of them to the hospital isn’t much of a big deal really. And because the parents of the preemie babies get to keep the hat their baby wore whilst in hospital, they always need new supplies.

Now I just have to finished the cross-stitch projects.

Sharon J

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Will It Or Won't It Happen?

I really can’t see there being much of a Christmas in our house this year because I’m still stuck in bed with this rotten bug. I got up for a few hours at the weekend but that just set me back again so here I am, still ‘enjoying’ these same old four walls.

At the moment I’m surrounded by wrapping paper, presents, tags, ribbons, bubble wrap, brown paper, sellotape and other wrapping bits and bobs, trying to get things wrapped and ready to be put in the post. I’m still hoping there’s a chance things will get to their recipients before the big day, especially my son’s pressies, as he’s still a child in his mind and gets really excited about Santa bringing him presents.

I also have my embroidery and knitting on the bed with me, and Christmas cards that I’m gradually writing in between doing other stuff so you can imagine what it looks like here. In a king sized bed, I have just an edge to use cos the rest is covered in Christmas stuff. Well just because I have to rest, doesn’t mean I can’t do anything, does it? It just isn’t all that easy to do it all from the confines of a bed, but I’m getting there.

I’ve ordered all my Christmas food for home delivery because I’m pretty sure I won’t be fit enough to go shopping in time. I just hope I’m fit enough to actually make the Christmas dinner because my daughter sure as heck can’t do it. She can make hotpot and shepherd’s pie but that’s about it, unless you count warming up frozen pizza. Oh well, if we have to share a tin of soup then we’ll have to…. not quite the same though.

I’m still trying not to stress over any of it. Stress just makes me ill (my body doesn’t deal with it well and it’s landed me in hospital before) so I have to stay zen-like about Christmas. Ha! I can’t say that’s working exactly because I am getting pretty fed up with the situation now, but I can’t compromise my health for the sake of Christmas.

I just wish my immune system worked properly and maybe this bug wouldn’t have hit me quite as bad. I can’t easily shake them off y’see and as much as my doctors tell me that I should avoid viruses whenever possible, I’m still part of this world and it’s inevitable that sometimes….

Oh well, we’ll just have to see how it goes.

Sharon J xx

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Christmas Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect

Having been stuck in bed for a week, I am most definitely behind with my Christmas preparations. The tree isn’t up, gifts aren’t wrapped, some gifts still haven’t been bought and others that I’m making aren’t finished and cards aren’t written which is a bit of a git considering that some of them have to go abroad. Luckily, the presents that have to go to Norway won’t be opened until after Christmas anyway (I won’t go into the reasons here and now) so I don’t have to worry about those not getting there in time. I just hope everything that I’ve ordered for Paul comes with enough time to be sent down to London as I’d hate him to get his pressies late.

There’s still food shopping to be done and the mince pies and stuff that I was planning to make are just going to have to go take a walk this year. I must get the rest of the vodka into the kilner jar so that the cherry vodka’s ready on the day, though; I’ve been looking forward to that too much to miss it.

A few days ago I was getting my knickers in a right old twist over all this but I’ve come to the conclusion that Christmas really doesn’t have to be perfect. The day will come and go regardless of whether or not I’m prepared and once it’s gone it really won’t matter anymore. Nobody will remember it for the home-made mince pies, or whether or not the house was squeaky clean. And I’m sure half of those on my Christmas card list won’t really give a toss care whether or not they get a card.

It’s just one day and really not worth all the stress it can cause. I’ll do what I can and enjoy doing it - what I can’t do I won’t do and that’s that. End of story. Not having a perfect Christmas doesn’t make me a failure and nobody will be hurt, life will just poodle along as usual and Christmas will be forgotten for yet another year.

Sharon J

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Image Credit: Krisdecurtis

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I’m Waaaaaay Behind

My daughter smiled one of those “what on earth are you doing?” kind of smiles when I unpacked my knitting and cross-stitch in Malta, but all I can say is “Good job I took them”.




Because I’ve been ill since my return, I haven’t been able to do any knitting or sewing this week and it’s already Thursday. That means I’ve lost almost a week of making my Crimble pressies and even though I managed to do a bit in Malta, I’m way, way behind. I’d planned on using time spent just sitting in the room or on the roof terrace to keep up to schedule but I hadn’t planned on being brought down by this awful cold when I got home. Normally I’d spend at least a couple of hours every day working on my projects but that just hasn’t happened and now I don’t even know whether some people are actually going to even get their presents in time. If I hadn’t taken them to Malta then some would definitely not be getting anything because there wouldn’t be a snowball’s chance of ever catching up.

I was originally planning to get the tree and other decorations up this weekend too but I can’t see that happening either. I have no energy, my eye is sore and gummed up, my nose and sinuses are blocked, and all in all I’m feeling just a wee bit sorry for myself. Unless something radical happens before the weekend (that’s just one day away, isn’t it?), that tree just isn’t going up.

Can Christmas be postponed by a few weeks this year, please?

Sharon J xx

So Who Does Christmas Belong To?

I’ve seen an awful lot of arguments happening on various Internet boards recently, all with the same theme: who does Christmas belong to and who should be ‘allowed’ to celebrate it? Some of those arguments have gotten really out hand, with name calling and threats to personal safety being thrown about.

I believe that Christmas should be celebrated by anybody who wishes to join in the festivities and that, as long as they’re not hurting others, they should be allowed to celebrate in whatever way suits them, be they Christians, Pagans, Jews, Atheists or whatever else.

Many Pagans will argue that Christmas (Yule) originally belonged to them with the counterargument from Christians being that the word CHRIST in Christmas makes it theirs. Everybody has their own opinion but shouldn’t it foremostly be a time when we can practice peace by showing tolerance towards other religions or lifestyles, and stop arguing over who it belongs to and how it should be celebrated?

Here in the UK we’ve been calling this winter celebration Christmas for a good few hundred years. Before that it was known as Yule, a celebration of the Winter Solstice (the rebirth of the sun). Whether or not we should or shouldn’t call it Christmas is of no real relevance to me - it’s just a name - what’s important is that we can accept that it’s a time when each and every one of us should be able to do whatever we feel is right on that day. For some, it means absolutely nothing more than presents, for others it’s a time during which they can feel close to and give thanks to their God, for others it’s a time when they can drink and be merry. No doubt there are many, many more reasons why people celebrate Christmas too. Or even why they don't, whatever the case may be.

If we choose to celebrate, can’t we at least do that in peace, without needing to justify why we choose to do so as Atheists, Pagans or Worshippers of Little Green Men from Mars? Nobody has a supreme ‘right’ to Christmas, it’s just a day really, like any other. There’s no proof that Jesus was born that day (in fact, it’s highly unlikely) and nowhere does it say that you have to believe in God (as depicted in the Bible) in order to celebrate it.

Personally, I don’t believe it really has much to do with religion anymore at all. It’s about money. Even if everybody stopped celebrating on grounds of their faith, Christmas would still live on. The money grabbing capitalists would see to that. If anybody, they're probably who Christmas really belongs to these days.

Sharon J xx

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Image Credit: Tom Stardust

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