and all through the house
Not a creature was …
well, actually, several creatures are currently stirring. No mice though. I think the cats have eaten them all.
Anyway, here we are, and Christmas Day is only three hours away for those of us on the east coast of Australia [ except of course those folks in Queensland where summer daylight saving time dooesn’t exist ]
If you have survived the rigours of the Annual Catsmum Christmas House Tour of 2013, I salute your intestinal fortitude. Here … have a shortbread. Hot chocolate anyone? or would you prefer to join us in a Baileys-with-real-coffee-ice-cubes ?
Here we are at the opposite end of the house from whence we started, lo, these many weeks ago [ yes I managed to work in a ‘whence’, and even a ‘lo’. Last year I resisted the urge and some were sorely disappointed. Or so I choose to believe ]
This is normally the rumpus room but, just for these six weeks, it is renamed ‘ the explosion at the North Pole’ or as someone-who-shall-remain-Tara said recently “This IS Christmas”
There have had to be a few concessions made for little people.
The more breakable and/or heaviest and/or topple-over-able santas have been moved onto shelves
or behind the fire guard. Not to mention the playpen style fence loaned by an acquaintance here in Castlemaine.
Still there are about 150 Father Christmasses in this one room, with the emphasis on the rustic and where possible, the handmade. One of the smallest is a reclining china figurine that I’ve had since my first birthday
and the largest at a metre tall is one I made from an American pattern around 12 years ago. You can sort of see him lurking next to the tree in one of the photos.
The tree is decorated with an eclectic assortment ranging from vintage mercury glass, through pieces from when the kids were small, scandinavian straw hearts and angels, a liberal scattering of candy canes, cornflour [ cornstarch ] stars,cinnamon ‘cookies’ a la Martha Stewart, and hearts of all sizes and materials.
There are patchwork cushions [ with totally gratuitous dawg ]
more of my crochet snowflakes,
but it’s really all about the santas.
The family arrived just before dinner and we all opened one present each.
Miss Abby is in bed now but first she helped me read Clement Moore’s 1823 classic, ‘A Visit From Saint Nicholas’, better known to most of us as ‘The Night Before Christmas’,
just as I read it to her mummy and uncles for so many years.
And isn’t that what Christmas traditions are all about?
Not who has the biggest light display, or the most decorations [ although that’s good too of course ]
So that’s pretty much it. See you after the big man in the red suit has finished his rounds.
From my family to yours, may your Christmas be filled with peace and love.