A so that was christmas...

I had two Christmas dinners at my place this year so the last two weeks have been a bit of a blur. There was the flurry of Christmas tidying which left us all worn out. Check out the look on poor Pablo's face.

I was going to print some tea towels for friends and family for Christmas this year but ran into a spot of bother with the inking of the print plate, so I abandoned that as a last cause. I have since had some advice from a friend who has done quite a bit of printmaking on fabric and she gave me some tips so I've put it on the back burner for now and will explore this technique later. So as I did not get the tea towels done I had to shop- ick! And I foolishly decided to make cloth serviettes for Anki with crocheted edges - 2 days before seeing her. I started out with a sensible number, 6. Then I thought what if she wants to use them as a Christmas thing being red and white and quite christmasy although not limited to Christmas. I reasoned that she would need at least 12 in that case. So at 4:30 on the morning before I was going to her place for a pre Christmas catchup I conceded defeat at 10. I did the 11th while sipping tea and enjoying cherry cake on her delightful deck but sadly the 12th has eluded me. (I still owe you one Anki and I will get there!) I was going to do a tablecloth like this one I am doing for myself too but that would have been pure lunacy in less than two days!

Christmas eve Tim decided to spoil the family with a new TV for Christmas. He had had a little bonus and as is in keeping with his generous nature he has shared it with us. The TV seemed smallish in the shop but it appears enormous in my little house! Scale is everything.

And even at almost 18 one can still play with the box! (I hope she never loses this playful streak!)
Here are some photos of things that took my fancy at Christmas time.

 Rays of light falling on the christmas tree...

 Reflections in the baubles...

The light falling on this lone blue chair. ( It really must have taken my fancy because I took several photos of this chair at different times.)

 Crisp folds in presents remind me of my grandfather. I was eight when he died but I remember he used to be in charge of the present wrapping. Not only at Christmas but I remember Christmas most vividly as when we returned from the northern territory he showed me how to create these lovely neat folds and every time I wrap a gift I think of him.
I read Anki's post and it made me think, I used to love Christmas too for a number of reasons- starting with our not being invited to share Christmas with my Dad's sisters on the first Christmas following Dad's death, although this had been the tradition for years before, my separation - and the muddle of working out of how to share the kids and my sister living far enough away to make it tricky, I have kind of come to fall out of love with it. At least when the kids were little I went to elaborate lengths to create magic for them I didn't have time to think about how I felt about it. I also think I used to get quite melancholic thinking well there goes another year and I'm still single, I haven't done x, y or z. This year has been much better but I am determined to try to fall in love with it again and start to create some new traditions that bring me joy.
This holiday I have decided to make an effort to make some stuff as that brings me joy too. On boxing day I started with this.

I've seen examples here and there on the net and remembered that I had an old case stashed on top of my wardrobe. It is not fancy yet, I will get round to lining it to make it pretty like the others I've seen but I needed to make sure it was functional first and that I had the right stuff in the case lid and in the boxes stashed within the body of the case. It is dedicated to my art journal, drawing, painting and printmaking and the like.
I've taken step by step photos so I will make a tutorial of how I did it at a later date.

PS. I really should have removed the post Christmas wine bottles off the table before making tutorial shots!