Dolly's Dreamings

Y and Z are for

A double dose today - and just as well I have some old stuff to upload as I sure haven't done any scrapping today.

I think the impending new year is getting to me. I have been tidying with attitude.

I have emptied all the drawers in my scrap room (and that is a lot of drawers) filled a recycling bag, a rubbish bag and two bags of stuff for school and I have space. Yes, genuime bona fida space. Plus I have put away all the stuff that has been hanging around for ages and have an 8 foot working space desk back, access to all my drawers and cupboards and am a happy bunny. It was a bit hairy for a while about half an hour ago when I had so much out I couldn't actually move and yelled for Nij to come and free me - but all's well that ends well!

Anyway I digress Time to finish the journal.

Y is for You - as in Nigel. No matter what we do, who we see, where we go, Christmas would not be Christmas without Nij. I hope and pray I never have to find out what it would be like. I don't even want to contemplate it. The picture is Nij last Christmas day. He had just rolled out of bed too and is wearing his robe (his pride and joy) that we bought at the Venetian a couple of years ago. It is extremely soft and snuggly and I get to borrow it if I am poorly!

The globes are cut from K and Co paper, mounted onto card and then stuck with 3D pads onto enamelled chipboard letters.

Z was a real toughie. We love Muppet Christmas Carol and can be heard, near to the big day, singing about how many more sleeps till Christmas.

This year I saw this cute little Santa in Matalan. He was just £5 and we have enjoyed having him hanging in the hall giving us a christmas countdown.  He came with his own chalk and rubber and so as he was new it seemed only fitting he featured on my Z page - the countdown of sleeps ... or zzzzzzzz's ...... before Christmas.

I have loved making my journal this year and was chuffed to have finished it on Christmas Eve. Some days it was touch and go. Thanks to Yizz for posting the prompts for us and keeping us going.

X is for

Well we knew getting to the end of the alphabet would be tricky and X was no exception.

I hate the word Xmas - but needs must and so I went with Xmas morning. This was a picture of two bed heads - just rolled out of bed last Christmas morning - me and the Fiki monster.

I was actually trying to use him to cover up as much of me as possible as Nij had a camera for Christmas last year. In previous years I had always been safe - I was the one BEHIND the camera.

I will upload the last two tomorrow - I bet you are glad to see an end to this journal now.

I have loved doing it - but have to say I was glad when I packed away all of my Christmas papers for another year.

W is for

I hope that you have all had a wonderful Christmas.

We have had a three day Christmas. Christmas Day we rose early and opened half of our gifts to each other (yes we spoil each other totally at Christmas as we have no one else to spoil really ) and had a leisurely champagne breakfast before going to Gina's for lunch. We alternate Christmas with her doing one year and me the other. This year was my year off. Both of our godchildren, James and Vicky, were there, plus Gina's parents and brother and Nigel's Mom. It was a very relaxed day filled with good company and great food.

Yesterday we drove up to Bromsgrove to spend the day with my other family, Sam, Chris, Emily and Pauline - and bump of course - and it was another wonderful day with awesome food and very special company.

This monring we have started our own special christmas. Another champagne breakfast and later we have turkey and all the trimmings. I have had such wonderful thoughtful gifts this year. It has been very much a Kipling Christmas as I have had a Kipling suitcase and vanity bag, three kipling Camera cases (one for each camera) a kipling brolly and mirror. I also had loads of really really good books,  several DVD's and CD's and lots of toys and games including Mahjong and two games for my DS Lite. I had jewellery, a new electric toothbrush and I have had sweets and scrapping goods galore plus the final gift that made me cry. I love Willow angels and ornaments and Nigel has often bought me special pieces and this year he bought me The Promise which was lovely and very special. It is how we 'dance' in the kitchen. Old romantics that we are!

I hope that you have all been blessed at Christmas too and. more importantly, that your holiday season has been filled with love and laughter.

Now on with my journal - which I am pleased to say is finished.  This is my W page which is the three wreaths of Christmas.

The main picture is the wreath I put on the front door of my doll's house each Christmas. I decorate the dolls house throughout at this time of year.

Under the picture are two tage with a picture and journalling on each.

One is the wreath we put on our front door each year. It was bought the first year we were married and was hideously expensive at a time when we were broke, but it has lasted well over the last 21 years and so was a good investment.

The third wreath is the wreath I put on Mommy and Daddys grave every Christmas. Not the happiest of traditions, but very much a part of my Christmas tradition anyway.

Now for a nice quiet chilled day.

V is for

Well V heralds the first of the really tricky ones for this journal so I have gone with Very Special Breakfast LOL

I was clutching at straws with this one I can tell you.

On Christmas morning we always have a champagne breakfast. That makes it sound a bit better than it is really. I bet you are imagining champagne and smoked salmon and strawberries dipped in chocolate LOL. Our reality is a little different. It is champagne and - well champagne really! The only food we have at that time of the morning is usually peanuts LOL But it is OUR traditiona nd we love it. We are always up very early - I can never sleep late - though Nigel now refuses to let me get up at 5! Kill joy! We have christmas music on, drink our champagne, open our presents, play with the fur family and count our blessings, nice and quietly, before everyone else descends.

I have finished W and X and will post them - and the last two - after Christmas.

Nigel is outside on the balcony trying to get the string of lights that has stopped working going again so I better go and play supportive wife.

U is for

OK - with these last few letters we are going to have to use a little poetic license I feel.

My U is 'underneath the tree'.

Now I know most people traditionally put presents under the tree, but we don't. We have cats so presents under the tree are NOT a good idea. All of our presents are decorated with ribbons etc and that is Fiki code for 'rip and pull' so they are not at floor level as it would be way too tempting.

So what do we have under our tree? Cats usually.

These pictures were taken a couple of years ago as Kira was caught in the act of biting the gold bead chains. And instead of telling her off - yup - I took a picture!

So - what do we have under our tree? Tiny bundles of pure love! NOTHING BETTER!

It has been a glorious day today - cold and crisp and sunny and lovely. We went on our annual visit tot he cemetery today. I don't go often at all, but I do always go at Christmas. I have no idea why. I know they are not ;there' and I never think of them there, but I do need to go and put an evergreen and red wreath on their grave close to Christmas. I went on my own once and it proved to be a very bad idea, so I always wait till Nigel can go with me. It's much better that way. On my own I just ended up feeling totally and utterly alone and bereft.

The rest of the day is panning out just fab. Me scrapping, Nij sat behind me doing something with trains and both of us just enjoying being at home with everything done. House cleaned, presents wrapped, shopping all done, just the enjoyment bit now.

I started knitting last night and managed at least half of one of the jackets so I was dead chuffed with myself. I haven't knitted since Emily was born 5 years ago so it feels good to be back into it again.

T is for Tree ... and train as it happens

T is for my christmas tree - still standing and it is the 22nd December so can't be bad.

My tree has been white and gold for the last six or seven years and I love it. Absolutely love it. It's probably got more on than it needs to have and there are 200 white lights on it as well which don't really show.

It is not a real tree - I don't really do real trees. I itch like mad wround pine needles and Fiki would just eat it anyway. It is quite a convincing fake though.

 

I was pleased with this page as I tied gold ribbon and also white tinsel stuff (from a hair scrunchie I bought) round the swirl to echo the white and gold on the tree.

I also used a little gold ball chain round the journalling block to echo the gold chain we have on the tree instead of tinsel. It scanned badly, of course, but I am actually pleased with what I have done for a change.

As it happens - T is also for train. How appropriate is that.

We have had a wonderful day today. We booked tickets for a luxury Christmas lunch and trip on the Swanage Railway with two very good friends of ours. This is a restored steam railway that runs between Swanage and Corfe Castle and it was just magical.

 

They run two different trips. The santa express goes up and down the line, packed to the gunnels with parents and children and Santa of course. The other loco does a very sedate double round trip for an adults only luxury lunch.

The station is really pretty and the loco were wonderful. We sat in the first class pullman carriage and it was soooooo comfortable and a real taste of Christmas luxury. We had a full Christmas lunch with all the trimmings.

The views from the train were wonderful and I especially like this picture of Corfe as we had not seen it from this angle before.

After the trip - which took almost 3 hours - we walked around Swanage and I found a much sought after wool shop so bought patterns and wool to start knitting for Samantha's new bump. In fact I bought wool and patterns for several outfits for the new bump - which is going to be a girl bump!

The trip home involved our second ride on the Sandbanks ferry of the day and there was a beautiful sunset we were able to capture. All in all a wonderful day out and a really nice start to our festive season.

S is for

Let's get the nice stuff done first

S is for Santa - how could it not be.

When I was a little girl I used to go to Beatties, the big store in Wolverhampton (my home town) with Mommy and have a picture taken with Santa. This was the picture when I was 16 months old.  Sadly only two fo the pictures survive now, complete in their little presentation cases.

The papers are Basic Grey and the Santa word was cut with the Cricut using the design studio. I LOVE it so much. Great funa nd so simple to use as well.

Now the not so good. I have a nasty cold - well that was inevitable really. It's just my turn now. But more importantly Kira is really not well. The new food is not suiting her at all and none of them like it. The vet has ordered a new one to try so we will hopefully switch to that one. Her coat is very very bad at the moment. I suspect she has tummy ache as she is sitting terribly uncomfortably and she looks so sad.

Thanks so much to Jools who posted yesterday. It was comforting to know soemone knows exactly what we are going through. I just find it all so depressing, not being able to help her or tell her we are trying to help. She has been suffering since August and I just want to get her well again. It is costing us a fortune, though I would sell all my stash if it was what it took to get her well and we just don't seem to be getting anywhere.

Maybe for Christmas, if I asked Santa really nicely, he would bring me good health for the fur family.

R is for

OK - maybe an odd one here

For me R is for Radio Times.

During the year we get Tv and satellite Weekly as Nigel likes it. No idea why, but I don't really care as I hardly ever even open it.

However, a big thrill for me has always been the Christmas Radio Times. We always had it at Christmas when I was growing up and we still do now. I make myself a nice drink and curl up on the sofa and pick out all the wonderful Christmassy things I am going to watch over the holiday period.

I guess it is not so much of a thrill now with hundreds of channels on cable, but I still love it.

The laugh is that I rarely watch TV, at Chrstmas or at any other time of the year. So all the wonderfult hings I pick out I almost never see. But that's not the point. I love it!

It's one of the things I associate with Christmas.

We started food trial number 2 yesterday. mmmmm - not a fab success so afr. I guess she won't be allergic to it as to be allergic to it she would actually have to EAT some of it!!! All three are on food strike - and I can't say I blame them. They are now on a Venison and Pea foruma of dried food. It looks like slightly soft squished chocolate buttons that are GREEN! I have spoken tot he vet and there is one other food we can try if they won't eat this one. He has ordered it in and we will see if they eat any of this todaya nd if not we will try the Royal Canin. I have spent hours ont he internet looking at every cat food you can think of and reading ingredients lists for all of them and thus far have only found three makes they can have. The vension and pea is make 2 - make three is on order and then I guess it is three strikes and we are out! Most cat foods have a mix of meats (and she can't have lamb, beef, pork or rabbit) but more importantly they almost all contain maize/corn and she has a very high level intollerance to that. Even those that say they are with rice as the carbohydrate add corn starch or corn oil or maize oil. The final option - which frankly is not an option - is raw meat! Yup - raw. There is a whole web site about it. www.ukrmb.co.uk Cats can't have cooked chicken bones and so the chicken or turkey is served raw. The meat alone is not a balanced diet - they have to have the bone as well. I don't think so. I am vegetarian apart from the odd bit of chicken breast and Nigel is terrified of raw meat as he sees it as 'unclean' and filled with every bacteria known to humankind. So flinging down the odd chicken carcass or a pile of raw chicken wings is not gonna happen! I am beginning to like her covered in scabs!!!!

Q is for

In case you are worried about my alphabetical expertise ... I do KNOW I have missed out P. It is done but is awaiting use elsewhere for a few more days. It will be posted at the weekend.

Anyway, I digress. Onto Q today and for me it had to be Quality Street. When I was growing up one of the highlights of Christmas was the big tin of Quality Street. I don't remember there being many other big tins. there may have been Roses, but we enver had them. There were certainly not Celebration and Heros etc And you never saw the 2 fpr £9 offer.

In those dim and distant days a tin of Quality Street was a big deal! It was a once in a year thrill and the tin was to be cherished afterwards. Daddy often managed to snaffle the tin to keep 'shed things' in!

My Mom used to put out little dishes from the big tin in the lounge and we were allowed whatever was in the little dishes. The rule was they were never topped up till the next day! On Christmas Day you were even allowed to eat sweeties in the morning!!! The only day of the year that happened and it still thrills me now. And do you know what - I still put little glass dishes of sewwties out over Christmas. Nigel would far rather just have the tin there!

We all had our favourites. Mommy's were the pruple ones with the nuts - Oh how she would have loved the big purple ones you can get now. Mine are no longer made. they were oblong and red and were a cracknell and I don't think you get them any longer. Daddy's were ..... welll anything else really. Poor Daddy. I don't think he ever had a purple or a red one, just the same as he never ever ate a bibble from the liquorice allsorts.

So my Q is a tribute to all those much loved Quality Street sweets of my childhood Christmases.

Nigel and I now prefer Roses and always have some at Christmas. But in the interests of art and photography I went out today and bought a box of Quality Street ..... just for research purposes you understand. YUM!

O is for opening

Having spent much of the day wrapping presents it was a fitting day to do my O page as O was for opening presents.

I love wrapping presents and Nij and I have had great fun wrapping them all up and embellishing them with ribbon. I bought some lush new ribbons - the 2" wide sort that is wired. All golds and white and gold and they look fab.

Then - Christmas Day comes and the wrapping is appreciated for a moment then ripped off. Not very ecologically friendly I guess - but great fun.

I wrapped presents for the cats today (one is totally inappropriate and a complete waste of money and they will never play with it but it was way too cute to leave in the store) I rubbed them with catnip and the cats have been going ape. I have had to put them in the loft LOL!

I wrap the cats presents in thin paper using little tape so they can smell the catnip and really rip them open themselves. It makes for great fun Christmas morning. But the thing they love best - well the CFH anyway - just rolling around in the paper and ribbon. Its such fun!

The picture was taken of Fiki a couple of years ago. The papers are basic Grey and Shabby Princess. The tree is Shabby Princess andthe presents were downloaded off the internet, altered, stacked, outlined in black etc.

I don't like te page - not one little tiny bit . But I am suffering from severe scrappers block today and sat and looked for ages and then threw this down. I wanted it done, but I guess it would have been better to leave it till tomorrow. I may well redo it. Maybe the cinnamon has gone to my head. I bought a new Yankee Candle jar today - cinnamon stick - and it is lush!