Phew!

Yule, Christmas and Boxing Day feasts... done. There's just New Years with the in-laws and birthday celebrations for the husband and the festivities will be complete.

For all the worry and stress, all the crazy over-doing, we finally managed to step back and have had a grand time.

Hope your holiday was just as sweet :)



Yuletide Blessings

It's been a fantastic day :) We just finished a fab Yule feast and I wanted to send out our brightest Yuletide blessings to all of you from our wee family. Here are our wishes to you and yours...

May you find beauty in simple things, 

notice the magic that surrounds you,

and know that some things that glitter are more precious than gold.

We hope that the faeries and other wee folk take care of you, and you them.

May you be blessed with many treats and good things for the year to come.

May your home be filled with warmth and smiles,

memories that are light and lovely,

and bellies full of yummy things.

We hope you remain a wee bit cheeky too :)

Most of all, we hope that that you always have a wee bit left over,

& that you are as happy as can be.

You are a lovely bunch :)
xoxox

The Dirty Secret

I'd like to share some pictures of my pretty Christmassy house.

Our mantle, lovingly decorated and waiting for three perfect furry red Christmas stockings to be hung with care on Christmas eve.

Our dining room where we'll have our Yule and Christmas and Boxing day feasts.

The pretty view from my kitchen where I keep an eye on the kids sledding down the toboggan hill.

Home made cookies...

there's even some dinosaur sugar cookies!

It's all quite wonderful, no?

The thing is, while there's all that pretty stuff there's also some of this going on...

dishes on the counter...

laundry begging to be done...

a desk full of projects...

runny, sticky jam...

that ruined my perfectly lovely sugar cookie Christmas trees...

Over the past few days I've been reading a lot of bloggers who are feeling overwhelmed at the mo' and I just wanted to say ... it's hard, I know, and I feel all that pressure too.

If you're feeling the holiday crazies over the next couple of weeks please try remember that it's ok not to be perfect... in fact, I like you better that way :)

Much love and big hugs to all of you!

xoxoxo

Christmas Bliss

It's around 11:30 am, I'm on my second cup of tea, second load of laundry, the beds are made, I've showered, done a bit of painting, started a couple of Christmas crafts and crossing my fingers I don't burn out and need a nap by 3 this afternoon :)

My husband sent me this link today... it's made me insanely happy so I thought I'd share it.

That old feeling is squirming it's way back in!

Woo hoo! Ok, I'm slowly getting out of my funk. I've been watching The Vicar of Dibley for two days straight and that big beautiful, enormously talented and terribly funny woman, Dawn French, has cheered me right back up again. (A wee bit of snowfall didn't hurt either)

Anyway I've been making and baking like crazy and here's what I have to show for it...

Festive jamma pants for the kidlet.

Loverly bags filled with hand painted clothes pegs

Black diamonds

Thumb print cookies with homemade jam

Chunky hat and scarf for me muther

Still lots to do but since some holiday cheer is creeping back in I'm not dreading the doing, in fact I'm rather enjoying myself :)

Judika Illes Book Giveaway at Weiser Books

Weiser Books is doing a 5 Days of Yule Giveaway. Today they are giving away two Judika Illes books. I adore Judika's books, I have a few of her titles and I use them all them time.

Head on over and check out the contest link here ... http://weiserbooksblog.com/2010/12/13/day-1-of-5-days-of-yule-giveaway/

Good Luck!

Rain?!?

A quick gander out my window today... and it's raining. Rain?!? I find rain in December wholly depressing. I'm missing the fluffy stuff. I think I overloaded on Christmas joy. I seem to have crashed mighty hard over the past few days because I'm just not feeling 100% jolly.

Gah! On to better things, eh?

I've been working on this for the past few days...

This is probably a my aunts Christmas gift. I say probably because it will depend if I mess it up or not as I continue to work on it. It's based on a photo she took of two of her boys... my godkidlets.

We don't see them much (they live about 2 hours away) and it's really a shame. I hope that next year I can get my act together and be more of a proper fairy godmother to the fellas. Everyone needs a fairy godmother after all.

Making Lemonade

I'll spare you the sob story (because really, who wants to hear me whining?) and just tell you that I'm offering to do some custom spirit boards for $80. If you're interested check out the listing in my esty shop.

P.S. Don't forget to enter my very merry giveaway!

A Very Merry Giveaway

I've decided to jump up and down on the giveaway bandwagon and offer up this lot of witchy goods :)

It's a nice little haul that includes: "The Psychic Cup" (a cute tea reading kit with a book, cup and saucer), the book A Floral Grimoire by Patricia Telesco, a vial of black ink, Fast Luck, Come to Me, Follow Me, Van Van and Essence of Bend Over Oils, Oberon's Love Powder, Black Salt, Four Thieves Vinegar, Red Ochre, Comfrey Root, Rose Petals, Lavender, Chamomile, Sage, Five Finger Grass, Mugwort, Rue, and Pennyroyal.

So what's the catch? Just follow this blog and solemnly swear that you'll remain quite cheeky but do a good deed anyway in 2011. That's it! If someone nudged you in this direction, mention who sent you and if you win the lot above, I'll send them a wee something too.

On January 5th, 2011 (the night La Befana visits!) a random entry will be chosen to receive the giveaway prize above.

If Knickertwist's reaches more than 100 followers by the draw date I'll select an additional three names for a mini-giveaway of 13 packaged herbs.

Pfftt, who am I kidding, I'll do the additional draw anyway :)

PLEASE ENTER ONLY ONCE! Multiple entries will not be counted. Also, remember to take your local customs and duty laws into consideration when entering.

Cheers & Good Luck!

A Wee Christmas Craft

As usual money is a tad tight and while I'd love to buy my family speed boats and flat screens that isn't going to happen. To help jazz up my modest gift givings I've made some clothes peg charms to go along with the gifties.

For my uncle, a fishing charm with a sea shell button and shell pearl charm. 

For my husband, who hasn't been sleeping well a charm for deep sleep

For one who lives in a chilly climate, a West Wind Charm to hurry the warm weather.

A Winter Wonderland Charm

A Christmas Wishes Charm... which I like because she looks tipsy :)

Last year for Christmas I bought all of the men on my list socks. I think they are just about the most perfect gift for 'older boys'. Every man I know will whine to the end of days if there aren't a pair of socks under the tree and really, who doesn't love putting on a brand new pair of socks. And so for them here is a Warm Socks Charm to protect again holes and keep toes toasty.

The Cookie Monster

My husband goes crazy every year. He gets this strange gleam in his eye and a little twitch at the side of his mouth... he's thinking about the cookies. The first week of December he'll hand me a list of 25+ different types of cookies, with the name of the cook book and the page number beside each one. He puts little stars beside the ones he most wants. He's insane.

I usually make about 12 different types and get a load of grief about the ones that don't make it into the oven. I get even more grief if certain ones don't get made. Biscotti, shortbread, thumbprint, black diamonds, chocolate mocha truffles, rum balls are absolutely necessary in order to have a happy holiday (according to my husband). Sometimes I think I'll never hear the end about the one year made regular brownies dipped in chocolate rather than the "Black Diamonds" (really, they are practically the same damned thing).

The crazy has started again this year. I made homemade fruit cakes AGES ago and when I peeked at them the other day they looked, and smelled a total treat. Today I made these...

Lemon Baubles from Canadian Living magazine.  They are so super cute and are pretty yummy too. I just hope that all my cookies turn out as well or I'll have a crazy, angry cookie monster to contend with and very likely get blamed for ruining Christmas :) LOL

Our morning ride down the hill to the school bus :)

I'm Alive! It's December! And SNOW!

Well friends, I made it through the dental ordeal! I was absolutely certain that they were going to kill me (no joke) but after a triple dose of pills and some very lovely gas I didn't really care much. I don't remember a hell of a lot of that day (or the next) but I do remember complaining about the needle. Damn I hate those things! Christ, even when drugged to high heaven they hurt like hell.

On a much more positive note it snowed here the other day. Whenever I see snow falling I am quite certain that magic is real :) It's just so damned gorgeous.

The kidlet was over-joyed and took full advantage of his own private tobaggan hill. The snow was still there this morning and we both rode down the hill to the school bus stop. How fantastic is that? It was even better than a morning dip in the pool.

I'm feeling super excited about Christmas this year and have started chipping away at the madess. Cleaning, making, baking... there's so much to do, but it will all be worth it. I've even squeezed in an extra Christmas craft and entered the craftster Chronicle Your Holiday! Challenge Using the flower and square box templates found on that page I made this...

A papery Christmas tree full of glitter and fake snow... ahhhh, glitter. See more here 

Bearded Gal Take 2... make that 3

I wasn't overly pleased with my last bearded lady attempt (or the one before that). I'm convinced that some canvas' just don't want to be painted upon no matter how much I try to force the paint where I want it to go *sigh* So I unwrapped a new canvas and started over. Third time's a charm right? Much better results I think :)

Acrylic 16" x 20"

Fear and Loathing

Have I ever told you I hate the dentist?

I do.

Wholeheartedly.

I hate everything about the dentist; the smells, the sounds, the pain, the anxiety, the spit, the pressure, the pulling, the prodding, the chair, the magazines, the light, the xrays, the gleam of those horrible little instruments, and those disapproving little noises the dentist makes.

Hate. Every. Last. Bit.

My history with dentists is not a good one. I've had a number of experiences with them that I would classify as traumatic. Add the costs of dental care and Ta Da! You've got a gal who gets worked up over the mere thought of the dental chair.

It's been embarrassingly long since I've let one of those evil bastards near me but I'm finally going to get a load of work done this Friday. My kidlet has an appointment the same day and will brave those masochists simply with a smile. I, on the other hand, will be heavily sedated in another room to prevent my running out of the building in fear or biting the dentists finger clean off.

So, if it's quiet around here over the next wee while it's because I'm either busy working myself up into a anxious frenzy, in a fuzzy state from the drugs, or feeling sorry for myself as I recover from wisdom tooth removal.

Wish me luck! (I think I'll need it.)

Star gazing

I've been working on the wee house I shouldn't be working on. How can I help myself?!? If I have a grand idea that's itching to get out I have to act, least I forget.

Specifically I've been working on one room in particular. An observatory!

It's not quite there but it's on the way and I'm really pleased so far.

To give you an idea of scale... that pencil is the end of a toothpick and those fancy gears are from a wrist watch.

I really should be working on swap and Christmas stuff. *sigh*

Christmas Baby Wishes

So my very good friend whom I have known forever and ever is expecting his first baby. His gal pal is due on Christmas day and I'm terribly excited for them. The very last elf is for them.

Unfortunately I can't make it down for the baby shower so this gal will be going and bestowing wishes in my place. She has a lot of grand things in store for the wee thing so she'll keep them safe until the time comes.

Our dear little elf is holding on to a heart of gold, pearls of wisdom, a green thumb, a head full of wonder and even a little cow bell (more cow bell!).

(Striped socks, pointed toes and bells are all part of the elfin uniform.)