Christmas greetings to you all!

Wishing you a blessed Christmas

Whatever your faith I wish you a happy Christmas full of love and laughter and lots of mini things!  Sorry I have not been around for a while - but the good news is that I have actually been out a few times and done a little bit of the shopping.  That took care of the rest of the day while I recovered (and the next day too) but in the quiet time next day I made our Christmas cards.  Now that was a bit ambitious, but I am happy with the results and did manage to get them done, though the ones that were to be distributed at church today were being finished yesterday.  And I was able to go to church today to fellowship with my church family and even if I couldn't talk much or sing the carols I could hug and kiss people and sing in my head.  It was so good to be back after such a long absence.  Our good friend Richard was doing the service,  and Nathan was singing one of the special items.  He does so occasionally but was still very nervous.  He sang 'Angels we have heard on high', and did very well.  I am very proud that he managed to do it.

As for Christmas decorations - they are very scarce this year in our house, but the Christmas spirit makes up for it.  On Thursday I did buy our special Christmas decoration.  We try to buy one each year, and also add to our Lemax village collection, which we didn't get to do this year.  but I spotted this lovely musical ferris wheel ornament and couldn't resist it for this year's piece.

Santa's helpers enjoying various rides

The ornate ferris wheel and another view of the carousel

Santa's Workshop tucked away at the base

When you wind it up, the carousel rotates and it plays 'We wish you a merry Christmas'.  I have put it with a simple dish holding a red candle and sprays of decorations around it.

This looks especially pretty when the lights are off and the candle is lit.

We have just enjoyed watching the Carols from the Myer Musicbowl in Melbourne, and whilst we were doing so I gave my 1:12th scale shop  'Noelle Needlework' (still a UFO I'm afraid) a thorough dusting and straightening up, using the opportunity to get some photos while I did so.  This is a shop that specializes in Christmas needlework, selling cushions, stockings, wallhangings and Christmas-themed items, either ready-made or in kit form.  The left wall of the shop is taken up with shelves, the first section full of gift boxes, ribbons and cards, and gift wrapping.  The second and larger section has 'kits'.  Each of these is a scanned picture of a real kit, with some fabric in it, covered with plastic for realism.

 In front of these shelves there is a table used for serving customers, upon which is a stocking patterned in holly leaves, partly boxed for a customer.  Beside the table is a tub containing rolls of Christmas gift wrap.

 On the right wall is a fireplace, decorated ready for the festive season.  Some sample wall hangings add colour to the wall, and a comfortable chair shows off two cushions that match the lovely poinsettia design of the carpet and firescreen. To the right of the fireplace is the owner's workstation, with her drawers holding sewing supplies, her work basket and a stocking awaiting the cording around the edge, sitting on her chair.  The embroidery frame sits empty waiting for the next item to be stitched and of course there is a cat there stretched out comfortably on the floor - perhaps wondering where her mistress has gone to.....

 We take the opportunity to peek into the drawers of the cabinet: they hold gauze, cotton canvas, fabric for backing, and floss, and one of the top drawer holds packets of needles.  The handy slide-out shelf is covered with green felt, and an exquisite pair of gold scissors rests ready for use on it.

 In the sewing basket we see two more pairs of scissors, a pin cushion, tape measure, lots of kit packets for stockings and many other items.  We quietly replace everything where it should go, and close the drawers.

 Looking at the back wall, we can see that the Christmas rush has taken a toll on the stock, for there are empty spaces on the shelves.  But enough of the owner's handiwork remains to show that her fingers are busy indeed during the year.  There are stockings and cushions designed by various talented people and indeed variations worked on the charts that make them slightly different and individual.  The owner's fingers will need to be very productive again to fill those shelves completely but she has several more charts waiting in the wings.

 Standing and looking back into the shop, this is what we see

 The front of the shop is removable, and has an inset entrance which gives in effect two lovely bays for display.  The left window holds a table (turned around here for easy viewing) with an arrangement of a box and some ornaments.

 The right window holds a trio of three rather special angels.

Going outside and looking back into the shop, we pause for a moment to admire the window displays.

 And here it is decorated ready for the Christmas season, with the decorations across the front falling off at the least excuse lol!  And looking at this photo I see that I forgot to remove the pegs that I was using to hold it in place.  The lights are also a bit on the untamed side because they cannot be put into place permanently until the shop is completed.

 However once our lights are off, it certainly does look pretty all lit up!

And now it is well past midnight here, so officially Christmas Day - HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!