I got the best ever Christmas gift ...

it rained! Lots of rain - lovely soaking rain! And more promised for the rest of this week. The lawn has greened up already, the treeferns (whose upper fronds have been browned and dried by the sun despite frequent watering) now look as if they may survive another year, and the flowers are smiling again. Of course, this being a country of weather extremes, there has already been too much rain causing flooding in some areas (not here), and other parts of the country are on fire. It is very reminiscent of the situation of almost a year ago.

Christmas is over now -and my house has now returned to its non-Christmas state. It looks so uncluttered and dull in comparison - it always takes me a week or so to adjust each year. This year it took just under 4 days to do the transformation - a record time. I always like to have the house back to its natural state by New Years Day. So, now my lounge room stereo corner looks like this:when just a few days ago. it looked like this:

I do love Christmas! Just another 10.5 months, and I'll be getting excited about getting out my Christmas treasures again.

Now that Christmas is over, my Angel of Hope has found a new home in the study, watching over me as I sit at the computer. To accommodate her, we had to do three artwork relocations, but it was worth it - she looks right at home now.

I am keen to start the Angel of Grace, my 2010 Christmas Project - I dug out my lap-frame, and collected the fabric and floss tonight, and right now it's sitting near my stitchin chair waiting for my attention. I may get in the first few stitches tonight.