Welcome to my Christmas house

I know - way too early in the year to be decorated for Christmas, but that's how it is in my house this year. It's a particularly stressful time for my household health-wise this year, and my stress reduction mechanism was transforming the house for Christmas. I think I did a good job, considering the circumstances. This first pic is my Santa tree. It's on the top landing, and it's what you see if you look up when entering my front door. This tree is totally decorated with Santas (over 300), collected over mamy years and from all over the world. The large standing Santa on the left came from Los Angeles in 1994, and the Santa mask on the wall was a birthday gift many years ago. My cross stitched Santa ornaments hang on the linen press door on the far left. Some of my small Christmas tins are under the tree.

The second pic is what I am looking at now on my right as I sit at my computer. It is my small collection of snowpeople, and it is on my computer desk. I collected these treasures accidentally over the last couple of years, and now I am quite fond of them.

I'll be putting in more pics as Christmas approaches. In case you haven't guesssed, Christmas is a big deal in my house!

Recycled angel

I adopted this Angel at a local church sale. She was in a sorry state, dirty, and with just one wing. It looks as though she had been strung up as a flying angel, as she had all sorts of cords attached to her body. I removed the cords, cleaned her up, made her a new set of wings, and added some 'jewellery', and de-knotted her hair. Now she is ready to join my other angels when I decorate the house for Christmas 2011. She is my largest angel, at about 1 metre tall.

Two tiny ornaments finished last night

I was hoping for four, but sometimes my life interferes with my stitching plans! These are quite small - the larger one measures (excluding hanger) just a tad over 4 cm long and 3 cm wide (that's approx 1.75" x 1.25").

A batch of tiny angels

I spent this evening making up this group of 43 tiny angels - 21 pairs of earrings and one single hanging angel. When I was tidying up my bead box today I found the clear plastic angel wings I had bought years ago and never used, so I decided to put them to use. I don't think I'll buy more - they're not my favourite beading accessory, though I am pleased not to have wasted them.

While I'm talking of angels - here's an update on Miss Maddie. She is back to her usual self, cheeky and bossy as ever. There have been no medical set-backs, and she is active and behaving quite normally. I am a very happy camper!