Advent (19)

It feels a bit like Santa’s workshop here, with me beavering away working, interspersed with crafting and wrapping gifts ready for the weekend. Nothing terribly fancy and the budget has remained modest, but it is fun to do a few crafts and I always love making up parcels with pretty papers, ribbons, stickers and other bits and pieces. Whether I buy or make presents, I like to put a bit of thought into them and sometimes put a theme through a couple of small gifts and wrappings; it’s all part of the fun. We try not to overdo the presents – at one time, we were nine people on Christmas Day and if nine people give nine others just one gift each, plus the odd multiple and the kids get a bit more…. eek, we calculated there could be well over 100 gifts under the tree! This seemed like utter madness, and over the years, we have managed to reduce this to a great extent, though I have to say, there are still always plenty of intriguing packages down there when the festive days come round…