Today's job is to get all my Christmas presents wrapped. I have not gotten them all yet. I need to get some cards. If my son and his family are not coming home for Christmas then I need to get their cards into the post. I usually put money into the boy's cards now. That way they can just get what they want with it. Everyone's happy. That's how I like it.
Jenni came and did my foot care yesterday. It went well and I have my first appointment of the new year settled also. It hardly seems possible we are nearing the end of 2023, but here we are. Wasn't it just yesterday that we were facing the start of the Millennium and worrying about the Y2K bug? And lo and behold we have now almost finished a quarter of the new century. Time sure does fly! Like sands through an hour glass.
Oh but that just made me think of the Soap Opera's back in the day. Another World used to be my poison. I started watching it when I was a teenager and I watched it until it finally went off the air. I remember being so disappointed when they put an end to it. I had been watching it since it's black and white days and followed all of the characters through to the end. I even gave my youngest son a name from one of the characters. Well, his middle name anyways. Mitchell after Mitch Blake. Oh, what a tv crush I had on Mitch Blake. I got into Days of Our Lives at one point and I dabbled in The Bold and The Beautiful, mostly because my mother watched it and I wanted to have something else to talk to her about from time to time. Cindy got into watching it with mom also and still watches it to this day.
Soaps were considered to be a bit racy back in the day. Those were quite tame as compared to the things we see on the television today however.
I got all of my regular cards mailed yesterday. I just need to mail the special ones now. I haven't written them up yet. I love doing my cards and thinking about the people that I send them out to. I know a lot of people don't do cards at all anymore and I don't send out near as many as I used to, but I do really care about the people that I do send them out to, and it is nice to remember them in this extra way at this special time of year. Every year I think I am going to put a note into them, but every year I don't. It seems far too impersonal to do a group note that covers all, and I never have the time to do individual notes. So at best they get my holiday wishes and my wishes for the year to come.
It is very cold this morning, in the double digits. Brrr. I believe this is the coldest day of the season thus far. But the sun is shining and the sky is clear and blue. Nobody can complain about that. The snow won't be melting today anyhow. It did melt a bit yesterday.
Covid it making its rounds again and in seemingly higher numbers than last year. I know quite a few people who are getting it now who have not had it before. My sister and I are very prudent when we are out and about and still mask and sanitize. The Superstore and Giant Tiger still provide sanitary wipes to wipe off the card handles but most other shops no longer do. I think all shops with carts should provide sanitary wipes for the handles of carts, covid or not. There are a lot of people about that don't ever wash their hands and they touch cart handles. Maybe a person should carry their own sanitary wipes to clean them off? What are your thoughts on this?
I can remember as a child getting very excited about the tangerine that would be mine on Christmas morning. We did not really have stockings as such, but we did have a small plastic bowl that would be sitting at our places on the dining room table. In it would be some hard candies, perhaps some butter creams, a barley sugar toy, a candy cane and a tangerine. Somehow also Santa would have filled the candy dish on the coffee table with hard Christmas candies. Greens, reds, pinks and the odd purple. Some tasting of cinnamon and others of peppermint. A large bowl of nuts would also be there, ready for cracking. And then there was the ribbon candy . . . so pretty. Some of the Christmas candies had a colored outside wrapped around a white middle and somehow there was a picture, perhaps a flower or a reindeer, in the middles. I can remember wondering how it is they got that tiny picture into the middle.
My father likes to wear talcum powder. It has become very difficult to find here, at least where I live now. I have to send to the U.K. for it, which I do. I had ordered two containers of it for him for Christmas, one for Cindy to give to him and one from me. It arrived yesterday. (It takes ages to come.) One of the containers had burst open, the whole seam at the bottom of the can having come apart.
Believe it or not, they were only wrapped in some bubble wrap and put into a plastic bag for mailing internationally. I ordered them on Amazon, and have done so before. Who puts something fragile like this into a plastic bag for posting internationally? I will be trying today to contact the seller and request a refund. It is not cheap, and even if they won't refund my money, they need to know that they should pack things much better if they are going to put them even into the local post. Just my opinion.
I wonder why it is impossible to buy talcum powder locally now? Is there a reason I don't know about?
This sounds like ever so much fun. I used to love to visit the local Garden centers in the U.K. at Christmas time. They always had a special section dedicated just for Christmas, with oodles of ornaments that you could purchase, etc. Their gift sections were also very fun to browse through. I always got my mother's Christmas presents there. I used to always love to browse the book sections as well. You could always get some good books at a reasonable price. Always marked down.
And then there was the Chester outdoor European Christmas market. Loads of booths filled with people plying their wares. It was fun to walk through them and listen to the Christmas Music. You could buy hot chocolate and there was always a booth where you could get hot crepes, filled with whatever. You could get roasted chestnuts and all sorts. Very festive. They would be there every day, open all day and into the evening right up to a few days before Christmas.
Everyone has put up their Christmas decorations and wreaths now. I broke the dam! LOL Not really, but it is nice to see them all up. I love those window candle holders that you see, with all the candles in the row. There is something about a candle in the window that makes my heart feel warm and cozy. It is too late for me to get any for this year, but maybe next year.
I have jars of mincemeat waiting for me to do something with them. I ordered British mincemeat online. I have about 4 jars of the stuff. I like the British mincemeat best. It is somehow fruitier. I have yet to source bags of luxury fruit mix for cakes and such however. Nobody seems to import them. It is funny the things you miss.
When I was in the U.K I missed some Canadian things, and now I am back in Canada I miss some British things. I suppose it is only natural.
I have always loved this pretty felt collar with the snowflake embroidery. I love working with felt. It is my plan in the coming year to do some felt candle mats. I had a snowman one in the UK which I had made and loved. I do hope that it ended up in a nice home with someone who appreciates it for what it is.
I do like to sit and work with my hands in the evenings while I am watching television. It seems a waste to just sit and do nothing. I love penny rugs also, made from layers of felt coin shapes layered together in progressive sizes.
I have always loved working with felt of any kind, and embroidery threads. When the children were growing up I had made them each a felt stocking from the kits you could buy. They were decorated with sequins and all sorts. I think I got them from Mary Maxim. A lot of love went into those stockings.
I have always loved this lap quilt as well. I am not sure if you can see it or not, but they are not all Christmas trees. There is the odd gnome scattered about. I love gnomes. Garden gnomes, etc. Maybe next spring I will get a garden gnome or two. We shall see.
And with that I best leave you with a thought for the day. I think the light is going to be really good today for food photos and I want to get cracking!
A thought to carry with you . . .
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