I DID NOT FALL OFF THE EDGE OF THE PLANET.........

Well what a few weeks that has been!!
Nothing awful thankfully for us just lots of helping out with grandchildren, slipping in Christmas preparations in any spare few minutes culminating in a wonderful holiday filled with visits, beautiful gifts and all round Christmas spirit(even a little of the liquid kind).
I do hope you were all able to enjoy the season, although I know from reading a few blogs that some have been far less fortunate than us and I am thankful for our health and happiness and wish you all the same in this New Year!
So a bit of a round up of our activity since I last wrote a post.......

.......Our eldest grandson was in his first Nativity, O what a pleasure to be able to watch him. He was so thrilled with it all and the children did really well. They performed in our local Parish Church, the wonderful St Wulframs which is huge. Not a dry eye in the house!
We were fortunate to have both our wonderful boys to stay for a couple of nights too as our DD and partner slogged away at their business often until 4 in the morning to ensure their customers were not disappointed. They do not complain of course. In this time of great uncertainty they are more than grateful for their continued success, but with a business and a young family there are always compromises to make as I am sure so many of you know too well! We are the lucky ones who therefore get the chance to see more of them than so many grandparents......

I was involved in a couple of swaps, one run by Tiffany  The Curiosity Project  and I received some wonderful cookery bits and pieces and a book all about the larder (lots of super tips and recipes for storing food) from Karrie to whom I sent a cookie tin holding a few Autumn inspired bits including these

and the other the Christmas Ornament swap hosted by DolceVita . I was paired up with Dannyelle from www.lifeisaparty.ca  and received the sweetest mini bunting and vintage bauble.

I sent a mercury glass ornament and one of my gingerbread men.

I also managed to finish a sweater for my oldest grandson, (though still have to get one done for little one), make my own Christmas cake, mincemeat and Nigellas Chilli Jam...oooooooh..scrummy you must try it, but failed abysmally to keep up with you lovely friends, (and I didn't even have to make many slippers this year).
Still I hope that I will now be back rabbiting at you as usual, and if I get round to it am planning a blog shop. I am disillusioned with one of my on line shops since they decided to revamp and overhaul everything and although I do like change and technology there are times when I think things can be overdone and when you start to alienate your customers, which we shop owners are in this case, it could be you need to take a step back and review your actions. I am not the first to decide to pack up shop and I think there will be others following!
Anyway that's enough of that back to happier things.

We spent Christmas day at ours son and DILs, only the 2nd time in 44 years we have not been at home and it was super. We were well looked after and it was a really lovely change.
We visited our DD and family in their new home later in the week and were again royally entertained, not least by our grandsons with their new toys!
We had some fabulous gifts, all of them loved and appreciated,but one very special treat..tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show in May with first class travel as well......thank you Heidi Steve and the boys we are thrilled to bits!!

Well although I am a bit late I wish you all

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

filled with good health and happiness

and finally I just want to say how much I have loved this past year talking to so many different people from all around the globe, wondering at their kindness and generosity, learning new crafts, following  some excellent tutorials, having a good old moan and sharing a few jokes and crazy moments and finding in all of this that it really is the little things in life that bring so much happiness.

Thank you for being one of those precious 'little things'

TTFN

Jenny xx