On hols to the new year, hurrah!

 Yes, yesterday was my last day of work until the new year.  DH is also on leave now, so we are planning to taunt DS on Monday as he still has to work this coming week. The 'Stop the Presses' update on Christmas from just a few hours ago is the announcement that the permitted visiting period over Christmas has been slashed to just Christmas Day itself.  This means we won't be going to the in-laws, and DS is gutted because his girlfriend won't be able to come. Which is a shame, but it does seem the sensible course of action given the statistics.  The in-laws are getting the vaccine over the next few weeks so perhaps we will be able to go down there in the new year.

I made a few Christmas ornaments this week using this tutorial that I found last year.  These are surprisingly easy to make and quite effective.  I cut a four-inch square and sewed it to a 3 1/2 inch circle.  I cut out and pressed all the triangles then did the sewing during online work meetings (with the camera off obviously).

Multi coloured

red and green

The third one is made from Liberty Tana Lawn as an ornament for my sewing room, not as a Christmas ornament.

Last weekend we took the new car out for a drive, to a big charity shop about 25 minutes away.  I donated a large ceramic Christmas vignette with a light, and came away with a few more Christmas ornaments including this rather plain ceramic house with a light. The 'white' ceramic was all in an unattractive dirty grey tinge including the snow, and the existing paint applied in a slapdash manner.

DH asked 'why did you buy that?' but I thought it had good bones.  I tried out some acrylic craft paint on it (visible in the second picture above) and it seemed to be sticking fine, so I kept going. It was rather fun giving the house a new look.  I finished it off with a few misted coats of spray matte varnish.

gratuitous shot of Christmas decorations

I finished the body of the knitted capelet and have started on the collar which is knit separately.  The body seems to have come out a bit too big, I'll see what it looks like once the collar is joined on.  The yarn I am using is thicker than the recommended weight which is why I picked a smaller size, but perhaps not small enough.

I also finished the applique zip pouch  by sewing in the zipper, which is not entirely even but there you go, it's finished.

So this week I put up the remainder of the copious Christmas decorations, and we went for the final grocery shop before Christmas (barring some veg which I will pick up locally in the week).  Even though we left it until 8pm, the supermarket was fairly busy with people some of whom weren't even trying to social distance so it felt rather hazardous.  We wrapped the gifts for the in-laws as well today but now I suppose I had better try to get them into the post.

I've had a few online Christmas parties the past few weeks, both with work and with some online groups I attend.  But today was a different online experience for me: an online funeral, or to be accurate, a Celebration of Life.  My father's sister, whom I was not close to, passed earlier in the week.  The Celebration was hosted from the funeral home where a small socially distanced group had gathered, and then about 30 others joined virtually from around the country.  As one of the speakers said, many of those attending could not have done so if it had been a normal physical funeral.  The internet allows even the unwell and elderly to take part.  It was actually quite nicely done, with various anecdotes supplied by people who knew the deceased.  All positive of course, no warts-and-all depictions, funny how that is.  

I'm hoping to have a relaxing couple of weeks now with lots of crafting, and perhaps a bit of garden tidying if the weather cooperates.  Happy Christmas to all, and enjoy the holidays!