As the great Noddy Holder would say - It's Christmas!

Let's start first with last night.  Wendy and I went to Tesco's and made up a beautiful hamper of all sorts of goodies and took it to the Ward in Grimsby Hospital (sorry - I forgot my camera!).  They were delighted - both with the hamper but also the thoughts behind it and were very touched.  We then spoke to the Ward Manager to see if there was any way that we could help longer term - she bit our hands off! They are desperate for drain bags - bags that patients can wear whilst their wounds are being drained so that they can move around freely rather than being confined to a bed or a chair.  The bag would need to be a simple cross body bag made from fairly firm fabric - curtaining maybe - so if any reader of this blog would like a pattern, and would volunteer to make one or more, please e-mail me  on  milliesmakes1@gmail.com with the subject header "Tanya's bags" and I will send you the pattern and posting details.  Since Tanya was only 54 when she died, it would be fantastic if we could donate at least 54 bags next year - that's more than doable!

So - onto today - 1st December!  It's time to open the advent calendar and, for me, I have two.  As I mentioned before, my brother and I swap 24 advent presents and, traditionally, the first is a chocolate advent calendar.  I also have a fabric one with pockets which I fill.  Again Wendy and I swap advent presents so mine is filled with a combination of her gifts and the Gail Pattern sew along.  If you recall the pattern is a row by row sew along so I want to do a row a day (well - apart from those days when there is a lot of embroidery to do!).  Today I had to sew 5 squares together and make 5 yoyo's which will be fixed to those squares, eventually - progress photo tomorrow x

Edward helps out at the planning meeting!

Normally my decorations are up by now - so I set to today sorting them out.  It means that I clean completely before decorating so that, by the end of the day, I can relax in a lovely warm, clean and cozy house.  Today was a day when I just needed to go out once to a church planning meeting so I could get going!  It's amazing what a good night's sleep can do for you - by 9:45 am, the lounge was tidied and cleaned - and the tree was up (albeit not decorated!).








Other than this cosy picture of domesticity, there was the final Christmas present to complete and cards to write and post (although they were not all completed today!)  I normally pride myself on finishing by the end of November and posting cards today - I am behind but I think that I can live with the slight delay.