Writing My Christmas Cards

I have finally got round to writing my festive postcards.  Thank you to everyone who sent me a little message, I felt a bit like a pop star getting fan mail!

 

I am so glad stamps are self adhesive now – I don’t like the taste of the sticky on stamps and envelopes, yuk.

Advent Tut – 14th December

Today I got some angel earrings that flash pink!  I am going to give them to Lucy for her office party.  They are very lovely but I don’t have pierced ears to wear them.

Better Late Than Never - Advent Tut – 10th & 11th December

My apologies, yuletide festivities have got in the way of me posting my Advent Tut so I am a little behind.  Hopefully I am back on track now.

On Thursday 10th I got this lovely reindeer – he is so cute, I understand that he is from the Stafford branch of Poundland and cost £1!!!!!!! Gorgeous. he will take pride of place on my festive mantle piece.

On Friday 11th I got two pairs of socks, they are a little bit big for me, so I am going to fill each pair with satsumas, nuts and other Christmas dainties and give them to Lucy and Auntie Jan – something to eat, then something to wear, a multi tasking festive gift!

Joe to Win X Factor!

Matters of a Delicate Yet Festive Nature

I believe in attention to Yuletide detail, I like to have a little festive cheer in every room in the house.It is easy to overlook the smallest room when decking the halls …. but I like to think that I go that extra mile, without going too over the top, with celebratory toilet tissue ….. the whoops of delight that come from our bathroom over the holiday season make it all worthwhile!

This year I have got my tissue from M & S, I have plumped for a star pattern,  they did have a penguin design too, but though I could wipe my nose with ease on a penguin, I am not so sure about my posterior!

Festive Awe and Wonder

Aren’t Christmas lights WONDERFUL?

The Nativity

All around the our great country kitchen drawers are being raided for tea towels that will be used as headdresses for shepherds for "The School Nativity Play"

As a tribute to all those children with tea towels on their heads I have created my own Nativity Tableau.

Over the past year or so I have noticed a new trend when it comes to Nativity Plays - when you read your local evening paper, look for the reports on Infant/Primary festive productions and I bet they will include the following phrase ‘……. it’s the Nativity Story but with a twist” … This generally means that there is a lobster, alien, eco warrior or an endangered Amazonian tribe included in the story, who are welcomed into the stable, along with the ox, ass and shepherds …….. bet you!!!!

Advent Tut – 9th December

It’s very exciting waiting for all the ladies to arrive at the office with their tut in hand.

This morning I got a “Grow Your Own Christmas Tree Kit”. I am going to get it started this weekend, so that hopefully we can have a real tree in the office next year.

The office is also awash with chocolates, I like the green triangles best.

……. And as a special treat, it was a “Cook What You Like” session  in Food Technology, so I made Rocky Road with marshmallows, Turkish delight, Maltesers and Kit Kat as well as bashed up choc biscuits, caramel condensed milk and chocolate bars.

Yum Yum Yum, Yum Yum!

Top Tip - Yuletide Washing Up

M’Lud I present the evidence before you, the tea towels of festive shame!

Tea towels may seem a strange inclusion, however their addition may save a festive host much seasonal embarrassment ......

Imagine the following scenario …….

After enjoying the hospitality of a genial host, a polite guest may wish to repay their kindness by offering to help with the washing up. They may cast an eye around the kitchen looking for a suitable cloth with which to dry the dishes, when they might alight upon the "tea towel drawer".

Visualize the utter dismay of the host, upon entering the kitchen carrying an empty trifle bowl to witness the guest drying the gravy boat with a well worn (nay threadbare) 1990 Garfield Calendar tea towel.

  
(Lovely new tea towels in a festive red and with lurex detail)
(

The situation can be very easily avoided by the addition of a pack of three assorted tea towels popped into the shopping trolley during the last shop at Asda before "The Big Day"

Away in A Manger

I love Christmas Tableaus but admit to getting a bit carried away and sometimes climb over the barriers to get a better look……….. (please children do not try this)

This is a cracker – but I was a bit concerned that Baby Jesus wasn’t swaddled properly.

However the shepherd has a very impressive crook – bet the other shepherds are jealous!

I can’t decide whether Joseph was a Thunderbird puppet or an Ewok in another life.

Advent Tut 7th & 8th December

We didn’t do Tut yesterday because it was just impossible to get all the office ladies in the same room at the same time!
So we tuttted twice today!

I had lots of sweeties, a packet of snowbites, which are GORGEOUS and some chocolate chunks.  I bought them home and shared them out between Mum, Auntie Jan, Lucy and me, there was one left over ......

Festive Baths - Money Saving Top Tip

Unfortunately one of our festive family traditions has disappeared  .... I remember fondly Christmas Matey bubble bath. It used to come in two bottles - Father Christmas and Mrs Christmas. We were fortunate enough to have both sitting on the side of our bath.

 
You knew Christmas was near when the bottles of Matey appeared on Christmas Eve. How we used to frolic in the bubbles, making beards and tall pointy mounds on our heads ...... ahhhhhh magical times ......
However Christmas Matey is not available anywhere anymore, not even Poundland!

This year I have got the empty M & S snowman bubble bath bottles we had last year and have filled them with a bottle of white foam bath. A couple of the snowmens eyes have rubbed off a bit, but I will go over them with a permanent black pen.

No one will know the difference!

Hello Magazine - Eat Your Heart Out

Many thanks to the lovely shop assistants in the Christmas Dept. of Heals, Manchester for allowing me to sit amongst their gorgeous display to have this photo taken.  I doubt very much whether Hello or OK magazines could find a more charming scene to pose their celebrities.

I am using this picture for my festive postcards this year. It makes me go a little misty eyed to see myself in such magical surroundings.

It’s not every day I get to ride side saddle on a white hart wearing a tiara.  It brings to mind Her Majesty when she used to ride during pomp and circumstance of The Trooping of the Colour.

I Hope It Snows This Christmas .......

 
Last year it snowed a bit and I managed to fashion this little snowman. I became very fond of him before he sadly melted away in the warmth of the winters sun.

I often think about him and our time together. I even kept the sticks that I used for his little arms, just in case we meet again this year.

Photocopying Your Bum is NOT a Good Idea at the Office Christmas Party

Come on, we've all done it ........ it's not clever and we always regret it next day when the boozy haze of the office party begins to clear and some comedian pins the results all round the office. So this year ........ JUST DON'T DO IT!
Photcopier-tastic in a an chilly bum type way!

Advent Tut - 4th December 2009

On the Fourth Day of Christmas my Tut Bag Gave to me ........a  musical snowman ......  he says "Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas" twice and then sings a chorus of Jingle Bells in an jolly American accent.

I have to admit he is a rather unusal snowman with his purple trousers, red sock tops and unfeasibly large feet and I fear I could have nightmares about him, so I am leaving him on the shelf in the office over the weekend.

After we opened our tut we shared a box of festive chocolate biscuits. The season of goodwill to all men just gets better and better.

Yuletide Shopping Through The Magic of the Internet!

 
I love shopping on the internet.  When you have short stumpy arms and legs like me it’s a godsend.  Much as I love the Banga bus and George, lugging my Yule Tide shopping on and off it, is no festive picnic!
I love sites like I Want One of Those and The Gadget Shop for unusual presents. I have bought Lucy a Penny Falls machine, she will love me forever when she sees it!!

Sometimes, just for a laugh, when I am bored at lunchtime, I go into Harrods Food Hall, fill my shopping cart with all manner of posh food like escargots, pate de something, mange touts and peanut butter M & M’s  ....... and then just leave it there .....

NB – I must add George to my Christmas Card list.
Its just soooo Tinternet-tastic in a get your credit card out type way

Advent Tut – Thursday 3rd December

We are well into tutting now- we had a seamless opening of tut at 10.00 this morning.
 
Today I got three jewel encrusted nail files.  I am going to give one to Mum, one to Auntie Jan and one to Lucy, because, you may have noticed that I do not have any fingers, which means I don’t have any nails, and so have nothing to file.

I think my Mum will pick the jewels off hers and embellish stuff with them.
I am not sure about my hat – I don’t think it does a lot for me …. Auntie Jan has just confirmed my thoughts, she has text me and said " Get a plain hat Monkey, the Santa is just not working for you"

The “Office” at Christmas

My Top Tips for a festive office desk……



1.Have a huge tin of Yuletide sweeties to offer all your visitors.



2.  Decorate all desk furniture, including your telephone, the smile on your face as you make your calls will reflect in your voice, but don’t go overboard and answer the phone with a “Ho Ho Ho” unless you are certain who the caller is.



3.  Drink from the mug of festivities!  I have just finished my cream of chicken soup here, very nice! 

4. Take notes/sign for parcels using an assortment of festive writing utensils, I have a HUGE one for big writing .....

…….. a fluffy snowman one, and two lighty up ones, one with a snowman in and the other with a Christmas tree, I also have a festive fluffy duck on a stand, wearing a scarf one, but I forgot to take a picture of it.
Ricky Gervais eat your heart out!

Advent Tut - 2nd December

There was much excitement as everyone managed to gather a little earlier than yesterday in the office to open our tut this morning. Of course everyone looked to see what I had got in my parcel and also remarked on my new Christmas outfit that my Granny G has bought me.

I was thrilled, as I had a star shaped rubber from the Black Country Museum.  This is a most useful gift and it even matched my outfit!

Eraser-tastic in an utterely rubbed out type way.

Dreamtastic Nights

My Mum will kill me if she sees that I have got my shoes on the bed! But I am so excited.  Look at my new festive duvet and pillowcase!

I have such lovely dreams when I am all snuggled up, thinking about Santa, his reindeer and my impending turkey dinner!

If I was famous and Hello magazine was interviewing me, I would say that I felt blessed at this special time of year and would add that there were no crumbs or sweet wrappers under my bed as I was keeping my room tidy for Santa's visit on Christmas Eve.
It's all sooooooo Duvet-tastic in a warm and cosy duck down type way!

Advent Tut - 1st December 2009

 
I had to wait ages to open my tut today because everyone was very busy, but finally we got together at 2.30 pm.  I opened my first parcel of the Advent Season to find a snowman soap for my festive baths.  I think he floats on the water,  so I won't have to furtle beneath the bubbles to find him. Bubbletastic!

Tut-tastic Advent Tut - Let the Festivities Begin ......

 

When I was a child I had the same Advent Calendar each year. At the end of the festivities mum would carefully push the perforated edges of the "window" back together and put it away carefully for the following year.

Not once, in my childhood innocence did I ever suspect that I had already experienced the cardboard awe and wonder of Baby Jesus' birth many times before!

Now I am older I have started my own little Advent Tradition, that has caught on where my mum works, called “Advent Tut”.  It’s a collection of 24 bits of  "Tut" that I have collected over the past few months, wrapped in oddments of paper and put into one of last years gift bags.  It’s called “Tut” because each item is very erm….. random and when people open it they usually go “tut"!!!!

Here my Tut Bag sits tantalisingly on my mums desk at work – I have tried so hard not to feel the little parcels, but it is so hard.
If you are a little puzzled, all will be revealed in the fullness of time, because from tomorrow,  I will show you the “Tut” I have received in my Festive Tut Bag from the lovely ladies in my mum’s office.

It's all so Advent-tastic in an opening widows and tut type way!