Last post for the year....

 Slowly packing up ready to head to the coast tomorrow for a wonderful break... Long walks on the beach, riding our bikes, swimming and eating yummy food...This photo was taken at the Christmas markets in Verona last December...I loved this city so much.... So many wonderful families out enjoying each others company...I will enjoy every second with my beautiful little family this Christmas... Thank you to all of you out there for a wonderful year in blog land...I hope you have a truly blessed Christmas and a magical new year....

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas .......

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.  ~Norman Vincent Peale

Just finishing off my last order for the year....Quiet a nice feeling :) so I thought I would take a few photos this afternoon.... We are heading to the coast for 9 nights over Christmas/New Year break so my extremely exhausted hubby can have a proper break...

Christmas - that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance.  It may weave a spell of nostalgia.  Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance - a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.  ~Augusta E. Rundel

Twelve years have gone by......

A little plaque for my dad on his favourite tree at the family farm

I awoke this morning to the beautiful sound of rain on my tin roof....I lay in bed and thought about my gorgeous dad that passed away 12 years ago today...  Andrew was just waking up so I jumped into bed with him and I told him how proud his pop would have been of him, of his achievements and of how this lovely boy treated his mamma.....I lay with Andrew for a long while and we talked about the wonderful man my dad was...  He lived a very simple life and his greatest love and joy was his family, I was the youngest of 5 children and he was one of those men that would tell you how beautiful you were every day, he was never ashamed to cry over a movie and tell you how much he loved you... He went to school till he was only 12 and then worked on the family farm till his mum passed away when he was only 15...he then moved away and worked in the mines for over 10 years and then came home and married my mum.... They adored each other and still looked at each other like they had just fallen in love for the first time after 49 years of marriage... When my dad was very, very ill and we had all came home to see him, he talked to us all and cuddled us and said he never ever wanted to leave any of us because we were his greatest joy of his life...

I love my father as the stars - he's a bright shining example and a happy twinkling in my heart.  ~Terri Guillemets

Dad, your guiding hand on my shoulder will remain with me forever.  ~Author Unknown 

My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.

1st December 2011

Today was a day of listening to lovely Christmas music, visiting a new kitchen ware shop that we all hope to go to for cooking lessons in 2012.... Baking yummy cookies and making marshmallows with raspberry coolie through them.... We all wore red either in a scarf or Andrew had a red shirt on and we smiled at the joy of being together... Missing europe so much this year on the run into Christmas.   At this time last year we were staying at a chateau in north eastern France...and playing in the snow....Visiting europe changed me forever... Even though sitting in my studio right now listening to the rain on the tin roof of my little cottage is pretty special too.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.