For a variety of reasons, I've left everything a bit late this Christmas - but that's OK, because it was the 'Stress Less' theme this year, remember? We are talking things at a relaxed pace, & overall this is working out very well.
On Monday, I ventured forth to the shops to do the bulk of my shopping. The stores where not that busy, & the people there were not in a frenzy. They were cheerful & civilised. I know, I was shocked too. The store staff where easy to find, very helpful & cheerful as well. The lay by counter at Kmart had no queue, just two friendly helpful ladies waiting for me to give them something to do. The Post Office had one person in the queue ahead of me. All day, I found parking spots with ease! Unbelievable. My cousin asked if I had encountered the Zombie Apocalypse, & maybe I had but I was loving it.
Yesterday was not such a clear run - 2 toilet emergencies from a small child meant plunging into a particular store full of frantic shoppers 3 times before hitting the check out. Going to the chemist to fill a script to find there was a national shortage on tablet insulin. At Christmas. Expected delivery at the end of January. What the WHAT??
Me, wide eyed with panic 'But I'm diabetic! I can't wait that long!'
Unhelpful chemist assistant 'You are not the only one in this boat. You can ring around other chemists but I would be surprised if anyone had any, or any substitutions. You will need to go & see your Doctor & get her to give you a script for an alternative.'
Me, with FFS clearly stamped across me face 'There is no way I can see my Dr at this short notice . It takes months to get an appointment & her office has closed for Christmas'
Lets just call him unhelpful Chemist assistant, I'm sure he was just doing his job. 'Well you will need to see a GP to get a script.'
Me 'Fuckballs.'
My regular GP is super efficient, which is sometimes is a pain. He will send you for every test under the sun before he diagnoses anything, which is theory is great but sometimes all you want is a goddamn script. Luckily I got in to see another Doctor, who is so laid back that sometimes I think he is only pretending to be a Doctor. He had no idea there was any shortage situation, & just wrote me a script for what I'd asked for. So I won't be going into a diabetic coma over Christmas, but now I am well behind my last minute schedule.
But the name of the game is Chillaxxxx, so lets just breathe easy.
I made the following few projects for myself, but they would make lovely last minute gifts, or stocking stuffers. They took no more than 30 minutes each.......because Mr BC worked some magic on my other sewing machine (that is 20 years old rather than 120 years old) & finally dealt with the tension issues...of the machine. What?
I bought this tea towel with the intention of framing it but then it got so popular I turned off the idea. Do you do that too? I am forever loving something only to hate it when everyone else gets wind of it. . See, I am not behind the times - I am super advanced, heheh. Turning it into a pillow didn't seem so expected. I do love the sentiment & it is something that we can all benefit from looking at every day.
I do not love this, despite the cheery hot pink corduroy. I made it because my pins where all over the shop, being a painful nuisance. The felt leaf hides some dodgy glue work.
I do love this. The material I used is sentimental for me, & it is super practical. I love the wonky way it looks.
Ta-DA! It's a needle book!
I didn't really have to tell you, did I? oh, well then....
Moving on to decorations.
It's not Christmas in this house until these candle sticks are out. I hand painted them when Teenage daughter was just born, in time for our first Christmas as a family. There is a northern hemisphere Christmas with Santa & the reindeers having fun in the snow; & a southern hemisphere Christmas with Santa & his reindeers cooling down at the beach..
The themes continue on the back, where Christmas angels hover in the sky. Some people have made fun of these, but I don't care. I love them.
I was getting agitated that we hadn't put up a tree yet. We have a fake tree for emergencies or when we are not going to be here at Christmas, but it doesn't feel like Christmas without the smell of a real tree in the house, dropping pine needles all over the presents. Brisbane doesn't really do real trees, probably because of the heat. The year before last Teenage Daughter & I drove 90 minutes up the coast to spend $120 on a real tree, which was excessive but completely worth it. Leaving it to the last week paid off because we got an awesome tree only 20 minutes away, on the day they had been reduced to $20!! Winning!
Overall, Christmas is coming together without too much drama. The turkey is defrosting in the beer fridge, ready to be brined tomorrow & cooked on Saturday. There is a ham in the fridge that seems to be half eaten, hmmmm. There is pudding, custard, Christmas cake & old fashioned gingerbread in the pantry. All I have to do on the day is make some salads, chop up some fruit for the pavlova, plate every thing & relax.
That red wall is starting to look pretty damn festive....
Merry Christmas to you & your family, hope you have a happy, relaxed, stress free day.
xxx