In the weeks before Christmas.

Christmas has come and gone again (where did that time go?), and I am left with the memories of all the joy and hope and love and happiness it brings...

This is my favourite time of year because the girls are always really keen to get their crafting on. The house is a hive of activity; bits of paper and tinsel are constantly strewn around the place. Treasured Christmas books are revisited and plans laid for creative presents for friends and family.

I am a sucker for a mince pie, I make my own pastry but I must confess I am a big fan of Robertson's store-bought fruit mince; it must be my English heritage coming out in me...

And really, what better way to enjoy them than with a delicious coffee in a beautiful gifted cup? 

This year I went blog searching for a reasonably simple and straightforward Christmas cake recipe, and found one here. Thanks to BabyMac's Grandma Dot and a few quick Instagram messages back and forth about the best type of sherry to use, I had some delicious cakes whipped up for the teacher's baskets and a nice big cake put away for my family's Christmas Eve's do.

Last year we made some clay ornaments. They were just so easy and fun that we decided to do it again. This is an air drying clay which just rolls out with a pin. Cut with cookie cutters and voila!

Decorate any way you want. 

Last year we imprinted leaves and nature stuff; this year we used stamps and ink. The girls also painted some with nail polish and glitter; they looked pretty cool too.  We used a bamboo skewer to make the holes for hanging. Just make sure to do this before leaving them out to dry!

There was also a stage production in the planning...a Christmas puppet show of extraordinary proportions. Check out Ruby's Santa puppet...

Into the teacher's baskets go a special handmade gift from each of the girls. Stella's was a carol singer ornament, based on one made a few years back (see photo above). We added a cute little woolly hat to keep her head toasty.

Ruby made her teacher the cutest little reindeer from pompom balls made from an old wool jumper of mine (some moths had feasted on this some years back so I re-wound the salvageable stuff ). Into the basket it went, along with some bunting, a homemade bag, a clay ornament, the previously mentioned sherry-infused cake, and of course, some champers and chocolate. Oh, and you might just see some mince pies hiding in there, too.

Pinterest is great, isn't it? Except for when your daughter is browsing through it two nights before her class party, and decides she wants snowmen skewers. At ten o clock the night before, I found myself putting these little guys together (faces were added fresh the next morning). I have to admit, they looked really awesome and apparently were gone in a flash.

Homemade peppermint foot scrub. Just because it looked and sounded so delicious.

Another Pinterest steal. Thanks to Bunnings for supplying the card stock, free of charge.

Hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas time.

(almost caught up now. Thanks for sticking with me!)