Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas for 2025!

 

It's only 5 more sleeps until Christmas. Where did the year go? I have never known time to fly by so fast!

I am all prepared for Christmas now. Presents are wrapped, done while listening to my favourite Christmas music sung by the Rat Pack, and cards are all written. Advent calendars are on display, and the ingredients have been bought for a pre-Christmas Eve morning tea.

Christmas is going to be simpler this year as I suffered from 2 strokes over a month ago. I have recovered fully now, thank goodness, but it has left me even more tired. We aren't putting up the Christmas tree this year as it is too much for me to manage. But I have decorated the house with my collection of old Christmas cards which look lovely.

My sister-in-law did most of my Christmas present shopping for me, which was so kind and thoughtful of her. And I have been having all the groceries delivered to the house. I have simplified our Christmas meals so there will be no cooking, which also suits the very hot weather that we've been having this year.

On Monday I am doing a pre-Christmas Eve morning tea instead of our large Christmas Eve lunch. I will be serving blinis with smoked salmon and dill, a variety of 4 cheeses (double cream brie, havarti, gouda and a New Zealand blue cheese) with quince paste and dried fruit crackers. Followed by pfeffernusse, cinnamon star biscuits, marzipan potatoes (candy), chocolate dominoes, panettone and stollen. Served with Twining's English breakfast tea and coffee.

Then on Christmas Eve it will be just mum, dad and I for lunch. Dad is going to help by making shrimp cocktail, potato salad and a green salad. With this we will be having cold smoked salmon and hot smoked salmon, plus any cheeses left over from the pre-Christmas Eve morning tea. Followed by sweet treats left over from the morning tea.

As always, my sister will be making the Christmas Dinner for the whole family. I am really looking forward to it. She will be making roast stuffed turkey and a roast ham this year. I usually make the entree, but this year my sister will be making it herself with money we gave to help towards the meal. Needs must. There will be a limoncello and berry trifle, brought by my sister's friends, and I think my brother and sister-in-law will be bringing a pavlova.

Lots to look forward to. We will be sharing Christmas presents after the Christmas dinner while we eat sweet treats including Christmas mince pies which my sister bakes.

I hope that your holiday preparations are going well and that you have plenty of time and good health to enjoy this wonderful time of year.

Looking forward to hearing all about your celebrations. Have a lovely time!

Lots of hugs, from Rose xxx

Merry Christmas from Rose

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas. Have a wonderful time with family and friends. Keep well and safe over the holidays and I will see you again soon.

With lots of Hugs, Rose xxx

Making table decorations for my pre-Christmas lunch

 
I enjoyed myself, this past week, doing a little craft project. I decided to make Christmas cracker boxes for my pre-Christmas lunch table. Ones that I could fill with little treats and Christmas jokes for each of our guests.

I had thought of buying Christmas crackers from the shops, but the contents are never much good. So, instead I searched through hundreds of ideas on Pinterest, my go-to website for ideas on things to make. 

This little template appealed to me. It didn't link to a webpage, there was only the template with no instructions. But I managed to follow instructions from other pins for Christmas crackers to assemble it.

I re-sized the image and printed it onto glossy photopaper, one cracker box per page. 

It was easy to cut out with scissors, but I used a craft knife to cut out the internal diamond shapes. Then I folded the paper along the dotted lines and glued the tabs to the opposite side to form a tube.

I bought some thin red ribbon and tied a bow around the diamond ended parts which made it look like a Christmas cracker.

I left the bottom ends open so that I could fill each Christmas cracker box with Christmas chocolates and also Christmas jokes, which I printed from the internet. 

Then I closed the ends with a tiny dab of glue, so that the cracker boxes could be easily opened up to get the treats out.

Now I still need to iron my newly washed white tablecloths and napkins. And sort out my placemats, cutlery and dishes that I will be using. There is no hurry to do this as I still have 11 days to get ready.

The menu and the shopping list have been sorted, presents all wrapped and Christmas cards written. 

I have assembled the large Christmas tree, which needs the lights and decorations to be put on. For some reason it feels like a bit of an effort to do this year. Maybe it's just because it is so hot at the moment.

But I have decorated my little Christmas tree on my bedside table with vintage ornaments and some of the little paper house decorations that I made for the dining table last year.

And I have tidied up my desk and made it look Christmassy 🎄

I hope that you are enjoying yourself during the run up to Christmas this year, 

and that things are not too hectic.

See you again soon,

Hugs, Rose xxx

I wish you a Merry Christmas

 

I will catch up with you soon.

Hugs, Rose x 

I have been making Christmas decorations

 

I have spent the past few weeks busily enjoying myself getting ready for Christmas. The Christmas presents are all bought and wrapped, and I have since been focusing on the Christmas Eve lunch table setting.

Instead of Christmas crackers, this year I wanted to make something myself as a gift to our guests. So, after many hours searching on Pinterest, I found free templates of little Christmas box houses and paper Christmas trees, designed by Gunnor Karita from the Wings of Whimsy blog.

I downloaded the templates, scaled them, and printed them onto glossy photo paper. They were easy to cut out, fold and glue together.

.

I filled each little Christmas house box with Hershey's kisses. I found Christmas mint truffle ones that are wrapped in a cute snowflake foil. Then I placed one box on top of each folded napkin.

I also printed off some Santa jokes to put inside each box.

The little Christmas boxes can be hung on the Christmas tree too as shown in my first photo.

For the centre of the table, I made a little village of paper gingerbread houses and fir trees.

I treated myself to a set of new handmade placemats which are made out of white-washed rattan. Plus, I bought a white cotton tablecloth and napkins which have a hemstitched border. They were all in the pre-Christmas sales and the napkins worked out to be free once all the discounts were applied!

The pre-Christmas lunch menu is written and all I need to do now is wash the plates and cutlery, which were in storage since we moved house. Then I have a bit of last-minute grocery shopping to do for fresh vegetables and a few odds and ends. 

I ordered the non-perishables online from the supermarket and they have already been delivered. And I am expecting a selection of cheeses to be delivered on Friday.

This is the most organised and relaxed I have been before Christmas. I have been enjoying watching Christmas-themed vlogs on YouTube, plus reading the December edition of The Simple Things magazine on my iPad via our library. I really enjoy reading that magazine.

I hope that you are enjoying the days leading up to Christmas too!

Hugs, Rose x

Have a very merry Christmas!

Wishing you and your loved ones the most wonderful Christmas. May you never be too old to search the skies on Christmas Eve! Enjoy your celebrations, stay safe and take care.

With lots of love from Rose xxx

Silver and red, vintage and antique, Christmas tree decorations

At last, here is my little tabletop Christmas tree, decorated with silver and red, vintage and antique, Christmas tree decorations. 

The shiny baubles are made of mercury glass and the little figures are made of chenille and spun cotton. I found them on eBay many years ago when I became addicted to buying Christmas decorations online. I get so much joy from them. They remind me of my childhood Christmases when we had a real tree with real candles on.

I have had a very busy 2 weeks looking after my mum, taking her to her doctor, audiologist and optometrist. Her blood pressure was extremely high, but now has lowered below the danger level, with new medicine doses, which is a big relief.  

Also, mum's hearing has deteriorated by 50% in a year and she was struggling with her old hearing aids, one of which she lost. So she now has new ones in time for Christmas. It is a bit of an ordeal for her getting the hearing aids to work as needed though, so yesterday I went to the audiology clinic to learn how to program them using an app on my cellphone. Then yesterday afternoon I managed to adjust the settings so that she can now hear me and dad with no difficulty 😊 I will need to do another program setting for the hearing aids at Christmas, when the family is all gathered together, as hearing will be a challenge for mum in a group setting.

It is hard to believe that it is only 1 week to go until Christmas! The time has flown by quickly since my last post. Everything is ready now apart from a delivery of groceries next week for Christmas. I have my fingers crossed that they will be able to deliver everything I need, otherwise it will be a last minute visit to the supermarket, which I imagine will be a crazy time.

In the meantime, I have been watching the Chateau Diaries Christmas Advent vlogs every day on YouTube. It is a lovely channel to watch and is making it feel like Christmas 🎄

Have a wonderful weekend. 

Hugs, Rose x

Getting into the Christmas spirit

I have been slow with putting up my Christmas decorations and getting into the Christmas spirit, which I am finding a little bit difficult, this year. So yesterday I decided to do something about it. 

I put on some Christmas music from YouTube with pretty Christmas scenes and gathered up all the gifts that I had bought throughout the year. Then I got out my Christmas wrapping papers, sellotape and scissors, and I was all set to get wrapping.

It didn't take long for me to realise that I was thoroughly absorbed and having fun with this activity 😊

I had one dilemma though, my brother's Christmas present, which I ordered in October, hadn't arrived in the mail yet. I phoned the company that I purchased it from and was told that, unfortunately the parcel was delayed in transit from overseas and it would be another 12 days before they got it to send on to me...😕 This will be too late to give to my brother as he is going away for Christmas to his in-laws shortly and he is coming to visit and pick up the presents tomorrow.

So I had an idea.

I found a picture of the gift that he is going to get eventually, then printed it out on glossy photo paper and turned it into a little card. Inside I explained that this is a picture of his gift which he will receive next year, as unfortunately Santa was a bit delayed this year. All will be fine.

 

The next thing on my to-do list was to start rearranging my desk to make it look Christmassy. I added a red gloxinia house-plant which came into flower last week. It isn't quite a poinsettia, but it is the right colour and very pretty.

I then placed my new tabletop Christmas tree on my desk. I bought it recently to replace the little white tree that I had. The white tree had turned light brown and looked awful. I had wanted another white tree but couldn't find one that was suitable. Then I found this little green tree with white flocking which made me very happy.

Tomorrow my father will get my vintage Christmas decorations out of storage and I will be able to decorate my trees...Yay! I won't be putting up my large tree this year, as there isn't room for it anymore, which is a shame.

I also received my first Christmas card yesterday, so added it to my desk too. I plan to make garlands again with my favourite cards which I have saved over the years.

The menu for our Christmas Eve meal is now planned and I have bought all the non-perishables for it. (It is very hard for me not to tuck into the pfeffernusse biscuits and mince pies!) I also made a list of things that need to be bought a few days beforehand. The food will be hit-and-miss this year with not knowing what groceries will be available or not. But the main thing will be that we will have a good time together.

How are you getting on with your holiday plans this year?

Have you managed to get into the spirit of things?

See you again soon. 

Hugs, Rose x

Have a Merry Christmas!

 

Merry Christmas from Rose at the Happy Ramblings blog

It is just over one week until Christmas. This year has gone so fast! I have bought all of the Christmas presents for everyone, so there will be no mad rushing around the shops this Christmas, apart from the grocery shopping.

I will be wrapping all the presents next week, when I have a quiet day so I can enjoy some Christmas music at the same time.

Last week I went to a candle-making party and made a scented candle for myself. This year I chose a pineapple and mango scent. The scent was quite strong, so I used only half of the recommended amount of fragrance.

Yesterday I went to a Christmas card making party which was really fun. Lots of cute Christmassy paper and card to choose from and ribbons and sparkly beads. There was also a selection of stamping equipment and different coloured inks to use.

Next week I am going to a Christmas craft party where I will get to make more Christmassy things. I am taking mum along with me so that she can join in with the fun too.

I hope that your holiday season is all that you hoped it would be.

With lots of love,

from

Rose xxx

Merry Christmas from Rose - Happy Ramblings blog

It has been a year since my last post, yet it only feels like yesterday. Time passes so quickly. I hope that the year went well for you and that you have time to stop and enjoy the coming holidays.

I finished all of my shopping yesterday for our Christmas Eve dinner and all the presents are wrapped and waiting to be given out on Christmas day. The shops were getting crazy yesterday, even at 8.00 o'clock in the morning, the supermarket was packed. Plus I had to wait for parking at Farro, my favourite delicatessen for all things Christmas.

It is 27 C outside at the moment. It doesn't feel hot as there is a lovely breeze and it isn't humid. Perfect weather for me for Christmas. Usually I feel really hot at this time of the year and don't want to do anything but lounge around the house because of the heat.

I have a rather meagre Santa Sack for myself this year as I had to be very frugal due to not working. I think that I have 4 items in my Santa Sack which I put in at the beginning of the year. Plus Mum has snuck something into it too which is really fun.

During the run-up to Christmas I went to a candle-making party like last year. I enjoyed it very much. I made 2 candles and a tea-light out of soy wax and scented them with citrus peel fragrance. I chose silver-plated engraved metal containers this time. I liked them so much that I kept one for myself. The other is being given as a Christmas present.

Have a wonderful Christmas-time and take care on the roads. Hope to catch up with you again soon.

Lots of hugs

Rose x

Santa sack 2016 - early opening :)

It is the day before Christmas Eve and again I couldn't wait to open my Santa sack containing little presents that I bought for myself throughout the year :) I used money that was given to me for Christmas and my birthday last year, to buy treats for Christmas this year. There are always things in my Santa sack which I have forgotten about because I don't peep into it as the year goes by.

My Santa sack fillers were:

- Body Shop Satsuma soap
- Clinique After Sun (I use this as a moisturiser on my face)
- Turkish delight

- Bath products from Lush (Snow angel bath melt, Snowball bath bomb, Rose queen bath bomb, Green bubbleroon bubble bar, Golden wonder bath bomb and Creamy candy bubble bar).
- L'Occitane products (Vervaine bubble bath, Bonne Mere bath cubes, 4 Reins rose bubble bath and body cream, Bonne Mere soaps and a Pivoine soap.

- A pottery hedgehog plant pot and mustard and cress seeds to grow in it. The mustard and cress will be the hedgehogs prickles. I also bought the same as part of my nephews birthday present and couldn't resist one myself :)
- A heart shaped soap.

- Lindt chocolate teddy bear
- Terry's chocolate orange
- 2 colouring books (Wild Savannah and Magic Jungle)

These will all keep me happy throughout the year :)

All the Christmas preparations are finished. Now there is only Christmas Eve dinner to prepare tomorrow. It is a special time for us. Everything is so relaxed it is amazing. No last minute Christmas shopping, so I can spend this evening watching Christmas themed shows, listening to Christmas music and reading my book.

I hope that your holiday preparations are going to plan and that you are managing to take time out to enjoy yourself too.

See you again soon.

Hugs

Rose x

I love the days leading up to Christmas

This year there are so many things that I am enjoying in the days leading up to Christmas. I am not working this month, so I haven't experienced any last minute rush and have been doing everything at a leisurely pace.

Today I will be baking our Christmas cake. I soaked the fruit mixture in Cognac overnight in preparation. It tastes delicious...better not try too much of it!

Mum will be baking pfeffernusse cookies. I love the smell of them baking with all the Christmassy spices...cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, ginger and cardamom (my mouth is watering just thinking about them). We give a box of pfeffernusse cookies to the postman every Christmas, his family look forward to them every year.

Here are some of the other things that I have been enjoying, during the days counting down to Christmas, here in New Zealand:

- Strawberries and plums, lovely juicy and red to match the occasion. Our plum trees usually fruit in time for Christmas, and my strawberries have been fruiting all year!

- Pavlova covered with fresh berries and cream.

- Pohutukawa trees with their gorgeous red flowers against dark green leaves. Perfect for Christmas.

- Scented candles. My favourites are pomegranate and orange, and also vanilla. And this year I had the chance to actually make candles for presents. Such fun.

- Cherry liqueur chocolates in their shiny red foil wrapping. I can never wait until Christmas to start eating treats!

- Picnics under the trees in the garden with my cats.

- Sitting on the deck reading Christmas-themed novels.

- Hibernating in the house with the cool air conditioning turned on when it is very hot and humid outside.

- Wrapping Christmas presents and making cards while listening to Christmas music.

- Decorating the house. Putting the Christmas tree up. Memories that the tree ornaments bring. Feeling like a kid again :)

- Going to the local twilight Christmas market.

- Filling my Santa sack with little treats for myself throughout the year. No peeping inside until Christmas Eve!

- Reading my favourite blogs sharing with me all about Christmas activities. And searching Pinterest for Christmas ideas.

What bliss it is to be able to experience all of these things in the time leading up to Christmas this year. I feel so lucky :) I hope that you have the time to enjoy yourself too.

See you soon.

Hugs

Rose x

Arranging Christmas decorations on my desk

I enjoyed myself this evening decorating my desk for Christmas and lighting candles.

My cat Oscar supervised the proceedings as always.

I swapped things around here and there until everything felt right.

And here is the final arrangement on my desk.

I love the little silver mercury glass tealight holders that I found on Ebay a few weeks ago. And I thought the shape of the starfish looked Christmassy too. They seem to fit in with Christmas in summer.

Yesterday was spent writing Christmas cards and wrapping all of the presents while listening to Christmas music on YouTube. I can't wait to give the presents to everyone. I gave mum hers a few weeks ago, but I have something else to give her at Christmas :)

I hope that you are enjoying your week.

Hugs

Rose x

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I couldn't wait any longer to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I hope that you are managing to take time to enjoy yourself during this busy time of the year.

It was a very busy week-end for me, this week-end, making candles for presents. It is the first time that I have made candles and it was great fun. We had a candle and card making party and there were so many choices of things to make. It really put me in the Christmas mood.

All of my Christmas presents are ready and now waiting to be wrapped. I love wrapping gifts by the Christmas tree while listening to Christmas music. Then I can't wait to give everyone their presents.

This evening I made some more cards and gift tags. Now it is a matter of writing the cards and wrapping the presents, which I plan to do after putting the Christmas trees up next week-end, plus finishing decorating the house. The only thing left to do after that is the Christmas food shopping.

My own Santa sack is full and now I must wait until Christmas Eve before I can open it and remember what I put into it during the year. They are just little things, but they bring me lots of happiness.

Wishing that your days be Merry and Bright.

Hugs

Rose x

Our scrumptious Christmas Eve dinner

We had a lovely hot summery Christmas Eve here in New Zealand. Just perfect for having a cold collation of Christmas treats for dinner.

We buy our favourite foods each year. This year we added marinated mussels to our assortment of goodies. There was smoked salmon, salted herrings and roll mops as usual

Cherry size mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, green olives stuffed with feta and Guzzardi Kalamati marinated olives.

A selection of Italian cold meats.

And a cheese selection which was yummy. Dad and I enjoyed sampling the different cheeses at the delicatessen. We selected quite a range this year including fromage de meaux, fromage d'affinois (delicious!), Munster (too smelly for me but dad loved it), Mount Scott Havarti, Whitestone Lindis Pass brie, Old Rotterdam gouda (my favourite) and English stilton.

We had fresh fruit for dessert...melon, mango and cherries. Plus mince pies and homemade pfeffernusse biscuits.

It was a very enjoyable evening. I love this tradition we have.

I hope that you are enjoying your Christmas holidays as much as I am.

Love Rose x

Santa sack reveal - I couldn't wait!

It is the night before Christmas Eve and I couldn't stop thinking about my Santa sack. I kept looking at it, but resisted the urge to peep inside for hours. But after an extremely busy day at work, and feeling sad about it being my final day today, I succumbed to the temptation of opening it.

Inside my Santa sack was a lovely selection of things that I had collected that put a smile on my face:

- A selection of Bennets chocolates, including reindeer noses, chocolate Christmas trees, 3 chocolate truffle Christmas puddings, and some delicious handmade chocolates.

- A large Scent 5 Pomegranate and orange candle.

- A Bonne Mere L'Occitane soap.

- A box of Belgian cherry liqueur chocolates.

- 2 heart soaps.

- 3 hand embroidered padded coat hangers.

- 4 Scent 5 pomegranate and orange scented tea candles in glass holders.

- L'Occitane lavander scented bubble bath

- L'Occitane peony scented soap

- A bag of chocolate coated cherries

- A lemon scented soap

- And last but not least a really big surprise, mum had snuck a lovely T-shirt into my Santa sack, all wrapped up nicely, without me knowing :) Mum is so sweet.

I am really happy now, especially after eating the chocolate coated popcorn reindeer noses while writing this!

I hope that you are enjoying yourself too. Do you still have a Santa sack for Christmas?

Looking forward to seeing you again soon.

Hugs Rose x