To All My Customers - Merry Christmas!

Do you remember when you were a child? And it was Christmas? And there was magic. And the absolute certainty that anything was possible.

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May you rediscover the child inside you this Christmas!

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Memories Feed The Imagination

"Memory feeds the imagination," says author Amy Tan. "The best thing we can give our children, next to good habits, are good memories," says author Sydney Harris. We gave our son a good memory over the weekend. He had the chance to sail on the Leeuwin Sail Training Ship for the weekend. These pics were taken after the voyage, when he returned today.He even steered the boat out of the harbour and in again, hauled sails and furled them again. He loved it and can't wait to go back on again.

He he is with his watchleader.One more quote; "The memories we collect, and give, brighten our lives as long as we live," (author unknown).

Crochet Christmas Pudding

I didn't use any sort of pattern for this; I simply crocheted a cap, like a doll's wig, starting off with the cream color wool "brandy sauce", then adding the brown speckled wool until I had almost a sphere. I added wool stuffing and a stone at the bottom, then sealed it by completing the crochet stitch. As for the holly, I just crocheted and knotted the wool until it resembled holly.

Thy Light Is Glowing: Santa Lucia

Santa Lucia,

thy light is glowing

Through darkest winter night,

comfort bestowing.

Dreams float on dreams tonight,

Comes then the morning light,

Santa Lucia,

Santa Lucia.

Today is Santa Lucia Day. St Lucia was a girl who was killed by the Romans for being a Christian. Legend has it that her ghost used to lead Christians fleeing persecution through the catacombs under Rome with her eyes on a tray, and a wreath of candles, leading the way to safety. Read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_LucyAnd here are some St Lucia dolls I made with silk dresses and silk-tops for hair.

Happy St Nicholas Day

The best children's party in Perth, if you have any Dutch heritage, is the annual Dutch Club's "St Nicholas Party". My husband's parents are Dutch, so I restarted this tradition in their family, and it's so much fun. St Nick is accompanied by "Black Peter", but at this party he has at least 4 of them. First St Nick goes around and greets everyone and asks if you've been good, while the Black Peters give out lollies and ginger bread biscuits to all the kids. Then he gets out this huge red book with a gold cross on it to check to see if any naughty children's names are written in there, and he then announces: "No children have been written in my book, so you will all get a present." The kids are called one by one to receive their present. Some kids have to have a further test to see if they've been good; Black Peter puts a sack over their heads and my husband thinks that the tradition with that is to see if a piece of black coal falls out. If it doesn't then the child gets a present. I had to have a quick word in Black Peter's ear not to put the sack over my son's head, or he would have probably freaked out! They usually have a magician but this one seemed to have vanished before we even saw him. But we had a good time anyway.