Jigsaw 31 - Christmas Flower Shop

 2nd Christmas jigsaw to be completed. One from a series of the shop in different seasons.

So distinct colours so not difficult to do, but still had some moments of frustration.

Definitely makes me dream of a winter white Christmas time

Christmas Tree

 I like Christmas.

I like the colours, the lights, the decorations, the excitement that people have. The caring side that seems to come out in people more.

Ok, I can't say I actually like the day itself, the stress of food, presents, what others are doing, who will be around etc.

But I definitely like the lights and the gentle lull of the evening with the lights going, glowing in the dark. Therefore, I love having the tree up in the house, having all the other lights on low and watching tv etc. with that warm glow of the multi coloured Christmas tree lights.

Sadly, here in New Zealand, the days are getting longer and lighter at this time of year, so to see any pretty lights around, you have to stay up till 9-10pm. This means that there is actually a lack of Christmas spirit around as there are no lights as you finish work, no carols blaring from speakers in shops, Christmas window displays lack that cuteness as they inevitably show displays of beaches and sunshine (due to it being almost summer and everyone breaking up for the summer holidays from school and work),

You can actually forget that it is Christmas here in December!

This year, I wanted the tree up early, but life got in the way, as it frequently does at the moment, so today I finally got there. It is the barest of decorations, enough to show the significant ones that are important to me, but the main aspect was of course the lights.

There, finally, the house glows in the evenings (and very early mornings too)

Jigsaw 30 - Ugly Sweaters

 Whilst I am happy to do a Christmas jigsaw at any time of the year, they are always cute pictures, this one just had to be done at Christmas time.

Because I live in New Zealand, we sadly do not have ugly Christmas sweaters due to it being our summertime and the temperatures are too high for us to require a sweater.

But that doesn't mean we don't dream of a cold white Christmas time, we just wear ugly Christmas sweater t-shirts instead, or t-shirts with jokes about ugly sweaters!

I actually purchased this jigsaw myself. My cousin and her family love wearing ugly sweaters and always try to have a mid-winter Christmas weekend here so that they can have an opportunity to wear the sweaters. So, I purchased it, knowing that she would enjoy the jigsaw too

And now it was my turn to complete it.

It was fun to do. Definitely one to be sorted by colour.

It has since been loaned out to a friend who is also obsessed with ugly Christmas sweaters.

Guess What?

 I won first prize.

Everyone was totally taken with the tree, fascinated at what it was and the detail of it. So many people thought, from a distance, that it looked like velvet and then when they got up close, and realised it was actually tea bags, they were amazed. They didn't even realise, to begin with, who had created it as it sat on my colleagues' desk not mine. Then I got heaps of questions about its creation, the time involved, how I dyed the tea bags etc

So many positive comments and the judges thought so too.

Bring it on 2026. Last year we got 2nd place in the competition and this year 1st place. Got a reputation to maintain here, what will the competition be next year?

It is Finished

 The tree is now finished and just needs to be moved to the office

I am so pleased with the tea pot I found to place on the top. I have the lights pouring out of the spout

Crafting for Work

 Yes, you read that title correctly, I am crafting something for work.

For a competition within our office. Last year there was a Christmas theme decoration of your desk area. We built a Gingerbread house! The post about it can be found here.

This year, it was a Christmas Tree competition. I immediately knew what I wanted to do and so in consultation with my desk/pod mates, I told what I wanted to do, and they were happy to let me run with it.

Quite a few years ago, a friend of mine had created a tree for a display that was quirky, creative, Christmas themed and latched into New Zealand style.

In other words, a New Zealand Tea Tree.

A Christmas tree that represented the native Tea Tree that we have in NZ (Leptospermum, commonly known as Manuka or New Zealand Tea Tree, is a versatile native shrub prized for its vibrant flowers, aromatic foliage, and ecological benefits)

A Tree that represents all of this, made entirely from tea bags, yes, tea bags.

I set about dying over 200 brand new tea bags, four different colours and then laced them onto a wire mesh frame.

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Drying in the sunshine

Almost there, just need to add the top and the lights

Jigsaw 14 - Christmas Baking

 We have just passed the halfway mark of 2025 a couple of weeks ago and I am already on jigsaw 14. At this rate I will definitely crush my number of completions compared to 2024. I did 19 last year.

My jigsaws sit on a card table (wrote about it last January here) and since being back in the family house it is still located in the main family area. No one else in the house seems interested in doing the jigsaws (they did use to help when we would have them on the go at the caravan but not at home?) and so, not that I would mind if they helped, they are easy to access and complete whilst watching tv in the evenings.

So, I don't have to sit in the dining room or another room to complete them and I am sure this assists with getting them completed quicker as you can do a few pieces, or 10, most evenings. Sometimes I set myself the challenge of trying to get at least 10-20 pieces picked from the box and they have to be set on the table/connected in the right place. This definitely helps with getting it moving and finished.

Another Christmas one, as mentioned before, several of them to complete and seeing as it is freezing cold and ark like UK Christmas here in NZ at present, then it feels like it should almost be Christmas time.

Yes, even after 27 years of being in NZ and having Christmas in the sunshine, I still miss the cold and dark and bright lights that my head associates with Christmas. Christmas definitely creeps up on me every year here as there are no dark nights going home after work, seeing all the lights and window displays lit up. There are no carols playing in the shopping centers with the freezing air outside reminding you that it might just snow before or on Christmas.

It is warm and sunny; day light savings has well and truly kicked in, the evenings are light and bright and if you do want to go and see Christmas lights anywhere, well, you have to wait until 9-10pm before it is dark enough!

We always have a Christmas tree with lights, and the lights come on in the house at about 6pm but it is at least 8pm before they start to emulate that gorgeous glow of holiday spirit. My snowman ornaments definitely look out of place in NZ lol, any talk of snow is unheard of at that time of year.

One day, I will go back to England for a holiday to enjoy the lights and darkness of December as we lead into Christmas. Just one small problem.....I do love the heat of summer and not sure I could give it up just to see Christmas lights!

On to the jigsaw that I have just finished. I wish I had more time in December, as the year comes to a stressful close to get baking done to share with friends and work colleagues but alas, it is always so busy that I never get anything completed. Doesn't stop me thinking of what I could make, if I had the day to spend in the kitchen.

Jigsaw 9 - Christmas Village

 Yes, I know 4 months late for Christmas, it is not that holiday time yet, but I had several from a sale that I attended and I suddenly needed something different to do, so went for a couple of Christmas ones. This is the first a few holiday themed ones that I have in my pile of to be completed.

It is also one of my first official eeBoo ones and I love the colour and size of the square. It is very shiny and vibrant.

Christmas Day parkrun

Yes, parkrun even takes place on holidays, not just a Saturday.

In fact, parkrun takes place 98% of the time on a Saturday, but there are just a few odd days during the year where countries will hold an extra parkrun. If you live in a more accessible country, like Great Britain, then you have the added bonus of a few European country's special extra days too, so you can always do a few cheap trips into Europe and then you can collect a few more parkruns to add to the potential 54 minimum that are available.

Sadly, here in New Zealand, it takes a little bit to get to any other country, well we have Australia close by, but it is at least a 3–4-hour plane ride and that just gets you to the airport!

So, for us, well we will just be grateful for the extra one on Christmas Day and New Years Day.

This year the sun was shining, and it was warm at 8am. There were 341 attendees today and it was a lovely morning to run/walk before the potential madness that Christmas day can bring.

Just a beautiful start to the day with lots of red and Santa hats in sight.

Christmas Day

My boys are now big enough to not be home for Christmas!

The oldest (21), as you know, now lives in another city (over 6 hours away) and the youngest (19) has a girlfriend, so can be here, can be there.

So, for Christmas Day, until Alex came home, there was just 3 adults who were not that bothered by the day or presents. Well, we like presents but we didn't have to do a 6am mad session to open them.

I snuck out at 7.30am to go do parkrun (another post will be about that) and when I came home the adults were up and getting food, so I showered and then had breakfast.

Alex had been working until about 1am, so had actually come into the house, changed and then gone to his girlfriend's house to sleep. According to Grandma, it was like a herd of elephants came into the house at 1am and caused a racket lol.

Although, he did let us all know that he had been there as he made sure that Santa's message got to us....

Shame that Santa takes after him and can't spell, but I will let him off as it was 1am and he had been working for 12 hours!

Ben, well he was actually working on Christmas day so was not even with his new family down there! And he wasn't going to be with them until 7pm. We checked in with him via video call when we had opened our presents.

He looked happy, so I was all happy seeing him and that beautiful smile.

Whilst Steve and I are no longer together as a couple, we are still important to each other and so we do get each other presents for Christmas, birthdays etc

Today, he made me cry, yes, for the first time in forever he got it right!

He knows that I have discussed many times over the years about wanting to take the day long train from Auckland to Wellington. It only takes 8 hours! I don't even mind which way I go, up or down, but I have always wanted to do it (I will write another post about it one day)

Today, he gave me my present and it was a voucher that entitled me to a trip on the train whenever I could organise it. Now I have some planning to do.

And just like that, the happenings of the family on Christmas Day.

Christmas Ornaments

 I do like to create things, and this year I found an awesome little pattern for tree decorations made out of felt, so I gave it a go.

Simple paper/card templates that you use to cut the felt

A quick whip stitch around in a matching colour, obviously this was just a simple two colour design but there were others that had other parts to them so many different colours.

Add some stuffing and some beads to make it stand out more and voila....a gift for someone.

They are not difficult and do not take long to produce. I got the pattern from Whatacurlylife on Instagram.

I made a gingerbread man for my colleague