Girly time with daughter

On Monday I had a lovely time visiting my DD Kaija in her new home town for the first time.

As you can see, they have had some snow but the rains have taken it away. Luckily, it was not bone breaking slippery!

Kaija met me at the railway station and we had some mid-morning tea after my 3 hour train trip. Then she showed me the window display of the Craft Museum of Finland, as the Museum itself was closed on a Monday.

About 20 doll making artists had put together this scene from the President's Independence Day Reception. Imaginary, as they show a doll of our late President Kekkonen too, or maybe it is his ghost! The dolls were about 15" tall.

The cakes looked delicious:

There was a knitted graffiti on the door handle; a nice touch as long as it is not wet.

After spending some time at her home and seeing all her beautiful match boxes and other things, and exchanging Christmas presents, we went out for lunch and some shopping. Lucky girl, she has several second-hand bookstores (I bought just one book) within reach, more than one fabric shop (yes, I bought 4 metres of new fabric) and many other interesting places (yes, I bought some yarn too, and a lipstick).

Then it was time for me to thank Kaija for a lovely day and leave after a last cup of tea and gingerbread.

I hope you will have a chance to spend some time with all your loved ones at Christmas time.

Christobel the elf girl

Christobel the elf girl has found a perfect place on the round window. Melanie sent her last year for me as a Christmas present, and her place was on top of our fireplace. The problem was that it was a bit too warm for her, and she is such a nosey little girl who wants to see and know everything. From her old place she could only see the back yard, and not even the bird feeder, so there really was not much to see. Here she sits next to our front door, and can see who is coming and who is going in the street, and she can see the sun rise and birds in the apple trees (if she turns her head just a little). Christobel can see the Finnish elves sneaking around behind windows and making notes of the behaviour of the children, and most important of all, she can see when Santa brings his gifts behind our door so we can go and take them in. Santa is so busy that he will not stop at houses where there are no small children, so we will not get a real visit from him.

Rudolf and Celeste

Many years ago I used to buy an Australian magazine called Handmade. This little angel Celeste and her friend Rudolf are made with a patterns from that magazine.

They used to sit on our steps, but now found a new place on the old cupboard I cleaned last summer.

Every day I add something to make our home feel like Christmas.

Glass ornaments from my childhood, carefully placed in a big glass jar.

Feed the Birds

At this time of the year, there is hardly any colour in the nature. The red and grey chested bullfinches whistle softly to make me see they are trying to cheer up the view. They are regular visitors on our feeder, but also find something to eat in the birch. This picture was taken from our doorstep, about 30 m from the birds, as I didn't want to scare them away.

Place for cards

This is where I put the Christmas cards from friends and relatives. I used to collect them in a bowl, but I really like this mail bag I made many years ago for my parents. It came back to me last summer.

A simple tree with red candles, cross stitch in wool.

Christmas Flowers

Christmas flowers all over at the Florist's. I get to watch these every time I sit in "my cafe". What is your favourite Christmas flower? I love the scent of Hyacinths and the handsome look of Amaryllis.