Our tree, a finish and a RAK

As you can see, Santa is getting his list of the nice and naughty all ready for the big night! Which one will you be on this year?

Our tree is finally up. This year we decided to put it in our rec room however its usual corner has now been occupied by a computer desk. So after much discussion and some moving of furniture it now occupies the corner next to our gas fireplace. Fortunately it's not a real tree so it won't dry out. I love a real tree but it's not practical with us being away for a few days. I don't want my friends to have to look after the tree in addition to the cat.
I'm also posting a few of my favourite ornaments on the tree. Since most of these ornaments are breakable, I've only begun collecting them and displaying them since the boys grew up and left home. The poinsetttias are made of velvet and wired for bending the leaves. They fit over the miniature tree lights and look so pretty when lit! The tree skirt is one that I hooked when my oldest was just a baby. We dug it out of hiding this year. Unfortunately my tree top won't fit the tree since the ceilings are lower in the basement.

As you can see this was a gift from my younger sister Laurie

Laurie also gave me this moose.
Don't you just love his snowshoes?

This is the very first Christmas gift my hubby ever gave me.
I used to figure skate when I was younger.
He found this ornament when we were on our honeymoon.

These two are the newest additions to our tree.

I found a lovely surprise waiting for me in this week's mail. My cousin Sheryl sent me the sweetest RAK. It's a needleminder from Puffin & Company. Being the cat lover that I am I think you can figure out which one it is.

Isn't he/she cute? I'll say it's a female since that's what our kitty is. Thank you so much Sheryl!! You are such a sweetheart!

My Tuesday night group had their Christmas party and gift exchange last week. I tried out a new recipe to take with me..... gingerbread pumpkin trifle. It was awesome and I'll definitely be making this one again!

One of the members or our group likes to make beaded fobs which she then sells. I asked her to make me one of her fobs to go with my Dinky Dyes Oh Canada scissors. She did a fabulous job! I've posted a pic of the little charm as well which is a beaver. The beaver is our national animal although there are some recently who have talked about changing it to a polar bear.

This afternoon I finished another ornie for my collection. This one is Blue Ribbons Designs Red Birds for Peace. I finally finished up the over one stitching on the birds. They're weren't nearly as bad as I expected. The final finishing won't be done until the new year.

That about wraps things up for now (no pun intended!). I hope to have one final post before Christmas with a picture of my granddaughters' ornaments. I'm currently working on their finishing. I hope in all the craziness of the season that you each  can take a little time for yourself to relax and reflect. Just in case I don't have time for that next post, I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and all the best for a Happy New Year!