It's another vile November day: just look at the rain on the window. Elsewhere north of here towns have been flooded and a policeman has been swept to his death off a collapsing road bridge as he warned others to keep away. Time to cheer ourselves up and bring a little sparkle into our lives!

Tags:   'Christmas tree' 'xmas holidays decorations nativity wemyss congleton UK traditional bauble ribbons christmas tree xmas tree

© All Rights Reserved

I got sick of our old 'conventional' lights: you know the ones with fiddly little bulbs that keep burning out, the ones which are working when you put them away each year after Christmas, but which don't work when you get them out the following year: the ones that have a bulb type you can't buy anymore in two year's time! So this year I bought some new LED lights, but hey, I'm not so sure I like them as much. They don't give the same warm light, my super-critical wife says, or is it just I can't master my new camera?

Tags:   'Christmas tree' 'xmas holidays decorations nativity wemyss congleton UK traditional bauble ribbons christmas tree xmas tree plastic tree fraser pine bow dangly bits santa december cat conservatory candy angel

© All Rights Reserved

The second weekend of November was cold and wet, and miserable. Suffering from SAD Syndrome we decided to brighten our lives and retreive the Christmas tree from the attic. Having checked the lights were working we then decorated the tree promising ourselves we would only switch on the lights again in December. Pathetically we only waited 20 minutes before flicking the lights on. Each time we go on vacation we look for something to add to our tree: a minature cactus with coloured baubles on it from Arizona, painted eggs from Prague, little angels from Knott's Berry Farm, a log cabin from Springdale, Utah: in fact individual decorations from all over the world with surprisingly few Made in China!

Tags:   Christmas tree christmas tree xmas baubles decorations xmas tree santa claus santa winter holidays innes pentlandpirate dream lights england candy ribbon bow

© All Rights Reserved

Tags:   Christmas tree Xmas tree Christmas scotland scottish pentlandpirate innes travel britain

© All Rights Reserved

Wow! It looks like Santa has been! Thank God someone forgot to put out a glass of sherry and a mince pie. (I'm struggling with my calorie intake as it is!) And I hate the raw carrots left for the reindeer. But we've got some whitish stuff on the ground outside. With all the children at home I'm hoping this Christmas Day will be one to remember! Merry Christmas everyone!

Tags:   merry christmas xmas holidays christmas tree santa claus

© All Rights Reserved