Holiday Sickness

I finally succumbed to some pre-holiday illness, after congratulating myself on missing out on all the sickness bugs and colds that were going round the office, striking everyone down. I got the sickness bug, along with the rest of my family who I had just visited in Scotland this weekend. The only good thing about having this bug is that I haven't eaten anything for two days, which, for someone as 'cuddly' as I've become, is a good thing (we constantly tease my nephew Stuart about being 'cuddly' - he was cuddly as a baby and is still cuddly now. I must get that photo of him wearing his blue tights to publish in the blog). Luckily, I managed to finish Bette's Christmas present before the lurgy struck.I used embroidery transfers from Sublime Stitching; the lovely material in the centre is Kaffe Fassett's Roman Glass. Absolutely gorgeous. The placemat and coaster are backed in this material too.

It was lovely seeing my family in Scotland, though I think most of us now have, or have had, the bug. Keigan is an unstoppable climbing-machine, and it took about seven adults to herd him away from the more dangerous climbing routes in the living room. This is him attempting to scale the back of the chair, with my dad holding onto him.

My sister and I managed to visit a couple of coffee shops while finishing our Christmas shopping, and I loved this star on top of my decaf mocha so much I didn't want to disturb it (I'm easily pleased).Meg has ignored the Christmas tree for the last week and a half, until this morning when I found her hiding behind it, before she launched herself into it, scattering baubles and tinsel. I had to move some presents round to the back of the tree to stop her returning there again and again, to do the same thing.And finally, Keigan and my brother-in-law Robin playing at swings: