Twas the night before Christmas.....

• and the purple quilt is finally done (although the basting stitching still needs to be removed.)

• the gifts have been purchased (but not yet wrapped).

• food has been purchased and placed in the fridge,

• the (plastic) snakes in the mail did arrive (we are hoping that they deter the birds from leaving their mess on my pergola chairs!!) - Thankyou to the sender

• but there is not a decoration or tinsel in sight (although the Christmas cards are hanging)

• the wedding quilt is not yet pieced (but hoping that the top is put together by Saturday morning??)

• the heat has arrived again, after a respite of a couple of days, and there is a weather alert for Christmas afternoon, with strong winds and possible damage and a high fire risk.

• And I have called it a day and have put my feet up to read a book, and watch the carols on TV, and hopefully get into the Christmas mood.

A report on the news this evening stated the millions of dollars that has been spent on gifts and food this week. It seems like a lot of money, far too much, that is spent on one day of the year. The gross commercialisation of what should be a simple day, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is sad. Especially when there are so many people who have so little.

 I have tried not to get caught up in the hype this year, and cut back a lot of things that are not necessary to reduce the stress. It does help by not having Christmas at my house, as I had my turn last year. (My biggest stress this week was getting the quilt finished). Tomorrow I will attend church and have a quiet day, lunch with friends and get ready for celebrations with family the day after Christmas. And hopefully have a few quiet days in the next week, doing things that I have not had a chance to do in my busy, busy last little while.

I would like to wish all my readers a Happy and Peace filled Christmas, and many blessings for 2016. My thoughts and prayers are especially with those for whom Christmas is not so happy. Maybe they are remembering loved ones, maybe facing medical treatment, or in financial trouble. There is that expectation of a happy day, when sometimes it is not.

Blessings, \

From Jude