Noel

I made a banner this week! In fact, I made three! I bet you didn't know I'm a closet crafter! I was inspired by a lovely banner I saw in a Vintage Christmas book from the library, so decided to make my own. I spent about an hour at the craft store figuring out what I'd make, since the options are endless, but once you have an idea, you can never find the right supplies!

Since I took this photo, I've made two other banners, including "Joy" and "Yule". I am running low on vowels, since the box set of letters came with only two of each letter, so there are no more "e" and "o" options.

Sorry the photo is dark. I took it late in the evening and should have taken daylight photos this week, but we've had problems with our digital camera so I didn't take any more pictures and I wasn't able to upload until today, at my office.

I've also included photos of our wee tree (decorated as I preferred) and the big tree, decorated more as David preferred, with coloured lights. I like it also as it is more sentimental with all the personal ornaments, and it was so much fun to decorate. There are a lot of temporary balls as space-fillers until we can buy more special things. This photo really doesn't do it justice as it's a lovely-shaped tree and is very pretty close up with several vintage ornaments and mementos. Note the cat. He has been keeping a very close eye on the proceedings.

Tomorrow I'm going to buy myself a pair of ice skates (from Mom for Christmas), since we have a private lake in our neighborhood (which is why we bought here!), and they prepare it for ice skating in winter! It's been nice and cold lately, so the water should be frozen hard making it safe to skate. We were hoping to go skating on Christmas day or boxing day, but the other concern is my injured foot. It still hurts like crazy. I saw my doctor yesterday and he sent me for an x-ray and said I either bruised the joint and tore some ligaments or worse, broke a bone! He said he thinks it may be a stress fracture (crack)! I'm awaiting results and wearing flat shoes and praying a lot in the meantime. The pain is pretty bad and it kills to walk on it. I'm taking handfuls of Ibuprofen and have driven to work the past two days so I can park close to the office and not have to walk so far to and from the train. Parking costs $18 per day in Calgary!

Just when I was planning to start back to the gym and start a running program in January. Ugh...

On the weekend, I have some last minute things to buy, including groceries, wine, and fresh flowers. Sunday I intend to spend the day baking squares and cookies and maybe cupcakes (which I adore!). On Monday I want to bake a Cranberry Pumpkin upside-down cake for Christmas dessert. David wants something traditional, like a Christmas pudding, but I've already made this cake before and it's gorgeous. When you take it out of the pan and flip it over, it's a pretty orange pumpkin cake with this delectable red cranberry-pecan and brown sugar topping, which runs down the sides. I make it in a funnel pan so it looks elegant.

Have a lovely holiday weekend. I will try to post again before the big event. Boy, I will really miss Christmas when it's over. This has been so much fun!