Tales From Pixie Wood

How It Seemed To Me, Upon Reflection

It all seems so long ago. We baked, prepared, tidied, fussed, unwrapped, laughed, exclaimed, threw more coal on the fire, slept, ate, knitted, opened bottle upon bottle of Champagne followed by Cava when the good stuff ran out. We touched Jo-Jo's heavily pregnant tummy and urged the girls to come out while indulging in a game of Cranium that lasted well over two hours.

It was good, oh so good and it was fulfilling because it was such hard work. I would do things differently should we ever host the event again but not too differently. I think the difference would be in my head. My thoughts would be focused on a different set of things and worry/stress would enter the fray a little less.

But now, in hindsight, looking back on a Christmas that has passed I see the whole thing like one big pink Champagne truffle. And if that sounds a little too good to be true or perhaps even like one big fat fib then let me explain why..........

This past Christmas does not remain in my mind as a 'truffle' like event because it was perfect but because, on reflection, it contained all the things that I now know to be important to me. These included family, warmth, food, laughter, safety and, amongst other things, hope.

I have hope for a bright and wonderful new year. Filled with a wedding (mine), a birth (my sister is going in to have the girls on the 1st of Jan!!!) and growth. Growth into areas that I have never visited or encountered before. I have a desire to see as many good things/events happen as possible and I will do my utmost not to be pulled from a path that is dedicated to positivity and, when I can manage it, clarity. I just want this coming year to count for something tremendous, so I am taking a deep breath, filling my pockets with Pink Champagne Truffles and stepping out into the promise of 2008. I conclude that if you have pockets brimming with something as delicious as pink truffles you can manage just about anything, right???

Am I excited?

So much I can barely stand it.

Have a wonderful, safe and celebratory New Years Eve. I shall see you on the other side and shall greet you with my arms wide open and my hand extended towards yours. That way we can take on the next 12 months together!

Cherry xoxox 

All Is Calm, All Is Bright

It's time to batten down the hatches and settle back in to the nook for Christmas. The outside has been lit and glows in the freezing mist that makes it's way through the streets of the town.

I can't see Santa  making his way through the cold air just yet but Boo thought she heard something coming down the chimney yesterday. I'm not so sure , it seems a little early and I haven't had time to put out his mince pie and glass of sherry!!!!

The cake has been iced and sits in the kitchen, resplendent in it's covering and complete with a narrative this year. LBH's mother and I decided on a little scenario for Santa, his helper the Snowman and some observant reindeer's........

......it's the little things and Santa falling on his bottom while Mr Snowman chuckles at his misfortune and then promptly joins him makes me smile and wish for a brood of children running around the kitchen. One day.

Until then we have Boo to look after. We'll make sure that she is fed, warm and purring. I wish the same for you, that you are fed, warm and purring!

"But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
by Clement Clarke Moore

.......and lots of love from me. See you soon. Cherry xoxoxox

   

I'll Be Home For Christmas

LBH's mum arrives today. This means that Christmas has REALLY started as she is with us for the duration. She will arrive bearing gifts of venison and beef as well as practical items such as spare quilts and carpet shampoo.

This is her room. The guest room. This room has been the most well behaved room in the house lately. Why? Because it has sat there, without complaint and kept itself in shape and tidy. This means that apart from a little plumping and sprucing I have had to do nothing except close the door behind me and wait for our guest.

The cushions are fat and the tissue box replenished. I keep a postcard sized print of my favourite artist in the whole world, John Currin, by the bed and of course there is a candle. We light candles a lot in this house around this time of year and I want any person who stays here to feel free to do the same. How many of us have read by candlelight lately and gone to sleep having puffed it out and buried down into the bed?

On the other side of the bed is a more traditional 'lamp'. It was slightly dull and a little grubby so I re-covered the shade in some odd bits of fabric and added a button trim. Hand-cream is a must and I always have two or three on the go in the drawer of my nightstand, our guest gets Penhaligon's. The rose scent lasts all day and fills the room.

Look at the books. Ahhhhh, Susan Branch. Who would have thought? I have been given so much, including friendship, Rachel and more inspiration than I can shake a stick at.

Let me take a moment while I pop off to the guest room and have yet another flick through the treasures...............................................................................................................................................................

.........I'm back. Inspired and ready to continue.

I picked up a grand total of SEVENTEEN Beatrix Potter books in the thrift store just this week. They cost me thirty pence each and although there are not the classic square, white versions I am in love with the colourful spines they sport. The stories are the same, as are the pictures and I think that every home should have a little BP in it, for cosy englishness if nothing else.

This is the view that any guest will wake up to if they open the curtains in the morning and then retire back to bed. Frost. It's the closest we shall get to snow I believe and I like it. It adds a white shimmer to everything and is so fitting. It disappears as we head towards lunchtime but if the weather report on the radio is anything to go by we are headed for a cold snap.

The part of the garden that you see in the picture above is our 2008 project. I can't wait to plan, clear, dig and sew and then entertain!

Supper, al fresco by hand painted lantern light. Thats the recipe for next year. Let me at it, let me at it!

If you are reading this I'd like to wish you a wonderful day. These next few days are my absolute favourite days of the entire year. I shall potter, shop, hobble a little, tweak, hobble some more, cook, bake, wrap, sing, eat and be merry. It's not always been like this. My goodness, I spent five Christmases on the trot single, lonely in a crowd,  in between boyfriends, dating a loser or in the midst of a break up with no home of my own and only my precious family and a dream of cosiness to rely on.  I remember those years too acutely to take even one mince pie for granted.

Merry Christmas

Lots of Love
Cherry xoxoxo

If It's There, I'll Decorate It - AKA 'Getting Up To Mischief'

Getting up to mischief is what LBH calls it when I have done something in the house while he is at work. This also translates to mean that he's doesn't necessarily like what I've done but he won't make a fuss about it. If he hates something he simply looks at the 'thing', looks at me and then looks back at the 'thing' - with absolutely no expression. It's amazing how so little expression can convey so much, eh?!?!

This exchange in glances usually makes me burst out laughing, thats if I don't mind un-installing the 'thing' I have done/put up/created/fashioned. If I do like the 'thing' and have no intention of removing the installation I stare back, just as expressionless and then declare that I like it and it's going nowhere.

I then leave the room.

This act is not an act of compromise, as it should be, but merely one of cowardice on my part. I'm not proud of it but the house looks pretty good.

I jest.

Since LBH and I have been living together we have undoubtedly begun to appreciate each others tastes. I would find living with somebody who presented no challenge at all and always agreed with me very frustrating and as attractive as living with a permanent cold sore  or a very hairy plughole. All three are unwelcome in equal measure. So I wonder what he'll think about the salt and pepper receptacles? Ordinarily I would only use scallop shells in this way for use on a summertime table. I simply wouldn't think about revealing them during the Christmas period. But I have these pretty, shiny, red, double berry things that I twisted on to the shells and I think they look pretty in their Scarlett-ness.

It's the hip that's done it - which is well on it's way to being much better and thank you so very much for all of your get well soon messages. Since I have been forced to take the pace down by about one hundred notches over the past six days I been getting creative in teeny weeny ways.

I have made all of my own gift tags, wired up another dozen glass jar lanterns, almost completed two projects for the grand re-opening of my shop early next year and wrapped most of the gifts. All from the comfort of the sofa.

I did have a moment of panic earlier today and it came in the form of my advent calender. I opened the door marked 18.

EIGHTEEN!!!!!!!

IT'S NEARLY ALL OVER!!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Did I ever tell you that apparently dislocated hips makes one SUPER DOOPER dramatic?
I didn't?
Well, I didn't believe it myself when they told me either!!!

;-)

   

You Stop, For Just A Moment, And It Hits You

I discovered this week how pain makes me terribly weepy. LBH comes home slightly early from work and brings a box of Thai food for two with him, I burst into tears at the emotion of it all. I sit on the sofa with the fire going and my hip throbbing away and Boo comes meowing down the stairs with a sock in her mouth and presents it to me on the living room rug as a kill. I sob into her fur how much I love her and how there will never be anybody who loves her as much as I. LBH clears out the kitchen cupboards while I direct operations from a seat in the kitchen and then he vacuum's the house, goes out and picks up the Christmas booze stash and waters the two trees and again I can feel my eyeballs welling up.

I have decided that I am not going to dismiss this soppy time as simply something that will pass when the pain of my dislocated hip does. I am going to remember EXACTLY what it was that made me feel these indescribable moments of tenderness.

They are as follows.........LBH, food, kindness, time, warmth, help, Christmas and love.......

 

....and that face. I lifted myself off the sofa and onto the floor for a much needed change of position and she joined me. Thank you camera for being plugged into the laptop and by my side, and thank you Boo for ........um........well.....your 'Boo-ness'  There's no other cat breath I'd wish to envelope me as I grasp for respite on the living room floor. No really, I jest not, I loved it........truly.

;-)

My Current View

I'd like to start this post by thanking you all for all of your wonderful, encouraging comments with regards to the magazine article that came out featuring our house last week. It shouldn't, but it always bowls me over when so many people take time out of their days simply to say "well done" to somebody they haven't even met! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

I shall be re-reading all of them over the next few days as I won't be moving form the position you see me residing in in the above picture. I shall explain. Here, as in most places at the moment, it is Christmastime. In my world that means that throughout the month of December there are more parties to go to than usual. I went to a party last night in fact. At said party I was having a wonderful time, flinging myself around the dance-floor with abandon and generally exorcising a whole bunch of stress and business to the sounds of classic WHAM!

I'm not sure exactly what was playing when it all came to an abrupt halt for me but one thing is certain, it got my attention. All of a sudden I just knew that something had gone and then I felt searing pain. Having met with my doctor this morning it turns out it was my right hip bone. It decided that last night was as good a night as any to pop out and then immediately pop back in again. Hence the feeling of utter shock that coursed through my body followed by red hot poker pain.

I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THAT COULD HAPPEN, I'M ONLY THIRTY TWO!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

It's infuriating. I'm incapacitated and already bored. I have a stick to help me hobble about and pain killers that are so strong they make you feel that you've done NOTHING wrong ........and then they wear off and you pray for the clock to tick until you can take another.

So that's me for the next five days or so. Sofa girl. Settee sitter. Bored blogger. Not allowed to get on with the things that she needs to. Grizzle Girl. Moaning Minnie. Tucking into the chocolates out of sheer boredom.

You get it, right?

But I have to say that already I know why it's important to take life a little slower some days even if the pace is forced upon you. This morning the pain was so severe that even though I was laying almost diagonally in the bed I couldn't have moved even I had wanted to. I asked LBH to open the curtains to the bedroom and I lay there as the room went from dark to winters morning light. I got to watch the sun come up. I saw the smoke from all the fires being lit across town curl up and out of the chimney tops and disappear across the watery sky. I took in the shapes of the oak tree branches that resides outside my window, now bare and free from any leaves. Boo slept and eventually my fairy godmother of a mother arrived and took over my house for a day.

So yes I'm bored and super dooper sore but I got to see the sun come up on a winters morning and observed as the town was brought to life by the warmth of the fires that were being lit inside the houses and that was enough for one day.

Thanks hip bone, you naughty bugger you and thank you to the person who invented the laptop. Does anybody know if this person has been awarded either the Nobel Prize or any kind of service to humanity award?!?!?!?!!

;-)

Cherry x

The Sweet Simplicity Of Happiness : Part Five

It's been ages since I did one of these.

The sweet simplicity of happiness equals - getting downstairs before anybody else and turning the Christmas lights on.

Sitting there for a few moments, gathering my thoughts, thinking about the day and then going off to boil the kettle.

Poor Boo, she woke up especially early in the hope that she might beat me downstairs. She didn't stand a chance.

Tis' The Weekend To Be Jolly

I'm very grateful for the fact that the first of December falls on a Saturday this year. It means we get to spend the WHOLE DAY doing Christmas 'stuff'.

Of course I've been secretly (not so secretly) working away on little bits and pieces that I want to be ready and made for the grand decoration.

My gingerbread house is one of the mini projects. Santa stands at the door ready to greet (or slap) anybody who tries to pick off a treat from it's exterior.

They'll have a job with some of it as I've used my glue gun!!!!

It has snowmen sentries standing straight against pear drop topiary. Toped with a delicate, snow like, dusting of icing sugar.

The roof has been strengthened to take the weight of Rudolph et al......

....but I heard Dancer, or was it Prancer, discussing the pain which would be experienced should any of them land on the dolly mixture roof trim.

This particular gingerbread house is not edible as I have used, as I mentioned, my glue gun on parts of it (the chimney collapsed one evening) but it does give off the most wondrous smell. Gentle wafts of candy, ginger and sugar fill the hallway. I believe you can preserve them from year to year and I could, if I wished, drag this fellow out again next year. But then I wouldn't get to make another one and right now I couldn't think of anything worse or less Christmassy!

Have a wonderful weekend full of comfort and joy.

Cherry x

Cherry's Christmas Prep - Part 1

I have just posted the first part of my Christmas Prep over at Cherry Menlove.com

Have a great weekend

Cx

Well........

....there's just time to stop by and tell you that right now I'm at this sort of stage in the 'getting the house ready for the magazine shoot' proceedings........

I look at this pile and think " but you haven't even cleaned the bathroom yet...PRIORITISE MENLOVE!!!!!"

So that's where the butter dish got to!

Okay, who put the wreath in the fridge?!?!?!?!?!?!

Anyway, that's what it's like around here right now. Organised chaos. Moments of tension occur but only when I run up the stairs, trip on the top step and land ribcage first into the walnut set of draws at the top. I lost an entire day doing that! I haven't run that fast up the steps since, let me tell you. Or when my alarm went off one morning and it was SO early and I was SO not allowed to wake LBH up that I hit my head SO hard on the corner of my nightstand that the blood made my hand wet in the dark. LBH got up after that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a short post as we are now entering the evening and there is still a lot to do. I should tell you that it was a conscious decision of mine to turn the comments off. For no particular reason at first except for an inkling that it may provide me with a wondrous sense of freedom. I was right. I have also been lucky enough to receive some wonderful, heartfelt emails from some of you this week and I have even managed to respond to several of them and that fills me with peace. I'm a doer, I like to get things done.

I will of course open them back up when we do the round up on Mrs Dalloway but I need the freedom to potter about the house and then tell you all about it. If you feel like getting in touch after that I would love to hear from you.

I had a meeting this week with the team of people that I work with on all things great and good. I love and adore meetings, this may change down the years, but right now I love them. Many things were discussed and plans were talked about. It's an exciting time with hard work down the road and changes too. There was a time I didn't like change, I liked to keep everything just the way it was. But if remember my own personal mantra, to not be afraid of anything and to always be kind, then change can only ever be positive.

A 'Good Thing' you might say!

;-)

KIDDING!!!!
I'm kidding I promise!!

Lots of love
Cx

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or thoughts at cherry (at) cherrymenlove dot com
I love to hear from you.