This year, I also tried my hand at Christmas trees made of gingerbread... they were a real success and so many friends of friends of family members wanted to order one! :) Maybe next year... This time they went to very special people, who are in bad need of a smile.
Some made me think of a fairytale...
Just wanted to send a few lines in the cyberspace before finally heading to bead at 3 am. Ouch! Can you believe it took me 10 (TEN) hours to pack gifties for family and friends, to give and to send away? How do YOU do it? Does it take you half that time? I am sooooo tired and a bit frustrated! Wrapping, packing, protecting, writing addresses, finding addresses, it took soooooo long... and the night will be short. Eh. But - it's such a joy to give joy! I love giving gifties!
I also wanted to reply globally to those of you who asked off the blog. I will be in Norway from December 30th and I believe it's better to send Christmas mail there unless you're really sure it will arrive in time to my address in Warsaw (Poland). If you don't have my address there, just ask!
And to answer a question I've been getting a lot recently... Well, yes, no, I am not sure anymore where I am at any given day. A few days here, a few days there, and I swear to those who want to hear me that by the time I've sold my flat and moved my Polish belongings to Poznan, I'll live the most sedentary life you've heard about (I can always dream). Anyway, the goal is soon to be commuting between Poznan and Oslo and wipe Warsaw off my residential map. I'll then be a bit closer to my father's town as well, 2 and not 4 hours by train. And I'll have my family, those I love most, in the same town, I'm so looking forward to it :)
I've been shortly in Norway, then a bit in Warsaw and since then at my family in Poznan, to help with Christmas food preparations among others and to bake a million gingerbread cakes (or so it seems). I was supposed to return last Monday, but my flight wad cancelled due to heavy snow and so it continued all week. We're snowed under! I asked for a refund for my ticket and I am hoping to take the train instead on Monday, with Toska, who'll accompany me to Norway at the end of the month. My aunt will start renovation works and due to Toska's bitchy character (she can't close her for many hours in one room with other cats), I'm taking her along. Happy The Dog will stay here at my aunt till spring, he loves it here and it's no sense to drag him along in planes, trains, cars and between countries in a regular cycle.
I also have some sad news, cancer has hit pretty close again, my cousin's mother in law was diagnosed two weeks ago and she might not make it till Christmas. Grandma Bronia, as we call her, is not my direct relative but she's been in my life for years now, a warm person who's had a hard-working life and we're so sad to accompany her in her last days at just 78. Everyone's helping in his/her own way and I've taken on me to produce zillions of gingerbread cakes, because she won't be making some this year for her part of the family. I am glad I can contribute in my small, limited way. It's such an awful thing to learn and go through right before Christmas and I wish I could do more, but she's at home surrounded by a whole bunch of loving persons and I know they're doing all they can.
Trillium - the tool the teacher was using is a handmade pouch made of a plastic sleeve for documents (!). I've made a picture which I'll post very soon so you can see. With this decorating technique, a little bit of icing goes a long way so the pouch has to be small and flexible. She had been trying all sorts of materials over the years and she;s confirmed it works best with the sleeves. I can certify, I tried other materials and it just didn't work well.
My eyes are closing.... more during the week-end, I have lovely things to show that I've received lately!! Have a great w/e, everyone!
A quick note from Norway... a short 4 days stay to see H. and the cats (oh Szpulka has grown!! she hasn't forgotten me in a month! she is sooo affectionate!- but no time to make photos). I am drowning under work so this will be a real quickie.
On Wednesday, my flight was at 6am... what an idea! I had to get up at 3.30 and when you work and pack till 1 am, you can basically forget being efficient the whole day, I was a zombie. I walked through the new terminal in Warsaw (just a couple years old), it was basically deserted at 4:15 am:
