Christmas Wishes

A Christmas card for all of my Blogger friends. I hope Christmas brings you all an abundance of love and happiness that stays with you throughout the New Year.

Christmas countdown

It's only when I reach mid December that I really begin to get into the feel for Christmas. I simply can't stand thinking about it before December and even once December starts it still feels too early. It's not that Christmas feels a long way off, far from it, it's more that it simply doesn't feel that long ago since the last Christmas! Consequently I start to feel pressured, that I've not allowed myself enough time to get things done and that has an even greater dampening effect on my Christmas spirit. Still, for all that, I have finally finished writing my Christmas cards and got most of my present shopping done so maybe now I can start to look forward to it a bit. I probably won't be putting these deccies up today though, still too soon for that..."bar hunbug" :-)

Dreary or what?

With Christmas is well and truly over and all the deccies taken down, I packed them away today. I really hate that part. I don't mind taking them down and leaving them in a pile on the floor but actually packing them away in their boxes and bags and stowing them in the loft is the bit I really hate. I don't even mind the bare look to the rooms, that's almost refreshing, but packing away is the pits. Still it's all done now for another year. Life can get back to normal and so too can our eating habits!

Side Tracked

First let me apologise for neglecting all my blogger friends lately. Partly this was because I was either very busy entertaining over Christmas or I was away visiting between then and New Year. The other reason has been my Christmas Present. 'Santa' in the form of my wonderful husband, was very generous this year and bought me a Nikon D300 complete with a 18/200mm Nikor zoom lens. As I have been strictly a point and shoot photographer up to now converting to a top of the range professional DSLR is a bit learning curve that I'll continue to climb for some while yet. As my first photoshoot of the year is set for this morning I needed to get up to speed with it or content myself with using my old camera today. I'll take my old Nikon 8800 with me just in case but I feel fairly confident I can get my new toy to perform adequately. Let's hope I'm not speaking too soon!

Up Date
The photoshoot when like a dream thanks to my new toy. I got a little carried away and took over 120 frames but this was not because they were no good. It was simply because it was like picking cherries. I simply didn't know when to stop. Only a handful were not fully focused. I'm now spoilt for choice as to which image to use for the portrait. This image is just a detail from a full face and neck shot. I think I'm going to really enjoy this camera. :-)

Brac counts down the hours

Brac is present mad. He cottoned on very quickly and seems to think that all presents should be his. Since I put the presents under the tree a few days ago he has been keeping watch. He wants them but knows he has to wait until they are given to him. So he sits facing the tree looking longingly at the presents, waiting. Every now and then he gets a little impatient and gives a little woof just to remind us he is still waiting... and waiting, and waiting. I wonder what thoughts are going through his head? I wonder if he hopes for anything particular to be in them? He can certainly smell which ones have come from a pet shop and which contain food but even those meant for us with cosmetics or some other non dog attractive contents are still watched longingly, while he waits. It's a hard life for a dog.

Merry Christmas

I've been a bit distracted lately with getting ready for Christmas so I've not been doing much blogging. In case I don't get the chance to blog again before hand I would just like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas.

Sucess on the Cards

With Christmas fast approaching I have been kept quite busy with producing pet portraits for Christmas presents which is great. My turnover this year has probably doubled on this time last year as word gets round and my web site becomes more popular. This year though, people have started noticing my cards as well as my portraits and orders for cards are now really taking off. I produce the cards to order which means they can be customised in any way customers require. People who have ordered portraits are now returning to order Christmas cards of their pet while other people who have not had or require a pet portrait are simply ordering cards because they like the designs and want a stock of animal cards to cover various occasions. All the cards shown in my gallery are for general sale and can be customised with any greeting or message either inside or out. The more pet portraits I do the more cards I can add to my gallery so if a particular breed is not shown today, just check back later to see what new ones have been added.

Christmas countdown

It's official. The Turner house has gone into Christmas countdown mode. Normally I avoid thinking about it until December! Yes, that's right, we generally leave everything to the last minute. This year things have come together to force me into early action. Mum is off to visit her family in Australia tomorrow and won't be back until 2 weeks before Christmas so that means my sisters and I needed to come to some sort of agreement as to who what and when for Christmas so that mum could have some warning. Kim, my youngest sister lives the furthest out and they have a 5 month old baby so expecting them to do Chrismas lunch this year was possibly not ideal. Ann, my older sister normally likes to have everyone over for boxing Day so that left me.
I like to make my own Christmas puds and as October is the traditional time to make them so they can mature, that is what I have been doing today. The house now smells all full of Christmas spices.
The next job will be to make the Christmas cake. I plan to get that done this week as like the puddings the cake needs time to mature.
We also went out today and ordered some new furniture for the lounge. We had been looking for some new stuff since I decorated it in August and I've just sold my old sideboard and the coffee table we have is falling apart. I also wanted to get rid of the CD racks and have them hidden away so they don't collect dust plus we needed a nest of occasional tables so that anyone sitting in the arm chairs that are out of reach of the coffee table wouldn't need to put their drinks on the floor. We had managed without them up to now but the thought of not just having an excitable dog in the lounge with us but a crawling baby as well highlighted how having drinks on the floor might not be a good idea. Luckily we managed to find everything we wanted to match in solid light oak. The shop promised to deliver it before Christmas...Ummm I'll believe that when it comes.
Ideally I would like to get the hall decorated before Christmas but as I am the main painter and decorator that might not happen unless my shoulder makes a miraculous recovery. It would be nice though. :-)