Was so busy yesterday doing errands and then had friends round for our annual pre-Christmas drinks & mince-pie evening that I didn’t get to do the Friday Fibre Five…so here is my Saturday Fibre Five . Questions courtesy of Rachel

1 Have you finished anything since last week? - a pair of Opal plain top-down socks for my s-i-law

2. Are all your fibre related Christmas gifts finished? at the moment I think so but no doubt, if this year is the same as every other year, I will have some brilliant idea for an extra little something for someone about midday on Christmas Eve and be up till the early hours finishing the last two fingers on a pair of gloves or something…..lol

3. What fibre related things are on your Christmas wish list? I actually have a wishlist at www.angelyarns.co.uk which I directed J at so hopefully…..what I’d really like is a ball winder, I pointed out to him that if I had one he would no longer have to sit with his arms out holding my skeins of yarn whilst I wind….also I’d love a new bag for my needles.

4. Did you make anything for the season? - I knitted a festive scarf for myself which I’ve been wearing with all my festive outfits…does that count? And I made Christmas puddings and cookies….but not from yarn obviously…..

5. Are you already planning fibre gifts for next Christmas?  no, I don’t start doing that till at least December 15th - if I wasn’t panicking with how many knitting days left it wouldn’t be fun.

Rachel also had this Meme which I thought was fun - stolen from the Domestic Bliss website

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper and ribbon and bows and glitter - I’m fanatical about wrapping presents, it’s my favourite part of Christmas apart from seeing everyone opening everything. 

2. Real tree or artificial? Real - always, accept no substitutes. This years tree is about 6 foot and purchased, as every year, from Toad Hall garden centre in Henley.

3. When do you put up the tree? We always get our tree on the last weekend before Christmas but as that would have been today with the way Christmas falls we got it last Saturday - the 15th December

4. When do you take the tree down? By tradition they have to be down by Twelfth Night (the 5th January) the evening of Epiphany as it is unlucky to take them down after that. There are lots of old English traditions around Twelfth Night. I always keep mine up until the 5th to keep the celebrations going as long as possible.

5. Do you like eggnog? It is an abomination and should be banned.  

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A doll’s house which my grandfather made for me. It stands about 2 1/2 foot tall and the same wide. It has two rooms on each of the 3 floors with a central staircase and working lights and fires. This was a present when I was about 5 and I still remember everyone being given their presents at my grandparents house and there being nothing under the tree for me. I thought I’d been forgotten but was too shy to say. My granddad asked if I’d go get him something from the kitchen and there was the doll’s house in the middle of the kitchen floor with a big label on it addressed to me. The doll’s house now stands on the landing at the top of our stairs.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, it’s a ceramic one I bought in Oxfam years ago and was made in Central America. It holds a tealight in the back so at night it lights up from behind. It always stands on the windowsill in our hallway.

8. Hardest person to buy for? My brother, and this year I found a great present but the website really screwed me and it hasn’t arrived so J had to go out this morning to find him something

9. Easiest person to buy for? J - get him a book or a computer game and he’s happy. He also loves anything you get him ….

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I send cards through the mail but only to those I am not going to get to see to wish “Happy Christmas” in person. What is the point of giving a card to someone I am going to see, isn’t the point of the card to send greetings of the season…if I see them I can wish them that in person…..Sorry, hit a bit of a pet hate there!!.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I think that my friends and family know me so well that I’ve never got something I didn’t like…

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Love Actually - watched it the other evening. Before that came out it was A Wonderful Life. Yes, I’m a complete sentimental fool.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? this year I bought something back in August but because I was at a Craft Fair and saw something perfect…I start whenever I see things..quite often when I’m on holiday as I’ll see things abroad that I wouldn’t get back home.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don’t think so…but I have removed a label from a wrapped present to give to someone I’d forgotten as I had other things to give to the original person!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Mince Pies - homemade preferably. And Stollen.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? We have two sets on the tree, white and flashing coloured ones. However the coloured ones seem to have fused since they were put on the tree so at the moment there are only white ones and they look very sparse on the huge tree. We also have a set of coloured flashers along the bookcases in the lounge, a set of coloured lights along the kitchen cupboards and a string of little angels in the play-room window. (I love lights!)

17. Favorite Christmas song? Pop song would be Last Christmas (yes I’m a Wham! fan) carol would be Hark The Herald Angels.

17b. Christmas Song That, When You Hear It, Makes Your Eyes Bleed And Your Brains Start To Leak Out Your Ears, Because That Is Less Painful Than Having To Listen To That *&%^&$# Song One More Time! B*%$& Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody. As soon as I hear “It’s Chriiiiiiistmaaaaaaas” I just have to leave the room/shop/bar…

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? If I’m travelling to see family and as long as I’m actually there for Christmas Eve/Day I don’t really mind. This year we’re at home and my parents and brother are coming to us. Then we’re travelling to Cornwall to see J’s parents for New Year.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeers? Wouldn’t have a clue.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have a star. My mum has an angel which I made when I was at Nursery School aged about 4. It is coloured card and has two ears of wheat for hair. It comes out every year and is tied to the top of her tree.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning of course - usually about 11 so the cook can get the turkey in the oven and the veggies prepared and then come in and open presents and relax before serving dinner.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? that people get so stressed about having enough food, the right presents, cooking their Christmas dinner just the way the latest celebrity chef says they should. That and the creeping disease which is taking over England and compelling people to turn the outsides of their houses into a semblance of the Las Vegas strip and run up electricity bills the size of the National Debt. My environmental principles tell me the waste of electricity and the light pollution can’t be good, my sense of style and good taste tell me they are extremely tacky. Leave the illuminations to Blackpool

23. Favorite Christmas Tradition? church carol service on Christmas Eve. It just gets to me every year.

24. Outdoor decorations? please refer to q.22. In England until about 5 years ago nobody would have thought about putting decorations outdoors unless you owned a mansion and had a huge fir tree which you might put a few coloured lights on or a town council when you would put street lights and a christmas tree in the High Street. Now every other house has huge inflatable snowmen, flashing reindeers on the roof and icicle lights hanging from the gutters. I can see one right now if I look out my window. I hate them! I blame the Americans and their tv shows and movies….the Christmas tree in the town is now not even exciting….

Happy Holidays everyone!

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