12.12.12

Today is the last time for nearly 1000 years that the date will look like this! So I thought we would do something simple to mark it. We had a 12.12.12 feast:

twelve candles lit at the table, soup made with twelve ingredients,

bread we baked (oh my has it been a long time since we've baked bread!) made up of 12 little snails of dough in a pan

and of course 12 cakes.

So we are finally itch free. There is still a fair bit of tiredness and a few sore tummies, but Rebe feels well enough to try school tomorrow and so we have shifted back to thinking a little more of the festive season.

 Enjoying hot apple juice sucked up through cinnamon sticks

 starting to plan a Christmas party

 Setting up our nativity scene. This is actually our farm made by the wonderful Rosario at Ventry Toy. I think it looks just beautiful as a stable, with the donkey and ox and Mary and Joseph awaiting the birth of their child.

 This is the sweetest Christmas ornament I have ever seen, I bought it back in June and have been eagerly waiting to get it out. Do you see the little gap between them? There is one more piece to this jigsaw that we will get out on the 25th. Don't you just love the way Joseph has Mary under his chin, so protective and loving. I spied that he has a whole nativity scene in his shop, and if you tell him I sent you he will give you 10% off anything in his shop (over 10euro) just because he really is that nice :-)

Crafting for me has been slow...no make that completely at a halt, so I was delighted to be able to get back to it yesterday, with Benny's help:

 Together we managed to get this little angel's hair finished.

 I love her, with her knitted bloomer style dungarees and long, long hair.

 Oh, thank goodness we are returning to some kind of normality, we even spent a few hours in the fresh air down on the beach this afternoon, cooling ourselves enough to relish the idea of tea in front of the open fire.