Greetings from Canada!!

Phew! The last few months have been busy and have flown by in a blur.

Knitting - Christmas or otherwise - has been non- existent. I started a pink cashmere scarf for my mom - got about 3/4 of it done and then decided I hated it. Frogged.

Then I started a Cardigan for her. But I didn't like it either. Also frogged.

So, here I am, a day away from my parents' place and I haven't knitted a Christmas stitch!! Happily my excitement at being home and seeing my family totally and completely overshadows that.

Of course as it is Christmas it has to be Gingerbread House time.




Last Sunday the usual suspects gathered in my kitchen and fuelled by 4 kilos of icing sugar, the sleigh o' sweets and a bottle or two of champagne created our ski chalet themed house.





(I'm blogging this on an iPad by the way - so my formatting options are limited. Sorry about that.)

I loved our ski slope - sadly I was a bit rushed when I took the photos and these don't do I justice. Scrumptious Suzy made our skier.





She is a gifted artist with marzipan and also created this cello and trumpet which are part of the interior decor.








The owner of these instruments is a vain balding marzipan man - caught here admiring himself in the mirror. The bunk beds, fireplace and comfy chocolate wafer chair finish the inside room.








Little Louis** is now almost 9 and among his contributions this year are this slightly surreal looking snowman and this stack of sweets which was going to be an igloo until he ran out of them. While the rest of us tried up come up with alternatives Little Louis joined the ranks of DIY amateurs everywhere - he lost interest and moved on to something else.

** Little Louis has agreed that although he is no longer little I can call him that for as long as I like.




Suzy added the very cute Penguin to distract the viewer from the 'almost' igloo.

Caroline, Gorgeous Gen, and Marvellous Mads created these carollers.






And this mom and baby audience.




Pat was responsible for the ski slope structure - underneath the icing is an impressive scaffolding structure of wafers and marshmallows.




Of course we watched How the Grinch stole Christmas while the roof set munching on some pizza and feeling pretty festive. This year more than most I needed this ritual to kick start the season - I was letting work take over all my waking (and sleeping!) thoughts.




I hope you all enjoy the season whatever you are doing. I'll be back in January with some knitting - assuming I can remember how!!!