speckled vision of the end of year

Glitter season hit us rather early this year, at the end of November, just a few days after Cristiano's birthday. Since then we have been decorating Christmas tree drawings with glitter, wearing glitter and eating glitter. It generally starts early morning and by lunch time our table looks like a glitter fairy crime scene and when enough has been drawn, painted and glued the girls generally move on to the computer where their Edwardian advent calendar awaits them with a new activity every day (thank you granny and Jacquie Lawson!). As Coline gets frustrated she goes back to last year's Alpine calendar which they never stopped enjoying.

A glittery snowman

Our breakfast table

Coline and the advent calendar

Glitter just seems to be everywhere we look, and so is mold, for the weeks before Christmas are the wettest around here, and not so cold either. I am not a big fan of mold, I hate the smell of it on our clothes. I even think that I am allergic to it, and so I am in the process of trying to get our house rid of it. So far the more natural solutions have failed to remove mold from wooden furniture (lots of air, sodium bicarbonate and vinegar). Lysoform (ammonia based liquid) seems to work better but if you know a better way, please let me know!

Rosario church from our window, through the rain.

Last year's Christmas tree was a homemade recycled substitute, which I quite liked. This year I was keen to get a real live tree that we will plant on the property where we now live. I like it that there is a tree almost as old as me that grew from small to as big as the house where I spent all my childhood. I did originally look for a proper pine tree but eventually settled for one that cannot handle the weight of tinsel, but will hopefully look as beautiful and majestic as the full-grown neighbor's tree. This tree is called araucaria. I have admired how their outline is etched on the side of hills. They look like thousands of arms carrying pompoms towards the sky. They produce nuts that are about five centimeters long and although I do not enjoy their taste, I am sure that some bird or squirrel will benefit from it. In other words, I love our Christmas tree.

our baby araucaria

the neighbor's araucaria

I have being going through a knitting phase and discovered that I am more of a hat knitter than a jersey knitter, and so all of a sudden we all seem to be wearing more hats than ever. I love the fact that I can browse through thousands of free patterns on Ravelry and learn something new everytime. I may tell you more about the things I knit once I have given some away as Christmas presents, for I would not want to spoil the surprise. 

Until next time, I wish you a merry and glittery festive season!