Little Christmas Eve

The house smells clean, the candles are lit, the tree is decorated and parcels are put gently underneath it. Astrid is asleep. We have seen “The Countess and the Butler” while eating gingerbread cookies and “Gløgg”. What is not done by now, will not be done.

It’s Christmas in Yonder.

Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas!

Christmas decorations 2009

I said I was going to show some of this years Christmas decorations so here we go. Like last year I went for a red and white combination with a dash of nature.



These numbered lights I bought in January on sale. When I took up the Christmas decoration from the basement a couple of weeks ago, I found my forgotten candles. I didn’t know where to put them and placed them in the red bowl meaning to look for something more suitable, but then realized that I was more than happy with having them in the red bowl.



This one was inspired by several Christmas magazines and interior design blogs I have seen. Seems this year has been the big zinc year with houses made of zinc, pots and lanterns. I didn’t want to spend too much money on this years decorations so instead of buying a zinc box I used last years ginger cookie box. I added moss, pine cones and an old red glitter packaging bow from Ikea and *tadaaaa*, one more decoration done.

This Christmas collage is lifted from Ali Edwards' holiday project from 2006. I used some papers from my stash and some I bought brand new. Cut, mixed, and placed into a black frame. I love this collage idea and think I’m going to make three more, one for each season. It’s a simple way to make a change in our living room without having to spend too much money.

busy bee

The weeks before Christmas usually fly by. This week flew by especially fast. I spent most of it away on a project management course. Interesting and fun. It will definitely be a good tool for my current job where I am developing a strategy to lessen the sick leave rate in the company where I work. Enough work.

The little time I have been home I spent with Astrid and knitting (after her bed time). I can’t show too much since this is a Christmas gift in the making. But it will keep two cute prince’s warm.

The pink ant string bag I made back in 2008, the night before we left for our grand 4 week long USA summer vacation. I have grown to love my little ant bag which is perfect for small knitting projects.

Next time I post I’ll show this years Christmas decoration.

Now I’m going to catch up with your postings, I missed you this week!

december & advent

It was so much fun having you chiming in on the last post. Thank you! I’ll keep on showing moments from Yonder once in a while to keep a blog foot in reality.

1st Sunday of Advent passed by without posting and so did 1st of December. On Sunday I was busy opening boxes with Christmas decoration. By the time I finished taking out the decorations and decorating it was dark and not so good photo conditions.

The short days gives me a blog challenge since I like posts to be accompanied with flash free photos. In the coming months I will have to plan my posts in time and take photos during the weekend… not a good option since I prefer to blog spontaneously about what is most present in my mind.

P.S.The photo used for this post is one I took a few weeks ago of a winter still life we have in a corner of our flat. The linen strawberry is made by Sonia and one I won in a giveaway last month.

moments in Yonder

Perhaps you have felt it… The feeling you get when you take a tour in blogland and see all the wonderful things that everyone else are doing… all the super duper women that just seem to do everything and do it perfect.

Some days it becomes overwhelming. Some days I need to take a minute and tell myself that everyone does not do everything at the same time. Some paint and draw, some sew, some knit, some bake, some decorate their house and some scrap. Seldom do they do all this at a time (although I have seen some that do).

So when I read Amy’s post “The trouble with Martha” I laughed with relief. She has pin pointed it…and she does it so well that next time I get the “oh my gosh I wish I could be as perfect as everyone else” feeling, I’ll just stop by that post and read it again until my heart starts beating in a normal relaxed rhythm.
In the spirit of moments I’m posting photos of moments that make up life in Yonder. These are photos of every day life imperfections – perfection the Yonder way.

Guilt free brunch

Every year I do the same. And I do it with the same kind of short term memory innocence and good intentions as the year before. In early fall (this year it was at the beginning of October) I make an optimistic list of what I will make for gifts and for whom. And every year in mid November it becomes clear that there is no way in h… Yonder that I will make it through the list. Sometimes I don’t even get started.

There is one change however… a change that came about a couple of years ago. I don’t feel guilty anymore; there are no attacks of bad conscience. I don’t stop doing other things because I have to make presents. I only make things the days I have some spare time.

Like today. I had spare time. I could choose between staying at home to finish knitting a baby hat or have brunch together with good friends and their family.

I chose brunch.