A Kiwi Christmas and handmade pretties

Hello everyone!
I hope that you all had an enjoyable Christmas, celebrated doing the things you love to do.

We shared a lovely day, it was nice and fine and not too hot so we spent most of the day on the deck, soaking up the sunshine and enjoying each other's company.
Most people in Northland know someone who hunts, fishes or dives and a welcome addition to our Christmas ham, chicken and salads were some wild pork sausages, scallops and crayfish. The barbie came in handy for the last minute cookups.

Pav and berries are a must have dessert in our house at Christmas and of course a sprinkling of chocolate, gingerbread men and Christmas fruit mince tarts kept (and continue to keep) our sugar levels up.
Trying to work off a little of the Christmas lunch —

I hope they can see the rugby ball, as I sure cant!

It wasn't all eating though; we had fun with pressies. We're not big on gifts throughout the year so we always enjoy finding a perfect little something for each other now. And this was the first year since our son was born in 1986 that 'Santa' didn't come to our house (hehe our youngest is 23!!) - it felt a little strange at first but we recovered!

Even the pets get spoilt!

Anyway this was meant to be a quick post, not a ramble!

I really just wanted to share with you the handmade gifts I received this year.

Beautiful coathanger and jewellery roll.
(Lying on a piece of gorgeous silk from my sister)

These two photos show the beautiful gifts made for me by Cheryl in Chooky's Secret Santa Christmas Swap. They really are gorgeous and I love that they are practical as well - perfect! Thank you so much Cheryl :-)

The padded bit down the centre has a snap fastener at one end so you can slide
rings onto it - and 3 useful zipped pockets.
I think I'll be asking Cheryl where she got the pattern, I can see this as a
great gift for my nieces next year!

Here is the tree decoration Cheryl made me, which we
were allowed to open earlier on :-)

And this most gorgeous wee sock decorating the dog's chair was on the outside of a thoughtful little gift from Di. Again, thank you Di and Miss Gracie :-)

Finally, Mum made me this lovely set of goodies —

Sweet set of useful sewing things.
(Lying on another piece of silk from my sister)

 A cute little story behind the needlecase ... Mum and I were going through her 'orphan' embroidery blocks (more on them another day) and I commented that a particular one would make a lovely needlecase.. and what do you know, here it is! Sneaky sneaky! Thanks Mum :-)

This was stitched on very fine cloth. Look at the tiny little bugs and butterflies!

Our ED and her Hunter/Diver are still staying; it's so nice spending extra time catching up. I've been reading a little and sewing just a very little bit. Still very much in holiday mode!
Happy days to you all,