I can’t believe that it is December already.  I have spent time with the grandkids and worked on some projects with them including baking gingerbread cookies.  With the help of my husband we also worked on making bird boxes using the ones that I have as a template.  I was amazed this year that one of the boxes housed two sets of birds; black-capped chickadees and nuthatches.

Usually by now we would have had some snow flurries but not so this year.  There is still colour in the garden provided by the remaining rudbeckia, penstemon, primroses and the first of the hellebores.  It is always a refreshing sight to see the helleborus start to bloom.  

Throughout December, now that most of the outside decor has been completed (see post on Festive Outdoor Decor featured earlier), it is time to concentrate on inside decor.  Some of the decorations I will not be able to do until a week before Christmas as I like to bring the fresh greens inside to put on the fireplace mantle.  I have potted up three different types of bulbs including paperwhites, a traditional red amaryllis and some hyacinths.     These are always part of my Christmas theme.

The weeks leading up to Christmas can be quite hectic but more recently I have tried to not get caught up in the hustle and bustle and concentrate on the simpler things.   It is the one time of the year when I enjoy baking mince pies and salted caramel shortbread -(please see my friend’s recipe at www.thefoodblog.net) . This is because I am not distracted so much by gardening.  I have long since kept the tradition of sending Christmas cards particularly to my friends and family overseas.  Each year I try to concentrate on a new project and I am pleased to say that I have just finished knitting a red cable knit cushion cover.

What are your favourite traditions at this time of the year?