How Many Sleeps?

3 Sleeps!!!!

OMG! Have you been naughty or nice?

It's the 24th October today and I have to tell you that it is just 19 more sleeps to the Adelaide Christmas pageant when Santa comes to town! Now I know this is true, because when I went shopping on Sunday, I was confronted by this as I entered the local department store........

Then as I skirted around the displays using considerable constraint to prevent myself from snapping up one of the Jim Shore Santa's  (I am a collector you know...) I then left the store and was confronted by this!!

With Santa's chair ready and waiting...............

and one redeeming feature.........

A Nativity Scene.

I have to admit, I am a little bit excited.  I LOVE Christmas.  All the build up to the big day, decorating the house, putting up the tree (on the day Santa comes to town)!  Lots of  parties, food, drink, shopping, cooking.  And all the pretty decorations and weird gifts in shops.  And the fake snow!

Don't forget we will be in full Summer.  The Christmas pageant can be a sunny 32 degrees Celcius!  Sometimes it rains.  But the pageant has never been cancelled..... or was it -  only once during the war....

Anyway take a look at what we have to look forward to  here .

The pageant is really for the little ones, and as an adult it is 'not nice' to go and stand in front where a child could have full view of all the wonder of the floats that lead Santa to his Magic Cave.  And with crowds lining the streets in the thousands, I could enjoy the pageant like I did unexpectedly last year here .

It just isn't the same without little ones to take, and I am not a grandma yet!

Last year I got all interested in  Nigella and her Christmas recipes - but I ran out of time.  Christmas snuck up on us so quickly.  So now I will have another chance to make that chocolate christmas cake and the gingerbread christmas cookie tree.

So with Santa making his list and checking it twice, I want to make sure I make it onto 'Nice'.

We still have some time...............

My Santa

So this is a good example of how something that looks 'not so good', can become 'very good' with a bit of perserverence. Santas are very forgiving.

I like to make underwear for my Santas, so that the support for the stand can go up through it.  I don't like a skinny body, he needs to be robust.......















I like lots of hair under his cap, and his moustache needs to blend into his beard.

I always make his boots, all the clothing and some toys..............

It's been a long time since I made a Santa.  When he comes together, it's like meeting an old friend.
I think I still have a lot of Santas to make...........

I've been busy - making dolls!!

Well actually, Christine and I have been making dolls.  It was last year she mentioned that she would like to try sculpting.  Christine has always encouraged me to do more, and her own interest helped me make the time to do a workshop, one on one.  Well the result was fantastic!

I sculpted along with her and at the end we both had a fininshed Santa.

This is my Santa face

This is Christine's Santa - we almost forgot to add the neck!

Tomorrow, I will show you the result of my sculpted Santa.  And I have even been doing other dolls, just to finish up some dolls this year - that I started ages ago....................

SANTA IS HERE!

Santa came to town today. Since I was a little girl, Santa has come to town on the 2nd Saturday in November. All the children know Christmas is not far away, and from this Saturday, they can visit Santa in his Magic Cave (or any of the major stores) and ask for their Christmas wish list. Thousands of families line the streets in the city (which are closed to traffic) and watch the pageant floats and marching bands till the last float that brings Santa to his Magic Cave. My parents took me to the pageant- only a few times - it is always shown on television live, and when my boys were little I took them too. I was even in the pageant once. I was working for the department store that originally organised the pageant, and through a simple process of selection, I was chosen to be on the chimney sweep float. Unfortunately, I was too big for the costume overalls, so I ended up being a clown. There are a lot of clowns in the pageant, and you know the type of costume a clown wears............................

Now the following pictures are not from the pageant, but this is the whole procession heading back down the one of the main roads from the city to the storage facility in the suburbs, not far from where I live.  I had met a friend for coffee and just as we were leaving the cafe, all the floats came rolling down the street - with police escort no less!  It was like being at the pageant!  You can't help but wave at the drivers.  The floats usually have lots of characters all dancing and waving, but the floats without people are spectactular to see - and huge!  It was quite exciting, and I took as many photos as I could with my phone...............

There goes the stardust castle where Santa lives before Christmas.  He loads up his sleigh with his toys and the reindeer come all the way from the North Pole.  If you look really hard you will see the reindeer in front.............

Santa is at the Magic Cave waiting ...................