Making all sorts of things.

There's been lots of making going on lately, quite a lot of which is for Christmas presents, so I can't give many details as I don't want to spoil surprises.  This is one that M made for her best friend J and gave her this afternoon, so I can share this one.

A shuttlecock fairy for the top of the Christmas tree!

M has been doing lots of crocheting and has finished, with a bit of help from me but very much mostly her own work, Daddy's Christmas present.

K has also been doing lots of making, I think more cards than presents, but since she hasn't needed any help, I don't really know what it is she's been doing!

Inspired partly by a lad at Asfordby who had a little box and was collecting money for his local foodbank, and partly by Blue Peter who had a report on them, on Thursday the girls and I went to the supermarket with a list printed off our local foodbank's website.  A & I had agreed that some of what was effectively his Christmas bonus should be spent on a donation and both K & M asked me to take money out of their bank accounts so they had a trolley between them too and we delivered it on Friday morning.

This morning, rather later than most people if our street is anything to go by, we put up our Christmas tree, which has come in from the garden for its second year.  As ever K & M have shunned convention and this year have gone for a giant panda by the name of Polly for the top (last year was a glow in the dark diplodocus!).

Polly in position.

The final effect.

This afternoon we had the girls' friends A & J round and the four of them spent almost the whole time making a film trailer on the ipad that their friends had brought round.  I had to step in once to adjudicate and argument between K & M, but generally they discussed, negotiated and compromised really well and they were all very happy with the final result.

In other news, the sloe vodka and sloe gin that we made with sloes from A's uncle's farm in Kent is very good.  I've made some rather lovely sloe vodka truffle chocolates and some chocolate enrobed vodka sloes.  The sloes from the gin are now starting the process of turning a bottle of red wine into sloe port!