Christmas is coming!

A small selection of my hand made cards

Christmas seems to be fast approaching and I really don't feel ready for it yet.  The weather feels more like October than November but I'm knee deep in Christmas preparations for Church as we have our Christmas Fair later this month (at which Mothers' Union are cooking and supplying hot lunches so I'm busy asking for donations of food and people to help) and then we have a Christingle Service to prepare for the first Sunday in December.  If you've never been to a Christingle service grab a child (ask permission first!) and go along to one. Ours usually has the Sunday School putting on a play and there are carols and prayers, a little talk.  The highlight is receiving the lighted Christingles and forming a circle around the church with the lights off.  We then sing Away in a Manger.  It is so atmospheric.  The service supports The Children's Society who help the estimated 100,000 children who run away from home each year to escape abuse, conflict and other issues.  Some of these children are as young as eight.

As I drag myself towards Advent (which begins on 26th November!) I have today finally finished my shoebox to go to Operation Christmas Child www.samaritans-purse.org.uk and made some Christmas cards, mainly from kits which had been donated to our Oxfam shop and I bought.  With those I made last year and a couple of packs I bought and were left over I should have enough now.