A wonderful surprise gift arrives.

I had absolutely NO idea of what this parcel was OR who had sent it to me until it arrived and I had opened it. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw this superb portrait in pastels of Fritz from and drawn by Christine Taylor.


What had I done to be worthy of this unique portrait I asked myself? ... although this was soon to be revealed from the notelet inside. It seems that Chris has so enjoyed my blog that she wanted to say 'Thank you.'



As you can see it really captures Fritz's devilish looks and 'so full of fun' nature and his eyes are almost perfect copies.
I had to have several goes at taking these photos as the light from the conservatory (my make-shift studio) windows and their frames kept catching and reflecting in the picture's glass, so eventually the next day (as it was then getting too dark outside) I set them up in the garden in the hope of preventing this not happening. (Much better although you can just see the trees captured in the corner.)



A million thanks Chris for such a kind, thoughtful and wonderfully unique gift. As you can imagine Fritz thinks that he is, as we tend to say in the UK, 'The cat's pyjamas.'
As always...my usual much appreciated thanks go to Sarah for her excellent job of downloading my photos.

I have bought this book to give to my two year old Great Nephew for Christmas.

...But when my Sashas spotted it lying there waiting to be wrapped they decided to have a sneaky preview.
The book, That's not my Santa is by Usborne and is one of their 'touchy-feely' series.
The front cover reads 'That's not my Santa.... his hat is too soft.' Here we see my early 1970s Trendon baby Sasha re-rooted by Lisa Hartley Nightdress feeling Santa's red hat.


That's not my Santa.... his sleigh is too sparkly.
The baby is wearing her favourite Winter outfit of a red fleece by Sashawardrobe, tights by the Doll Works and the Santa hat that I bought back the other week when shopping in Selfridges.



That's not my Santa....his sack is too rough.



That's not my Santa....his gloves are too fuzzy.



That's not my Santa....his boots are too squashy.



That's my Santa....his beard is so fluffy.



Firstly as an elder sister to my three brothers and sister, then as a parent and finally a primary teacher I know just how much young children enjoy repetative sayings/readings and love to join in saying them along with you... so I'm sure that Alexander, for whom this book is intended, will want do so too.
My thanks to Sarah for her brilliant listings yet again for me.