The new start of the year

Happy New Year to all my readers and followers!

It is the 7th of January, the Christmas decorations were taken down yesterday and everything has been boxed up until the beginning of December. The Season's Holidays have come to an end. The sunshine holds the promise that the winter will soon change into spring. The snowdrops in the garden have put up their noses since the beginning of December and on my walk with the dog on 27 December this tree caught my attention with amazement! Spring in the air!

There are always items that I would love to have around me all the time.  This gorgeous Googly Christmas ornament is one of them. If her bonnet would not be a Christmas fabric I think I would. Maybe a place in a basket in between the pincushions in my hobbyroom would make her smile all year round.
The fun thing at the beginning of December is that you open up the boxes to decorate the house and - I for certain - always bump into ornaments that have been off your mind all year. So, I open the boxes and gasp -  'oh, how cute!!!' and make a choice what the setting is going to be: red, orange, gold, or just natural ornaments, or like this time just red apples and red roses. Especially during daylight the reds looked very cheery!

I love seeing other's Chritmas trees, everyone has their own personal touch to it. In fact, I would love to race around the country at Christmas and sit under the Christmas trees of my whole family and friends! Would not you? Tradition is high on my list in this season.

In the early '80s the Amsterdam Convention Centre RAI organized an American arts and crafts fair. The variety on show was big and the items for sale tempting to take home. A pottery wind chime with driftwood made in California, a beautifully made up rooster (yes, it is the year of the rooster this year) in a basket as a kitchen ornament, a small hand painted oil lamp wih a Japanese style fleur de lys, and this gorgeous Googly Christmas ornament came home with me. It was the time I made two porcelain replica dolls myself and just LOVED this gorgeous Googly to put up in the Xmas tree. The expression is so cute. It was a big stand where I bought it. Today it is sad the maker remains unknown. Well, it has been cherished and very much enjoyed!

And now it is a fresh start of a new year and an agenda with many blank pages. Pinterest inspired me: take a big jar and put in a note on the happy moments you experience, and then turn it upside down on the next New Year's Eve. Looking back it is always amazing what happened in a year.

Let's make it a wonderful creative year with respect for one another.

Let us smile and be happy, just like my little Googly!