Merry Christmas from London

It’s ‘little Christmas Eve’ today, the day before the big day for many people around the world, or two days before the big day for other people, depending on which day you celebrate Christmas – if you celebrate at all. I used to celebrate Christmas on the 24th while still living in Norway, but after moving to Britain I have had to postpone the celebration a day, as the 24th is just a normal working day here. My Christmas celebration is mainly about spending the day with family members, exchanging gifts and having extra nice food I normally don’t have. But I also like to surround myself with light inside and outside in these dark, short days of December, while waiting for the days to get longer.

Many people take the opportunity to decorate their houses for Christmas, I found this photo on the Internet, the left one is definitely not my style of decoration but I must admit I have some sympathy for the neighbour to the right!

In my street there are neighbours of all faiths and Christmas is probably not very high on the agenda with most, but some neighbours make up for it pretty well. This neighbour always has lots of lights on their house, and what you can’t see is that all of them are flashing - in different rhythm. I am glad I don’t have my bedroom right opposite them....

I have chosen a bit more toned down approach to decorating with lights, and have wrapped my Garrya elliptica 'James Roof' in battery lights. I think it looks rather festive :-)

The tassels, almost ready to open, look like the perfect Christmas decoration.

And the lights shine bright among the leaves.

There are even a few fuchsia flowers on Fuchsia 'Velvet Crush', next to the Garrya.

Having a bit more light around me at this time of year makes such a difference, it seems it gets dark in the afternoon before I have had time to enjoy the daylight. But Winter Solstice was last Sunday, the days are already getting longer – we are going towards spring!

But let’s finish with Christmas before I start getting into spring mode :-)

Do you remember from previous year I had photos of my cat wearing a Santa hat? Well, my cat is now famous – in Hawaii !! Let me explain…. I have my photos for sale on Fine Art America, you can see them on this website, and in November I was contacted by someone from the CFA cat club located in Hawaii who asked if they could use my cat photo for their poster. I said yes of course, and this being a charity I agreed for them to use it for free.

And here is the poster they made using my photo. The photo I had online was black and white with a red Santa hat, but the person making the poster has coloured the eyes of my cat green – not sure if I would have chosen to do that, but anyway, I have been told they got lots of nice feedback and my cat has been admired by many. So that’s how my cat ended up on a poster in Hawaii :-)

It’s a good few years since I took that photo so I decided to take some new ones this year. My cat is ever so patient when I drag my camera out, it is as if he understands that whatever I am doing with that black box is important, and he (usually) sits still for a long time.

I wonder sometimes what he is thinking!

It’s almost as if he is posing for the camera.

I decided to be a bit braver and try to film him with the Santa hat too, I haven’t done that before. Now, usually when I make my garden movies he is just lying in a chair looking distinctly lazy, so you would think he would do that this time too. Hmmm…well you can see for yourself, here is my Christmas card to you - I wish all my visitors a Merry Christmas, whatever day and however you are celebrating it.

God Jul!