Hello all,

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring , not even a mouse;

Not so in this house! There has been a hive of activity for days, if not weeks. We are hosting Christmas again this year and the guest list is even bigger than previous years. We estimate more than 50 people to come through, either for lunch or afternoon tea. We've entertained on a big scale many times before and have become quite good at it but that doesn't minimize the amount of work and planning required. Of course, we couldn't possibly do it without the help of family.

You may ask what I'm doing writing this blog when I still have a great many chores to do before I go to bed but I wanted the opportunity to wish all of my readers a happy and safe holiday season and a very merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it.

For our last lesson for the year I, traditionally, set the theme 'A Christmas Arrangement' for all the students, including beginners.

Bredenia Raquel

Shaneen Garbutt

Dianne Longley

Nicole McDonald

Jeannine Hendy

Also Nicole McDonald

Vicky Kalokathis

Lucy Papas (Her container is reflective stainless steal, not glass as it
appears to be in the photo)

Below are some of the arrangements I made for the tables for Christmas. I chose glass containers so as not to obstruct the guests' view of each other. My garlic bed has been quite prolific and I have an abundance of flowers to play around with.

Using only one kind of material. The vase is new - a gift from my sister, Vicky

The versatility of Agave.

I made the first arrangement, below, using two pieces of agave on 9th November. When the strelitzia died, I reworked the agave into the second arrangement. Two days later, after gravity had its way with it, it had changed shape - third arrangement. And, finally, I reworked the agave again into the fourth arrangement. It's nearly seven weeks since I cut the agave and it is still very much alive and, if I wasn't tired of it, I could do even more with it. I love using this material and have found that it last very well even without water.

With gold bauble

With Jacobean lilies

Bye for now and, again, Merry Christmas
Emily