Advent Calendar Day 21 #GeorgiaHill

Behind door number 21 is Georgia Hill!

It’s that time of year again. Christmas!

I’ve bought a few presents, got the cards, spent all my savings on stamps and am planning on getting the tree nice and early. The adverts are on the TV (cute at first but really annoying after the fiftieth viewing) we don’t mind the dark days too much as the Christmas lights are up and the pudding has had the third dollop of brandy infused into it already.

I love everything about Christmas!

I’ve got to untangle the tree lights and dust off the baubles for the tree and have yet to find the box of little woolly men. How do woolly men fit into the festive scene, I hear you cry (or maybe not!). My dear old mum knits to keep her arthritic fingers mobile, you see. Throughout the year she churns out clowns, teddies, the odd jumper or two, baby boots and little woolly men.

They’re gradually taking over the world. I have snowmen, a Father Christmas or three and a knitted nativity scene.

When I taught, I’d put an order in nice and early and every child in the class would receive a knitted figure – whether they wanted one or not! The five year olds cuddled them ecstatically, the older children pretended to be cool but still clutched them tightly on the way home.

I stopped teaching a few years ago, to write full-time but every Christmas I get pictures and messages from ex-pupils. They feature the little woolly men, still going strong, on top of trees or dangling from the ceiling – I hope in a nice way!

As for the knitted nativity scenes, I had one in every classroom I taught in – as I worked in mostly church schools. Mum struggled to find a pattern for a donkey so made one up. The resulting animal looked as if he’d been at the cooking sherry a bit too early but was a welcome addition. Some of the figures began to get a bit battered as the reception pupils played with them but they just looked more charming.

When I stopped teaching, I gave away my last two nativity scenes to local churches and I know they come out every advent Sunday.

A little knitted Father Christmas appears in most rooms in the house at this time of the year (suitably high up as you can imagine what the dogs do to them) and they remind me of happy days when teaching (there’s nothing like Christmas in a primary school) and my lovely mum beavering away in sweltering July to produce them.

Tiny, insignificant woolly men but made and given with love.

Happy Christmas!

Love Georgia x

Say it With Sequins (very sparkly and a bit Christmassy) and While I Was Waiting (not at all Christmassy but a good read for the dark nights) available now from Harper Impulse.

Buy them here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Georgia-Hill/e/B003VMVXN2/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1448381252&sr=8-2-ent

And, for more news, follow Georgia on Twitter @georgiawrites and at www.georgiahill.co.uk