Advent Calendar Blog Hop 2016

Jo of Serendipitous Stitching organizes again this year an Advent Calendar Blog Hop and she was very nice to include me in it,too.
I am today, Tuesday the 13th, but that's not an unlucky day for me or for Greece!

So what I had to do was to show you a Christmas stitched piece as well as answer the following question.
"Decorations - do you have a favourite decoration you must have on display every year, maybe an heirloom, one the children made or something with a special story behind it?"
Ok. I haven't got many big Christmas stitched pieces. So here is the one I always put up at Christmas and put away the rest of the year.I had stitched this back in 2009 and it was a kit sent to me by my friend Cathy if I remember well.

As for the ornaments!Difficult!
What to show and what to leave out? I have a huge cupboard filled with Christmas decorations, vintage, handmade and new.All kinds.And I always put them up on my tree.
A couple of years ago I donated our tree to my school as it was rather big for our small flat.
Here is my tree and how it looked in December 2006.It was the time when I loved ballerina ornaments.And you can also see some vintage ones on it too.

 Then in December 2007 I decorated it with all the ornaments I bought from our trip to Finland.

 Last year we didn't decorate a tree but this year I decided I had to have  a tree to put my ornaments up. So we bought a small natural fir tree.

and here it is all decorated with my cross stitched ornaments.

Some were sent to me by my dear friend in the States Marabeth who had found the kits at a thrift store and I managed to stitch them all.

 Others were freebies from cross stitch magazines and I stitched them over the years.

I have also stitched some of my own.

I also added a couple of crocheted snowflakes, some are store bought and some were sent to me by another friend in the States Gara.But this one is a very special one I had bought from Prague in 2004.

This is the stocking I have stitched for my son years ago in 1997. So much detail, golden thread and beads. I had found the pattern in a cross stitch magazine.

The nativity set I put under the tree every year is one I bought the year I gave birth to my son and I always put it under the tree. It is ceramic and I really love it.

There is Virgin Mary, Baby Jesus, a shepherd, an angel, a sheep and a camel.

There are some other decorations I want to show you as well.

These two ornaments are my favourite ones.The first, Santa on the tricyscle, I had bought for my son's first Christmas. For some reason I don't know where it is any more. I think someone had stolen it years ago. The one next to it is a music box my friend Gia gave to me!

This is a bookish Christmas tree I tried to make for the #bookxams challenge of
So little sleeping and so much reading. Thecaroler at the bottom of the tree was sent to me by my dear Marabeth too and it belonged to her collection. She is with me now. The dish at the bottom was recently given to me by  my primary school classmate Nelly. It is decoupaged. Nelly and I met after many many years. She is a volunteer at the children with special needs association for whom we performed last Sunday. The glass top on the tree is one of my brother's gifts.

 I have a big collection of glass trees most of which were gifted to me by my brother and I love them but haven't put them up this year; not yet anyway!

That's how that collection started with my own trees.

And here are some more my brother has given me.

I also have this seven candle light I put up every year. I had bought it in Finland when we had travelled there back in 2006-07. I had admired those lamps in all house windows in Finland and wanted my own. Thank God my friend Johanna sent me little replacement lamps and I can have it lit all year long. Yes I do have it around the house all year long.

This is a blown glass ball ornament my friend Marabeth has also sent me from the States. It is made by the renowned glass artist Jeffrey P'an.

Finally an advent calendar wooden chest I bought this year at the Melissa orphanage bazaar and I really love it!

Well I hope I haven't tired you too much with all the things I have shown you!
Thank you Jo for the chance to take part in the blog hop.

Our trip to the U.S.A.(20)- Mystic Aquarium

After The Book Barn we went to Mystic and visited the Mystic Aquarium.
There are a lot of photos. Hope you like them.
A sand sculpture.

 Beautiful posters everywhere.

 A mosaic whale.

 For days when people asked me what impressed me the most in the States I answered " The belugas".
I have visited lots of Aquariums around the world and now it is hard any to impress me as I have seen a lot. The same went with the Mystic Aquarium. The only thing that impressed me were the beluga whales.

 The seals and the sea lions were beautiful too.

 I didn't see any butterflies.

But the lily pond was gorgeous and I saw a dragonfly.

 The penguins were gorgeous.

 There were little boats to drive.

 I loved seeing that little seal being washed.

 Isn't it cute?

 Of course taking photos in the inside tanks was very difficult to photograph.

 But those glass ornaments made by Jeffrey P'an are gorgeous and I am fortunate to have one of his glass ornaments sent to me by dear Marabeth years ago.

 Jellyfish are the most difficult to photograph.

Fish are also very difficult to take a photo of.

 I loved seeing the moray eels.

And the barracudas.

 There were so many strange fish.

And other strange creatures.

 Sharks too.

 And sting rays.

 We touched a little alligator.

We attended a seal performance too.

We touched crabs too.

 And met with Nemo!

 And touched stingrays. That was quite a feeling at the touch.

 A squid almost ate up my hubby!

 I loved seeing Alvin, the little submarine that explored the Titanic.

 I enjoyed visiting the Titanic exhibition gallery.

 Of course we had to take the photo!

 On the way out we had to look at the belugas again.

 And they said goodbye!

 This was the view outside the Aquarium It was funny!

And this is a souvenir I bought at the shop.It's a glass starfish.

 It matches the painted stone I had bought years ago.