Christmas was... 

being with my family, cooking, eating, film watching, rum n cokes, sitting by the fire, 

hanging stars from the ceiling, vases of pussy willow and red berries,

washing up a lot, laughing even more,

reading new books

and the girls singing Christmas carols all the way down the street.

Siobhan said it was the best Christmas ever, even better than when she got a Polly Pocket.

Home made Christmas wrap. 

Still in love with my stamps as you can see. 

Making Christmas cards for my friends and family..

Rice papered sugar and spice and all things nice and my crisp new rubber stamps from India.

Made by a guy who sits on the street taking orders, they were ready the next day and perfect.

They worked out to about £1 each and I was definitely overcharged in his eyes!

This was my room  for five weeks recently whilst I studied yoga at the AYRI (ashtanga yoga research institute) in Mysore which is Karnakata, Southern India.

Waking early and pulling on my yoga clothes, wrapping a dress over the top and making a cocoon of myself in a shawl; I would tiptoe through the dark house and head out underneath the coconut palms to my yoga practise and dogs would bark at this strange shadowy figure brandishing a yoga mat.

India smells like petrol and woodsmoke, drains and jasmine.

India sounds like a one man band on a motorway.

It feels like living at a free festival. Wild dogs, wild kids, singing colours and moments of absolute peace.

It feels like home.

A couple of pages from my India sketchbook...

I was learning to make rangoli designs.

In Southern India, the ladies of the house are up at sunrise and washing down their doorsteps (or patches of mud) and with a handful of flour and a deft flick of the wrists they draw these beautiful designs. The reason for using flour is so that the ants will stay outside eating that rather than entering the home. The design is also a blessing of the house. Each design is different and drawn in one sweeping movement. 

A lifetime of learning at mama's knee.