Canadian Christmas Parcel is ready for The Off

Hello there Everyone - Cy Bear back again, albeit a day late.   (Isobel here - sorry about that:  but because I'd been active on one of the newer social media sites I'm using to try to beef up sales of our Toys, somehow items I'd selected and used for that purpose found themselves posted to the blog here as well!  I spent most of Sunday afternoon (normally used for writing the blog) trying to clear the items).  Managed to do it in the clear light of day today - and here we all are once more!) Now it's back to me, Cy Bear again!!   Finally, after what seemed a long time, Isobel managed to find time to wrap up all the Novelty Slippers we've been posting about recently , but not before gathering them all together on her bed.

At this point, we suddenly discovered, Isobel had omitted to include the White Bob Tail on Canadian Dad's Slippers.  These were rapidly added, so that they now look like this:

Then, I insisted on having our traditional farewell pictures taken with me before they all got wrapped and ready for their journey.

In case the family see these pictures before Christmas - don't think they'll have the link, but one never knows - I'm not going to say any more about who is destined to get which slippers.  So that there is some element of surprise left for Christmas Day itself.

That ceremony having been satisfactorily completed, I sat on the Toy Store (aka  in the family as "The Body Bag") and watched as Isobel laid out the wrapping materials.

Two and a half hours later, with all slippers (and the special present for the youngest member of the family) first wrapped in tissue paper- with slipper toes stuffed with some tissue paper to hold their shape - and then in suitable Christmas paper, they all looked like this:

By this time, Isobel was pretty tired - she didn't begin until she'd done all the usual chores for the Shop on the Etsy.com site - so the parcels were all put into a cardboard box we had handy (which used to hold the large roll of bubblewrap most Cuddlies are parcelled up in prior to their journeys to meet their Forever Friends).

The next day, having gone into our Town Centre, Isobel returned with 3 rolls of Brown Paper (we only actually needed one in the end - but, one can always use Brown Paper, and often don't have it handy when needed!) and the cardboard box was cut open and folded over to create a shell into which all the presents were fitted - nice and snugly!  The Box was then well cello-taped to hold its shape and double length of string tied around it. (Isobel really missed Peter's help here - he had the knack of knowing exactly how long the string needed to be to achieve the final result!).  The parcel is now well and truly tied up - but somewhat "littered", if that is the right expression, with knots hither and yon.

It now looks like this - and is due to be taken down to the Kirkby Main Post Office tomorrow and sent on its way.  It weighed exactly 6 lbs when put on the bathroom scales - which in metric terms, according to our computer - is 2.72 kilos!  We now wait to learn just how much it's going to cost - but what ever that may be, when one considers the distance between Kirkby in Ashfield, Nottinghamshire and 150 Mile House, British Columbia, Canada as well as the number of intended recipients (8) and the fact that it is going by Tracked Air Mail, it's hopefully going to result in everyone having warm, toasty feet this winter.  Isobel was told by her niece that the first snow has well and truly arrived!! Just to give you an idea of the size of the parcel, and also to show you that I can stand (provided I've got something to lean against!) here's this last picture of the Canadian Christmas Parcel.

Before I go, though, thought you might also like to see this photo Isobel took the night after the Super Moon last week.  She was in our kitchen getting ready to cook her evening meal, and for once, the sky was almost really clear.  She did her usual trick of holding the camera up and clicking - and this was the result, seen through the glass!!

Until next week, then - hope that everyone in the U.S.A. and wherever else you celebrated Thanksgiving at the week-end, had a good one.   Your friend, Cy Bear.