Garden Village Community Advent Windows

I have lived in the Garden Village since 1999, it's a wonderful little area in the midst of Gosforth that i feel has a village esk feel to it. There is a lot of debate about which streets belong to the Garden Village however in the name of community the Garden Village is an area of streets off and around Hollywood Avenue. When moving back home Sam and I discussed constantly where we would settle, whether that would be the country or the city, we chose the city and aptly decided the Garden Village was where we wished to reside. We moved in to our home in January 2016, and my new years resolution was to bring a community minded spirit to where i lived, this was when the idea of the community advent windows began. 

A friend of mine's Mum lives in Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire, each year they inform me of the advent window display they are putting together, i loved the concept and the idea of a new window being displayed each day of advent, the idea of a living advent window and it being a community minded activity. 

I decided that the Garden Village was perfect for the advent windows, it could be carried out as a circular trail if we got enough houses and i felt if i could involve the Garden Village Hall the trail could end there on Christmas Eve for Christmas Carol Singing (a yearly tradition). I carried out research on what i wanted the first leaflet to look like, as felt the best way to see who was interested was a good old fashioned leaflet drop, the first leaflet needed to have specific information about what the project was, what was expected from people and the importance of what it could bring to our community, however i was aware people may be cautious, thinking it would come at a cost or be linked to a specific group. 

The uptake started and with every email i got a spark of excitement, by Tuesday i had 12 people - i decided at this number i would definitely run the advent windows but it would be every other day, however over the next week the spaces started to fill up and eventually we ended up with 26 windows, i decided that 3 would open on Christmas Eve as i wanted everyone to be involved who wanted to be.  

Sammy put together the trail and produced the map, which i was so happy with, can you see the secret sleigh? To put the route together i found out what dates people could do and couldn't do and attempted to arrange the trail route the best i could around these dates.

Everyone was happy with the dates given and i asked for a description from each home of their window display and who and how it had come together. I felt it would give the windows a life and an understanding for those carrying the trail out. I decided to not advertise anywhere but the local community and our facebook page as i wanted it to be a community based trail and not opened out to all. The Garden Village committee also got involved and it was decided the houses that were no24 windows would be around the Garden Village Hall so we could all enjoy carols there after the advent trail. 

We did a 2nd leaflet drop of the maps, meaning that even if people weren't doing a window they could enjoy the advent trail.

It was incredible to see people out on the trail, we took advent day 1 and i did a picture of me walking Socks.

On day 1 there was a flock of folk outside the house, admiring the window, holding their maps and joyfully embracing the festive display. The month carried on like this, everyday a new display lit up and i shared the image with the description on facebook. 

We decided on the 24th to serve hot chocolate and mulled cider and invite everybody around to ours to do a joint trail. We couldn't believe how many people came by, i think we counted 50-60, everyone brought a cup, we served up then enjoyed a wonderful wintery Christmassy walk. The feeling was amazing, i had a few tears with the wonder that was such an incredible community and being part of a new tradition, there was so many positive words shared and everyone loved the windows, the creativity came in so many different ways and seeing everyone's individual window was amazing, but seeing everyone enjoying each other's windows on the walk was the icing on the cake. 

to see more of the windows check out Garden Village Community Advent on facebook. 

Christmas Merriment and Yurting joy.

For those of you who I have been around recently would have heard me say I can’t believe how quickly 2014 has come around, my last blog was about moving out and now we only have two weeks left at our friends and three weeks till our trip, so with that hasn't time flown by….

Christmas was beautiful, I read my blog from last Christmas this morning and it’s interesting to look at where I was there to where I am now, I was reapplying for university, living in our flat and making decisions for my future. I guess at least the latter is still true, decision making is always at the forefront of my mind and my friends know I am always planning and making changes to my life, I am not happy sitting content and I don’t know what that’s about but as a Counsellor I could definitely look for a deeper meaning, today I will just look at as an excitement for adventure and filling my life with goodness!

After the intensity of my most recent course it was nice to spend 2 weeks relaxing at Christmas, I love being in my family home, it makes me feel very happy and relaxed and the feeling of Christmas is so strong it’s like a magic in the air. The run up to Christmas was nice but without being in our own nest it didn't feel the same and I missed that Christmassy feel of decorating a tree, crafting decorations and hanging stockings, so to arrive in Newcastle to my Mum’s grotto was bliss and filled me with delight.

We always stay in on Christmas eve, I used to go out but feel being at home is special and important, we eat delicious food, swap a Christmas present, put our Christmas PJ’s on and watch something Christmassy, its beautiful and I know it will be a tradition I will carry on when I have kids. Sam and I spent Christmas apart (again) this year which was hard and didn't feel right but it was what we decided due to our trip, I missed sharing Christmas morning with him and speaking on the phone is never the same as being present together. After this year we agreed next year we would be together and the year after (fingers crossed) where in our own place and have agreed it would be spent in our home – together, yeah!

Sam arrived on the 27th and we went and spent two nights in a Yurt at Wild Northumbrian http://www.wildnorthumbrian.co.uk/ , it was a present I bought for Sam in November but I thought booking it over Christmas would be a delight and would be really magical, it certainly was that. We stayed in the Merle Yurt and agreed to have our Christmas here, we took our family dog – bowdog and spent two glorious nights with Wild Northumbrian in the beautiful Kielder Forest. For those of you who don’t know Kielder it’s another amazing part of Northumberland and recently won the best darkest skies (basically meaning there is no light pollution so the stars are incredible), the yurt had been decorated beautiful and when we arrived they had the log burner going and the candles on, we spent the evening drinking mulled wine and feasting on veggie stew, exchanging gifts and talking of our Christmas days, I felt so happy and blessed it was more than I could have asked for.

The next day we enjoyed breakfast, watched Bow running around (and under) the Yurt and enjoyed the beauty of the scenery around us, wild northumbrian is positioned in a beautiful area and it was just incredible to be out in December in the wonderful countryside. We found a nice walk to go on that day and walked a good 8 miles through Kielder national park, the dog loved it and enjoyed the freeness of the country air, we had our cameras out and got some lovely shots of our walk and the beaming sunshine surrounding us.

NYE was spent in with the family, eating delicious food and enjoying plenty of sparkle; it was nice to not be out and about and just enjoying family time.