Advent Winners, Advent Pause!

Hello everyone, and how lovely to have read your appreciation of the simple traditions of Advent on my last post. Before I draw the giveaway winners, I'm just going to show you Niki's lovely calendar page for November, and my response to it...

French fabric covered box from a Vide Grenier, vintage/antique books gathered over the years, rosebud jug from an Edinburgh charity shop and berries from the garden!

So, on to draw the winners! The winner of the traditional German Advent Calendar is Flossie and Tom! I'm delighted to find this lovely blogger back in action, and am really chuffed that she and her children will be opening these beautiful windows this Advent. And I share her grandmother's name...

And the person who will be burning the candle this Advent is the THIRD Sarah - don't get excited if you are the first or the second Sarah, please, ladies! This is the Sarah who wrote:

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"I'm making my niece an advent calendar - it's her birthday at the end of November so we give her a series of small envelopes with different things in. This year she's four and now old enough to understand a bit more about what the season really means.
j
I'd love to be part of your giveaway for the beautiful candle. "
j

Well, I think that's rather lovely, and I'm glad she's won the draw, although I'm sorry that there couldn't have been more prizes for the rest of you deserving people.

Congratulations to both of you - please email me with your addresses and I will get posting.

Now, last year many of us joined together on Sundays or Mondays in Advent to post something that helped us to take a break in the rush towards Christmas. This is what I wrote at the beginning of last year's Advent Pause:

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"The bloggers represent all sorts of countries (and now four continents, too, which pleases me for some reason). We are getting together to share thoughts, traditions, ideas, crafts and experiences relating to Advent and the preparation for Christmas. Some of us follow very old traditions or have very established beliefs, whilst many of us are combining the old with the new, learning and growing as we go along… "
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If you would like to take part in a similarly open-ended Advent blogging event this year, please let me know by commenting here, and then please put the logo above onto your own blog, with a link back to this post! It was great last year, and I've been delighted that several blogging friends have already mentioned this year's. Advent begins on Sunday 28th November this year, so the first posts need to be on that day or on Monday 29th. Do join in - it's great to see what other people are doing and thinking, and good to take a break from what can become a very hectic time.