On the fourth day of Christmas

I spent a good chunk of the day back at the school yesterday. The general assistant was on duty, which meant I had access to my old classroom. Tossed out lots of files and old worksheets I won't be needing any more, in my quest to make my room look vacant, yet welcoming for the new teacher arriving to take up my class teacher position.

Today's ornaments:



Above left: For 2000, the first Christmas in the new house! A ceramic camel mask on a long handle, from a floristry and giftware store near Eastwood Station, when I was working at Scan in Ryde; and a ceramic teddy bear in denim jeans and a hand-knitted jumper, and holding a hobby horse. He came from the all-year-round Christmas shop in Windsor. These ornaments were bought many months apart, and I hadn't realised they both had a "mounted on long sticks" theme. 2000 also marked the first year of a new Christmas angel, but you'll have to wait till Epiphany!

Above right: For 1999, two "M & M's" candy tube toppers (from Target). Promoted as "the candy for the new millennium" due to "MM" being the Roman numeral for "2000", so it seemed a natural for turning into an impromptu Christmas ornament. The miniature skateboard-riding Lori Custer sock monkey was bought in an eBay USA auction, and is actually made from baby-sized "red heel" socks. The purchase started out as a joke when I was demonstrating to some colleagues at the Scan office just how eBay auctions worked, and we all fell in love with this particular one. A few months later, when the creator realised she'd overcharged me on postage, she sent me out a second miniature sock monkey for free: an editor sock monkey, blue pencil tucked over one ear, working away at a tiny computer.