Collections, Chaos and a little bit of Cake

Do I usually do my Christmas shopping in op shops? Not on purpose! However, if I just happen to be browsing there (highly likely) and the right thing comes along (quite often) well of course I'll snap it up. Hopefully the bargain I've gained will give me more $$ to spend on other parts of the gift.

I've found something wonderful for my mother.

As you can see from the pictures above, these are lovely pieces of Royal Doulton china, from the Charles Dickens Collection.  Made from 1903 through to the 1930's, each piece portrays a different figure from one of Dicken's much loved stories. Mum already has a couple of pieces, and I'm pretty sure she's really going to like these!

The op shop I found these in had an entire collection of maybe 50 pieces. Vases, plates, bowls, cups and even apparently a huge teapot that someone had already bought. It's rare to find so many pieces together. They'd obviously been well cared for and were probably the collector's pride and joy. So how did they end up in an op shop? I'd like to think the person donated or bequeathed it to the charity because they admired their work, and wanted them to benefit from selling it. I hope it didn't mean the owner's family placed no value on the items and hence decreed: Get rid of those ugly things! Send them to the op shop! 
Whatever the reason they ended up there, I'm glad someone loved and cared for this collection for so long. And this Christmas we'll take pleasure in a little part of it too.

And the crawling-chaos-causer continues apace. Where ever there is a mess to be made, Archie is there. On the up side, he's sleeping a whole lot better now that he's so active. It's tiring creating mayhem!

Also Mimi turned five this week. We had some family over to help celebrate her birthday, and while she didn't eat the hamburgers I'd made for her birthday tea (too soggy) or the cake her Aunty Anna had made (don't like the icing), or the cake I then bought the next day from the supermarket and decorated (don't like the jam), she ate a banana and went to bed happy, declaring: "I'm ready for big school in the morning Mum."



Lovely cake enjoyed by the family (but sadly not eaten by Mim)



Lovely cake #2 (also enjoyed by family but sadly, not by Mim)