Thoughts of an introverted bookworm and avid jigsaw puzzler
Christmas Camper is a 300-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Stephanie Peterson Jones. This was an adorable, quick puzzle that I have been saving for the Christmas season. I knew it would be pretty easy, so I did it without looking at the image to make the puzzling last a bit longer. I love all of the festive details!
Earlier this year, I purchased a 4 in 1 set from Bits and Pieces called Playful Gnomes. It includes images of three gnomes in each of the four seasons. It is available in several different piece counts, and I chose the 500 piece set.
The fall puzzle, Fall Gnomes in the Woods, was harder than I thought it would be, probably because of the random piece count. It is an adorable image though!
The winter puzzle, Three Gnomes, was an absolute bear to complete. Not only do you have the random cut pieces, but the background is basically just shades of white. I seriously considered giving up, but I sorted by shape as best as I could and just pushed through and finally finished it.
I’m not sure when I will try the other two. They look like they will be kind of hard too. Maybe by the time spring comes around I will be ready to tackle them!
If you are looking for a feel-good holiday story as Christmas gets closer, then The Christmas Inn by Pamela M. Kelley is the book for you. I started reading Kelley’s books in 2021 with The Restaurant and have since read a number of her books. Most of her books are set in the Cape Cod area of the United States, which provides a charming setting no matter the time of year.
In The Christmas Inn, we meet Riley Sanders, who has just lost her job and comes home to the Cape to help her mother with her inn while she looks for another job. During her stay, we meet several other characters, including a possible love interest, and also get to experience what it’s like to be on the Cape during the holidays.
I read this in one day so I would definitely say that it’s an easy read and also very inviting.
Hitting the Road is a 1000-piece puzzle from Cobble Hill, and the artist is Mary Lake-Thompson. This was my first puzzle from the Cobble Hill brand. I love the subject matter as it is a combination of a collage with images of campers and other vehicles. It is a fun design with a lot of interesting elements.
Their puzzles are random cut, but it is not as hard as the previous random cut puzzle I did from Goodway Puzzles. None of these pieces were tiny or super weird in shape, so it made for a good puzzling experience. I will definitely be doing this brand again!
When I was finished, I asked Michael what his favorite scene was. He said Into the Woods because of the bear and the fox. My favorite is either Fall Fun or Holidays.
I did another Ceaco Food Truck puzzle. This one is simply called Festive Food Truck, and it is 500 pieces, just like the Taco Truck I did earlier. The artist is Stephanie Peterson Jones.
This was a super cute puzzle. I loved all of the signs with words, of course. The image was a bit harder than the other one, but it was still a really easy puzzle. Also, there wasn’t as much puzzle dust with this one.
My friend Kim gave me this puzzle for Christmas. I was so excited when I got it because it was a perfect image for me. I put it together the same day she gave it to me, and it was just as good as I thought it would be.
Christmas Countdown is a 500 piece puzzle from the brand Galison, and the artist is Deva Evans. I have done several of their puzzles before and have always been happy with the quality. It’s so nice to do a puzzle without any false fits or other issues.
I started with the border, then did the areas with the white background. Next I did the areas with the dark green background and then the light green background. I finished with the center medallion. It was an enjoyable finish to my Christmas puzzles!
This year, I took off the week between Christmas and New Year’s. I like having off at this time of year because work is usually slow, and it’s nice to have a few days to just putter around.
Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday this year. I went to the family-friendly morning service and the evening candlelight service. I really enjoyed the evening service, although the wax from the candle did drip onto my hands a couple of times! After church, I redid the puzzle Michael Storrings New York City Subway.
Christmas day was pretty quiet. I watched a few episodes of Silo and did some reading. My mom had sent money for Christmas, and I had bought a few books that had been on my wish list for a while because it didn’t seem like the library was ever going to get them. I have read the first two already and loved them!
Michael came home around 6:30. He had forgotten my presents at his dad’s house, so I gave him mine and opened the couple I had gotten myself, lol. We had dinner together, and then later on, his dad brought over the presents Michael had gotten me. Of course, he got me two puzzles – one for Christmas and one for my birthday!
Wednesday and Thursday Michael had work from 10-2. On Wednesday, Kim came over, and we ate lunch and watched a movie. After I picked Michael up, we went to Target to get a drive up order. I have decided to use Target instead of Amazon when I can due to a package being stolen last week.
On Thursday, I had therapy, which went well. I also went to Barnes and Noble to check out their puzzle selection. They had a good number, but I didn’t see anything I had to have. After I picked Michael up, we went to the Colonial Park Mall to pick up a package from the Amazon locker. That’s what I have decided to do for things I have to get from Amazon.
On Friday, I went to get an oil change. In the afternoon, we attempted to build two dining room chairs. We had built the first two when Bill & Jenn were coming over, but we had more people coming over that evening, so we needed them. One of them was fine, but the other one had an issue with one of the screws not going in properly. I also made artichoke dip and monster cookies. Along with that, I served veggies and dip plus meat, cheese, and crackers.
Friday evening was a lot of fun. Renee and her boys, Evan and Hans, came over along with our friend Chris. They enjoyed the food, and we played part of a game of Star Munchkin. Chris cleaned up my kitchen for me and superglued the chair piece that was causing a problem. It was a wonderful evening!
On Saturday, Kim came over for our weekly lunch and movie. I took a nap that afternoon because I had stayed up way too late the night before. I also went to bed early and woke up Sunday just in time for the online pre-recorded service my church did for what they call Sabbath Sunday. They are closed the week between Christmas and New Year’s to give the staff a rest.
Sunday afternoon, I started a 1000 piece puzzle that I had won in a contest a little over a year ago. I will share that in a separate post. I did stay up until 2 am on New Year’s Day to finish it.
Monday was New Year’s Day and the last day of my break. I slept in, and then Michael and I drove to Target to pick up a vacuum I had ordered. I got him Chick-fil-A since we were near there (I had already eaten lunch). When we got home, I did a 100-piece puzzle as part of the Winter Bingo for The Casual Puzzler’s Facebook group. I also did a 500-piece puzzle, also for the Winter Bingo. I’ll post both of those later this week.
All in all, this was a fun and relaxing break for me. I really like having some time off around the holidays.
Edited to add: I forgot to mention that my friend Kim gave me a 500-piece puzzle when she came over on Wednesday, and I put it together that night.
For my second Christmas puzzle of the season, I did Christmas Cornucopia from Elena Essex. It’s a 1000-piece puzzle with beautiful colors and gold foil accents.
This is also my second Elena Essex puzzle to put together. The first one was Woodland Magic, which was an absolute dream to do.
This puzzle was harder than the mushroom puzzle as there weren’t as many different colors. It was definitely doable, however, once I hunkered down and started picking out the different textures in each color.
The only downside of this puzzle was the border. There were so many false fits, and I really struggled to get the border completed. I had to move things around multiple times and was very far into the puzzle before I got it completely done.
I did love the colors and the gold foil accents. I also appreciated how well the pieces held together. It was very easy to move sections around.
I highly recommend this puzzle for a fun holiday experience.
Snowman with Presents is my first Christmas puzzle of the season. It’s a 500-piece puzzle from Bits and Pieces, and the artist is William Vanderdasson. I chose this one because of the cute image. I love snowmen, and the colorful presents and the hat/scarf looked like they would be fun to do.
The puzzle was enjoyable to put together. I have only done a couple from this brand before, so I had to get used to the odd piece shapes again. Once I did that, it came together fairly easily. There were a lot of white and gray pieces, but they did have varying shades on different parts of the puzzle, so they weren’t too bad to figure out.
Not a bad way to start off my holiday season!
Camping for Christmas from Vermont Christmas Company was the first puzzle I did from my December puzzle haul and the last puzzle I completed in 2022. It was a gift from my husband, and I was so happy to get it! It was 1000 pieces, and the artist was Randy Wollenmann.
I would classify this as a medium difficulty puzzle. The edges and the main part of the campers were pretty easy to complete, but from there it got harder. I did the Christmas trees and as much of the people and animals as I could, then I hunkered down and worked on each quadrant of the puzzle to fill in the missing pieces. These were mostly snow and trees with some lights thrown in.
Here is a picture of the completed puzzle:
And here are some closeups of the campers:
I’m glad I got to do three Christmas puzzles this year. I enjoyed all of them, and they definitely enhanced the holiday experience for me.
In So Many Words 