The Winners!

In the presence of this blog's personal legal advisor and auditor, and amidst much excitement this morning, all the names of those who entered the Christmas Contest were written on pieces of paper.

Beric left, suitably dressed in makarapa and vuvuzela.

To ensure a free and unbiased draw, the paper slips were of equal size. These were then folded into (equal sized) squares and thrown into Theodora's (clean) feeding bowl.








The tension mounted as we hit an unexpected snag...Theodora the Cat, otherwise occupied (see above), was completely uninterested in performing her duties as assistant drawer!

Luckily, yours truly stepped courageously into the breach. The draw finally proceeded. As I held the bowl containing all the (equal sized) slips with the names of the entrants Beric, with due ceremony and caution, drew five names out of the bowl. First name out the bowl won first prize, second name out the bowl won second prize and so on until all five prizes were allocated. And we are now able to announce the five lucky winners of the uniqe prizes from South Africa:

1st Prize: (Ndebele hand beaded salad servers) Nancy J Parra
2nd Prize: (Ndeble hand beaded tray net) Patti Lacy3rd Prize: (Fluffy Leo Key ring) Lady Glamis
4th Prize: (Ndebele Doll Key Ring) Anita Laydon-Miller5th Prize: (Zulu beaded pen) Robyn Campbell


Congratulations to all our winners. I'll be contacting you soon to get your mailing details so I can send your prizes to you. And a BIG thank you to all who entered; you're all winners in my eyes!

Merry Christmas 2009!

Wherever you are in the world,

whatever your religion and beliefs,

I wish you all a blessed Christmas season,

filled with joy and peace:

in your worlds, in your families and in your hearts.

Image source: A Kenya Christmas

Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika:

God Bless Africa,

Guide her leaders,

Guard her children,

And give her peace.

Win a unique prize from South Africa!

To celebrate Christmas and more than 150 posts on my blog I'm holding a contest.

There's three easy steps to enter your name in the draw and stand a chance to win one of five unique prizes from South Africa:

(1) Twitter about, or link a blogpost, to the competition (on a voluntary basis only - as long as you complete steps 2 & 3, you'll still be entered in the draw),

(2) Browse through the "Blog Topics" in the sidebar to the right, and

(3) List your favourite individual post (not topic) in the comments section below (otherwise your name won't be entered in the draw).

The winners will be drawn on 27th December 2009 and their names posted on this blog on 31st December 2009. Please note that by entering the competition you're agreeing to provide me with your postal address (which will be kept confidential) so that I can mail the winners their prize. I'll contact the winners privately after their names are drawn, and list links to their blogs when the competition results are announced on 31st December 2009.


The draw will be conducted by my husband Beric, assisted by Theodora the Cat (see left, sitting on my desk). All names in the comments section as at 08h00 27/12/2009, South African time, will be thrown into Theodora's (clean) food bowl and randomly selected by Beric.


The prizes are:



First Prize: Viva Afrika beaded salad servers (right). The ethnic beadwork is crafted by the women of the Ndebele tribe of Mpumalanga province. All the handmade beadwork is unique in design and colour, and the servers are silver-plated.






Second Prize: Hand beaded tray net made by the rural Zulu tribe in Kwa-Zulu Natal (left).








Third Prize: An adorable fluffy Leo, King of the Jungle, key ring (right). (Theodora the Cat insisted on including this prize!)









Fourth Prize: A beaded doll key-ring crafted by the Ndebele tribe (left).



Fifth Prize: A ball point pen in a beaded cover crafted by the Zulu tribe (left).
The next blog post will be on 31st December 2009 to announce the competition winners and provide a schedule of upcoming blog posts for 2010.
Remember to link the competition to your blog and leave your comment to be entered into the prize draw.