Driving Home for Christmas - Gibsons (1000 pieces)

Each year I take a look at the latest Christmas puzzle from both Gibsons and Ravensburger, choose the one I like the best and buy it for my dad, knowing full well I will be completing it after him. This year Gibsons was the winning puzzle and what a great choice. A beautiful picture and a beautiful puzzle. I began with the sky and then placed all the buildings. Trees followed with people, cars and the road last. What a great way to spend an evening...and for those wondering....I was quicker than my dad!

Time taken: Evening 

Anatomy of the Spitfire - Haines (1000 pieces)

A friend and I both received Christmas jigsaws which both seemed to have a lot of white in them...the only reasonable thing to do was to swap and compare. After the London Underground I puzzle I really enjoyed this one. I decided to complete it without the picture to see how it would build. I put all the wording and numbers together first before starting on the body of the plane - which also had numbers to help with points of reference. Once I was left with only white I utilised my tried and trusted technique of lining pieces up and putting them in methodically until one fit. Not a wonderful way to end the puzzle, but necessary. 

Time taken: 13 hours

Christmas Street 12 Days of Christmas - Gibsons (12 little puzzles of 80 pieces)

I received this puzzle on Christmas day so will be honest and own up to not completing it quite as the name would suggest, but over a series of a couple of days. What a lovely idea for Gibsons to have come up with - I had been secretly watching other puzzlers with envy before Christmas so was delighted to receive my own version

Considering each of the puzzles has very small pieces, the cut and fit are excellent and each little puzzles forms a whole street. The pictures were beautiful and although the colour merging could have been a little more precise I really enjoyed the whole experience. It is already packed away ready for next year, when I plan to do it in the build up to Christmas. 


Time taken: 2 short sessions over a couple of days 

A Very Merry Holiday - Wasgij (1000 pieces)

What's not to like? Bright colours, funny little details and a glimpse of the main man after he's delivered all those presents. I popped the sky and pirate ship in first, and then moved onto areas of red. I finished with all the added splashes of colour and then there was only ocean left. 

Time taken: Evening