Christmas, day 6

That makes it Sunday - we always have a combined service with three parishes together on the Sunday after Xmas.
This year it was at Shustoke, with coffee & a catch up afterwards - warm & friendly, with lots of hugging & kissing.
G has spent the day clearing the rest of the leaves in the field - 8 cubic metres!
I've made up beds, cleaned  ironed; everything is ready for the New Year celebrations - visitors tomorrow ready to join in lunch on Tuesday.
I have two salmon in the fridge & Morrison's brand new fish kettle in the porch, loads of new potatoes & ingredients for a number of deserts awaiting the Gordon Ramsey touch!
That's tomorrow taken care of.

G has had a soak in the bath & has just put the chickens to bed - two in the eglu & one perched on the field gate.
Whatever next?

We were going to the pictures to see "Impossible" tonight, but I've just checked the times & it's on at 19.00........from 1 Jan!!!
We'll enjoy a quiet night by the fire, reading the papers.  

Christmas day 4

We've spent a lovely Christmas, with most of the family.
Days 1, 2 & 3 were excellent - the turkey was moist (comments on the moistness of the turkey are compulsory) Christmas lunch went really well & everyone was relaxed.
We had some lovely presents & the grandchildren all loved their all-in ones - G covered me with the lovely rug that W & family gave me, when I fell asleep on the settee at tea-time today, before the fire was lit.
I have obviously reached my dotage!
B&E,T&KP arrived on Boxing day afternoon, shortly after P&A, J&G & families had left.
G & T worked together on T's hwk, planning a trip to China!
Yesterday Chris & Jan came to supper & we played the games that we'd practised with the family on Xmas day.
This morning I made the traditional dish with the last of the turkey (baked, in white sauce, covered with cheese & breadcrumbs), with a smaller one for Marg & Phil.
G has de-foliated the field & spring cleaned the eglu, whilst I did the laundry & turned the bedrooms around, ready for Peter & aj over the weekend.
We had a late lunch/early tea then I sat down & fell aslleep!
Shopping again tomorrow for lunch on New Year's Day. 

Happy Christmas.

,All is peace & joy - the turkey is stuffed, buttered, bedecked with bacon, foiled & has been in the oven for an hour, during which time we have wrapped the chipolatas in bacon, freed the chickens (1 egg, thank-you) & had a cup of tea.
The pressies are all wrapped & under the tree, the beds made up & the house is gleaming.
The family are arriving later.
What more could you want (apart from the rest of the family?)

We had a brandy & baklava at 1.00am & opened our presents, when we returned from Midnight Mass - a great service taken by the Diocesan Education Advisor, Peter Finch - a very tall man with a booming voice!

I hope you all have a wonderful, peaceful day with those you love.

Almost....

We have never been so organised for Christmas.
I collected the turkey from the farm shop, along with the chipolatas & a pork pie (Xmas day breakfast!), after taking the services t Sh & OW.
I have vacuumed through, made up 8 beds, put up the rest of the cards & ironed the last washing of 2012.
I have to do a final shop tomorrow for vegetables, cream, etc.
I intended to be there when M&S opened, but they are opening at midnight, so I won't be the first in.
Who on earth wants to shop/ has their brain in gear at midnight?

The weather girl has an Xmas knitted sweater dress with reindeer - very becoming.
I have a thin black & red sparkly jumper to wear with my black trousers, perhaps more suitable really.
Braunton, next to Saunton Sands has had 3ft of floodwater & on the news - the family should remember it as we went there regularly when the boys were young & we did the first holiday with the grandchildren, J & T only,  in 2005.

We went to Coventry Cathedral yesterday, compliments of E, to take part in the CWR recording of their Xmas day carol service - queued for an hour, around the block, but it was well worth it - on CWR tomorrow at 6.00pm & Xmas day at 1.00pm

Off to the Carol Service at Sh shortly - hope it's not too self indulgent - 9 readings, 7 carols & 27 choir items! 

Three sleeps to santa Claus

So Th calculated today - we have been entertained by J & Th today.
Lots to do - J helped me to lay the dining table for Xmas day, made the place names & did the seating plan with Th - a bit early, but done.
Th accompanied me around the village, him on a scooter, me putting flyers  through all doors with service times & greetings from Church - still a lot to do.
They made cards, J wrote a story & we had fresh boiled eggs for lunch - "best ever".
Later we went to Solihull to do a couple of jobs, & had tea at McDonalds (not me - coffee only)
Solihull was pretty quiet, even M&S!
Came home about 7.00pm, stopping at Morrisons en route to buy dinner - too knackered to do much cooking.
We are presently watching David Attenborough's new programme about evolution (recorded) - amazing. He is presently at Craille in N Scotland, on the beach with the fossilised stumps of trees that were 90ft tall along with 2.5m long millipedes & dragonflies with a 1m wingspan, all from the Carboniferous period - lots of oxygen in the air so faster growth.
Blimey!  
Do watch if you get the chance.

Sermon to write for services at Sh & OW on Sunday & family service to prepare for Xmas day, pressies to wrap, flyers to go to much of village, beds to make up, turkey to collect & shopping to complete.
All good fun!
Should I shop early tomorrow or Monday?
I favour Monday so I can stay at home tomorrow & catch up - weather looks atrocious - time to start building the ark!
Have a good weekend........

Sanity regns.......

Home again after a couple of days with JR -  a mentally unchallenging experience.
I took an M&S lunch to cook, which I put in the Rayburn whilst we took Abigail home.
After lunch we wrote JR's Christmas cards the went to JS to buy pressies - bottles & Christmassy bags!
We went on to have tea & a natter with Mary, then home to light the fire, toast a teacake & snooze.
The temp in the lounge topped 80+ degrees during the evening so sleep is inevitable.
JR had a late night - 9.20pm, I stayed uo even later.
Up at 8.30am to complete the presents, visit from a neighbour/reader for coffee (hot water in his case) then off to collect Abigail, JS for lunch (theirs - I had a skinny cappuccino) then home, load up & on the road again, back to Brum!
By the time we left JS, JR had forgotten who I was & thought we were looking for a taxi - perhaps partly my fault as we were actually looking for the volvo - hidden by a dratted 4x4!
All's well that ends well, so WS said anyway.

G & I went up to church to put the lights on, including the Xmas tree lights, before the school arrived for their carol service.
Chaotic parking as the Griffin car park was closed?
Di arrived, snapped at us that we had turned the outside light off (hadn't) & so we checked that a friend would turn off the tree lights & came home.

Scrunchy duck (JS - half price) for dinner - very good.
Bedtime.   

Monday, monday.

We've had a good weekend - a final shop on Saturday morning, followed by an afternoon of cooking - Gordon Ramsey's winter beef casserole (bouef bourginone with small cubes of celeriac & carrots; spelling looks dodgy!), fresh raspberry trifle & creme caramel.
G prepared the vegetables on Sunday morning whilst I made the other puds -steamed ginger sponge, chocolate & banana bread & butter pud & apple crumble.
Twenty five of us for lunch, which was scrummy & went very well, making £240 for sh church.
We left the clearing up & went to the Christingle service at NW at 4.00pm, then home to put the house in order & collapse on the settee.

We woke at 8.30am - complaint from the chickens, but two eggs during the day.
I played tennis, came home to shower , then we went to Solihull to collect J & Th from school & cook tea. J's school disco this evening - a real disco babe!

Home to eat the remains of yesterday's meal & give a little thought to Sunday's sermon - Advent 4, Mary/love.
One source tells me that it wasn't known where babies came from in Biblical times, so a virgin birth didn't mean a lot??

wet, wet, wet.

The freeze has ended to be replaced by non stop rain.
It has rained all day, puddles reign & the yard is flooded.

I went to manor farm shop at Chapel End this morning, on the recommendation of the Pughs - fantastic, home produced meat & vegetables & a butcher who makes suggestions as to what to buy.
In this case, 10lb of beef for a Gordon Ramsey casserole for 30 for the fund raising Sunday lunch.
It was so good that I ordered a turkey & 80 chipolatas for Xmas.

I've spent the rest of the day shopping & collecting J & Th from school, etc.
Th very tired - endoftermitis!
Meanwhile, back at the homestead, G has done the ironing.........
I must go out more often!

Xmas cards almost done, presents almost sorted, food ordered, so a stress free Advent ! 

Cooking tomorrow so only some puds & the veg to do on Sunday.

Just watched Graham Norton Show - anybody with a book/record to plug, but quite funny.

Did you see us at the auction on "Flog It" yesterday, from Coventry?
We were only there by chance - selling some lots & unaware of the TV connection, initially.
15 seconds of fame!

chilly.......

Another freezing day - 4 degrees this morning.
Lots of lovely birds feeding in the garden, including two woodpeckers, tits, finches & lots of small brown birds scuttling around on the ground, where the chickens have turned the leaf litter over.
Two big eggs today.

I met with the Head at Sh school re getting more contact with the church, home for coffee then on to the shop for a couple of hours - cold - then a visit to Phil & Marg on the way home - all on foot, at varying speeds, to ensure some exercise & warm up.

Question Time on TV - that dreadful man from the Daily Mail - an eloquent bigot.
even Will Self is a pain tonight.
I do feel that marriage is between a man & a woman - same sex partnerships can be legalised in a civil manner.
I'm not homophobic, I just think that marriage is specific - it seems that I am illiberal/wold fashioned.

Must finish the Xmas cards before bed.

 

Lazy day.

Joke for the day: the assistant said to G "sorry about your weight", I replied "He's trying to do something about it"
Boom, boom.
After a lazy day, we've been to Ventura Park to get prints of our Holy Land photos, to take to the meeting - I managed a quick visit to M&S to take on some fruit & veg.
Fortunately, we came home via NW & Furnace End, to visit the garden centre for bird food; the traffic from Furnace End was queueing all the way through Sh, out of site towards Coleshill.
Cold all day, high of - 2 degrees!
Another night with the heating on, I suspect.
All this freezing weather makes me want to eat. 

Born in a Barn....

Home again for a cold evening.
Yesterday I played a couple of sets of tennis - freezing hands  blinding sun, but really good -then we ate scrambled eggs & left for an afternoon out, ending up in Chipping Norton for an early meal before seeing Jo Brand at The Little Theatre in Chippy.
We had an excellent day, pottering in Alcester, Moreton in Marsh & then Chippy, before having an excellent Indian meal (Mon eve - 3 courses with naan or rice, coffee  or ice cream, £9.95) at the far end of the town, before walking back to the theatre.
The show was v good - they try out new material at these small venues, apparently (about 200) 

We went back to B & E's for the night, so had the delight of taking T & KP to school - never at a loss for a word or two!
We pottered around Bicester in the morning; bought some great books in Sobell House shop, did Bicester village, briefly.
The latter doesn't really cater for rural 50 somethings on a budget, but the Pret a Manger is  an oasis of calm in which to watch weirdly dressed orientals resting, amongst their designer bags alongside local "yummy mummies" amongst their toddlers.
We lunched lightly at The Red Lion in Stratton Audley then on to Marsh Gibbon to watch O & the twins school Christmas production, in the parish church - another delight.
We collected RPO & drove home, separately.
I stopped for fuel & small silver Xmas trees at JS.
G stopped to shop in Solihull........
I suspect that the chickens had been in all day - G put a spotlight on the run to entice them & fed & watered them - too cold to risk a night with empty tummies!
A friend popped in for a chat for a couple of hours before dinner & then zzzzzzzzz  

Phew!

Sitting relaxing by the fire after a prawn on puri, followed by chicken tikka dhansak & pashwari naan.
The church looks fantastic,especially in the dark, just lit by 27 twinkling Christmas trees.
We've spent most of the last two days at church, welcoming visitors - actually I spent a couple of hours clearing up, vacuuming & laying up the tea table before shopping for the panetone & stollen at Morrisons, to complement the christmas & chocolate cake ( with Xmas tree & dusting of icing sugar)  before the first visitors, at 11.00am.
We had J & G & family over for a 6th b'day lunch for Oscar, along with 3 friends, P & A 7 family - hot dogs, crisps & healthy nibbles for 14!
All went well & the children all enjoyed playing in the garden afterwards.
Up early to make a big coffee cake for church before taking the Advent 2 services at Sh & OW this morning, coffee at home then back to church, finishing with a short, informal carol service at 4.00pm, more tea & cake, then home, knackered.

Hectic week ahead here - hope you all have a good week.  
 

Oh Tannenbaum!

You may have noticed that I haven't blogged for a few days - this is because W, MK & family have been here fro Denmark & I have fallen asleep each evening before reaching the laptop.
We have had a grand few days; the boys have been great fun & W& MK have behaved well!
On Wed, they headed home, via Booth Hall Hospital, Manchester, we headed for Shirley to see Th's school Christmas play - "The Christmas Tree".
It was brilliant! (at risk of sounding like "William's Little World" stream of sub consciousness), a real tear-jerker.
We hurried home to dress in rags & head to church to help Maurice put 26 trees in blocks & position around the church, each accompanied by a set of lights.
A friend came to sort the wiring - 5 sockets in total - with miles of cable.
We came home with an hour to get ready & go to Chris's Barbers' Shop concert, in Coventry.
We couldn't find the venue, so settled for a row & came home.

We have spent most of today at church, erecting & decorating trees & clearing up.
Folk who have sponsored the trees have been in to decorate & G decorated th biggy - 20ft - needing ladders at full tilt - nearer Thy God to Thee!
I've since made a v big Christmas cake, ready to decorate, to serve in church at the w/e.
I bought a stollen (yes, I paid for it), at Morrisons  - £1.67 & scrummy, to test.
I shall make a chocolate log & buy the stollen & panetone.
Shustoke Church will be open from 11.00 - 5.00pm on Saturday & Sunday, finishing with a 20 minute carol service - come along & see the church, lit only by the trees - they look fantastic, & have a cup of tea & cake.

More work & church open tomorrow for the final trees to be decorated by their sponsors.
No heating in church - you cannot believe how cold it is - vest, cashmere, woolly & fleece, with gloves.

Starbucks is going to pay tax, but is it enough?

family get together.

W, MK & family arrived late last night, the family being asleep at the time, & so to bed.
The rest of us enjoyed a bottle of wine before retiring.
This morning we all drove to Bicester, W & MK breaking their journey at Bicester Village, whilst G & I went to Marsh Gibbon to visit the family.
We all went to witness T's music group "busking" in the town centre - great to have the family all together, if only briefly.
The band were brilliant, playing Christmas music for nearly 3 hours - well done to Costa Coffee, who provided hot chocolate for them. (They also provided hot coffee & chocolate for us, to keep us warm, at a marginally higher cost)
G & I had hot pork rolls from the local butcher & have so far disproved W's theory that the white bread roll would cause our mutual demise before tea-time!
The family are having an evening together, us oldies came home earlier, before dark!
A big family lunch here tomorrow, following Advent service at NW.