Merry Christmas!!!

Back from Christmas morning service, husband down the pub (having put turkey in the oven and left everything else ready), daughter and sister moving partly done jigsaw from dining table to jigsaw board so that we can eat later. We didn't go to midnight service as I was too tired but there were a lot of people at the morning service as several families have relatives staying. I was woken at 7, not by my daughter who as a student is not into early mornings any more, but by my sister and niece in New Zealand. It was Christmas Day evening over there and so they rang up to say Happy Christmas and thank you for their presents. Caitlin, at two and a half, was very excited by it all and I do not envy her mum trying to get her to sleep that night.



Holly's campervan teapot!

 We have opened our presents and are snacking on a variety of things prior to dinner at about 3. The weather is glorious - sunny and clear - but Nick's car themometer said -10 on our way to church so I may just look at the day from in here!

Advent has been strange this year without Holly to share in it, I think next year I will try to find or write a set of daily things which we can share even in two different places. I have a service next week at Acocks Green and am thinking I might use the service in Magnet about the kings gifts.

One cello, two lamps and three sets of music.

Feeling very tired now. One of the problems of a lack of oxygen and an excess of willpower is that when I stop, I really stop! On Sunday, the choir were singing in the morning service and the younger children were using clay models they had made to act out the Nativity. This involved Nick making up a long lead to allow Hannah to video the scene at the front but still be connected to the gubbins at the back which then projected it onto the screen. It was very much a 'seat of the pants' service but all went well. Then home to eat a lovely roast dinner - the blessings of an oven-timer and a husband who can operate it.

In the afternoon, Holly and I set out for Acocks Green with one cello, two lamps and three sets of music. I used it as an opportunity to get Holly to drive in the snow and she managed very well. A short rehearsal and then candlelit carols at 4. At 5.15, after a cup of tea and a mince pie (or two) we set off for Dorridge with one cello, one set of music and two lamps. The choir were only singing a few items in Dorridge candlelit carols - we did our carol concert last Sunday - and Holly was going to sit in the congregation. 7.30, time for more tea and mince pies before setting off for home.

There was no Mustard Seed on Monday due to the weather and so I walked into the village with Holly for her dentist appointment. I did some shopping while she was poked and prodded and then back home where I tried to encourage her to start one of the four essays she has to do before January 13th. In the evening she went out to the Solihull Scout Network Christmas do and I drove to Heartlands to sing some more carols around the wards. The roads were OK apart from the traffic jams.

Today I drove us all into town as there were cheques to pay in and Holly was meeting up with some friends to see a film and stay overnight. Nick and I abandoned her there and then went to Tescos to do the final bit of shopping and fill my car with fuel. By the time we got home my body was telling me I needed to stop. Tomorrow's planned trip to Bicester to be a LAM lady that lunches has been cancelled due to weather and illness so I am going to have a quiet day - as long as the buses are running, otherwise I will need to go and fetch daughter!

Right now I think a cup of tea, the Telegraph Toughie and a long hot bath followed by an early bed.

Memories are made of this.

Watching a couple of programs I recorded last week on folk dancing - Come Clog Dancing and Still Folk Dancing. Brings back memories of my time in Petticoats Lost, a female morris dance side based in Thame, Oxfordshire, and makes me want to learn clog. We used to dance at various pubs through the summer and practise in Thame during the winter. The summer after Holly was born (and I was diagnosed with LAM), I danced at Leveller's Day in Burford and I think that was the last time I danced :(
The problem now is that I am on liquid oxygen and if I jig up and down it sloshes around in the backpack and freezes in the outlet tubes thereby stopping the flow. I don't think I could manage morris any more but clog (as opposed to clog morris) might be possible as the upper body stays stiller. Rapper (double-handed swords) looks fun but my backpack might get caught up when threading.
I do still have my tankard and the leather strap to attach it to me while I dance.



Dancing at Ye Olde Leathern Bottle at Lewknor - I'm 2nd from right



In the bleak mid-winter

Today is definitely the bleak mid-winter! At 10 this morning I had to have the standard lamp on in our living room (which has big windows at both ends) to see to read and when I got back in this afternoon at 3, I had to put the light on. Bring back the cold, clear and sunny weather please - but no snow until after I have fetched Holly from college on Thursday. The number of Christmas cards on the side is growing, Nick will need to put the strings up across the room soon before we run out of (clear) flat surfaces - my pre-advent tidy didn't last long.
Yesterday morning was spent discussing the Start! course which we will be running in January at Dorridge Methodist Church and we decided that I should produce a flyer for it so that might be a job for this evening.

This is a tealight stand that I bought in a charity shop in Shirley yesterday. I try to get something 'new' each year to add to the decorations and I liked this.
Another thing to do is make some gingerbread biscuits - my sister bought me a set of russian doll measuring cups for my birthday and I need to work out if they are American (most likely) or English cups before I can use them - for various people for Christmas.

Hoar Frost!!!

The last two days have been very cold and very pretty. I managed to get to Mustard Seed yesterday but forgot the camera and then posted the parcel for New Zealand and bought stamps for the cards. When I got home, I stayed in for the afternoon. Today I got up later in the hope that the car might be easier to defrost (it wasn't) and when I could see out I moved the car to the road opposite where I parked it in the sun and took pictures of the trees.

I stopped on the way to Solihull and took more pictures including this one of the ford at Temple Balsall.

After aquafit I sat in the cafe at the leisure centre with a mug of tea and read my copy of Magnet (which I have had for at least a week) while getting together the energy to drive home. Stopped at Halfords to look for an ice scrapper as Isaac broke mine at the weekend but they didn't have any flexy ones :(

House group tonight and tomorrow really must be spent wrapping presents.

Ready for Advent

Over the last two days I have completed the pre-advent tidy up - upstairs yesterday, downstairs today. A little late I know but now I just need to finish the cards and send them out (before the last posting date for NZ) and wrap the presents!
As a break from that sort of preparation, I have a service at Lyndon on Sunday when we shall be looking at John the Baptist and preparing the way of the Lord. I'm thinking of the need to take time out in order to make sure that we keep Christ at the centre of Christmas, and the fact that we are to prepare the way ie make things easier for people to come to Christ, not put obstacles in their way.