Merry and Bright

We are at home.

We’ve been having fun with friends, enjoying the season.

Admiring the elegant bridesmaids arriving for a wedding in the church opposite the pub where we were having lunch last Saturday.

Preparing to welcome our neighbours for a little get together last Sunday.

Planning to steal this idea for a grand Advent calendar, spotted a Daylesford on Monday morning.

Actually, we were admiring most of the grand things at Daylesford.  It’s a grand sort of place.

£75 for a door wreath?  Beautiful but a little OTT.

The Welsh Rarebit brunch was grand in a different way, thank you!

We’ve made lots of Froebel stars.  Small fingers make light work of them.

when fuelled by Smarties, of course.

My WI entertained a group of 20 guests from the Macular Society to lunch, cooking them a full Christmas dinner and enjoying their company as much as (I hope) they enjoyed their visit.

We all agreed that the fun never stops when we are with friends.

Did I mention that Mary has been here this last week?

Update on Friday, December 23, 2016 at 12:00PM by Gill Thomas

now with links for you, Lesley!!   ;-) 

It’s the season

We’d become used to the chill.  I enjoyed wearing my new warm coat and wrapping up warm with my scarf and mittens, even if I hadn’t quite got my hat out yet.  So I was disappointed when the temperature rose to unseasonably high levels and found myself more in need of an umbrella than a pair of gloves.

I mean, is this the weather in which to go Christmas shopping?

Well, yes, if you are in a dry shopping mall and can get away with wearing a T shirt.  No, of course we didn’t – though I’d given it thought and left my coat at home, I was still uncomfortably warm and glad to be out in the fresh air again.

I rather liked the red, white and blue Christmas variation in John Lewis, by the way.

Clearly, I still had that colour palette in mind whilst passing the flowers in Marks and Spencer and chose this “Luxury Ilex” bunch.  It looked lovely when I put it in the vase but within hours the blue “thistly bits” had drooped and the following morning, I was emailing M&S for their comments.

(I had their reply today: “Thanks for getting in touch, Gillian. I'm so, so sorry to hear about the Autograph flowers you bought from us, especially as they never lasted as long as you, and we expect. I can certainly understand why you wanted to let us know, Gillian - I would too”  It was followed with notice that I will receive a gift voucher in the post for a full refund…

The main challenge of the weekend was to trim the tree, however.  By Sunday morning, the rain had passed through and the sun had put in an appearance.  Now, that made getting the lights arranged evenly a bit tricky!  By mid morning, we were both feeling a little over-heated though and for the first time I can remember, we spent the whole day with the garden room door wide open.

December weather?  Very strange.

By the time darkness fell, it was finished and the house is in holiday mode.  I really love finding all the old favourites and sat down for five minutes to read Lucy and Tom’s Christmas, one of the books we have around for small visitors to read.  The little bit about Tom being “excited and a little bit cross” in the afternoon, and going out for a walk with his Grandad is so touching.

Speaking of old favourites, there they all were with the tree looking pretty.  The bear in the velvet Christmas stocking,

the polar bear with the fish he caught

the little bear which used to hang on Grandma’s tree

and because our tree is not completely covered in bears, the little ice-skates we spotted and couldn’t resist in Boston Anthropologie some years ago.

It might not be cold outside, but those icy-white lights make me feel very chilly inside!  I still prefer the warm white lights we had a couple of years ago, but perhaps these lights are in keeping with our white and silver decorations.

At least, the polar bears are happy!

Party time

No matter how unseasonal I might be feeling, going out to lunch with my WI friends is bound to lift the spirits and in no time at all, the laughter and silliness makes for a fun afternoon.  The Snooty Fox in Tetbury did us proud yet again and provided a table full of party poppers, very smart but rather silly hats, streamers, crackers and loud rocket balloons.  There were also “those things you blow which make a funny noise as the rolled-up paper thing extends out” – I have no idea what they are called, so just googled “Party blowers” and came across that description, as it seems I’m not the only one to be lost for a name.

Our annual Christmas Lunch is always a smart affair and an occasion to give the fine jewellery an airing.  But if the Snooty Fox thought that the elegant ladies of Avening WI were above creating mayhem when provided with a table full of toys, they were wrong.  The rocket balloons were soon screaming about above our heads, cascades of streamers were popping out and only the arrival of the turkey (and all the trimmings) brought everyone to order.

By that time some found their “clear liquid refreshment” had been unintentionally spiked.

A great time was had by all, then, especially because someone else was going to take care of all the clearing away and washing up.  Notice there’s not a party hat left in sight…

We’ve had a little excitement at home, because our lane is being resurfaced.  Never sure if we will be able to drive out or whether we will need to leave our cars up on the main road and walk down, we’ve kept a beady eye on the proceedings.  This was the scene last Tuesday, when I returned from lunch and a week later, they have finally laid the finished surface adjoining our drive.  We are reliably informed the work will be complete tomorrow – phew.

I decided I should take a home made contribution to the WI Christmas party on Thursday so baked some Pecan Tassies, making an alternative to mince pies (which I knew would feature in some form or another).  They were quick and easy to make and we liked them very much!

 

My team won the chocolate tasting, identifying all but one of the fourteen chocolate bars.  We’d identified Picnic, Double Decker, Topic and Mars Bars, we’d been able to taste the difference between Galaxy and Dairy Milk, but one single milk chocolate defeated us.  No wonder we were unfamiliar with it,  because it was a Yorkie -  “Not for Girls” !

Our prize: a bar of chocolate, of course!

Actually, my table won the “tray zoo” competition as well, as the eight of us created a curious set of playdough creatures including a pig, a penguin, a turtle and the cutest dinosaur you’ve ever seen.  Not a single “worm” in sight (though such things were seen in great number on other trays, disguised as snakes, eels and slowworms!)

Collecting a present from our secret Santa, the jollity was over for another year.  With calls of “Happy Christmas!” we all went our separate ways, though we’ll see one another again before the big day, making and serving Christmas lunch to a group of old friends from the Macular Society on the 21st. 

We have our party hats at the ready

Now, where were we?

Half way through a blog post about being a parent, actually, but life (and maintaining personal privacy) got the better of me and though I haven’t consigned it to the recycle bin, I’ve given up for now.  Suffice to say that it was an absolute delight to be asked to do an 11pm pick up again after all these years, especially amusing since it wasn’t after some school event but dinner with a Cabinet Minister

Being a parent never stops being wonderful, does it?

Appreciation was expressed in the form of kitchen duties over the weekend, including a little bottling.  Needless to say, we did need to maintain quality control, so sampling was mandatory.  The 2016 vintage sits in the storeroom thanks to our sweet sloe-collecting friends, quietly steeping for a year or two until it reaches similar perfection.

We’ve been enjoying the most amazing weather in the last few days.  I never mind the low temperatures if we can have these clear blue skies and sunshine.

A day in London with friends started in such bright sunshine at the V&A, to see the Opus Anglicanum exhibition and ended in the darkness of Bond Street, where I enjoyed a walk around to do a little window shopping.

No angels here, but lovely arches of peacock feathers, elegant and very effective.

I thought the tiny vignettes in the Tiffany windows were really lovely.

Way more classy than the Selfridges offering this year, showing Santa on his holidays.

I liked the Fenwicks style too, traditional but effective, don’t you think?

So yes, with the arrival of December and our first Crafternoon at the village pub, making Christmas wreaths, I guess we’re into the season of Advent around here.  I’m doing my best to savour the days, to enjoy time at home and to make the most of the odd hour here and there in my studio, making and doing what we do at this time of the year.

Thankfully, that includes going out and having fun with friends as well!

Gallivanting

When my Mum – or my Grandmother – used the word, it would be said with a slight air of disapproval; as if whoever was involved was up to no good.  It’s a pleasing word though, far too interesting to be resigned for use in such situations and so I will claim to have been a-gallivanting this week, even though there was absolutely nothing untoward.  Believe me!

We decided to drive up to London earlier this week, rather than take the train.  We specialise in getting exactly the right – or wrong - timing almost every time we do, however, finding ourselves in a stationary queue somewhere along the way as we wait for something to happen – in this case, the Changing of the Guard.

At least it means that when we do get going again, the roads are clear!

Though this wasn’t really a shopping trip, we needed to make a couple of necessary purchases, so headed to Oxford Street.  Priorities – and hunger – satisfied, we had a couple of hours to enjoy the seasonal displays and the relative calm of a Tuesday afternoon.

We needed no persuasion to head back to our comfy hotel room however, once the Anthropologie whims had been satisfied!

Heading out later, we could see the angels high above Regent Street in all their illuminated glory.

How lovely that this year, there are no cartoon characters or cheesy advertising but just simple (!) lit figures which are so effective, I think.

Around the corner in Jermyn Street, there’s a host of smaller “cousins” with a very Art Nouveau feel, I thought.

We loved them nearly as much as we loved meeting Edward and Amy for dinner at Trullo, just around the corner from their beautiful new apartment.  Shame we can’t drop in more often! 

The main event was yet to come, though: the annual awards ceremony for the UK Bus Awards, held in a pop-up Ballroom on the South Bank.  I was a member of the panel judging the People awards and looked forward to seeing the outcome of the decisions we made way back in the Summer.

It’s always a fun event amongst friends and I enjoy the lively conversation with interesting table companions.  I did find the lighting a little troubling this year, however – it was rather red and flashy!

The winners are deservedly proud and the afternoon passes in a flash.  Having gone inside before lunch, somehow it’s usually dark by the time we emerge, yet in this strangely lit environment, one has no concept of the passage of time.

As we sat in the cab, en route back to our hotel, we debated whether to hang around another couple of hours and get a bite to eat somewhere before heading home or to simply get the car and make a run for it.

Guess what these country bumpkins chose to do?!

(We were home by 8pm)