Our Christmas tree is up as are the other decorations.
This week is the start of festive events. I'm off to a concert by a local choir tomorrow morning and to a production of It's a Wonderful Life in the evening. I'm always worried when it comes to going to the theatre as my hearing is so crap. However I now have an external microphone that should help, and I know the story so well I should be able to fill in the gaps. Wednesday I have a council meeting that usually ends up with the Mayor inviting every one to her parlour for drinks, then on Thursday we're having a bit of a party with my lip reading class.
I will imagine I will have eaten rather a lot of mince pies by the end of the week.
My Neighbour M is currently putting up some festive white lights around his Ark, which reminds me that I've forgotten to look out for something for my Ark.
I'll need to visit Tesco later this week, so must remember to see what they have in the way of a Candle Bridge sort of thingy (which will go in my Wheelhouse). I keep meaning to have a look at their small wooden Nativity Scenes, one of which would fit nicely on my sideboard - my antique 1950s plastic crib is OK-ish, apart from missing one Shepherd...
My nativity scene is up sans baby Jesus. He is in a cup in the cupboard. One year, I lost him and found him at the last minute in the hall closet. After that, he is always placed in a coffee cup in the dining room.
U3a Art Group Christmas lunch today at an Italian. My first course was a mushroom soup which reminded me of a snatch of dialogue from Hancock's Half Hour. He's complaining about the gravy on the Sunday dinner.
Landlady: "It's just like your mother used to make"
Hancock: "Hers used to move about a bit".
The main was another Zuppa, this time seafood in a porridge of tomato.
@Graven Image I also have a baby Jesus hiding in a coffee cup. Apparently that's where he was prior to the incarnation. Who knew?
We have two nativity sets: one made of felt by my mother, and a teeny tiny porcelain one that I put in Advent Calendar one year. It's teeny tiny Jesus who's in the coffee cup. Felt Jesus is hiding among some books.
If we were here for Christmas, I'd get them out on Christmas Eve, but we're going away, so I'll do it shortly before we leave.
@Roseofsharon a lemon curd ring with raspberries sounds delicious.
@Nick Tamen if you eat fish you're pescetarian not vegetarian. Calling it vegetarianism makes it harder for vegetarians who don't want to be served fish! Or indeed even chicken, as my vegetarian mum regularly encountered in the 90s....
I am very fond of gammon (aka a raw but cured joint of ham that you take home and cook, unlike the ready-cooked/spiral cut hams in the US) at Christmas as leftovers stretch so far. Leftover Christmas cold cuts is my favourite Christmas food, far more than anything sweet. Well, cold cuts and CHEESE.
@Nick Tamen if you eat fish you're pescetarian not vegetarian. Calling it vegetarianism makes it harder for vegetarians who don't want to be served fish!
Yes, I know the difference. But in the US, or at least my part of it, that’s a difference typically not insisted upon, at least by vegetarians or pescatarians I’ve known. It’s more likely that if you say you’re vegetarian, you’ll be asked if you eat fish if that’s necessary to know.
My daughter calls herself a vegetarian, and I’m not going to tell her she’s wrong about that. (I’d likely get an eye-roll in response.)
When do you extricate him from the cup, and place him in the manger?
Some churches place the Bambino ceremonially in the crib during the first hymn at Midnight Mass...
He is placed by his mother when I return home from church on Christmas Eve. I am afraid he is dumped upside down into my hand from the cup, the only way to remove him, before I carry him to his mom.
I just got my (artificial) Christmas tree out from it's place behind the TV and set it up, and I put the Merry Christmas banner on my front door. And a couple of other paper decorations on the walls. I had a glass of eggnog and am listening to Christmas music.
My Neighbour F has placed on the bows of his Ark (an old coasting steamer) a splendid Xmas decoration, which (I'm told) lights up at night.
It consists of 2-feet high letters reading HO-HO-HO (Hs are red, Os are white) and seems to me to encapsulate (in a delightful and amusing way) the sheer silliness of the (hopefully) enjoyable end-of-this year/beginning-of-next-year season...
FatherInCharge's risible persistence in calling it CHRISTmass is beginning to get irritating.
I put my tree up today, the earliest ever, as we used to wait until well after Mr P’s birthday ( on 10th) or even wait until the end of term.
My birthday cards will remain up until the weekend, whereas in the past they would have been taken down today to make way for his.
I realise that most of my tree decorations date from the time when my grandchildren were small, whilst a few were throw-outs from various events. Maybe I’ll look for some new ones in the post-Christmas sales.
The crib scene is much older and is actually a mish-mash of several sets of varying sizes, all part of its charm.
Comments
This week is the start of festive events. I'm off to a concert by a local choir tomorrow morning and to a production of It's a Wonderful Life in the evening. I'm always worried when it comes to going to the theatre as my hearing is so crap. However I now have an external microphone that should help, and I know the story so well I should be able to fill in the gaps. Wednesday I have a council meeting that usually ends up with the Mayor inviting every one to her parlour for drinks, then on Thursday we're having a bit of a party with my lip reading class.
I will imagine I will have eaten rather a lot of mince pies by the end of the week.
I'll need to visit Tesco later this week, so must remember to see what they have in the way of a Candle Bridge sort of thingy (which will go in my Wheelhouse). I keep meaning to have a look at their small wooden Nativity Scenes, one of which would fit nicely on my sideboard - my antique 1950s plastic crib is OK-ish, apart from missing one Shepherd...
Some churches place the Bambino ceremonially in the crib during the first hymn at Midnight Mass...
Landlady: "It's just like your mother used to make"
Hancock: "Hers used to move about a bit".
The main was another Zuppa, this time seafood in a porridge of tomato.
All very tasty, just very thick.
We have two nativity sets: one made of felt by my mother, and a teeny tiny porcelain one that I put in Advent Calendar one year. It's teeny tiny Jesus who's in the coffee cup. Felt Jesus is hiding among some books.
If we were here for Christmas, I'd get them out on Christmas Eve, but we're going away, so I'll do it shortly before we leave.
@Nick Tamen if you eat fish you're pescetarian not vegetarian. Calling it vegetarianism makes it harder for vegetarians who don't want to be served fish! Or indeed even chicken, as my vegetarian mum regularly encountered in the 90s....
I am very fond of gammon (aka a raw but cured joint of ham that you take home and cook, unlike the ready-cooked/spiral cut hams in the US) at Christmas as leftovers stretch so far. Leftover Christmas cold cuts is my favourite Christmas food, far more than anything sweet. Well, cold cuts and CHEESE.
My daughter calls herself a vegetarian, and I’m not going to tell her she’s wrong about that. (I’d likely get an eye-roll in response.)
He is placed by his mother when I return home from church on Christmas Eve. I am afraid he is dumped upside down into my hand from the cup, the only way to remove him, before I carry him to his mom.
It consists of 2-feet high letters reading HO-HO-HO (Hs are red, Os are white) and seems to me to encapsulate (in a delightful and amusing way) the sheer silliness of the (hopefully) enjoyable end-of-this year/beginning-of-next-year season...
FatherInCharge's risible persistence in calling it CHRISTmass is beginning to get irritating.
My birthday cards will remain up until the weekend, whereas in the past they would have been taken down today to make way for his.
I realise that most of my tree decorations date from the time when my grandchildren were small, whilst a few were throw-outs from various events. Maybe I’ll look for some new ones in the post-Christmas sales.
The crib scene is much older and is actually a mish-mash of several sets of varying sizes, all part of its charm.