Saturday: Advent day eleven

 Morning!  After another lovely, sunny day yesterday, it was quite cold overnight and there's a hint of a frost this morning.  I looked out the front to put some rubbish out and was greeted by a stunning sunrise so I just HAD to grab the camera.  Fortunately, no one else in the cul de sac seemed to be up, judging by the lack of lights, and anyway, even if the were, I was perfectly decent in pjs and dressing gown!

It looks like the weather is going to turn if the old saying about red skies in the morning is true but it was beautiful and I'm glad I caught it.  The only windows that look out the front is the little bedroom and the kitchen (and a few with patterned glass) and the curtains were drawn anyway so I could easily have missed it.

A few days ago, Sue commented that she's rather like to see that Santa hat I keep donning.  So, her wish is my command; here, for Sue, exclusively modelled by none other than Santa himself - the Santa hat!

(I don't think Mary is too impressed!)

The highlight of yesterday was our girls' chat in the evening.  We had a lovely catch up session with lots of chuckles, a few tears and a good old sharing session.  My gift haul was a bottle of bucks fizz (I love this), some hyacinths to plant out, some narcissi in a bowl to grow inside before putting out later next year, some shortbread biscuits and a vanilla candle.  I gave them all a pair of the wrist warmers I have been knitting and a little bottle of the home made liqueur with a couple of little cans of tonic.  They were strawberry (picked at Lathcoats), blackberry (the last ever from Dad's garden) or raspberry (from the allotment).
We've decided we must do this once a month next year, until the time when we all feel safe enough to meet face to face again.  

Today is something I have been  looking forward to for ages.  I am off on a Christmas Wreath course this morning and should come back with my own wreath for my front door.  I can then dismantle the cobbled together effort currently on the door, thank goodness. 
The venue is just down the road from here, about five minute's walk away so very convenient and I must remember to take my biggest supermarket bag to carry my creation home again afterwards.

Once home, I'm taking the day off from any but the most essential chores.  I'm going to check out a few Netflix Christmas films, have a good old trawl through my new Pinch of Nom book for likely recipes (a flick through looks promising) and, as I got the TV Times Christmas mag yesterday, I will dig out a marker pen (assuming they still work as they date back to when I was teaching so may not) and highlight everything I fancy watching through that fortnight.  If there are clashes, it won't matter nowadays as I can set to record.

I will do some knitting, some reading and generally have a very lazy and self indulgent day.

Bliss!

Something old and folky today - The Boars Head Carol, sung by Steeleye Span.  You can just imagine the country folk gathered in the local hostelry, singing heartily after a few yards of ale!

Wiki says:

The 'Boar's Head Carol' is a macaronic (I had to look that up) 15th century English Christmas carol the describes the ancient tradition of sacrificing a boar and presenting its head at a Yuletide feast.  Of the several extant versions of the carol, the one most usually performed today is based on a version published in 1521 in Wynkin de Worde's 'Christmasse Carolles'

So now we know!!