Saturday, 30-11-24: Christmas Tree Day

At last - Christmas Tree Day has landed.
For those who are new readers, Christmas Tree Day is a family tradition, started when Alex was a very little chap and very autistic and we were trying to give him 'markers' for different events in our lives as well as involving him in Christmassy things as much as possible.  Many of them have gone by the board now but Christmas Tree Day has remained and is now a non-negotiable.  In the past few weeks, Alex has said to Beth and to me, independently, that he loves out Christmas Tree Days - and he is now twenty-six!

To be fair, so do Beth and I!

Yesterday was a day of contrasts.
Slimming World was, as always, really good.  Heidi (new consultant) is starting to make a few changes and yesterday things were set out differently - tables, various 'stations', route from one to the next, etc..  It seems SW has a 'standard' way of setting things out and Jen - er - did her own thing.  There may be other changes afoot but Heidi is wisely taking her time about things.

Then I came home and started getting things ready for the evening - various kitchen things, tidying and cleaning the living room, etc.  Plus that knitting although I'm not sure I will get it finished before this afternoon.

So it was quite a disappointment when Dave popped over to say he was really sorry but they weren't going to be able to come.  Very, very good reasons and I totally got it but . . . oh, dear.
However, no food waste.  I hadn't constructed the steak pies so both steak and pastry (which I had rolled out into squares ready) went into the freezer, I cooked the vegetables and had some for dinner and the rest will see me through Sunday and maybe Monday too and the lemon cheesecake was freezable so I cut that up and there are a number of slices now in the freezer too.  Thank goodness for freezers, that's what I say!

And we have rescheduled for the thirteenth.

On to today and I think I am pretty well organised.

The blue room is ready for my guests!

Some things are defrosting for the buffet

The Christmas china is out and washed, ready for use

The house is clean and tidy thanks to yesterday

The Christmas dvds are sorted out

I have all the food I need apart from a bag of crisps (we always have crisps)

And my advent table is set up, ready for day one tomorrow.

There's a countdown reindeer (in case I forget which door to open, perhaps???), a candle to light, a puzzle to do, a M&S thingy to open and, perhaps most important, my Advent of Change calendar.

Aren't I lucky!

So Christmas Tree Day starts when Beth and Alex arrive for coffee and a mince pie.
Then we get the Christmas Tree set up, lights on, decorations on, general admiration all round!

After that, the lights stay on and we we have drinkies (sorry) while we watch a few Christmas dvds starting with The Snowman and Father Christmas, of course.

At some point in the proceedings, I disappear into the kitchen and a buffet magically appears; and the day meanders into feasting to go with the films and the drinks (pink G&T for me and Beth and fruit cider for Alex).

And they stay over for the night.

Blogmas starts tomorrow and I will, as always, do my Advent music countdown with old songs, newer songs, classical things and Christmas Carols.
I'm a bit baffled as to which to choose and which to leave out so the chances are there will be more than one from time to time.

Happy Last Day of November to you all.  Have a lovely day, however you wish to spend it.  xx