Blogmas day 1 and a lo-o-ong post alert

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Blogmas here in my blog.

Yesterday was full on but it was absolutely lovely.  I whizzed around getting stuff ready and had time to get the Christmas tree in from the garage, section by section, set it up and fluff out the branches (I believe that is the correct term anyway) which always takes longer than you think it will take.

It's actually a jolly nice tree - which it should be, it cost enough!  Worth the money though.  It's still as good as new after - ooooh, must be six or seven years now, surely?
Thank goodness I didn't go for a flocked one; they make such a mess when you're setting it up, it's as if you've had a snowstorm in your living room!

And I was so pleased to finish what I had been making for Beth and Alex's decorations this year.  Here it is . . .

Cute, don't you think.  There's some quite tricky knitting in it and I did adapt the pattern somewhat, especially the hat, but it worked fine.
I love it, I really do, and I'm thinking of making one for myself, in my decor colours of red, green and gold.  I have the sparkly yarn!

After a coffee and mini mince pie, we set to and . . .

Aaaaaahhhhh - lovely, innit as Beth would say and, thinking of Beth, she took the next few photos and they're better than mine so I have nicked them.

I shall probably use this as a banner.

We set up both nativity sets.

This is the family traditional one that I bought when Beth and Dave were littlies from a lovely little company based, I think, in Devon and which made fantastic wooden stuff like farm sets, Noah's arks, etc.  And, of course, nativity sets.

(I took this one - another banner, don't you think?)

I knitted this one for Mum in her last years, after she admired one I was making for a friend.  When she died, Dad asked me to take it so it is now an ongoing part of our Christmas tradition - and I expect Beth will take it over after I pop off too.

We had a lovely buffet and watched several Christmas films, starting with The Snowman and Father Christmas (of course) and then on to Muppet's Christmas Carol, Elf and, last of all, Frozen.

And finally, we didn't set this up, I did it earlier, but it's nice.  I used to have wadding underneath, for snow, but it was a right pain and the trees kept falling over.

And that was yesterday.

Today, December 1st, I have opened my physical advent things.

The Advent of Change says:

Today, you have given healthy, hot meals to someone who might otherwise have gone hungry over the Christmas period.'

The charity is Food Cycle.

I think that is great!

A very good start with the M&S one too.  It's an eau de perfum called Wild Vanilla Orchid and it's lovely.  Very flowery and fresh and I will definitely use it and might look for it again when this one is finished.

I'll make up the puzzle and watch the online calendar later on.

Finally (sorry this is so long), the other day Catriona posted a poem on her facebook page and it made me laugh so much, I asked her if I could - er - borrow it for in here.

I have a star at the top of my tree, not an angel, but that doesn't matter - here it is!  You have to imagine the accent.

Just brilliant.  Thanks, Catriona.

This has been a long one and if you got this far, well done you!   Have a great first of December whatever you have planned.

Beth and Alex are still asleep upstairs and will be going home this morning.  I have a floor to hoover, loads of washing/drying/ironing to get on with, Strictly to catch up on before the results show and a Christmas crochet project to start - except that I might leave that for a day or so.

And a few more Christmas bits and pieces to get out!

Advent music below - enjoy.

The first piece of Avent music just HAS to be, as always, O Come, O come Emmanuel.

This is the traditional version, from the incomparable choir of King's College, Cambridge.

Here's a more rocky rendering from 'King and Country' which I really love.

And a third version, instrumental this time.