Nearly there

It’s nearly here. On Saturday we had our roast turkey. And very nice it was too, moist & deliciously tasty. While it cooked, the Christmas tree went up. Now, whenever we are in the lounge, our eyes are attracted to the cheery twinkle of the coloured lights, & their reflections on glittery baubles & tinsel. The lights welcome us home whenever we go out, as the tree sits in the front window.

By Sunday we progressed to actually getting to the Carol Service at our local church – the last couple of years we’ve not felt well enough to get there. The Fox discovered the constant getting up & down to sing the carols was too much for his hip. It didn’t help when we were given the one song sheet between us. My glasses are varifocal which means I need to look out of the bottom half in order to read. If the Fox stood, holding the sheet, at a reasonable height for him to read, then I had to either remove my glasses or crane by neck as far back as I could. If I held the sheet at a reasonable level for me, it hit that level between the Fox’s reading glasses & distance glasses, so he couldn’t read. It got a lot easier when the Fox accepted what his hip was telling him & remained sitting for the service.

I confess that for me, Christmas is not about the rampant commercialism that abounds, not about the presents to be given & received, nor the food & drink self-indulgences, rather it is about the celebration of a birth a long time ago, about sharing love with one another, about a celebration of peace & goodwill to all. It is with relief I feel the materialistic chore part is done & I can get on with the more important part of Christmas.

Yesterday we decided to venture out to buy a few potted shrimps & anchovies for the festivities. Afterwards we went on to the golf club for some lunch – they do the tastiest bacon butties you can imagine. While there we bumped into one of the barmaids. She’d sent her husband to get the last things from Morrisons. He’d gone at 9am & hadn’t even managed to find a parking spot it was so busy. We gathered from another friend that Lancaster was heaving at 7.30am. We just felt relieved we’d got the shopping done last week. Hopefully things will be a bit easier after Christmas, even though we’re sure not to be the only ones in need of a top-up before the New Year celebrations.

Still for now we’re starting to get into more party mood. A festive spirit is slowly bubbling up as we move into Christmas. All that really remains for me to say is

Happy Christmas to all my readers