It's Monday (although late) and my day has been disrupted by Mr C being on holiday, and rushing around getting ready for the coming week. We have plans for the week ahead, with friends coming from France to visit us on Wednesday for a couple of days, Mr C has his birthday on Thursday, and then on Sunday we are having a Christmas Crafternoon, making Christmas cards and decorations, with a few friends and family. I have spent the last few weeks trawling The Works and Pound Shops, and working my way through Pinterest trying to find lovely things to do and make on the day. On Friday, I unpacked all of the bags of glitter and card and paint, and had a lovely time experimenting, although I think I may have overdone it once again.
L lost interest after ten minutes and disappeared to her friends' for a sleepover, but I stayed there all day, and have hung up all my efforts on a string in the kitchen to give hope and inspiration to the most feeble of Christmas crafters on Sunday. I can't wait, and hope that everyone will enjoy it. I just need to find that Christmas CD!
I've also made a couple of batches of chilli jam, one of them fiery hot, and some of Mary Berry's Christmas Chutney. I am going to try making Indian Lime pickle and have a bowlful of salted limes hidden away in a dark corner, ready for the next step.
I'm not sure how it will turn out, but I love to have lots of jars of pickles in the fridge over Christmas as the kids come and go, and most meals seem to be their favourite "plate of bits". POB essentials include cooked ham (with cloves and honey), homemade coleslaw, big chunks of crunchy cheese, Mr C's pickled onions (already bubbling away in the same dark cupboard as the limes), and every type of crisp you can possibly imagine.
Lovely T took a break from her floristry shenanigans in Beverley last week and surprised us with a quick visit, and a list of demands as long as your arm. They included a bell jar, a new suitcase, roast dinner, her own jar of chilli jam (the stars were aligned on that one), and a lift to the train station.
It was smashing to have her home, and so hard to say goodbye, especially knowing that we won't see her for a few weeks. This is her first year, away, and she is going to miss out on some family Christmas traditions, such as the dreaded Christmas light safari (which always seems like such a lovely idea until the shouting starts and the car windows mist up), decorating the house (or the kids jumping up and down in excitement as we retrieve the boxes from the loft, and the joy and happiness lasting for a matter of seconds before I start to' trigger' them. It's fine, at least if I do it myself, I can do it my way), and her favourite - my sister's wreath making workshop. Next week you will find me begging for scraps of Christmas tree cut offs at 'We Tree Kings' outside Morrisons, and sneaking around Moulton with my secateurs, hacking off boughs of holly and tree ivy. And then L will spray it all gold, throw many baubles at it, glue gun it to death and then insist we hang it on the front door for all the neighbours to admire. Just like last year!
T is also working on Christmas Day, so it is going to be very different, but we will just have to shift things around a bit. I wish that my children didn't have to grow up, but I am so grateful that they all still want to spend Christmas with us. I do miss the magic (as I have said many times before), but I take extra delight in watching my tiny great nieces and nephew, with their eyes all aglow.
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