A different Christmas

As I still have shingles and my 17 year old nephew has not had chicken-pox, it was thought better not to spend Christmas with my brother’s family.  Chicken-pox when you are older and working hard for A-levels is no fun!  So I stayed at home.  This has several advantages, notably that I get to go to my own church at Christmas.  They also seem to be having fun with the trains – doing “improvements” to the lines – including in London, which I would have to pass through, so I avoid what is usually a bit of a problem journey at Christmas anyway.

Setting the scene for Christmas
Setting the scene for Christmas

I started by bringing in the Christmas tree – probably a bit early, at the beginning of December.  It is last year’s tree which was in a pot and has grown on, as it was kept in the garden (and watered in dry weather).  It is perhaps a little too large for the number of decorations that I have, so might not do another year.  I decorated it over newspaper, which I then removed – but put back a couple of days later when I discovered the tree was drooping sticky stuff onto the carpet!

The Christmas tree
The Christmas tree

For food, I thought about what I liked about Christmas meals and decided that one thing I enjoyed was “pigs-in-blankets”, so I bought a pack of 12!  On the 23rd I just had some of them with potatoes and vegetables.  Then on Christmas Eve I cooked a chicken and had that with roast potatoes (another favourite) and veg, so that on Christmas day I had cold chicken, pigs-in-blankets, roast potatoes and parsnips and baby corn and mangetout.  I followed that with raspberries (frozen from the summer – and I remembered to defrost them!) with ice cream.  All very enjoyable.

Christmas Eve was the Nativity service at our church – definitely one of the highlights of the year, with a real donkey and a real baby!

The donkey - Jasmine
The donkey – Jasmine

It was, of course, noisy and chaotic – but that adds to the fun.

Joseph, Mary and Jesus!
Joseph, Mary and Jesus!

The main characters are played by adults (except Jesus, who was female and just over 2 weeks old!) and the children are encouraged to come dressed as a character and come and join in at the appropriate times.  The worship leader had acquired a beard and was dressed as a shepherd and the keyboard player was an angel in white jeans and t-shirt with wings and a halo.

The nativity scene with all the characters
The nativity scene with all the characters

Even the rector had a robe (angel?) and a halo.  The birth of Jesus was explained, with breaks for carols.  Jasmine the donkey behaved very well and was led down the aisle, joining Mary and Joseph and stopping to be petted!  (One could have a photo taken with her at the end of the service.)  The big sister of Jesus was an angel – and sat with Mary and Joseph – pulling off Joseph’s headdress near the end as she got a bit bored.

The holy family - with 2 Mary's!  One was the pregnant one (just a cushion) and one was "Jesus" mother.
The holy family – with 2 Mary’s! One was the pregnant one (just a cushion) and one was “Jesus” mother.

 

The Christmas day service was equally noisy and chaotic and very full – extra chairs had to be added.  There were the usual carols and a reading and short talks and a video.  We also had party poppers which we pulled at the end after singing “Happy birthday” to Jesus.  It was then home for lunch and to open presents.

On Boxing day, I had booked a table at the local Harvester – The Old Castle, opposite Old Sarum.  I picked up a friend and made her go for a walk in Victoria Park first before we went on for our meal.  We had a very pleasant lunch – steak for her and gammon for me followed by ice cream  sundaes – before returning home.

The following day, 27th, the same friend and I were invited to another friend’s for a meal.  We exchanged presents and then had an excellent meal with pork and dauphinoise potatoes and beans and carrots followed by chocolate log.

Cards
Cards

On the 29th another friend invited me for what I thought was a cup of tea, but turned out to be afternoon tea, with egg sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches (both with the crusts removed!) and a cream filled Victoria sponge!  I had spent the morning finishing the cardigan I was knitting for her as a late Christmas present.  She had bought the wool and pattern but got stuck, so I did it for her.  She seemed to be pleased with it!

On the 30th, I took down the Christmas tree.  I know it was not twelfth night but there seemed to be insects and things coming from it and I was tired of chasing the wildlife.  I will leave the cards up until January 6th (or is it the 5th?) though.

Most of the cards
Most of the cards

So was it a good Christmas?  Yes, but now I need a rest and probably to go on a diet!

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