Season's greetings

The presents are wrapped, the car is packed and DH and I are about to leave for our family Christmas and New Year festivities. We’re looking forward to enjoying time with DH’s mother and our children and their growing sons, to good food and good company, carols and games and plenty of unhurried conversation.

But I can’t leave without wishing you and your loved ones peace and joy this Christmas and good health and happiness in the coming year. As always your blogs and your friendship have hugely enriched the past year for me and for that I thank you all so much.

Image:  Adoration of the Infant Jesus by Matthias Stom (c. 1600 – 1650)

Carol:    In The Bleak Midwinter

               Words by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

               Music by Gustav Holst (1874-1934) arranged by Harold Darke (1888-1976)

Christmas busyness

After an unusually quiet beginning to Advent, life in the Transit household has speeded up considerably this week. This is partly, of course, because I have more to do as Christmas approaches and it all takes a long time to accomplish and partly because we’ve had several enjoyable days of visitors and visiting. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday I had the pleasure of long and chatty visits from two good friends, who came bearing very welcome gifts of home-made mince pies and stollen, exactly the kind of Christmas goodies I can’t make for myself this year.

Then on Thursday DH and I went to lunch with a former colleague of his who is a truly excellent cook. After a meal that would have put a West End restaurant to shame and a great deal of light-hearted conversation, all we could manage to eat at supper time were a few crackers with cheese.

Friday brought a kind visit from the vicar, who brought with her a lovely bottle of wine as a thank-you for my help while she’s been waiting for her new colleague to be appointed (we are a united parish consisting of a small market town and six surrounding villages). I still feel bad that I can’t help her at this very busy time, but some things really are beyond me at the moment.

Today I’ve realised that it’s only two days until we leave for our round of Christmas visits and I still have presents to wrap, cards to hang and the packing to do. Help! At least I don’t have a tree to decorate and a cat eager to explore it…

Image via Google

Variety is the spice of life

As I slowly and awkwardly unpack and tidy up after our return home, blog inspiration appears to have gone missing en route from Scotland. However, in her recent comment my blog friend Dancing Beastie mentioned how much she’d enjoyed the contrasting musical items in my last two posts. To cheer us all up in the current miserable weather, I can’t resist sharing a very different seasonal offering by a group of American high school students, which has just been brought to my attention by Annie, another blog friend, and which had me wiping tears of laughter from my eyes. Enjoy….

Time to go home

Gosh, it’s all go! From Advent quiet to ever-decreasing circles has taken just one day.

Yesterday DH drove me on the 170 mile round trip to the hospital for my check-up, from which I emerged minus the cast, but sporting a wrist splint, which I have to wear day and night for the next 4 weeks at least. My lovely surgeon was very pleased with my progress, but gave me strict instructions on what I can and can’t do until I’m seen again by a surgeon in Wales in the New Year. Absolutely no lifting or carrying with that hand and no pressure on the hand or wrist, so no Christmas baking and no clarinet practice. Sigh.... 

Today we went to visit a friend and it was on our return that I discovered that the Met Office had issued a snow warning for Scotland for Sunday, the day we were planning to make the long journey home to Wales. After some discussion we decided to bring our departure forward to Saturday, so while DH is out at a meeting this evening, I’m piling together  clothes and other items I can move one-handed, ready for him to pack tomorrow while I’m out in my turn at the monthly Eucharist.

So until we’re back in Wales, I’ll leave you with this seasonal offering, the perfect antidote to Christmas hype, from the wonderfully evergreen Tom Lehrer.