…metaphorical as well as physical. After yet another bout of high winds, heavy rain and raging river, today is still, grey and drizzly and the hills around our valley are shrouded in mist. Indoors it is warm and rather untidy, with the dining table piling up with presents to be wrapped and cards to be hung when I get round to it.
In my study the card-writing table has been put away until next year and I’m taking a break from sermon writing and service preparation before going out again to a service of carols by candlelight in the smallest church in our group. First I need to head off to the kitchen to make the soup for supper, which will simmer gently as I sing carols.
This sounds like you are really ready for Christmas now, Perpetua. I do hope the weather improves for you and others in the UK over the holiday period. It´s sounded really dreadful, though hasn´t hit the Spanish news...I listen to Radio Four most evenings and mornings at home.
ReplyDeleteWe have another week or so at home then we´re packing up the dog, cat, gerbil and children to travel a jolly six or seven hours in the car to Valladolid for a big and possibly very emotional Christmas all together.
Love Tom Lehrer - but so ironic that the very next YouTube video that started was a hyper young women raving about Amazon.com....!
Much love for a lovely Christmas. Axxx
Back now from the carol service and with a couple of bowls of soup inside me, I'm feeling very much in the Christmas spirit, Annie. The weather has been truly appalling even though we've come off lightly compared to many places further north. Unseasonably mild though, with a high of 13C forecast for next Saturday (19th) I want a good frost!
DeleteI can well imagine that this Christmas will be very special, but also very poignant for you all. I don't envy you the journey with both children and a menagerie. It used to be bad enough just with our two and no animals. Much easier now it's just DH and myself heading across country for our family festivities.
Glad you enjoyed the Tom Lehrer and thanks for the mention of the hyper young woman, whom I hadn't spotted. I've now found another version which just leads into more Tom Lehrer songs. :-)
Wishing you a very happy Christmas, Annie. xx
We have the rain and winds here too, Perpetua. A little bit is okay, but after almost three solid weeks of it, accompanied by three power outages, it starts to wear on a person. I've been following the stories about the horrific flooding in parts of the UK, and need to remind myself that compared to what you have been dealing with over there we have it quite good. I hope you enjoy your carol singing, and that the soup warmed you when you returned home.
ReplyDeletePoor Kristie, I didn't realise that you were still getting such bad weather and more power cuts. You're right. After weeks rather than days of really bad weather one longs for a break from it. Our forecast for the coming week is rather better, so I hope you will get calmer weather soon too. The flooding in northern Britain has been terrible in places and we have come off lightly down here in Mid-Wales.
DeleteI had a wonderful time at the carol service, thanks. It was followed by seasonal refreshments and lots of conversation, and the soup was delicious. :-)
Love the carol(s). Stay warm and safe.
ReplyDeleteTom Lehrer hits the nail on the dead, doesn't he? Thankfully we are safe here and the weather is now misty, rather than rainy.
DeleteI really enjoy Lehrer's songs. How very close to the truth are his lyrics. Laughably but so spot on. Stay safe with all the water around. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are another Lehrer fan, Bonnie. His songs are still so topical despite the decades since he first sang them. My CDs are well-worn. :) I'm glad to say the river is much lower now, though it's still raining on and off.
DeleteI remember the cosiness of a well lit room with the murk safely beyond the windows...but cannot say that I miss it.
ReplyDeleteWhat bliss to be warm!
I did so enjoy the Lehrer!
Shopping in San Jose is a cacophony of appalling 'Christmas' music almost drowning the barkers outside every shop keen to get their hands on the double payment for December that every working person receives.
Safe journey when you travel to see the family.
Well, there's still plenty of murk around here, Helen, this morning having given us thick mist, followed by yet more rain. It's unnaturally mild though and I have a positive longing for a good, hard, wintry frost!
DeleteLehrer is always a pleasure to listen to as he hits the nail on the head so dexterously. I love the fact that you hear echoes of this in the seasonal musak in San Jose. Some things are universal nowadays. :)
How incredibly enlightened that every working person in Costa Rica gets double pay in December. Would that the wickedly underpaid people at the bottom of the pile in the UK could be so fortunate.
Have a Blessed Christmas.
ReplyDeleteWent to a lovely service of nine lessons and carols last night at the local Anglican Church.
Thanks, Susan and the same to you. I love the traditional nine lessons and carols. Ours was shorter than that, but still very lovely, especially by candlelight in this simple little church.
DeleteI can just picture you working around your kitchen singing carols. Those are the best of times, I honestly think. The spirit of Christmas really came home to me this weekend, and we divided our time with old friends, some decorating and baking, and just enjoying music ourselves. It was all very low key, but very enjoyable. I enjoyed the Tom Lehrer "Christmas Carol." I haven't heard him in years and this was a treat as well. :-)
ReplyDeleteOh, I do sing carols at home at times, Debra, but on Sunday I saved my singing until I got to church, where I was also roped in to do a reading at short notice. I'm glad you too have been getting into the festive mood with your enjoyable weekend and that you appreciated the wonderful Tom Lehrer. I love this time of year, though I could wish for some more seasonable weather. It's just too mild for December in the UK!
DeleteLovely to imagine you there, singing your carols, making soup, and thinking of wrapping the presents. What a funny song from Tom Lehrer - sadly, Christmas becomes ever more commercial. We do our bit for the season, going to choir practice and enjoying the carols. Better late than never, I am even planning to make a Christmas cake this week. Christmas Blessings to you, Perpetua.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Patricia and the same to you. I hope your cake is a great success. I no longer make one, as we visit our children and they both make excellent Christmas cakes. :) Glad you enjoyed the Tom Lehrer take on Christmas consumerism. Written over 50 years ago, it is even more relevant nowadays.
DeleteOh, what fun it is to hear Tom Lehrer's Christmas song. :) I have played this a few times this morning as I set out ingredients to start my own baking. Thank you, Perpetua.
ReplyDeleteWe, here in the midwest, have had rather balmy weather and 60 degree (F) temps. Very unseasonable here. I am hoping that the flooding has abated in the UK and folks are starting to dry up.
I love the thought of you getting ready to bake, accompanied by Tom Lehrer, Penny. :) I hope your Christmas cookies are as delicious as always. I find it extraordinary that the midwest, normally so wintry at this time of year, is having similar temperatures to our temperate little island. The floods are gradually clearing, but it is still very drizzly and soggy here.
DeleteI just don't want to venture out more than absolutely necessary! Today is not too bad -- just the endless gray and early nights and late mornings. But soon that will turn around and we'll be heading toward Spring! (But will it stop raining?) Thank you for the Tom Lehrer -- haven't heard that one for years!
ReplyDeleteI feel exactly the same, Broad. DH and I are virtually hibernating as long as this weather lasts. It's just stopped raining here, but everywhere is totally sodden and more rain is forecast for tomorrow. But as you say, we'll soon be at the shortest day and heading for spring. In the meantime, there's always Tom Lehrer to brighten the gloom. :)
DeleteI love this song! I hadn't heard it yet this year, so thank you for sharing it. It's cold here in New Mexico, with another snowfall predicted for tonight, after a decent one on Saturday. We wouldn't normally have the most wintry winter in the US but that's El Nino for you. I hope you're feeling well and enjoying the season, Perpetua. Take care.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it, Jennifer. It really is very odd to hear you're having so much snow in New Mexico, when the normally wintry midwest is having unseasonably mild weather. I must say I'd love some snow instead of the endless rain we've been having. Apart from the weather I'm fine, thanks, and enjoying my Christmas preparations.
DeleteGreetings from a wet and grey (is there any other colour?) Aylesbury. It's good to hear that you are settling into Christmas mode and what a joy it is to reacquaint myself with the wonderful Tom Lehrer. I found I remembered every word. Mis-spent youth.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope the awful weather in Cumbria eases and takes off for good without visiting anyone else. Praying for the poor souls who are flooded out of their homes this Christmas.
No other colour to be seen on the western side of the country as yet, Ray. One can only live in hope that the sun may reappear one day. Christmas mode is something I adopt slowly and I still haven't hung a single decoration or card. Perhaps this afternoon...
DeleteI knw you would enjoy the Tom Lehrer, being a big fan like me. I probably know a good proportion of his best songs off by heart even now. :)
My heart goes out to those for whom Christmas this year has been well-nigh ruined along with their homes after the second "once in a hundred years" flood in six years! Let's hope that it for this winter at least.
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteIt's creeping up on me apace with little preparation available to me due to being Down Under... landing back on Christmas Eve is hardly 'choice', but it will all happen somehow! Must admit am rather apprehensive of leaving this wonderful climate for whatever lies in Edinburgh!!! Hope this festive week is a joyous one for you and yours. YAM xx
You certainly chose the right time to escape Down Under, Yam. It has barely stopped raining since you left. I'm sorry to say that the 30 day forecast from the Met Office is for more periods of mild, wet and windy weather for many parts, especially the north and west. No surprise there then! But the Christmas spirit can cope even with that and I'm sure you will manage to celebrate your festive return.
DeleteYour neck of the woods does seem to get all the extremes of weather - wishing you a gentle Christmas on the meteorological front.
ReplyDeleteWe've been fortunate to be on the southern fringe of the worst of the weather.My heart goes out to those further north who have really had a very rough time. I too hope that the weather will be kinder for Christmas.
DeleteThe weather here is mild too, Perpetua. A few frosty mornings & a few snowflakes a couple of weeks ago. But no serious winter weather yet. Glad you enjoyed your carol service. We had the Prague Lessons & Carols last Sunday evening which went off well & was well attended.
ReplyDeleteAs I've said before in previous comments on your blog, I'm a fellow fan of Tom Lehrer & very much enjoyed hearing his Christmas Carol for the first time in many years.
The weather seems to be odd all over the place, Ricky, with my New Mexico reader talking of repeated snowfall and you and Penny (Illinois) from places which should be cold and frosty by now telling us it's unseasonably mild and unsnowy!
DeleteI'm glad your Lessons and Carols service went well, as did ours. For a lot of people it's the event which really proclaims that Christmas is nearly here, whatever the weather.
Yes, I'd remembered that you are another Lehrer fan and am glad to have reacquainted you with this little gem. :)