Friday 27th December 2024 - Mainly, but not all, About Christmas

I hadn’t expected, or planned, to be writing a blog today.  Instead, if it had not been for our youngest son, contracting the particularly vicious chest infection doing the rounds, we would have been preparing for their arrival.  Although he is improving, their visit has been postponed until next weekend, when hopefully he will have recovered and they’ll be able to enjoy their trip to Norfolk.  This, has not caused a major headache with regard to food logistics; I’ve just had to reshuffle menus. 

Our Christmas Day started with our usual morning walk and later in the morning we had a video link up with our family.  A light lunch was followed by another walk, making the most of the daylight hours, then tea and cake and in the evening, we were joined by a neighbour for Christmas dinner.  Yesterday, we watched the Boxing Day swim, which I videod to include in my next vlog.  So, basically, that was Christmas and I’ll now take a step back to the days beforehand.

There were good numbers at the last village coffee morning, prior to Christmas.  All monies raised that week went to the Salvation Army, who provide festive lunches for those in need.  A raffle and tombola helped with the fund raising and with so many prizes, pretty well all of us went home with a win or two.

The Christmas Tree Festival, held in St Martin’s church, was a feast for the eyes.  So many different themes with contributions from, The Belfry School, Wednesday Fellowship, Strand Club, Ivy Farm, Andrew Farnell’s Business, Bowls Club, Methodist Church, Glendon House, Yarn Art Group, Overstrand Together, Parish Council plus a Gift for You and a Memory Tree (apologies if I have missed anyone from this list).  I took our camcorder with me to the church and will include the footage in my next vlog, along with the Boxing Day Swim.  I was asked if I would like to display a tree but unfortunately the dates for putting up trees and then taking them down, didn’t fit in with our calendar.  Hopefully, I will be invited again next year; I already have some ideas in the back of my head.

By Christmas Eve, the door wreath I made looked a mess, with wilting foliage, so down it came.  I investigated to find out exactly what was in the centre which made it impossible to pass wire through, without using my Nana’s trussing needle.  It was twigs, closely bound together which had then been covered with moss and not as I suspected, polystyrene or some other non-ecofriendly material.

Overall, the weather has been quite mild.  Daffodil, crocus and fritillaries in our garden are pushing up foliage and one bowl of tulips is displaying full foliage – this far advanced, I have doubts, the latter, will bloom in the coming months.  On our walks, we have seen wild garlic in flower, along with daisies, primroses and dandelions. The most pleasing of all are the winter heliotropes (see photo), it only takes a little sun and warmth for them to bring forth their heady perfume.  There are still some fungi erupting and today, I spotted some very strange specimens coming up in our lawn.  After thumbing through our comprehensive book on fungi, they could be either geoglossum cookeianum or geoglossum glutinosum.  Off Madams Lane, a parliament of crows were on the fields and skylarks were singing on the wing.  Other birds have been chattering in the trees, especially when the light is starting to fade.  Peter drew my attention to a buff tailed bumble bee yesterday which had been visiting a garden cyclamen.  All of these have been a delight, all demonstrating that even though it's winter, there is plenty of interest to observe and hear.