Temptations.

Temptations!

It's the season when wonderfully photographed Garden catalogues come through the mail.

One after the other. 

My eyes are caught by the amazing arrays of perfectly planted flowers, of climbers romping up obelisks, of roses that have no blackspot or yellow leaves, of seedlings that have not withered and died, of clouds of the most exquisite Sweet peas.

I try, I really do, but can never reach the dizzy heights shown in these booklets, particularly that of the great Sarah Raven. I think she must have a superb photographer as her catalogue is a show item on its own. Her plants and seeds are pretty good too.

I want everything.

I want frilly pink paeonies, deep red Dahlias, clouds of white and green Nicotiana, 

glowingly purple lupins leaning over creamy poppies, spikes of blue Delphinium.....

So being sensible, and realising that my garden is a small one, I will do my best to choose.

But I know that like previous years, I will always end up with too many. 

Which is good because I shall give some to friends.

A new Year!

Thinking of the many lovely blog friends, ranging from New Zealand, to Canada, America, France and UK.

May your new year bring you peace and joy.

We won't be staying up to welcome 2019, but will have a little memory chat about some of our wonderful past new Year celebrations.

Sydney one year was amazing. Another year we were in Bangkok having a celebration dinner at a waterside restaurant and watching  fireworks. One year was spent in Penang in the sunshine, another in Canada in deep snow. French new years were always fun, dining with friends whose dish for New Year was always a huge platter of Oysters. Not something I can eat.

So, best wishes to you all and prayers for, above all,  a world at peace.

Nativity

The live Nativity, introduced by St Francis of Assissi in 1223.

My thanks to those of you who have so kindly sent cards and gifts to me. I am not posting about them, as they are such personal and individual things. I have been so touched by unexpected kindnesses.

I wish you all a blessed and peaceful Christmas, 

leaving behind the rush, the preparations, the shopping and planning, and entering a time of peaceful reflection on our Lord's birth.

I will be taking time to do just that, and will rejoin sometime in the New Year!

Carols and other things.

I did manage to go to this Carol service yesterday while a lovely Carer looked after my husband.

Held in the Methodist Church in Truro it was full of carers, interestingly mostly ladies. It was beautifully decorated but very cold.

In his short address, the Vicar talked about Joseph, referring to him as being 'in the shadows', and suggesting that he had taken on the role of a Carer. Not sure how I felt about that analogy.

This morning I have been with a friend to Trelissick 

to see the House decorated for Christmas and to have coffee in the House cafe. Each room had a very pretty Christmas tree covered in white lights. 

The conservatory floor was covered in water, so there must have been a leak in the glass roof.

In the house Cafe we were greeted with the news that 'the boiler has broken' so no coffee available! Fortunately the main Cafe was unaffected so we left the house and went over there.

At home I was quite pleased to see my little tree sitting quietly in the corner.

Not a Carol service.

Tonight our Church has a Candlelit Carol service.

A very kind member had offered to drive us there, as I dont drive in the dark now.

Sadly, the day has proved too much for my husband, with visitors this morning. So we are having to cancel our Carols.

It often happens, and we just make the most of it.

I have a new CD of John Rutter's Carol arrangements, so we will sit by our own candlight and enjoy beautiful music.

There is still much to be thankful for.

Mince pies.

It's Mince pie time in this household.

It's a very British habit, which we all seize on at Christmas. Mince pies are everywhere. Pop in and have a coffee with a friend, and there will be a mince pie waiting. A cup of tea? Here's a mince pie to go with it.

I do like to make my own, but there are also some very good ones in the supermarkets.

The tradition of mince pies goes back to the 13th century at least, and they were often made with meat and spices, brought back by Crusaders and explorers.

Now we only use spices and dried fruits, though suet is part of the recipe.

They are such tempting little mouthfuls, and too easy to eat!

Maybe with some Cornish clotted cream?

Yes please!

Years ago when we were visiting my son in Australia at Christmas, I tried to find a jar of mince meat in the Supermarket. After being directed to the butchery department, I managed to find a young man who knew what I wanted, and told me that the name was 'Fruit mince'.

I learn something every day!

Is the tradition spreading to other countries? Do you include Mince pies as part of your Christmas treats?

Memories

Round about now I often write a post about Christmas memories, so I'm sorry if you have read all this before!

Anticipation...that's the word that I need. 

That's what we as children lived with for days before Christmas. We were so busy, not shopping, not playing with techy gadgets, but with making and preparing.

We spent hours glueing and sticking, making paper chains, making decorations for the tree...little walnut boats, tiny threaded bead strings, spreading silver dust all over the carpets. And of course, our tree had real candles, no Health and Safety rules then!

The house was full of warmth and lovely Christmassy smells, the pine scent of the tree, the cooking smells from the kitchen, a log fire burning and the once a year glass of sherry that my Grandpa indulged in. Grandma sang Carols as she worked.

We wrapped our parcels carefully and found places to hide the gifts we had made for our mothers and family. I don't think the parcels were at all professional, but they were wrapped with lots of love.

I remember the joy of sewing a gift for my mother. I chose a fabric, bought it from the shop, and cut out and made a frilly apron for her, all by hand. 

Gifts were simpler in those days and maybe more appreciated.

One thing we did every year, just our little group of children, sister, cousins etc., was to go Carol singing on our lane. We chose a charity and practised, and neighbours were amazingly generous to our funny little singings. We always managed to collect a reasonable gift for the Charity, I think it was Missions to Seamen.

Now when I see the crowds, the TV advertisements for 'Things' and 'Food', I'm thankful for those memories of times without stress, times when the most important moment was to put up our little wooden Nativity set in front of the tree.

That was the start of Christmas.

stock photo