We are now in the countdown to Christmas. It’s a time of year when I really really wish I lived closer to my grandchildren. I do so love a Nativity play.
However a newspaper reviewer on Sky news reminded me the other day that you can’t just have a simple nativity play, now every child must have a line to say and it takes forever. I remembered at that point the agony of sitting through the school productions that lasted nearly three hours. So easy to romanticise life!
Ah well, finally sent out all my Christmas cards. This is a different experience than it was even as little as 10 years ago. I used to write long letters to friends and family I didn’t see much. Now they are all on Facebook. I see the pictures of the little ones, the triumphs and the funny moments. So much more a part of people’s lives than we used to be. Facebook comes in for a lot of criticism and probably justified, but for staying in touch with distant relatives and friends who moved away, it is good. I still write letters but they are much shorter now!
Present buying is over. I am happy with the gifts I have for my family. A benefit of being retired is the time to think and research gifts thoroughly. Here’s hoping I got them right. My Secret Santa packages have been dispatched. I had such talented people to send to, it was a big challenge for me. The Guest room which was so full of stuff last week, is much emptier, but now I can see the projects I thought I would make this year and didn’t get round too. Oh dear.
I attended a wonderful monthly talk at the U3A entitled” Dickens, did he invent Christmas?” Course he didn’t but the talk was terrific. The best of the four I have attended so far. The speaker came from the local Dickens society in Malton. Malton having a connection to Dickens and the Christmas Carol. Dickens had a friend in Malton whose office provided the description for Scrooge’s office. Not certain that is something to boast about or not. The Speaker read extracts from the Christmas Carol , and did so jolly well, and she spoke of the origins of all our Christmas traditions. The only that really reflects Dickens being the christmas card images of Carol singers in Victorian Dress, oh and the consumption of turkeys instead of goose.
The talks are on Tuesday mornings and we get coffee and this time mince pies. Time for a chat with new people. It helps being from Yorkshire. People just bowl over to each other and introduce themselves. Anyway there is always a second-hand book stall. Three for a £1. I mean three for a POUND. So far I have bought three books at each meeting, that means twelve in total, and as I am still on my read through the alphabet challenge at the library, self-inflicted, I now have a very big heap of books on the bedroom floor.
These were my latest haul.
Talking of my reading challenge has anyone ever come across an author whose name begins with an X? Just asking, there must be one, surely.
Knitting has gone on too. I managed another 6 rows on the cable cardigan. And I finished the next 6 blocks of the crochet blanket.
And that is about my week. Next week, I have a Christmas cake to ice and a dentist check up which means shopping in York.
Hoping you all enjoy the last week before Christmas.
Take care.
xx
nanacathy2
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