What's the Story in Dalamory » Christmas

Bertie

freda — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:04:23 +0000

No photographs of our visitors yet, I’ve been too busy recovering from our trip and helping Bertie to settle in. To be honest, he has not required much assistance as he is a very boisterous and confident 7-month old dachshund (full-size.) Misty is doing her best impression of an elderly terrier who has no time for the younger generation. Shame, really, because young Master Bertie appears to be in love. He is beautiful, if love-sick, whereas Misty is at her prickly, scruffy best. What fun animals bring to a household.

My Christmas countdown – ie jobs to be done before the holiday – has kind of stuck. It is now a case of, anything goes………… and I am giving up on trying to be organised. I may try to read a few blogs, but basically, I plan to be a Christmas slob. (Well….. apart from the Christmas Dance, church services and going away to visit Son #1 and family on Boxing Day.) There is little chance of getting presents, people and dogs in the car, so it is going to be a case of loading up the campervan as best we can.

Whatever your plans are – I hope and pray that you have a special and blessed Christmas.

Traditions

freda — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 15:22:23 +0000

The run up to Christmas, the Day, is fast getting away from me. There are still presents to wrap and mail to open and paperclog to clear. So that means that the good news is that the tree is up and decorated, the nativity set is ready and waiting – there is a puss-cat in the manger, where else would it be? The turkey is ordered, and the time is fast approaching to collect our visitors from the Borders and from Oban.

This evening is to be a trip to the local pantomime. Some of our friends from Dance Class are taking part, so it should be good fun. Pantomimes are a very British institution as far as I am aware. For instance, the Dame has to be a man dressed up as a woman, and the Principal Boy has to be a woman dressed up as a man. The Dame is usually older and is an object of fun, the Boy is the romantic lead. Ah well….. I told you it is tradition, it doesn’t necessarily make sense.

As a counter-point I am planning to go to Evening Prayer online. This is a new initiative by St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow.

Nativity Set

freda — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:43:17 +0000

Christmas is coming – the Fontanini nativity set is unpacked and has taken up residence on top of the piano. This year’s palm trees make a good backdrop. Next year, all being well, I might get a set of chickens.

Christmas is coming

freda — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 15:07:52 +0000

An imaginative Hallelujah Chorus

Fontanini time

freda — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:24:13 +0000

We’re being lulled into thinking winter is a long way away. Yes, the nights are dark by half-past four, but the temperature outside hovers from 9C to 14C – and the grass is still growing. HBTW cut the back grass a week ago, and may yet have to do the front.

This little shepherd boy is from the Fontanini range and is called Aaorn. He is one of the 5inch range and is part of our present to ourselves this year to add to the nativity scene. The set of stable, figures, angels and animals now spreads over most of the top of the piano; that means stopping buying extras or nudging everything up closer together. Go on, guess,which do you think is more likely? Of course this relies on a) HBTW being agile enough to get up into the loft to get the storage box down; and c) nothing terrible having happened to them – mice don’t seem to like them so I am hoping all is well.

My source in the UK has stopped stocking this make of figurine, so they are having to travel from the States. I have also ordered three palm trees and a campfire (no picture).

If you have a good memory, you may recall that last year’s additions included an elephant. To be honest he was a bit of a disappointment as he was too small to be full-sized. Now you may be wondering why on earth I enjoy this gathering of the toys together. Perhaps it has something to do with the Christmas times of austerity at the end of World War II – or maybe I am still just a kid. It’s fun anyway.

Here is a confession and Ssshh! don’t tell anyone – it is only lack of space that stops me going into the dollshouse business. I love all the miniature pariphernalia. Now I did have a dollshouse when I was quite young. However, it is associated with being in isolation hospital for 6 weeks. And of course the furniture and fittings were not all that sophisticated. Except for the lights. I adored the lights. Happy Days.

By the way – was there an elephant at Bethlehem?
And does it matter?

Welcome Bertie

freda — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:54:35 +0000

Bertie is a new member of our wider family. He and his companion adult are coming to stay over Christmas. He looks beautiful, let’s hope he and Misty get on.

A little bit of this and that

freda — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:17:50 +0000

After my rant about the NHS I think it is time to think of more mundane things – as the poem goes. Dalamory has several innovations this week. The first of these is a new toaster – an early Christmas present from some of the family. I know, we shouldn’t really have started to use it so soon, but it was too tempting to resist. It is practically all-singing and all-dancing.

Do you remember my medic’s advice to do weights whilst sitting down using cans of beans? Well yesterday a close friend was reminding me and demanding that I place the said cans beside my chair so that I won’t continue to forget. What I didn’t admit to is that I can’t cope with this bit of mundanity. (Yes, it is a word, I looked it up.) The happy ending is that HBTW had a trawl in his box of special bits in the garage and found a pair of pink weights that I used to use years ago. These I can happily share space with; I’ve started doing some repetitions already – so has HBTW – annoyingly he always loses weight more quickly than me, when I am trying to get fit.

The final thing to add to my happiness quotient is a Wii game from last Christmas. It is a dancing DVD – the idea being that the player mimics the moves of the singer/dancer. It is good fun, as long as nobody walks in on you. I feel slightly guilty that a Christmas DVD has sat in its cellophane for so long, but that is the nature of life these days. It probably shows that in the west we have too many “things.” More on that later, I can feel another rant coming on.

The culmination

freda — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 19:25:56 +0000

The final part of the BBC’s Nativity series had me spell-bound. If you have the opportunity to see it, please do. When it came to the part where the three Magi bow down in total humility before the child I spontaneously burst into tears.

Yes, it was that good. Well done, imaginative yet faithful.

A Happy and Blessed Christmas to you and all those you love. And that goes to all my Readers whatever your beliefs, doubts and hopes.

It’s the time of year

freda — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:27:51 +0000

A little bit of mayhem this afternoon and You-know-who has been very busy. Misty still thinks Christmas is a tradition thought up purely for her pleasure and delight and insists on trying to get into the wrapping paper and in among the sparkly string. It doesn’t make for easy wrapping of presents.

At one stage this afternoon all went quiet so I went searching….

Photographs don’t (usually) lie, and here is the evidence. Little Madam had found her way into the bag of her own presents, (I had wrapped them while she was out for a quick walk with HBTW earlier.) There is no doubt but that her nose led the way, and she had deftly unwrapped the chocolate Santa. I suspect her look says that she knows perfectly well that this was not the right thing to do, but it is hard to scold a girl for taking advantage.

The photo on the left shows double trouble and also I suspect illustrates that she was pondering how to get the box open. In the end I opened it for her and rationed her to a small piece of doggy choc (carob based.)

As to who left the package on the spare bed in the first place, well no-one is owning up.

Later on, after a bit of a rest Misty needed to go outside. She stopped in her tracks at the doorway in an attitude of absolute shock and surprise…….. while a red deer reluctantly dragged itself away from the decimated ivy round the door; it slowly bounded away…….. yes, slowly……… and hopped over the fence. The poor deer must be starving in this extreme weather, but it wouldn’t be fair to start feeding them. In fact, there is probably a law against it.

The recalcitrant one has now settled back on the spare bed woofing gently to herself as she ruminates on her adventures. I, however, need a holiday.

Tradition

freda — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 17:59:31 +0000

If you are a regular of this blog you may have heard me mention Amontillado sherry. It is fast becoming a Christmas tradition to have a half glass in the afternoon, as dusk falls. HBTW was very happy to adopt the custom as we carried out various Christmas tasks to the background of Westminster Christmas Carols.

Memories have come rising to the surface: long ago days when our parents and grandparents either refused the evil liquor or smiled happily and said, “I don’t mind if I do.” Somehow, sherry is an old fashioned drink. It gives me an old fashioned flush as well.

So what we are doing is much more than creating a tradition, we are also thinking back to our ancestors. In my case, some of them were old soldiers of the First World War, or coal miners through the generations since around the industrial revolution about 1840. The women were nurses, weavers, homemakers and hard working mothers. The connection between us all seems more intense at this time of year. My favourite Granny, to my knowledge, never took alcohol as a social beverage, though she did have an old fashioned looking quarter bottle of brandy in the “press.” And I have seen a teaspoon being administered for medicinal purposes.

Have you any favourite Christmas or holiday traditions?

Photo from wikepedia

What's the Story in Dalamory » Christmas

Bertie

Related Posts

Traditions

Related Posts

Nativity Set

Related Posts

Christmas is coming

Related Posts

Fontanini time

Related Posts

Welcome Bertie

Related Posts

A little bit of this and that

Related Posts

The culmination

Related Posts

It’s the time of year

Related Posts

Tradition

Related Posts