The sweet music of Christmas

Finally the holidays have arrived and I have some of that precious commodity that is time. We began the holidays on Saturday evening with a houseful of family and friends to sing carols around the piano. Annabel and I spent a lovely afternoon in the kitchen, baking. Anni made some of her speciality gingerbread men. Gingerbread men are an art; they can be too soft, too crunchy, not gingery enough... but Anni's are perfect.

Then she donned her favourite "elf" dress and sang some carols with her friends. One of my favourite parts of the evening was listening to Josh playing "The Flood" on the piano, by ear. A very talented young man!

I love it when the house is full of home made music! We had Peter on the piano, Keith on the trumpet and a houseful of voices, ranging from the angelic to the croaky sore throats,

I made some flashcards for a performance of the 12 days of Christmas in parts. This tradition came from our friends Peter and Anne in our Bridlington days when we were first married. Peter and Anne were the only people under the age of 80 in the church we went to when we were first married. They ran a home for the elderly and we have an abiding memory of one particularly tone deaf lady being given "five gold rings" to sing. This time they were given to Anni's infinitely more tuneful schoolfriends.

This year it has been lovely to be able to spend more time with Claire and Gharry, since they have moved up from Devon. They had the biggest job to do, having been given a partridge in a pear tree.

And from old friends to new, Glen came with his new fiancee, Audra.

It was a lovely start to the Christmas holidays, especially in the knowledge that those holidays are two and a half weeks long this year :)