Christmas Wishes

Christmas gift suggestions:

To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.

Oren Arnold (1900-1980)

All Babe and I want for Christmas is for Trish to be back with her family. We missed her so much.

I had always wished for a White Christmas and almost got one, with the advent of snow just a week ago. But on my last day of work, we drove home in heavy sleet and on Xmas eve it was pouring down cats and dogs. And today, the sun came out to play. In Edinburgh, Glasgow, Nottingham and Leeds had an officially "white" Xmas. Lucky, lucky people :-).

This past few days has been eventful in so many ways. There were times when I felt as though I am being swept along a tide of high waves and ending up in the doldrums. Our casa was looking Christmassy but our hearts and minds were not in a festive mood.

Dressed as the Michelin man, Babe and I went for an early Christmas stroll to our favourite playground. We need to clear the cobwebs and get some fresh air. I thought we would be alone but there were 2 cars before us. And as we got our stuff out, another car joined us. I guess not everyone is feeling festive…

As we walked through the very icy and slippery path, we were bombarded by soo many robins. They must be really desperate for food now. I wanted to hand feed them. The only problem was that they were so territorial and were busy chasing each other off.

I only hand fed the solitary ones but not for long. There were times when I was surrounded by 6 (!) robins and it can be quite scary. Pretty little things but they can be quite vicious with each other.

We didn’t walk to the hides cos we were sliding all over the place. Although the sun was out, the lakes were still frozen and the paths were covered with ice. We decided to walk through the forest and I spotted this handsome bullfinch trying to warm up in the sun.

There were still pockets of snow and ice in the forest. It was frreezzingly cold too. But I’m glad the walk did both our minds and bodies good.

Back at our casa, I started preparing for our din dins. Not a Xmas meal in sight. We’d grilled sirloin with Yorkshire puddings and cauliflower gratin, smothered in gravy. There’s a Tesco finest toffee pecan roulade for dessert. I spent the afternoon watching Top of the Pops and off course, the obligatory Queens speech.

On Monday was the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. For a short time, the sun pauses. There are many long cold, dark days ahead for ‘as the days lengthen the cold strengthens’. But one day, the warmth of the sun will be on our faces again.

Then it was the office Xmas lunch at Scarman. As usual, I vowed my colleagues with my traditional silk baju kurung. Every one was asking whether I don’t feel the cold. You bet!!! But I’d my full thermals on and instead of stilettos, I had my thigh-high black boots :-).

We’d melon balls for starters and then a bowl of steaming winter vegetable soup with petit pains. The appetizer counter was very interesting laden with all kinds of tapas. Man, I’ll be full before the main meal. We took our time, chatting, laughing and joking.

For my Xmas dinner, I’d a lovely tomato based mackerel with loads of new potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, roast parsnips, carrots, sprouts and lashings of onion gravy. Then a huge serving of Banoffee banana pie with ice-cream and fruit salad for dessert. More silly jokes, laughter and quizzes.

Then we slowly made our way to the comfy sofas for coffee and mince pies. By this time, we were ready to fall asleep. Some of us were quite tipsy by now, judging by the loud laughter and raunchier jokes. Hey, tis the season to be merry.

Today, I wished each and every one a very blessed Merry Xmas. May you receive blessings and joys beyond what you could wish for and above all… May you give love, be loved and know it.

A bientot.