Christmas at Old Forge House
December 2013
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Although
Teresa had been preparing for Christmas for a long time, the first visible
evidence appeared on Wednesday 18, when we erected the tree in its usual place
in one corner of the sitting room, and started to lay out the presents underneath. Over the next few days decorations were
recovered from the loft and arranged around the house. A kind neighbour allowed us to pick some
holly and mistletoe from her garden.
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By
Saturday 21 both Helen and Jay had returned home, and had donned seasonal
suits, both to celebrate the occasion and to help economise on the heating
bills.
On
the spiritual level on Sunday 22 they attended the annual crib service at the
Toddington parish church, while on Monday 23 a final home delivery from Tesco
made sure our corporeal needs would be satisfied.
We
entertained ourselves by reviving some of our favourite party games and trying
our hand at the various seasonal quizzes appearing in the papers.
We
also put in some frenzied last minute practice for our little Christmas
concert, as most of the items had lain dormant for most of the year. We decided to make this our first event on
the afternoon of Christmas Eve.
Amazingly, nothing went badly wrong, and we reprised some of the items
in order to film them.
The stars assemble – Helen,
Teresa and Jay (above left) and the programme (right)
In the evening we had our traditional Christmas Eve
meal, superbly cooked by Teresa, with variations to suit individual tastes and
preferences.
Helen,
Jay and Roger gather (above right)
Teresa, Helen and Jay in seasonal suits repair to the sitting room
(above left)
We are ready to start – Jay,
Helen and Roger (above)
The
big day arrived: a full morning’s work
for Teresa preparing and cooking our turkey lunch with all the usual
trimmings. She also devised a quiz to
keep the other three quiet for the morning while she got on with it.
We
started with a preliminary drink in the sitting room before seating ourselves
round the dining table.
◄ Jay and Helen before the meal
Everything
was excellent as usual and, despite Roger’s slightly tardy appearance for
carving, we managed to get it to the table still hot and steaming.
Helen and Roger pull crackers
before the meal
We
had a short rest after lunch, and opened the presents later in the day in
between breaks for various snacks. As
usual, there were many parcels, generally of modest content, though both girls
received significant upgrades to their communications equipment, and they in
turn had brought carefully thought out presents for Teresa and Roger.
The
evening had one major surprise: Helen
had found a first edition of Colin Dexter’s only collection of short stories in
a charity shop, and bought it for Roger knowing his fondness for the Inspector
Morse canon. When Roger opened it up, we
found that not only was it a first edition, but that it was an autograph copy,
signed by the author himself, dated December 1993. A very fortunate find!
◄ The
most sentimental of the presents – this antique spoon for Teresa