December
On
Friday 4 we collected Jay from
Later
that day, the new Toddington short mat bowls club started its regular sessions –
Fridays 7.30-10.0pm – with about 10 players attending each evening so far.
Helen visited at the
weekend and on Saturday 5 Teresa and the girls went on the GWR carol
train. It took them to Winchcombe, where
there was a short carol service on the platform before returning to Toddington.
The following week, on Friday 11, Teresa and Jay went to the annual Save the Children carol concert in Winchcombe.
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On
Saturday 12 December we rode again on the nearby GWR, this time for their Christmas
Special – a run to We
arrived before 6.30 pm to see the engine joining the train. It was, as you can see, very dark on the
platform, and pretty cold, too. |
Roger inspecting the
engine |
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The
carriages looked very inviting, but departure was still over half an hour
away, and only a few passengers had arrived on the platform.
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We
were glad when we boarded, and were greeted with a glass of warm and spicy
mulled wine to warm us up as we were escorted to our table. Settling into our seats Roger towards the end of
the evening |
All the food was first
class – prepared on the train and piping hot, and served with a smile. We
returned to Old Forge House at about 10.30 pm after a most enjoyable evening. |
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The
journey took us to |
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On
Sunday 12 we went to get our Christmas tree from a local farm We seemed to have left it late this year, as
the selection was a bit limited, mainly to the larger sizes. We found a nice tree, but Teresa and Jay had to
do a fair bit of pruning before manfully heaving it into a large bucket – it
being far too big for our tree tripod.
But it was good for accommodating the gradually accumulating tree
decorations and the presents.
On
Friday 18 we visited
Helen came back for Christmas
the following day, Saturday 19, and the first Christmas event was a performance
of Handel’s Messiah in Tewkesbury
Abbey performed by the Abbey choir (incorporating the Schola Cantorum now based
at
A
few days later we returned to the Abbey shop and found that, by chance, a
history of
On
Sunday 20 we awoke to a light covering of snow, but Juliet, going out to see
We
started Christmas Eve with our traditional concert in the morning, followed in
the early evening by mulled wine while watching carols from King’s on the
television, then the Christmas Eve meal – prawn cocktails, Beef Wellington for
Roger and Teresa, duck for the girls and no less than three varied chocolate
sweets. Everything delicious as usual
and we all indulged a little too well.
Christmas
Day and the traditional turkey meal must have been the best ever – plenty of
tender meat and all the trimmings.
Congratulations to Teresa for her excellent cooking on both days, and
the careful selection of some choice ingredients from as far afield as, well,
Tesco’s, Waitrose and Marks and Spencer.
The meal was followed by the presents, arranged and classified by Jay. Teresa and the girls had made some very apt
choices of both practical and decorative items, not to mention the growing pile
of chocolate.
Helen
had included some new quiz books, which kept us amused for next few days, but
had also been lucky in a competition for Links jewellery, and the items she won,
plus some others she bought, provided some beautiful and stylish presents for
all the girls.
The
year ended in our usual style when we sat up to toast the New Year. This year there were three fiddlers to
welcome it in with a rendition of the traditional Shetland air, ‘The Day Dawn’,
followed by the upbeat ‘Cross Reel’ played by Helen. Roger enacted the first footing, after which
we retired to sleep our way into next year.