We are all feeling very festive today and had a lovely Christmas Eve. We walked into town to buy a dessert from Carlinos for our Christmas lunch tomorrow (we were going for creme brulee but in the absence of those we got a delicious looking NY Cheesecake covered in fresh berries instead - yum!), plus a few last minute bits for under the tree. Joe collected the joint of pork we ordered from our favourite new shop, Colonial Village. It's a real butcher shop and they sell the yummiest sausages I have tasted over here yet. The discovery of this shop earlier in the week was a real treat as there aren't many true butcher shops near us.We watched that classic festive film, A Christmas Carol (not the Alastair Sim one, a more recent version which was also very good). In fact the TV has been on for most of the day as Joe is a complete Christmas TV addict! Lucy has walked a good few miles around the house today, getting very good at holding our hand with one of hers while she does it. Occasionally she breaks away and walks on her own with a little persuasion...or bribery. Elmo or food do it every time.
Lucy put her stocking up on her bedroom door handle ready for Father Christmas' visit later tonight. We're wondering what she must be thinking when we keep talking about this old man who is coming to the house later?
I remember Christmas Eve as a child...my childhood home (Bubbenhall, Warwickshire) is warm and cosy. The tree is lit and dropping needles already, the cat bopping at the baubles on the floor. I can smell home-made mince pies and my hot milk warming on the hob. My Granny is sitting at the kitchen table preparing vegetables into a purple melamine bowl that my Mum still owns. My brother Rob and I are so excited we can hardly contain ourselves. Father Christmas is going to be here tonight!
Despite the goodies he brought, I used to be a bit nervous of Father Christmas actually. I mean, he's a fat old man with a white beard and he manages to get into the house, and into my room! Once, when I was about 7 or 8, I remember being awake when he visited. I think I must have been on the cusp of not believing at that stage because although I could hear him rustling and stashing gifts in the empty pillowcase I had left out for him by my bed, I thought that if I kept my eyes closed then I wouldn't find out what I thought I had grown to suspect.
On Christmas day morning my brother would come and wake me up and tell me 'He's been! He's been!'. We would sit on my bed and open our stockings (pillowcases) - under strict instructions not to wake Mum and Dad too early. I wonder if Lucy will do that tomorrow? Knowing her she'll be sound asleep until 8am which is a Christmas gift enough for me.
Merry Christmas everyone! x
It's all beautiful! Dadxx
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