The Christmas tree is delivered . A new gas bottle and a large sack of de-icing salt are dropped off at the same time. Without having to be asked the old gas bottle is checked ( and taken away ) and the new one plumbed in. In France we were ever changing gas cannisters. Here, they seem to last a year.
Angus spends an hour in the garage. Two boxes of tree ornaments are found but the third, with the Danish porcelain decorations and the star for the top of the tree , is nowhere to be seen. If and when it stops raining I shall go down and spend another hour 'rummaging' around in the hope they turn up.
The town now well set into the Christmas groove. The tree outside the kirk glowing away in the start of day half light. Half a dozen stores are already starting their sales. Not so long ago they'd wait until Boxing Day to start discounting. Town is busy ... but not that busy. I'm not sure the retailers are going to have a good season. The smiley Syrian gentleman behind the counter in the pop up Christmas store welcomes me with the unusual greeting ' Welcome young man. May your dreams come true'. He says exactly the same thing as I leave. Maybe he's been reading Dickens ?
The bakers is certainly in the Christmas mood.
Sponge snowmen and mince pies much in demand.
Chrismoose biscuits also make their first appearance in the window.
9 comments:
Hari Om
Much as I adore mince pies, I remain inspired by the bakery presentation! Wonderful music, though I am bemused they ran the service a week before Advent (which falls entirely within Dec this year). YAM xx
Hopefully the seal pup found it's mum at high tide.
The moose (do they mean Reindeer?) look suitably festive with their "Smartie" nose. The mince pies don't look particularly appealing, they look somewhat insipid - maybe a few more minutes in the oven? The sponge snowmen, however, look cute.
Everything looks wonderful, I hope the little one finds mom.
Here's hoping the baby seal and his mom are reunited. Your bakery photos are reminders that I need to get moving on my Christmas baking!
I got the Chinese drummers first again, before getting to music #3. I am actually hoping the drummers continue to pop up - maybe a little nostalgia for Asia, although I am surprised by how much I am enjoying my first Western Christmas in many years. Japan makes a big thing out of Christmas, but it mostly serves as a commercial run-up to the "real" holiday, which is New Years. Here, the decorations are a little humbler, but they are everywhere. I can still live happily without mincemeat in any form, however.
I'm hoping Angus is "behaving" in face of the 8-foot Christmas tree. No ladder climbing please. Are there "others" to decorate the top? Perhaps that's why the star is missing.
It's reassuring to know the seal pup is being protected. The baker's display is cheery.
The Chrismoose biscuits made me smile.
I'm wondering if I'm alone in feeling that Church scenes like the processing choirboys in today's Christmas song video are somehow no longer an integral part of my country. As a child and a regular church attender, these rituals all seemed quite normal. Now much older and no longer a church goer, the singing is beautiful still, but it comes across as a world apart.
Cheers, Gail.
WFT - And yet the place is full. Perhaps once a year old memories are stirred.
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