OUR CHRISTMAS BEGINS

In the normal course of events our Christmas festivities would have begun early last week but with a much less than merry round of hospital appointments, tests and so forth for Pa and myself we decided to delay matters until we could give having fun our undivided attention.

Pa returned from hospital yesterday evening exhausted by the battery of tests which had taken most of the day. My son brought him home and we gave him a good dinner before tucking him up in bed with a cup of cocoa,poor boy, they really had put him through the mill.

This morning we launched out holiday with a breakfast of hot bacon rolls and then set about enjoying ourselves. Pa took it easy at first, just pottering about while my son and I went out to deliver boxes of cookies to our friends , and to collect a few goodies from the village shop.

They stock some of the finest cheeses I have ever tasted at prices it is hard to believe after years of living in rip off London!

We brought a whole Shropshire Black Bomber, a chunk of Shropshire Blue and a lovely creamy garlic cheese which we all love, especially Pa.

I love going shopping with my son, he talks me in to trying new things and I usually love the things he chooses, of course there was the incident with the Welsh Dragon Sausages, my God! They were hotter than the fires of hell and it took a quart of cider to douse the flames. Days later I still had a croak in my voice!

We played games in the drawing room in the afternoon, Scrabble and Dominoes mostly, It is such a cosy room and the two sofas make game playing a comfortable experience, too comfortable for me for I fell asleep half way through a game of Boggle!!

We treated ourselves to a box of chocolates and at four I poured for myself my customary glass of Scotch, sat back and enjoyed watching the sky turn red as the sun set over the hills.

We ate dinner early ,a platter of cooked meats,a selection of cheeses, with pickles and salad, a pork pie and iced cream to follow. I had been ordered to take a day off from cooking so this was a nice easy meal. My son had managed to buy some fresh Cray fish tails for my favourite fresh water fish, perfect with granary bread and fresh mayonnaise.

The village looks so pretty now, houses covered in fairy lights and Christmas trees in all the house windows. The children have finished school for this term and are to be seen about the village chattering excitedly and shouting Merry Christmas to everyone they meet.

Throughout the day cards pooped though the letter box and parcels arrived by courier, the later put away until Christmas Day and I am almost as excited as the children.

I am still trying to decide which lap top to buy, mine is so old it is powered by a hamster on a tread mill! This time it will be one with a bigger screen and graphic I can see. I must also play DVDs and store pictures.... to blazes with “The Cloud” what ever it is! My son says I am getting old... I shall settle with the cheeky young shaver later!