Whining and Dining

Good grief it's bitterly cold again ~ still I am not to be downcast by this today because yesterday we managed to create enough space in the dining room to be able to put our new dining table and chairs in it. The room looks very elegant once more and will give us a lovely place in which to celebrate Christmas. My plan for today was to cut some greenery from the garden to create a table centre display, but it is just too cold to brave the garden with the secetaurs, so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Cecily is now home from university for the Christmas break and it is lovely to have her home. I find it comforting to hear her padding around the house, even if she is not spending much time in my company. Since she got home on Saturday night, she has been out each evening and visiting friends during the day. Still at least I know I will have her company on Christmas day itself.

I have decided to buy some of the French cream cutlery to use on Christmas day, it will go very nicely with the cream rose candles I am using for the centrepiece and the rest of the rooms decor. Our crockery here at home is a vintage Laura Ashley set that my mother had when I was a teenager. She gave me a few pieces when I left home and recently I have managed to buy the remaining items to give us a full dinner service (thanks to that well known auction internet site).

I am just about to ask Dave to get our favourite tree decorations down from the loft and put up our tree and spend a pleasant hour or two arranging the pretty baubles, bells and beads on our tree. We don't go in much for 'this year's colour' for tree decorations, preferrring to add to our collection with just one or two special pieces as we find them. The resulting tree has an eclectic mix of decorations, many of which have a special meaning to us.
I treasure the little angel, choirboy and snowman that Alec and I made from FIMO when he was about 6 or 7 years old. I think that the angel has probably lost one of its wings over the years and to be honest, it's hard to tell what they are really supposed to be. They are special to me because we created them together and they remind me of those times. I also have fond memories of my visit to Australia where I bought an exquisite clear glass bauble with a glass Christmas tree inside it (a bit like a ship in a bottle). Dave made me a gold star the first Christmas after we were married... and so it goes on. I will share some pics with you when I have finished my nostalgic trip.

I'm off to find tea and tree, chat soon, Liz