Committee Christmas Card

When we attend the WWP Residential Committee each November, we are asked to take one Christmas Card. These all go in a basket and we each take one – more sense than sending two dozen! I try to make mine special – so here is the one I sent this year. I used the hemisphere design which I used when making Hayley’s wedding card in April. I took WWDP images for this year’s theme [The Bahamas – and a verse from the story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet]

I wrote my greeting on the inside, so it is visible when the folded card comes out of the envelope- but not on show once the bow is tied and the card is standing up.

Update…

We have had a succession of Facebook messages, emails and phone calls all day, from friends offering support and sympathy. Seven friends have come round at various points to help with the clearing up/house-move packing – and others delivered flowers and chocolates. A policeman came round to check we were OK and happy with their actions yesterday [most definitely] The man from Leicester Mercury came to interview us and take pictures! The report is already online – and maybe someone will read that and recognise the stuff if anyone tries to flog it in the pub. Thank you so much for all the kind comments and loving words. Both of us are very tired- but know it will all be fine in the end. Thank you, dear friends – your kindness means so much!

Squelch!

This is the plaque on the wall just inside our front door. Sadly, on our return from holiday yesterday, there was no echo of peace- just “Squelch!” The house had been burgled in our absence - and the burglars had blocked the kitchen sink and left both the taps fully on.

Downstairs, carpets in the hall and Bob’s study were utterly sodden. Boxes and tins had been opened and their contents deposited everywhere in the water. The back door had been jemmied open [and there had been attempts to open the conservatory door too]

Upstairs was dry – but in total chaos. The police were rapidly on the scene, after we had called from our neighbour’s phone. As nothing large had gone [TV, Bob’s audio gear, computers etc untouched] they suspected the thieves were merely looking for cash, and small items to put in their pockets, and sell on quickly. They had completely emptied my tiny jewellery box, and taken all the contents.

Nothing of great monetary value, but a number of small family items with sentimental value [all insured though] However they had emptied every drawer of its contents, clearly hoping that something more valuable was hidden inside.

In the kitchen, the contents of the tin of cookie cutters were floating in the water. Upstairs, all the haberdashery I had so neatly packed for moving was strewn all over the floor. The policeman said that as these tins all rattled, they probably expected jewels of coins inside – not a few hundred buttons, and Christmas jingle bells!

That Jackson Pollock installation, bottom right was a new box of 250 IKEA plastic drinking straws! The cash box [bottom left] was empty to start with. My neighbour wondered why they didn’t stop when they realised that there clearly wasn’t going to be anything else to steal. The box labelled ‘hats’ was full of …hats, and the tin labelled ‘interfacing’ contained interfacing. Perhaps they couldn’t read! They’d opened my filing drawers – and tipped out all my WWDP stuff, and generally made a mess. The water had poured off the worktop into the drawer of spices and seeped into the jars and packets – I shall have to claim on the insurance for them [cinnamon sticks don’t grow on trees, you know – oh, hang on, maybe they do!]

But outside on the drive, we found this – my Brigade Queen’s Award. Very precious, awarded to me in 1971. I was the youngest person in the world ever to get this, a few days after my 16th birthday – and I will always hold that record, because after that they changed the rules and 18 is the minimum age now.

The burglars must have dropped it as they made their getaway.

This wasn’t the way we expected our fantastic holiday to end, and the hassle of insurance, changing car locks, replacing damaged doors and carpets is all a bit much alongside the packing and moving. But it is only stuff after all. We still have our faith and our family and our friends, and so many, many things to be thankful for.

The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will garrison our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Making A Stand For The Family

January will be rather busy with packing and moving, so I am going to prepare some posts in advance about some of our Christmas gifts. I had quite a few random plates in the sideboard – some inherited from Bob’s Mum, some from my Mum, and some were just pretty ones I had picked up in Charity Shops over the years. They cannot all go with me to Dorset – and it seemed a shame just to box them all up for a CS. So Bob worked incredibly hard, giving up precious days off, to go out into the garage and drill them.

The red one [front right] is the cakestand Bob made for me just before my birthday, using the fittings from my Scout Rummage Sale bargain. The red Grindley plates in that are ones I collected from the little hardware shop in Kenilworth when I was a student.
The turquoise blue plate which came with the fittings in April became the middle plate in a new stand - that went to Steph for her 30th birthday, as a stand with plates from her two grandmothers above and below.[Pictured second from left]
The others have gone to family and close friends as Christmas presents. The drill bits are now completely worn down and have gone into the recycling!

Food, Fun, Fizz

New Year’s Eve was great fun – Adrian and Marion came over [with a bottle of Moet and a trifle] and our neighbour Alwyn joined us [bearing a sticky toffee pudding] Bob had turned all our leftovers into an amazing Chinese buffet. As usual I forgot to photograph the food before we started eating – but here are the half empty dishes – beef in a chilli sauce, pork in a ginger sauce, plain chicken with soy dipping sauce, egg fried rice, noodles, and a selection of spring rolls/sweet’n’sour parcels from Aldi. And those superb puds…

The food was lovely, we laughed a lot, and played Cranium – which is good fun because it gives everyone a chance to show off their best game-playing skills. The challenges include drawing, sculpting play-doh, charades, humming, general knowledge…

…here is Marion recreating the Millennium Dome…

We wanted to keep the buffet hot –so I had to improvise something, as unlike Victoria Wood’s Freda, I do not possess a Hostess Trolley. I took two roasting pans, put 4 tea lights inside each, and then balanced foil covered oven shelves on top. I stood the pans on table mats, and put the food in pyrex dishes. This worked really well- but people devoured the food like the Assyrians coming down like the wolf upon the fold, so it didn’t need to be kept hot for very long! [I suspect this was due to Bob’s excellent cooking – it all got eaten up!]

We watched the end of Jools Hootenanny, toasted the new year with the Moet, and then enjoyed the London fireworks on TV. The guests left, and we fell into bed around 1pm. I hope that your New Year Celebration was good fun too. And now it is early nights for me, for the next few weeks, I think!!

The Lord Says “Have I Not Commanded You?…”

…I have decided to take these verses from Joshua Chapter 1 to be my encouragement for the year ahead. Over the past couple of months, whenever I have felt less than confident about what is in front of us, these words have come to mind…

[but much as I would like one, I shall not be wearing the cape as I leave Kirby and flit to Ferndown!]

Ignauis Nunquam!

This is the Latin inscription over the Jenyn’s Arms, at  the Denver Sluice near Downham Market. It means “Dastards Never!”

I guess that should deter cowards and evildoers from calling in at this delightful waterside watering hole. But we went- along with Steph, and Mark, and Ruth and John. R&J are ‘relations-by-marriage’ as their son is married to Bob’s sister [so they are my in-laws-in-laws I suppose] We had a lovely lunch in the winter sunshine

We sat in the conservatory- still festively decorated

The boats were moored – but the swans swam happily up and down

And we had a great meal together. Highly recommended *****

No dastards spotted anywhere

Hobbit Forming

It was really lovely to do our traditional Christmas Cinema Trip in the company of Steph and Mark yesterday. I enjoyed the Hobbit [#3] and thought Martin Freeman was excellent, as were the rest of the cast. Lots of brilliant British character actors [James Nesbit, Ken Stott, Billy Connolly and others, and a final cameo from Ian Holm] It is quite bleak though, and a lot of battle scenes- some quite grisly. I was surprised at the age of some of the young children in the cinema – I’d have had nightmares if I’d watched this sort of thing when I was in primary school! [I have nightmares now sometimes, after scary films!] I’d rate the film ****

We went to the 2pm showing, so were able to come home and spend hours preparing the Wedding Plan Spreadsheets. Twenty weeks to go – and lots of other things to do in between. It will all come together, I know. Steph and Mark are working as a team on this, which is exactly how it should be. I am very proud of them both.

Yes, I did go and see The Imitation Game. Yes, Benedict Cumberbatch and co were good. But I decided it is best enjoyed by those who go to see it as a piece of entertainment. If you are a Bletchley Park Geek [as I am] you just get very frustrated by the major inaccuracies. I realise it is a film, and facts need to be ‘tweaked’ to fit it into the time available. But I was not happy about a number of details.

So I shall not give it a review here as I know am irrationally prejudiced. Go and see it for yourself!!

To All My Friends…

…may the year ahead be full of love, joy and peace – for you, and those you love. Thank you for sharing your friendship with me in this past year – even though I haven’t met all of you in person, you are still a very important part of my life, and I hope you’ll still be there in 2015

Normal For Norfolk

Just up the road from here is a little village called Worthing [not to be confused with the much larger seaside resort in Sussex] Until a few weeks back, it used to have a painted wooden sign …

…currently it is absent [being repainted?] And in its place …

Well, we wouldn’t want any of the visitors to this fine county to get lost, would we?

Wandering Round The City

After breakfast in bed [we are on holiday, and he did drive a long way yesterday] we still managed to be up early and in Norwich before the car park queues. We did not intend to buy anything in the sales – but I did succumb in Clas Ohlson to these stars. Display models, reduced from £14.99 each, to £1 for two!

We spent a lot of time just strolling down quiet streets away from the crazy people fighting for “bargains” – including the ancient Elm Hill [sadly no elms anymore, due to Dutch Elm Disease] This is full of beautiful old houses, and lots of history.

Then we had an early lunch in Pandora’s Kitchen.

This is at the top of London Street – and Bob chose it because it has been recommended by the Fry-Up Inspector. [the FUI is one of his favourite blogs!] We didn’t really want a fry up, so opted for the Roast-In-A-Bun. This was delicious. I expect Bob may blog a review himself soon.

Under the top of the bun, there was a small yorkshire pud, with gravy in the central well, then a generous amount of pulled pork, a slice of tasty stuffing, and a large dollop of good apple sauce [not over-sweet] This was held together with a skewer. The garnish was some lollo rosso drizzled with a flavoursome balsamic vinegar. Quite gorgeous. And a pot of tea that provided us with six cups!

Waitress service was excellent, and the understated shabby chic decoration was pleasant.

The large group of students at the other table, and the guy with the impressive camera all appeared to be enjoying their food too. And they had provided copies of the Times, Guardian and EDP available for customers to read. Definitely *****

Christmas Puddings

We have had some delicious food this week. Very grateful to Liz and Jon for preparing our splendid Christmas meal, ready for our arrival in Norfolk. Roast beef [from village butcher] and all the trimmings.

And on Boxing Day we all went over to Adrian and Marion – so 7 of us enjoyed a selection of turkey, ham, sausages, stuffings, vegetables – all very pleasant.

The main courses were relatively traditional, but we have been having some different desserts. I brought a choux pastry wreath on Thursday, and on Friday Marion made a blackcurrant roulade. For our meal on Sunday with Gaz and Fiona, I did my take on the Forest Hills Millionaires’ Shortbread.

The wreath was a simple choux pastry ring [from Rachel Allen].I put the dough in a plastic bag, snipped the corner and doodled a multilayered circle**, then when in was cooked, I pierced it to let out the steam, then sliced in half horizontally. The filling was whipping cream [plus 1 dsp icing sugar], and a punnet of fresh juicy blueberries. The topping was 100gm dark chocolate, melted with 100ml cream, and sprinkled with dark and white choc chips.

The roulade was stunning, and came from a BBC Good Food Magazine, which Marion has had for ages, although the blackberries were her wise adaptation [personally I do not like strawberries at Christmas either!] The shortbread dessert I adapted a lot…

For a start, I ditched the strawberry, and I reduced the portion size! I served it in shot glasses – after a large first course, a smaller sweet, plus a bowl of fresh fruit is all you need! [and I hadn’t got enough wineglasses here at Cornerstones] Here’s what I used for 6 glasses

• 30g shortbread biscuits, bashed into crumbs
• 2 tsp of Carnation Caramel*
• 2 tsp chocolate mousse**
• 1 tsp whipped cream
• 2 chocolate ‘matchsticks’

*I’d usually cook up a tin of condensed milk and make my own, but it was on offer, and it saves time and energy! Yes I did have two thirds of a tin left over, but I made that into a banoffee pie.

** Melt 75g dark chocolate over a pan of simmering water, then allow to cool for 2 minutes. When you have taken the bowl of choc out of the pan, stand the tin of caramel in the hot water- the warmth will soften it and help make it easier to spoon!

Meanwhile separate an egg. Beat the white till stiff, then beat in 1 level tbsp. caster sugar. When the chocolate is cool, stir in the egg yolk, then fold in the white till fully incorporated. You just put each of the layers in turn into your serving glasses, and there you are!

** I ought to confess that I had two attempts at this – the first time, I spooned balls of dough round a circle drawn on my parchment, leaving room for expansion – but they didn’t expand very much and I ended up with lots of little separate choux balls! As there is no sugar in the pastry, I have frozen them, and will use them as a topping for a casserole sometime soon.

“Slimming World” pushed a promotional leaflet through the letterbox early on Sunday morning. Do you think they are hinting??

A Christmas Pause

Advent is over, and Christmas has come. I have to say a huge thank-you to everyone who took part in the Pause this year. I’ve never hosted this before and it has been a real privilege. I’ve read all the posts – and been amazed, challenged and encouraged. Thank you everyone.

My own final personal pause came at a couple of minutes past midnight on Christmas Day – so technically no longer Advent – but I did want to share it. I took the midnight carols at a nearby chapel who are currently without a pastor. I chose Christina Rosetti’s ‘other’ poem[i.e. not Bleak Midwinter] as one of the carols…

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love Divine,
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and Angels gave the sign.

As the service finished, on the dot of midnight, I went to the door and hugged, or shook hands with the people as they left. One young woman was weeping. She stood beside me, and I whispered “It’s OK, this is a safe place to weep. We can talk in a minute” She said she just wanted to thank me for picking this carol. She had not known it till last week, when she read it in a book – and it had immediately become very important. The last few years had been really hard and she had felt let down and unloved by people she had trusted. When she read the poem, she realised that God is unfailing love, and He will always be there for her, and the birth of Jesus at Christmastime proved it. The fact that I had chosen this piece for the carol service had confirmed that truth for her, and given her fresh hope for the year ahead.

I was so glad that her Christmas was brighter – and her heart full of hope – and thrilled she had shared it with me. We will probably never meet again – but I pray that she continues to feel God’s love.

I am having a fairly quiet day today – Bob has driven back to preach at Kirby – and then this evening he will be back and we have family and friends visiting. Hope your day is a good one too [with not to much snow or travel disruption!]

More News From The National Elf Service

I said I was not doing any more sewing. But then a friend mentioned on Sunday morning at Church that they had a minor problem to solve. They always get together as a family, and had received an email on Saturday night saying that today’s gathering was to be a Murder Mystery Event – and everybody had to come in costume, wearing a Christmas jumper. Which is all fine and dandy if you have one, but if the four of you do not possess one snowman&reindeer-embellished woolly between you, what do you do? Three days before Christmas, nobody wants to go out and spend £80 in M&S – or even £20 on four nasty acrylic ill fitting creations. “No problem” I said, with a mouthful of mince pie “My friend Kezzie had some brilliant ideas on her blog about solving this dilemma. Have you each got a fairly plain sweater?”  I muttered about cotton wool balls and bells, and promised to have something sorted out for them by Christmas Eve

Now I will state here and now that I loathe the concept of Elf on the Shelf. But having made all those elf costumes the other week, the two rolls of felt from the loft were still lurking on the spare bed. I dug out a round tea tray and made a paper pattern.

Useful note- a saucer makes a tight hole for the neckline, but a 6½” teaplate makes a comfortable sized hole for teenagers and adults [including Bob’s 17½” collar size!]

I cut out shapes in felt. I also cut some strips to be cuffs.

I left the embroidery machine stitching four Elfish slogans while I cut zigzag edgings and dug out a jar full of jingle bells, and another full of safety pins. Here’s the finished results.

With jingle bells attached to the points, and safety pins to fasten cuffs and collar, over a plain jumper, the collar and cuffs turn you instantly into an elf. [If it was my Murder mystery, I’d choose to murder the Elf-on-the-Shelf. I am absolutely horrified by the whole concept, and by the reactions of the children I know who have one of these. Laura Pinto’s reaction may be a little extreme, but I think the whole thing is creepy. And clever marketing]

Just Jammin’

In the summer, when we were in Norfolk, I picked some sloes. I made some sloe gin, and some sloe gin jam.

I packed up some tiny presents with a humorous label on the top. These have gone to the deacons and to the musicians in the Worship Group. My ‘test’ jar of jam tasted OK – I hope theirs do too.

We have received some lovely home made food gifts. And one of my 5 year olds even gave me a jar of Sainsbury’s pickled beetroot for Christmas. When we had a lesson about healthy foods back in September, it transpired that he and I were the only ones who like beetroot, so it became a standing joke between us. He told his Mum that he wanted to buy me a jar for Christmas as a leaving present. Methinks this child will go far!

For God so loved the world that He gave…

He bequeaths us His manger, from which to learn how God came down to man, and His cross to teach us how man may go up to God.   [C H Spurgeon]

May God be with you and bless you this Christmas day and always

Better Than Chocolate!

When the girls were younger, we had an advent calendar with pockets which we dug out every year. In each pocket was a gift and a slip of paper. They took it in turns each day – one read the paper, the other got the gift. All year I had saved tiny freebies [pencils, soaps, etc] to give them, and on the papers were written the Christmas story. The girls would read each day’s portion, and we would blu-tac them down the door, until the final morning, when Christ was born. I miss that tradition

[I gave up putting edible gifts in after the year they were all mysteriously eaten by 3rd December!] But since the girls grew up…

This year, however, I have had my own Advent Calendar, courtesy of a dear friend. It is a Jacquie Lawson e-calendar. It has brought me such pleasure each day. I have perfected my Solitaire skills, and dressed dolls, designed baubles, planned wreaths…And not one calorie consumed in the process!

There is so much detail, and after each day’s activity, you can go to the “Family Room” and read the fascinating information in the library. For instance, they make a 4 tonne Stollen in Dresden each year – who knew? [it cut up into small pieces, which are sold for charity.

And this gift is doubly delightful, because it will not have to be packed and moved to Dorset. Thank you, friend. Thank you too, to the person who gave us both Oxfam gifts – we already have more than enough books, and are thrilled that schoolbooks are going out to Africa where they are truly needed.

I hope you are just about ready for tomorrow. Leave the computer and go and enjoy family time!

Monday On The Motorbike

On Monday we had a space between Carol Services, and we needed to do a few jobs in the City, so we went in on the motorbike. We parked up and walked through Town Hall square, where the Nativity Scene, and children’s displays were bright and cheerful.

I paused to put my camera back in my bag, by the War Memorial at the corner of the Square. Then I had to stop and photograph it.

I confess to my shame, that I had always thought this was a WW1 Memorial [although I knew there was the ‘Lutyens Arch’ in nearby Victoria Park] It was only this week that I discovered it was actually a memorial to those lost in the Boer Wars in South Africa. There was a temporary WW1 Memorial and fountain in the square, but only the fountain remains, as the memorial was smashed up in 1954. Why didn’t I notice the dates on this memorial before? I must have walked past it dozens of times.

We went into Cafe Roma for a coffee. I love it in there – but no doubt we will find another good coffee place when we move.

Then off to Button Boutique for some wool, and Bob looked in the window of the music shop which was closed. “Look at the finish on that guitar” he said “It is called ‘suede’” So I looked…

Then I noticed the sign on the neck of the guitar- Ultra Swede!!

After the bank, post office and other things, we rode home. Then drove in the car down to see Frank and Barbara.Their poppy from the Tower of London has arrived, and is standing by the front door. It was great to actually get close enough to touch one.

And it was even more lovely to be with family members at Christmas time