Slip, sliding away ......

Santa came early today, disguised/dressed in the uniform of an Amazon operative. Woodpeckers was unfortunately hovering expectantly, as she thought her own Santa had arrived, so I had to shoo her away.

I am beginning to feel a certain familiar mood, the imminence of the festivities, and the knowledge that all over the country others are in the same boat. I have always felt like this, which seems to upset Woodpeckers, whose childhood with five sisters and brothers was full of expectancy and excitement building up to Christmas Day.

I am going to cook a vegetarian lunch tomorrow, a nut roast, which i must have first cooked about forty years ago, so that I could eat some food with my family after I had just become a (strict) vegetarian. Nowadays I do eat some chicken and pig meat, but that is lessening again, which is handy when you want to save ones money.

Woodpeckers has been taking the lead in getting things ready; dressing the tree, picking some ivy, baking the cake and planning menus. Last night I helped in a very small way in rolling out the marzipan and covering it all over the cake, which s smelling very good. (It tastes very good too, but don't tell her I said so). Today it was time to ice the cake and I had mu camera at the ready.

I took intermittent pictures of the whipping of the sugary mixture, as well as some bird pictures and the beautiful maroon cyclamen I bought a couple of days ago. Once the icing began top set, the lovely cake decorations came out of hiding and Helena put them on the snowy scene. Unfortunately, the conditions were a bit warm, and the icing began to flow downwards, which required some emergency adaptations. The snowman in particular decided to fall over backwards, whilst Santa's big bell which he'd rested on the snow, began to sink into it. All was well in the end and Christmas can now proceed.

Wrapping comes next, sitting in front of the coal fire, with some sherry to sip, some nibbles followed later by some hearty soup which I made a while ago. We are staying here quietly for a few days, so I hope we and you all have a peaceful time and wish better times for those less fortunate than us. I fear there are quite a few of them this year.

Merry Christmas to all you blippers.

The just baked cake cooling