Christmas Eve

Woke up rather early to be ready in time to see Chris for a coffee. It feels like ages since I saw him, as he moved down south for a job and the last time we caught up was at least before the summer. After finally having a great English Italian coffee, and finding out from the barista that the reason Nero's coffee is more bitter than other coffees is that it is not made of 100% Arabica beans. It instead has an added 'small amount of Robusta to give an extra "kick" and depth' (Nero's website). I prefer their coffee to any other because of it being that little bit more bitter, sometimes I find the French coffee slightly too sweet. Wow, all sounds a bit poncey when I read that back! True though, nice to have a good coffee though. Oh, and a lovely catch-up! It has been such a long time since I've seen him I can't help but feel that we missed a load out. So glad that he's enjoying himself in his job, and that everything seems to be working out for him now.

After Mum arrived we had a quick wander round town to pick up a few little bits before heading off home. She told me the frankly awful news that one of my Grandmas would not be joining us this Christmas as she was feeling too unwell to come to our house. It's going to be so strange this year, genuinely, as this will be the first year ever that we will not have the "full" family...consisting of Mum, Dad, Grandma Sylvia, Grandma Peggy and I. Everything will be a tiny bit weird, especially since the two Grandmas are like a comedy double act and bounce off each other. I hope Grandma Sylvia won't feel too lonely, or the rest of the family for that matter. Because we are all so close and have always been a unit, I really hope it won't change everything too much.

Once home I had a play with some long exposures on the Christmas tree decorations...all of which are hand-made by my mother. It was a real toss-up between this photograph of the bauble, and the one of the Christmas house as they are both so lovely. The two photographs I was toying between also look even better bigger! Also a little play with light. I really wish I was as creative as my mum with arts and crafts, but I'm really not. I remember once her trying to teach me to knit (only problem is me being left-handed and her trying to reverse how she did the knitting so she could show me how to do it), harder than it sounds! I knitted this square diligently for about a month...in that time I had knitted about an inch, and mum had knitted an entire Arran sweater front-piece. After that I definitely realised my talents lay elsewhere (not always certain where, but somewhere else!). Anyway, so mum made all of the decorations on the tree, whether it be in cross-stitch, beading or sewing.

The afternoon we spent round at Mike and Vera's, one of the loveliest couples I have ever met. Married for over 60 years, they have got it right. And you can tell it, they are so together and loving...finishing each other's sentences and the like. Found out that Mike's father was evacuated from Normandy during the war, ended up on a Dutch boat and then on to Harrogate. A fifteen or sixteen year old Mike heard on the news that some of the soldiers ended up there so drove on his motorcycle to see if he could find his dad...he had no idea whether or not he would find him, but wanted to try. The most amazing thing about it was that his father was indeed there, and had an ornament given to him by some French people who he had become friends with during his time there. Then Mike wandered off, and produced said ornament with some writing in French on its base. Was such a shame that it was too faded to read. Was honoured to spend time in their company, makes you realise what is important in life.

Family Christmas evening in, early night expected, just what the doctor ordered!