White Christmas...almost!

I messaged Ele this morning to thank her for a lovely day yesterday and in her reply she mentioned it was snowing heavily at hers.  No snow here I replied.  An hour later I opened the bedroom blinds to be greeted by the view in extras!  Thankfully my Tesco order had been delivered by that point! It has now turned to rain.  

I did feel a slight panic for a second or two when I worried that the snow might prevent the family from getting here on New Year's Day.  I'm not sure D and I could manage a 2lb steak pie each! :D

Today has been spent with D and me getting as prepared as possible for our guests arriving on Hogmanay and the rest on New Year's Day.  

D collected the steak pies and breakfast goodies from the butcher this morning.  Tesco delivered the rest with a few substitutions but they worked out in my favour as it was larger quantities of things I had ordered but I'll get charged the original price.

So the guest bedrooms are prepared, the dining table is set, my list of food prep tasks is done.  I will prepare all the veg for NYD tomorrow.  The serving dishes are looked out and the Pass the Parcel Brussel Sprout game I bought weeks ago has been found (exactly where I told D it would be but he couldn't find it :-)

When I went to the studio to give it a quick tidy up I couldn't help but smile at my little Christmas tree.  It fitted right in with the snowy scene outside and it's very large pal to the left.

When we first moved here there was a row of about ten of those tall conifers in our neighbour's garden (you can see some of them here) but we noticed in the summer that this is the only one left as she's had the rest cut down.  We can only assume it's for safety reasons (they are VERY tall) or to let more light into the garden of the house behind hers.  Whilst I'm a little sorry to see them go, it means we will also get more sun on our garden in the summer as it used to disappear behind those trees as it set.  Now the whole of the back garden will enjoy the sun for longer and as it sets.  That's exciting.

Nearly forgot, I also made carrot and chorizo soup from the Bored of Lunch Slow Cooker cookbook Withers bought me.  We had that for dinner with thick slices of buttered bread.  Delish! :-)

And now we are enjoying the calm before the storm.  Tomorrow will go by in a blink till friends and family get here at 8pm and we prepare to let 2023 slip discreetly out the back door, whilst welcoming 2024 in the front.  

But for now, a cuppa and some Vera :D