Rocky Robin

As I was looking through some blogposts that reviewed 2016, I realised that I have done very few outfit posts in 2017 and indeed, less blogposts than I have in previous years. I do think Instagram has a lot to do with that as has just being generally busy.

Anyway, I thought I would share my Christmas Eve outfit.

 Forgive the scruffy photos but I got my husband to take these quite late at night after I had come back from the Anglican Carol service and Catholic Mass (yep, went to both one after the other)

The robin dress is a handmade pinafore from Vintage Style Me.  I have one Dinosaur dress from there which I bought last year.  I follow them on Instagram and I know that times as a handmade business can be very hard and from the promotions running on Instagram felt that perhaps they weren't getting as many orders as they might have liked so when there was a promotion where they sent you a discount voucher, I ordered this pinafore. It IS a Christmas fabric, but I reckon I could get away with it in the Winter months.

To make it season appropriate, I wore this moss-green Topshop turtle neck underneath (charity-shopped) and some thermal leggings and boots (sadly not pictured!) 

Plus, my other favourite Robin item is this freebie necklace I got from Rosebud Casson last year!!

I always like it when CBC approves of an outfit (sometimes he is a bit disparaging about some of the more 'novelty' or 'Doctor Who' outfits)-  he liked this one!

What did you wear on Christmas Eve?

xx

Advent Calendar Scavenger Hunt 2017- The Night before Christmas

For my final day of the Advent Calendar, I thought I'd share a lesser-known piece of music by the composer Rimsky-Korsakov.  Most people will recognise his 'Flight of the Bumblebee' or his Scheherezade suite but he wrote a beautiful opera called "Christmas Eve". It is a charming piece of music with beautiful fairytale quality.  It is based on Nikolai Gogol's short story Evenings on a farm near Dikanka.   He turned it into an orchestral suite a few years later.  Here is a recording of it.

I hope you enjoy it and enjoy this most holy of nights!

Advent Scavenger Hunt 23 and A pause for Advent 2017: 4: something hand-crafted for Christmas.

As you may have realised as a long-term reader of this blog- that every year, I write a song for my school children to sing at their performance at the church.  Now that I have been doing this for a good few years, I have built up quite a lot of the parts of the nativity service- one year, a Donkey song, another year, a Census story, a subsequent year, a Wise Men and Herod song, another an introductory song, another an Inn-keeper song, several others and finally last year, a Shepherd song.

This year I wanted a celebratory song to be inspired by a song I have used with the choir a few times called, "Ring out the bells" by Roger Emmerson, published in Voiceworks Christmas (published by OUP) - you can listen to it here on Youtube.

I began writing this one on a horrendous journey home where I was delayed for over an hour on the train- so I sat on the train and subsequently in the waiting room, writing the tune and lyrics.  Often this is how it happens- I will not be at an instrument, I will just hear it and write it down somewhere random.

Ring out the bells:

Ding- dong, Ding-dong

Ding- dong, Ding-dong

Dingdong Ding-dong

Dingdong Ding-dong

Ding-ding, dong-dong Ding-ding, dong-dong

Ding-ding, dong-dong Ding-ding, dong-dong

Ring out the bells merrily, 

Jesus is born verily

Angels above in the sky, FLY!

Hear Bethlehem shout for joy,

"Unto us is born a boy!"
Ring out the bells merrily, ring!

Ring out those, ring out those, 

Ring out those Bells________

Ring out those, ring out those, 

Ring out those Bells________

Shepherds in fields play your tunes,

Your time to pipe's coming soon,

Gather your flocks ready for news!

Angels will sing, "Gloria!", 

Praise God with euphoria

Hurry to seek Bethlehem soon!

Ring out those, ring out those, 

Ring out those Bells________

Ring out those, ring out those, 

Ring out those Bells________

Kings from the east watch the stars,

Your journey will take you far,

A star is now ready to shine!

Choose finest gifts for a King,

Gold, Incense, Myrrh offering,

Hurry to seek Bethlehem soon!

Ring out those, ring out those, 

Ring out those Bells________

Ring out those, ring out those, 

Ring out those Bells________

(Build up of repeated ostinati with the effect of bell peals)

Ring out the bells merrily, 

Jesus is born verily

Angels above in the sky, FLY!

Hear Bethlehem shout for joy,

JOY!

Ring out the bells merrily, 

Jesus is born verily

Angels above in the sky, FLY!

Hear Bethlehem shout for joy,

"Unto us is born a boy!"
Ring out the bells merrily, ring!

Words and music by K.Allin (c) October 2017.

It strikes me in retrospect that it would have been nicer to end with a final verse inviting everyone to join in the celebration, so maybe I'll add this in in:

Join us to now praise the King,

There's room for you all to sing,

Everyone is now welcome to join!

Jesus is for everyone,

Lift up your voice for the son,

Ring out the bells merrily, ring!

The recording is of my children singing at a concert a few weeks ago. The balance isn't great as you can hear one girl very strongly and less of the others, but it isn't bad.

One other point in the writing of this song is that the time signature is 5/4- that means there are 5 beats in a bar which gives it a slightly lopsided wonky feel- trying to cover different times, genres and musical teaching points with my songs.

 Whilst the composing of this happened before Advent, this is always part of my preparation for Christmas, one which I relish and enjoy.

My children also performed 2014's song and in addition, the younger choir sang my very first song- Manger Lullaby which sadly, I didn't get a recording of- maybe I'll ask them to sing it again in January so I can get a recording of it!

This is my pause for Advent with Ang et al ( a day early!) and it works for my Scavenger Hunt with Julie because it is indeed, something handcrafted for Christmas! :-) 

Julie's list:

• Letterbox
• Something handcrafted for Christmas
• Favourite Christmas recipe
• Christmas book(s)
• Stained glass window
• Robin
• Bell(s)
• Sleigh
• Christmas Bauble
• Holly and Ivy
• Snowman
• Angel
• First Christmas card received in the post
• Christmas crackers
• Tree before dressed
• Tree after dressed
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Mistletoe
• Stocking or Christmas Sack/Bag
• Wrapped present(s)
• Winter
• Father Christmas
• Nativity
• The Night Before Christmas

Hope you enjoyed it!

x

Advent Scavenger Hunt 16- Nativity

Today, I went out on a charity-shop trawl with two of the three other members of the flute quartet I play in. We had a lovely time- I ended up buying a few books for school, a few books for me, some audio books for our long car journeys and then some lovely Cashmere trousers!

 In the Relate charity shop, I saw this delightful knitted nativity window display.   It was so jolly and fun and reminded me of when I used to have my viola lessons on a Friday night in the classroom of a school.  That classroom was always disgustingly dirty and my lovely viola teacher was always complaining about it.  One Christmas time, a knitted nativity turned up in the classroom which I used as a distraction point for my teacher. She was enchanted by the nativity and I remember telling my friend Christina, who had her later, to ask her about the nativity to distract her from the pieces! Ha ha, we used to love teasing Mrs C! She was a funny, competent, kind, informative and lovely teacher, an incredible musician who was an ex-Halle Orchestra player but terribly eccentric! We adored her.

What type of Nativity scene do you have, if any?x



Julie's list:

• Letterbox
• Something handcrafted for Christmas
• Favourite Christmas recipe
• Christmas book(s)
• Stained glass window
• Robin
• Bell(s)
• Sleigh
• Christmas Bauble
• Holly and Ivy
• Snowman
• Angel
• First Christmas card received in the post
• Christmas crackers
• Tree before dressed
• Tree after dressed
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Mistletoe
• Stocking or Christmas Sack/Bag
• Wrapped present(s)
• Winter
• Father Christmas
• Nativity
• The Night Before Christmas

Advent Calendar Scavenger Hunt- Day 15- Mistletoe........and murder!

I was wracking my brain to think what I could post for Mistletoe for my Scavenger Hunt and then I suddenly realised what the title of my last book was!!

Anyone who has read this blog for a while should know that I am an ardent 'Whodunnit' fan. The majority of my reading material is this genre- historical fiction.  I picked up this Daisy Dalrymple murder mystery in the Summer but knew I wanted to save it for Christmas to read, along with the various seasonally-named British Crime Classics such as 'Mystery in White', 'The Christmas Murder' etc.

Daisy Dalrymple is an amateur-sleuth. She is the daughter of a peer but now married to Alec Fletcher, Chief-Inspector at Scotland Yard.  She is invited along with all her family to Brockdene, the ancestral home of Lord Westmoor under the orders of her mother, the dowager Lady Dalrymple. 
But when they arrive, they discover that the Norvilles, Lord Westmoor's poor relatives live there and Lord Westmoor has no intention of attending.  There are plenty of interesting stories about the place and tension over relationships.  But then, another guest to the house is found murdered in the chapel on Christmas day.  It seems curious because most people had no motive to murder him but Daisy and Alec dig up the truth!

This was a jolly good adventure with lots of 'Jolly Hockeysticks' language and spirit.  The characters are very likeable and fairly well written. I enjoyed the unravelling of the murder and thought the murderer being revealed was fine but I did feel that Daisy plucked the murder a little out of the blue to a certain extent. I do like a good festive murder and I enjoy this series which is  bit like a cross between Agatha Christie and the Famous Five, but I wasn't so convinced by the denouement!

Have you read any of this series or any festive fiction?




Julie's list:

• Letterbox
• Something handcrafted for Christmas
• Favourite Christmas recipe
• Christmas book(s)
• Stained glass window
• Robin
• Bell(s)
• Sleigh
• Christmas Bauble
• Holly and Ivy
• Snowman
• Angel
• First Christmas card received in the post
• Christmas crackers
• Tree before dressed
• Tree after dressed
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Mistletoe
• Stocking or Christmas Sack/Bag
• Wrapped present(s)
• Winter
• Father Christmas
• Nativity
• The Night Before Christmas

Advent calendar Scavenger Hunt 14- Snowman

I shared some of the stockings from the church Christmas tree last week. This week, during our Pop up nativity, I was sitting the opposite side and I could see these snowmen very clearly.

They're very blingy! Definitely, these snowmen have been Puttin' on the Ritz!

I don't know why this one on the right makes me smile so much- something about its slightly inane smile!




Julie's list:

• Letterbox
• Something handcrafted for Christmas
• Favourite Christmas recipe
• Christmas book(s)
• Stained glass window
• Robin
• Bell(s)
• Sleigh
• Christmas Bauble
• Holly and Ivy
• Snowman
• Angel
• First Christmas card received in the post
• Christmas crackers
• Tree before dressed
• Tree after dressed
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Mistletoe
• Stocking or Christmas Sack/Bag
• Wrapped present(s)
• Winter
• Father Christmas
• Nativity
• The Night Before Christmas

TARDIS Tuesday - Jodie Whittaker- the new 13th Doctor

Hi there!

Today, I have survived two performances at the church for our annual Carol service for KS2.  This year was the first time we had to split it into two in order to fit all the children in so it was double the amount of work. I was very pleased it went so well! Readers, singers, recorders and drummers were all impeccable!

Today's TARDIS Tuesday is a little sad for me.  In a week, Peter Capaldi will no longer be the Doctor. I have loved his grumpy, intense rendition of the Doctor and liked his being older.  As of next week, we shall have a female Doctor, played by Jodie Whittaker. She has been given a great costume!!!

Image from Radiotimes

I decided to have a go at dressing up as the Thirteenth Doctor.

Key features are the teal culottes, navy rainbow-striped jumper, long light coat with rainbow piping and navy interior, mustard braces, brown boots and blue stripy socks.

Here's my rendition.

I found my Culottes on ASOS but I was shocked when they arrived because they were soooo long that they looked like trousers! I had to roll them up!

The socks were part of CBC's 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony costume- I swiped them when he was trying to chuck them out!  My boots are Dr Martens which I bought a few months ago for an amazing second hand but new price!

I found some braces on eBay for £2 but they are driving me insane! How do you get them to stay on!??!!   The t-shirt is from Pull and Bear but was also second-hand.  Finally, this beige coat was£1..99 from a Barnados a few months ago. I actually bought it for a 5th Doctor costume, but thought it could work here also.

I'm looking forward to more Doctor Who and I am intrigued to see how it will be with a female Doctor.

What do you think?
Does this work?
xx

A Pause for Advent: Christmas is a time for love

When I first was offered the role of music teacher 9 years ago, a lovely friend from my music camp invited me over to her house in rural Ipswich to talk about how I would take on the role and Christmas song ideas and teaching ideas.   We talked through songs for the nativity play and she gave me her copies of some songs that we thought would work- she's now retired.  Two of the songs she gave me are staples that always feature regularly.  One, Census Rock is one that the children always get excited to sing. The other is a very simple song called, Christmas is a time to love.

It is a very simple song with simple lyrics but I think, as I said last week, simplicity is a good thing.
In this case, the message is simple

Christmas is a time, Christmas is a time,
Christmas is a time to love.
Christmas is a time, Christmas is a time,
Christmas is a time to love.

We often start to worry and people get upset,
When things don't go alright on Christmas Day.
What we should remember in all the push and shove,
Is Christmas is a time to love.

Christmas is a time, Christmas is a time,
Christmas is a time to love.
Christmas is a time, Christmas is a time,
Christmas is a time to love.


As I looked for this video, I noticed that there is a second verse that wasn't on my copy.
I really like this verse too.

Maybe things don't sound right or look the way they should
And maybe they're not perfectly in tune
It really doesn't matter, let's keep our eyes above
'Cos Christmas is a time to love.



This is my Pause for Advent with Ang and co!

Advent Calendar Scavenger Hunt Day 11,12,13- Sleigh, Father Christmas and First Card received in the post

Hello there!
Sorry about the being late with my posts.  I've been staying at school till 6.30pm and by the time I've got home, it's been about 8.00pm. Oh...and we now own a house!!

Sleigh

Another reason, I didn't post yesterday was that we went to see Star Wars, the Last Jedi.  CBC had the impromptu idea that we go to see it with his old house mate so we did!  As we left after it- I saw this sleigh suspended in the dome of the Atrium at the front of the cinema.

It was flanked by reindeer.

First card-received in the post

This was the first card I received in person actually. Not sure what came first,

Guess who this was from?

Father Christmas....

...can be spied how many times in the above bunch?


Hope you are well!x


Julie's list:

• Letterbox
• Something handcrafted for Christmas
• Favourite Christmas recipe
• Christmas book(s)
• Stained glass window
• Robin
• Bell(s)
• Sleigh
• Christmas Bauble
• Holly and Ivy
• Snowman
• Angel
• First Christmas card received in the post
• Christmas crackers
• Tree before dressed
• Tree after dressed
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Mistletoe
• Stocking or Christmas Sack/Bag
• Wrapped present(s)
• Winter
• Father Christmas
• Nativity
• The Night Before Christmas

Advent Calendar Scavenger Hunt Day 10 - Favourite Christmas Recipe

Actually, that title is a misnomer.  The below is not my favourite Christmas recipe. To be honest, I don't have one.  I like Pigs-in-blankets but you don't need a recipe to wrap sausages in bacon.  I don't really do any cooking at Christmas as everyone I have ever had has been spent at someone else's house!
So instead, I am going to share the recipe of something that CBC and I have made two batches of this December. I say WE but that is mostly CBC- I have assisted by locating ingredients, peeling apples, chopping things and making up stock.

CBC and I both love the Vegetarian cook Anna Jones- we own two of her books.  In her recipe book, A Modern Way to eat,  CBC spied a recipe for Celeriac Soup with Hazelnuts and crispy sage.

 He tried making it a few weeks ago after my Mum gave us her old Stick blender.  We didn't have any sage so we did it without but then we made it again last night and he'd bought some fresh sage leaves.

Here is the recipe (by Anna Jones)

Celeriac Soup with Hazelnuts and crispy sage.
Serves 6:
Olive oil
1 leek, washed, trimmed and finely sliced.
1 celeriac, washed, peeled and roughly chopped.
4 apples cored and roughly chopped.
a few sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked.
1.5 litres of vegetable stock
1 x 400g tin of butter beans drained.
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

To serve:
a handful of hazelnuts.
100g of butter
a few sprigs of fresh sage leaves picked.

Method:

Heat a splash of oil in a large pan, then add the leek and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes until soft and sweet.

Add the celeriac, apples and thyme and cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the stock and butter beans and season well.  Simmer over a low heat for 20-30 minutes, until the celeriac is tender, then remove from the heat and blitz with a hand blender until smooth.

Toast the hazelnuts in a frying pan until golden brown then remove from the pan and put to one side.  Add the butter to the pan and once it is hot, add, add the sage and fry until it is crispy and the butter is light brown.  Keep the heat low for this last bit and take the pan off as soon as you see the butter turn brown as it can burn really quickly.

Ladle into bowls and top with the sage and hazelnut brown butter.

(Taken from Anna Jones, A modern way to eat published by Fourth Estate, an imprint of Harper Collins publishers.)

It is a hearty winter warmer and what really makes it totally delicious are the sage, brown butter and hazelnut topping.

Just to note that we substituted the leeks for shallots this time as we didn't have any and also we used cannelini beans this time as we had no butterbeans. It worked similarly.

What do you think?

Would you try this?

x

Julie's list:

• Letterbox
• Something handcrafted for Christmas
• Favourite Christmas recipe
• Christmas book(s)
• Stained glass window
• Robin
• Bell(s)
• Sleigh
• Christmas Bauble
• Holly and Ivy
• Snowman
• Angel
• First Christmas card received in the post
• Christmas crackers
• Tree before dressed
• Tree after dressed
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Mistletoe
• Stocking or Christmas Sack/Bag
• Wrapped present(s)
• Winter
• Father Christmas
• Nativity
• The Night Before Christmas

TARDIS Tuesday- Cold War mark 2

Hello All,
Hope that you are well!

Image borrowed from
https://joediliberto.wordpress.com/2013/04/23/doctor-who-7-8-cold-war/

Today, I didn't really have time to do a proper TARDIS Tuesday, so I thought I'd share a silly set of photos I took.

 My dress is by Vivienne Westwood and looks remarkably similar in shape! It was a case of putting it on and tying up my wet hair with some anguished facial expressions!

 I will try to take some more photos of this with the shoes etc another time but thought this would suffice for the moment!

Hope you had an enjoyable day!

x

Advent Calendar Scavenger Hunt Day 9- Christmas Bauble

Sorry about the delay yesterday! I had a very traumatic day in terms of trying to do things that conspired against me.  Luckily, all is well now!

Today's choice for Julie's advent Calendar challenge is Christmas Bauble.

When I was a little girl, my Mum used to send us upstairs to our bedroom when she was going to put the Christmas tree up and all the decorations.  When we came down, it was all a wonderful surprise.

The thing I loved about our tree was all the different individual decorations, collected lovingly over the years.  I always used to think it looked fantastic!  There was a teddy with a Santa hat on and numerous other unique decorations.  It was never really a tree of uniformity or baubles so that's what I tend to like when I think of my tastes in Christmas trees. CBC and I didn't have a Christmas tree last year or this year as we thought we were moving both times (this time yes!).  We did have one twice or so at our previous rental home- our landlord had left his fake tree in our loft so we dragged that down twice and then CBC bought a real tree once..  It ended covered in a motley collection of different ornaments including the Christmas Hyena.

Our ornaments, since we have moved to this bungalow, have sat in a black canvas shoulder bag with a shoe box in it behind the electric arm-chair- we have one of those mobility ones for assisting a senior citizen in leaving their chair.

I went to have a root around in the bag and I pulled these out to share.

 These are mock-Faberge egg decorations that I found in my Grandad's house when we were clearing it out.  They were all in their wrappers still and I found them charming and saved them.  He never used them, they must have either been ordered from some catalogue or other or been given as some sort of free-gift.

On the other side, you can see the patterns. They are pretty robust.   They make me think of one of the Christmas presents Grandad gave me a few years before he died- it was a Faberge music box which played a theme from Stravinsky's firebird.  It was a charming present and thus reminded me of these baubles.

When we have our first Christmas in our new home (next year), I will place them on the tree with a thank you to my Grandad for his decorations and his posthumous assistance in allowing us to buy our lovely house.

Julie's list:

• Letterbox
• Something handcrafted for Christmas
• Favourite Christmas recipe
• Christmas book(s)
• Stained glass window
• Robin
• Bell(s)
• Sleigh
• Christmas Bauble
• Holly and Ivy
• Snowman
• Angel
• First Christmas card received in the post
• Christmas crackers
• Tree before dressed
• Tree after dressed
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Mistletoe
• Stocking or Christmas Sack/Bag
• Wrapped present(s)
• Winter
• Father Christmas
• Nativity
• The Night Before Christmas
  
  
  
  

A pause for Advent- Simplicity

Simplicity.  As CBC and I awoke this morning to a layer of snow, marvelling over it, CBC began practising his poetry reading for 'Poetry by heart' a competition they have at his school.
He was reading this poem,

Bredon Hill

A.E. Housman

In summertime on Bredon
The bells they sound so clear;
Round both the shires they ring them
In steeples far and near,
A happy noise to hear.

Here of a Sunday morning
My love and I would lie,
And see the coloured counties,
And hear the larks so high
About us in the sky.

The bells would ring to call her
In valleys miles away:
"Come all to church, good people;
Good people, come and pray."
But here my love would stay.

And I would turn and answer
Among the springing thyme,
"Oh, peal upon our wedding,
And we will hear the chime,
And come to church in time."

But when the snows at Christmas
On Bredon top were strown,
My love rose up so early
And stole out unbeknown
And went to church alone.

They tolled the one bell only,
Groom there was none to see,
The mourners followed after,
And so to church went she,
And would not wait for me.

The bells they sound on Bredon,
And still the steeples hum.
"Come all to church, good people,"—
Oh, noisy bells, be dumb;
I hear you, I will come.

Source of Poem: Rewardinglearning.co.uk

He had decided to read this poem for it as it is the poem that Vaughn Williams used for his piece for Voice and Piano, On Bredon Hill. He's been studying the music with his A'level students.

He played the music and we listened to it as he read the poem.  Hearing the music of Vaughn-Williams made me slightly tearful.  There is something within it that takes me back to a time and place of simplicity and beauty.

And then I think of the world with its chaos leading up to Christmas, more and more is dumped upon the build up to Christmas- gift advent calendars, shopping events, numerous Christmas events, more and more marketing, meet-ups, events, busyness, charity-events- yes, much of it is pleasant and enjoyable and I love to take part, but I do yearn for that simplicity which is conveyed so well in this song.  The poem is, essentially, rather sad, but I do think there is a hope at the end of it.

For me, that simplicity takes place in a draughty old cattle shed with straw and a tiny baby.  When so much is over-complicated, such as diplomatic mistakes made by oafs in power, I hold that in my heart as the key to simplicity.  Perhaps that is not you but do you not long for it all to be simpler again?

xx

This is my Pause for Advent with Ang et al.

Advent Calendar Scavenger Hunt Day 8- Winter

WINTER is coming! Or, rather, it is HERE!
We woke up to find it had snowed through the night and the outside world was blanketed in a new coat of the finest, soft, white snow.

We have had snow once before since living here but it is the first time it has really settled in the daylight. Doesn't our lovely long garden look a picture.

 I also liked how the breezeblock and iron gate look with a sprinkling of snow too. You can see my leeks in the pots to the left bottom which are covered in a layer.

Sadly, the carol service at church was cancelled tonight because of the risk of older people getting there. I am rather sad as it will probably be my last Christmas at this church since it seems we shall complete on our house within the week! Chris, who organises the Christmas music has extracted a promise from me to come and play at the Christmas carol service next year, even if I am at a different church which seems likely as we will live at least a 20minute train journey away as well as 1mile walk at either end.

I confess to feeling anxious about the journey to work in the morning as I have two trains and two lots of walking and I shall have luggage with me tomorrow and also anxious about the fact I am about to part with vast quantities of money to the solicitors!

Hope you are well and the winter is not causing you disruption!
xx



Julie's list:

• Letterbox
• Something handcrafted for Christmas
• Favourite Christmas recipe
• Christmas book(s)
• Stained glass window
• Robin
• Bell(s)
• Sleigh
• Christmas Bauble
• Holly and Ivy
• Snowman
• Angel
• First Christmas card received in the post
• Christmas crackers
• Tree before dressed
• Tree after dressed
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Mistletoe
• Stocking or Christmas Sack/Bag
• Wrapped present(s)
• Winter
• Father Christmas
• Nativity
• The Night Before Christmas

Advent Calendar Scavenger Hunt- Day 7- Holly and Ivy

What is your view of modern tune versions of traditional carols? For me, I often like both versions or occasionally prefer the older version. I even wrote my own new version of the traditional carol 'While Shepherds watched their flocks' last year which I definitely prefer to the traditional one for the simple reason that I just find the original tune a dirge and I find  it drags on, not because mine is particularly good.  You can hear it here if you want!

One carol, I definitely prefer the modern version of is The Holly and the Ivy.  I like the traditional carol but this modern version by John Gardner is fun and a perky and it has a nice round in the middle!  It is performed here by the Huddersfield Choral Society!

Julie's list:

• Letterbox
• Something handcrafted for Christmas
• Favourite Christmas recipe
• Christmas book(s)
• Stained glass window
• Robin
• Bell(s)
• Sleigh
• Christmas Bauble
• Holly and Ivy
• Snowman
• Angel
• First Christmas card received in the post
• Christmas crackers
• Tree before dressed
• Tree after dressed
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Mistletoe
• Stocking or Christmas Sack/Bag
• Wrapped present(s)
• Winter
• Father Christmas
• Nativity
• The Night Before Christmas

Advent Scavenger Hunt Days 5-6- Stocking or Christmas Sack and favourite Christmas book

Stocking or Christmas Sack

There are so many beautifully manicured Christmas trees around with pristene, immaculate decorations which are gorgeous to look at but what I love is a bit of child-made sparkle. I hasten to add that I do NOT like being the initiator or supervisor of such endeavours- I shudder when anyone says the word Papier-mache or glitter with children and crafts but it is nice to see simple, hand-made decorations by children. My church likes to have its tree decorated with hand-made decorations by all the different schools and uniformed groups that use the hall.  

Day 6:

When thinking about my favourite Christmas Book, I have enjoyed many over the years- I loved Jostein Gaarder's The Christmas Mystery dfdfd and I loved Enid Blyton's Christmas stories omnibus.  Obviously, the Bible, for me, is great to read the original version of the Nativity.

But, I guess, my original favourite story at Christmas was my Dad's Enid Blyton advent calendar which came with a little passage to be read every day as you opened the window.

 This story, although technically not a book, epitomizes the excitement and anticipation of Advent for me. I adored being read it by my Dad when I was very young.

My Dad made me a copy of it as his one was getting very tatty and he knew how much I loved it.

What is your favourite Christmas story/Book?

Julie's list:

• Letterbox
• Something handcrafted for Christmas
• Favourite Christmas recipe
• Christmas book(s)
• Stained glass window
• Robin
• Bell(s)
• Sleigh
• Christmas Bauble
• Holly and Ivy
• Snowman
• Angel
• First Christmas card received in the post
• Christmas crackers
• Tree before dressed
• Tree after dressed
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Mistletoe
• Stocking or Christmas Sack/Bag
• Wrapped present(s)
• Winter
• Father Christmas
• Nativity
• The Night Before Christmas

Advent Calendar Scavenger hunt 2017 Day 4

Today, I am sharing 'STAINED GLASS' from the Advent Scavenger Hunt.

Here are two photos I shared before.  They are from the two cathedrals in Liverpool which I visited last Summer

This beautiful stained glass window was in the Anglican cathedral which was very impressive and beautiful with all its tiny intricate coloured hues.

However, it was the Catholic Cathedral which captured my heart with its serene and more simpler beauty to the extent that it made me cry. Here is the beautiful reflection of the blue stained glass.

Visit the original post to see more views of the cathedral.


xx

Julie's list:

• Letterbox
• Something handcrafted for Christmas
• Favourite Christmas recipe
• Christmas book(s)
• Stained glass window
• Robin
• Bell(s)
• Sleigh
• Christmas Bauble
• Holly and Ivy
• Snowman
• Angel
• First Christmas card received in the post
• Christmas crackers
• Tree before dressed
• Tree after dressed
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Mistletoe
• Stocking or Christmas Sack/Bag
• Wrapped present(s)
• Winter
• Father Christmas
• Nativity
• The Night Before Christmas

TARDIS Tuesday- Clara in Name of the Doctor

Hello there!

How are you?  Well, I hope. Although my singing voice is definitely not up to par and I am really trying hard not to lose it, plus the throat is sore- it is MUCH better than it was and my speaking voice is fairly normal now.

Anyway, I am going to catch up on my missing Advent posts all in one go tomorrow but here is my TARDIS Tuesday.  This was all a bit last minute as I failed to do it at the weekend.

Below is one of my favourite Clara outfits of all time.  This beautiful Tartan Hobbs dress is very much in my style.  Alas, it is hard to find second-hand and is usually very expensive.  I have gone through a few incarnations of this in TARDIS Tuesday but I am hoping this one is the best so far.

Image found on this Pinterest but belongs to the BBC

Here's my one..

It has taken a while to create after much sifting of tartan dresses on Ebay.  This one ended up costing me £4.50 including postage in the Summer.   I added the collar which was bought from Ebay.

Her real necklace is also from Hobbs and is a cute Dormouse but I just added the circle necklace I wore last week.

 A tea short seemed appropriate as I had been nursing a cup of tea as I completed various admin tasks at my desk after school including writing a musical reference for a pupil's secondary school application! I hope she gets in!

Image borrowed from The Mirror but ultimately belongs to the BBC

Much as I would love to own the real dress, I do like this alt and a nice girl told me I looked beautiful today in it which was very sweet! I think most people were astounded by seeing the legs! I usually wear leggings.  Fear not though, I was wearing shorts underneath the dress!

This was one of those 'Denouement' episodes where all was revealed about who Clara really was, so it was a huge deal when it showed!

What do you think of this outfit....or that episode?!

xx

Style Imitating Art- Celestial skies

jghg
I have failed to be organised enough to come up with an outfit for Style Imitating Art for a good few weeks so I am pleased to have remembered this time!  Erin at Loop Looks chose this image for our inspiration this time.

Source by M.Caballero

Isn't it a beautiful sky!  I knew INSTANTLY what I was going to wear.  I have this Miss Patina unicorn-collared top with Constellation and starry print (with cute starry buttons!) so I knew that this was perfect! Bizarrely it looks blue in this picture whereas it is more purply in real life.

Black Merino wool thermal long johns from Aldi plus an old black skirt were included to represent the silhouette colours and I just added the brown boots because. Black would have been better but I was in a hurry on Sunday morning!

 Here's a close-up of the shirt. Alas, I had positioned the collar wrong so the Unicorn's face is obscured. Not to worry- he's not really necessary for this interpretation.

What do you think?  Head to Erin's blog to see how others interpreted this picture.

What would you have worn from your wardrobe for this?

xx

Advent Calendar Scavenger Hunt 2017 Day 3-BELL and a Pause for Advent

Today, for my Advent Calendar with Julie, I thought I'd take the word, 'Bell(s)' and interpret it slightly differently!  The funnel-shaped part of any Brass instrument is called, "The Bell", so I thought I'd share the triple Silver Bells from these instruments in the Brass Band who were playing Good King Wenceslas as I walked past.   They appeared to be the size of Tubas when I walked past, but in this picture, they seem smaller. I'll say they are Tubas but they might be Euphoniums!
I do love it when the Salvation Army and similar set up in town and play. Although I am a wind player primarily, I do like the sound of a Brass Band!

And onto Part 2...

I often can't help but hear the plaintive cry of, "I'm not ready for Christmas!" when it is the lead up to Christmas.  I often am surprised at this and wonder how that is possible but I do realise that I am
a) not organising or hosting a Christmas celebration with numerous family etc.
b) the mother of children (Obviously the 'Mother of ' should be followed by children, not 'aliens' or any other word, but I felt the need to add that!)
c) someone with vast numbers of friends and social occasions.
d) someone who needs to 'Keep up with the Jones'

Advent is of course, in the true sense, a time of Preparation- a time of getting ready for Jesus to come.  What should that readiness mean?
It means making my/our life ready for Jesus.  Making sure that he doesn't come and I am not ready for it. Expecting him and being glad when he comes and saying, "Yes, this is the right time, I have done all you have asked me."  It was described also as being a time of looking and waiting for opportunities for God to direct us in the Big things as well as the Small things.
Some ideas for how to prepare for Advent were suggested today which I liked.
It mean taking the time to be there and talk to friends who have problems and being there for then?
Responding to the call for a charity I might see on TV.
Saying yes to helping with someone I might not otherwise want to do.
Taking the time to pray for something important.

One thing that was said that I loved was,
"Don't let the size of the problem defeat our willingness to pray."

I like that a lot.  Never mind the size, just pray.  And do what we can.

If I don't manage to buy presents for everyone, get a tree up (not happening with house move- hopefully...), it doesn't matter- other preparations are more important!

What about you? Do you feel ready for Christmas?

xxx

P.S.  Wanted to share this lovely post written by Sandra on Preparing for Christmas and Self-care

Julie's list:

• Letterbox
• Something handcrafted for Christmas
• Favourite Christmas recipe
• Christmas book(s)
• Stained glass window
• Robin
• Bell(s)
• Sleigh
• Christmas Bauble
• Holly and Ivy
• Snowman
• Angel
• First Christmas card received in the post
• Christmas crackers
• Tree before dressed
• Tree after dressed
• Christmas wrapping paper
• Mistletoe
• Stocking or Christmas Sack/Bag
• Wrapped present(s)
• Winter
• Father Christmas
• Nativity
• The Night Before Christmas