From the Archives: Unusual Christmas Presents from 2013 5& 6

   Happy Betwixmas my lovelies!

In case you missed the previous two posts,  it's been 10 years since CBC and I got married and I wrote blog posts every day of Christmas from my first year of marriage!

I thought it would be fun to share them but I left it a bit late so I will share two each day until twelfth night!

The Fifth day of Christmas:

We woke really late after swing dancing so late and I confess I was in a complete grump. I had a headache after such a late night. Stomping around teh house, preparing to go round to a friend's, I was obviously not fun to be around so my husband called me to join him over by his computer where he was checking his e-mails.
"What?" I huffed, sitting down grumpily.
"I've got something to cheer you up," he smiled at me encouragingly, immediately makign me feel guilty for being so stroppy. "Oh?" I enquired, thawing a little. He handed me a tiny wrapped cube box which was remarkably hard to unwrap. "Use enough sellotape?" I muttered as my stubby fingernails scrabbled uselessly against the inpenetrable parcel.

Eventually, the target was breached and I opened a black velvet box to reveal a ring consisting of 5 very thin bands in varied shades of gold from silvery white gold through shades of yellow to rose gold. I was sure I'd seen it on a blog before in someone's wishlist, perhaps the Twobirds or Alex Oddsocks or perhaps just something on Etsy? It was very pretty and I worried it had cost a lot. "Look, it seperates into 5 tiny rings" he showed me, eagerly pulling apart the stacking rings. "You can wear just one or any combination!" he continued.
He doesn't usually buy me jewellery so it certainly was a surprise. And as I sat there playing wiht my gold rings, I suddenly noticed that my bad mood had dissipated. That did well once again. Five days in, I wondered if he'd manage to keep up the originality in his daily gifts.

The Sixth day of Christmas:

This morning, the family and I enjoyed a particularly fine breakfast, courtesy of my husband's Christmas creativity. I came down to breakfast first with my father-in-law and enjoyed a small bowl of porridge. Suddenly, my husband bounded in through the front door, slamming it carelessly as he did so. He handed me a rather large egg box, unwrapped.

I opened the box and inside, found 6 large goose eggs Atop each of these was a knitted egg-cosy made to resemble a goose! Admittedly, they did look a bit duck-like and were all white with white necks and little stubby wings with orange beaks and black pin-stitch eyes. As I carefully lifted one of these eggs dressed in its egg cosy, I laughed out loud as it did genuinely look like an enormous egg was coming out of the goose's bottom!

Once the entire family was down, we cooked up a large pan of scrambled eggs and a pile of buttered toast with a generous pot of tea and sat down to breakfast together. Such a luxury to sit down to a breakfast with those I love. I'm definitely trying to avoid thinking about the return to work when breakfast is a hasty 5-minute porridge-gobble.We all had a good laugh at those egg cosies and sat them atop the slightly more modest looking hen eggs that were sitting on the worktop. Hmmm, 6 hens a laying doesn't sound quite so funny.

From the Archives: Unusual Christmas Presents from 2013 3 & 4

  Happy Betwixmas my lovelies!

In case you missed the previous post,  it's been 10 years since CBC and I got married and I wrote blog posts every day of Christmas from my first year of marriage!

I thought it would be fun to share them but I left it a bit late so I will share two each day until twelfth night!

The Third day of Christmas:

By the time it had reached mid-morning and I had got out of bed and breakfasted, I thought at first that my darling husband had forgotten his promise of a gift a day but luckily he turned up with a rectangular box wrapped in red paper with white and blue polka dots on!
"Ooooh, what is it?" I exclaimed gleefull, grasping it and instantly shaking it.
"DON'T!" he cried, panicked and stilled my hands with his.
I set it down and unwrapped, noticing too late, the Fragile, handle with care label. Inside a cardboard box filled with shredded paper, I found 3 tiny porcelain models of hens- one pecking, one in a scratching-the-ground pose and a 3rd which was seated like it was laying eggs. "Oh!" I gasped in remembrance and joy, having spotted these figurines in an antique/second hand shop in Lotte-et-Gerond, France a year and a half ago when we holidayed there in a cottage. I'd reluctantly put them down, realising that ornaments gather dust and I was supposed to be getting rid of things, not buying them. How thoughtful of him to remember my hens!

My hen figurines will sit proudly on our fireplace! Ooh, I forgot to mention that the partridge was delicious! One to cook again, methinks!

The Fourth Day of Christmas:

Thank you for your recent comments. In the interests of fair game, I should point out the interesting absence of my camera at the moment ;-) In addition, my love of creative writing and books!!!!

We had a lovely day hitting the sales in town I bought a couple of items- a dress and some books - but not so much! I didn't receive my Christmas surprise until the evening and was curious as to know why.

It reached 6 o'clock and my husband suggested we go and have a bite to eat. As we finished our loaded jacket potatoes, he pulled out a red envelope and slid it over to me. Curiously, I opened it up to reveal 2 tickets to a swing-dance night with a new live band called 'The calling birds'- an Andrews sisters-style line-up with accompanying swing-band. This was their debut gig! I was overjoyed to be going swing-dancing and with an amazing live-band! At which point, I looked dismayedly at my trousers and rabbit jumper. But my love had thought of everything and pulled out a bag containing my red and white swing dress so I could dress up.

We headed off to a nice bar where the swing evening was being held. The Calling Birds were fantastic singing many of my favourite Andrews sisters classics. We danced and danced to their dulcet tones which I hope means that my husband won't be so reluctant to go swing dancing in the new year.

I write this on the train as I come home and I confess, I can hardly keep my eyes open! All in all, today was the best present so far!

From the Archives: Unusual Christmas Presents from 2013 1 & 2

 Happy Betwixmas my lovelies!

Thank you so the lovely response to my Christmas song- you are kind!

It's been 10 years since CBC and I got married and I wrote blog posts every day of Christmas from my first year of marriage!

I thought it would be fun to share them but I left it a bit late so I will share two each day until twelfth night!

Much love to you.

x

The first day of Christmas:

Happy Christmas to all you- far and wide! May you be blessed in all you do! So this morning on this Christmas day, my husband declared to me that he would be distributing my presents to me daily over the holidays so that I might feel special and loved in our first year of marriage and have something to look forward to each day, to avoid the end-of-Christmas gloom. "How thoughtful!" I thought to myself. Though I must confess that I hoped this wouldn't mean he was doling out a bag of chocolate coins piece-by-piece but that there wuld be some delightful treats sent my way. Still, mustn't be ungrateful. I appreciate the gesture.
He promised faithfully that these woud find their way to me even if he was out.


As we sat there in front of the Christmas tree, I waited with anticipation, the glittering lights reflecting in my gleeful eyes. My present was quite large- a box shape! I was very excited at what it might be and tore the metallic wrapping off in a flurry! My husband is very keen on cooking with fresh ingredients and good quality ones and trying new culinary delicacies, so I wasn't surprised when I opened the parcel to discover a hand-written recipe on a scroll of paper for Roast partridge in pear sauce - something that sounded most delightful! Moreover, he'd provided me with a miniature fruit tree from which I could pluck the ingredients myself in order to make the sauce and then enjoy in the garden once planted. Beside the tree in the box was a fresh organic joint of the meat. I hope he's kept it cold.

What a delightful and original present! One I can make myself! Good start my lovely!

The Second Day of Christmas:

This Boxing Day morning, I was all in a flutter wondering what my true-hearted dear husband would turn up with for my holiday Christmas present today? It's really lovely having something to look forward to. He bumbled into the bedroom at 7am where I was to be found drinking tea in bed, reading Georgette Heyer.

Handing me a smallish, flat parcel wrapped in grey tissue paper, he said, "Something for our tree." I haven't really mentioned that we have a pretty bare tree this year as it is our first Christmas together and we don't have a lot of money for decorations. We're actually using our landlord's old tree. Anyway, I digress. I pulled off the silver ribbon adn ripped the paper off to reveal 2 darling Christmas ornaments of 2 doves with their beaks touching- I'm not sure which species of dove they may bell: turtle or Collardoves maybe? I am hazy on my birds. They were grey with soft brown and black wings crafted from feathers, with a little stripe near their neck. They had kind eyes and a touch of glitter hanging from a loop of white ribbon. They were not at all tacky but sweet, delicate and well-crafted. I ran down to test my doves on the Christmas tree. Such a little present but oh so thoughtful! I may not be an ornithologist but I adore bird-themed items!

Star in the Sky!

 Hello my lovely blog friends!

Sending you much love and best wishes for a blessed and peaceful Christmas.  Not too busy, not lonely, not too much, not too little but a Christmas of contentment, a Christmas of enough a Christmas of hope and light, a Christmas of knowing your worth and importance to others.  I am thankful for what I have this year, particularly in light of such a sadness and difficulties others face.

As is my annual tradition, I wrote a song for my school which I always share here as part of my Advent.

Every year, I say that it is one of my favourite traditions. I share it here not for praise, I don't share it here for comments (though any feedback or criticism is always welcome!) but for the mere act of sharing something I have created. I know that sometimes, some lyrics or music speak to individuals in the moment they are in and that is enough for me.

Last year, I had intended to write a song about the Star but it eluded me and my ode to Psalm 150 came instead.  I didn't know where this song was going when I wrote it but I intended it to start with solos of the wise men/individuals pondering the arrival of the new star and what it meant which would then segue into a slightly faster section.  This year, the fast section came to me when hoovering the house.  I then had to try and remember what I was singing and try to record it before I forgot it so I would have time to notate it at a later date and work out the piano accompaniment.  The children really liked it (in the words of N, "I cannot believe you wrote that!") and particularly all clamoured for the solos (The beginning section and the coda at the end are solos).  I wish I could have shared the recording of the children singing it (the four soloists all had such beautiful, sweet voices) but I had a bit of  a technology fail on the day and I am not sure how to get it off my iPad from the whole recording).  So instead, you have me singing it with accompaniment of Police car siren in verse 3 plus a slight mistake on the lyrics! It's not the finest recording or rendition but I hope it shows enough.

New star in the sky, what does it mean?

New star in the sky, we have all seen.

New star in the sky, what does it mean?

New star in the sky, burning bright on high,

What does it mean?

Star-light lead us,  star-light teach us,

Guide our foot-steps, be our bea- con

We'll keep faithful to this journey!

Seek the message and find the new king!

Bright star in the heav'ns for a new king,

Bright star in the heav'ns to it we sing,

Bright star in the heavn's, gifts we will bring,

Bright star in the heavn's on it we depend

For a true King.

Starlight lead us...

Great light in the realms bringing us hope,

Great light in the realms bringing us hope,

Great light in the realms bringing us hope,

Great light in the realms, you are at our helm

Bringing us hope,

Starlight lead us...

Gleaming star of joy, guiding our hearts

Gleaming star of joy, playing its part

Gleaming star of joy, we must depart

Gleaming star of joy, for a baby boy,

Guiding our hearts.

Gleaming star of joy, for a baby boy,

Guiding our hearts

(C) Music and Lyrics Copyright K.Allin 2023

If you wish to hear any previous songs, here are the links to some of them.

I worked out I've written 17 songs (as long as I've not forgotten any!) over the years though not all of them are recorded or on here.  Do you have a suggestion for an aspect of the Christmas story I should write about next year?

Much love,

Kezzie x

Sing a song of Celebration

Joy

Hope this Christmas

Love is all you need

Mary 

Feel the Christmas beat

Join in our story

Ring out the bells

Shepherds Swing

The innkeepers rant

Lollies and foxes

 I haven't shared an outfit outside of TARDIS Tuesday for a little while so here's an outfit from last Saturday night.  CBC's mum and brother were staying with us- it's the first time we've had both our spare rooms used for guests- the sofa bed got its first outing!  We went to our favourite Thai restaurant for dinner after I had played for my church carol service.  I'd been wearing a large amount of clothes for church as it was outside but not I needed to wear something more stylish.  CBC's colleague says I need an intervention as we go to this Thai restaurant so much!

I wore this lovely dress from Palava Folk which features lollypops! It's made of 100% cotton and is beautiful.  My iridescent snowflake necklace gave me some sparkles.

I decided I wanted to wear my fox shoes from Love Hetty and Dave since I was going in the car and only walking from the car.

Wrapped up in my sheepskin jacket (charity shopped from the Dogs Trust about 5 years ago) and a lovely orange hat that CBC bought me for Christmas a few years ago.

Hope you are well!

xx

Riu Riu Chiu from the Monkees

 In CBC's Carol service, we sang a Spanish carol called Riu Ritu Chiu.   

I only had a quick chance to look at it before the service so it was a bit nerve-wracking singing it as I was sightreading in bass clef and reading Spanish words I had no idea how to pronounce.

I happened to google it to see if I could listen to it and I found that it was sung by one my mum's favourite bands, The Monkees as part of their Christmas show in 1967.  They sang it unaccompanied by instruments in harmony.

The origin of the song sometimes has been attributed to one Mateo Flecha who died in 1553 (Renaissance era)  although some have described it as anonymous.  

It was really effective in the carol service

It's quite exciting to discover a new Christmas carol/song I did not know!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday - Yaz Khan from the Ghost Monument

Good evening!  Greetings from a very tired me on the penultimate day of term.  I needed a quick outfit for TARDIS Tuesday and I realised I had the perfect outfit which could be interpreted as Christmas jumper outfit...sort of!

I last wore this outfit on the blog in November 2020 (and first in January 2020)- I have worn this outfit outside of the blog but not shared online.  It was worn by Yasmin Khan in her second episode, The Ghost Monument.

It's a standard Yasmkin Khan outfit- leather jacket, jumper, jeans and trainers.  Her jumper is from Mint Velvet and her jacket from All Saints.

Here's today's  version.   For the first time since I last wore this, I can actually find my orange jumper! I originally had a red one but bought an orange one but it kept hiding when I wanted to wear it for a photo. It's a bit bigger but is warm and comfy. 

The rest of the outfit is not particularly interesting- I wore black trousers and boots, rather than trousers and jeans so it worked for school.

My trusty River Island leather jacket to the rescue again!

Had a really funny thing happen today.  We had an online Zoom assembly which I had to have with my year 1 class last lesson.  At the end, everyone left and I hadn't managed to press the Leave button.  Suddenly, our teacher said, "Hello, are you still here? Shall I continue my story?".

He then proceeded to tell us a story about a little boy in his house who tries porridge and chairs and gets visited by Red Riding Hood, a Wolf, 3 pigs.  Just as it got exciting, he had to go. 

It was so surreal and funny and I have no idea why it happened but it was brilliant!

CBC's carol service went really well last night! I was super proud of him!

xxx

Bethlehem Down

 I have sung many carols and Christmas hymns over the years.

When I was in my 20's, I asked our dear family friend, Auntie Norma what her favourite carol was.

She replied, "Bethlehem Down."  I went to look for it and learnt it.  One of our Midnight services, I sang this as a solo.  Oh, how I miss being at midnight communion on Christmas eve at that church. I was at my childhood church for my 2 school carol services yesterday for our first carol service actually to parents since 2019. It was a joy!  All the children were allowed to go, the children behaved very well and sang really excellently.  I was so surprised how good they sounded, especially Year 5-6 who really sang wonderfully!  Many parents came to watch and seemed very pleased and delighted with the performance. In the evening, I went to London to perform Holst's Planets suite with Orchestra of the City.  It was wonderful. I played the 4th flute part which has a wonderful alto flute part in Neptune. I finish off the whole piece with a solo played ever so quietly. What a privilege!

Anyway,back to the point, I went to go and listen to Bethlehem Down again

When He is King we will give him the King's gifts,
Myrrh for its sweetness, and gold for a crown,
"Beautiful robes", said the young girl to Joseph
Fair with her first-born on Bethlehem Down.

Bethlehem Down is full of the starlight
Winds for the spices, and stars for the gold,
Mary for sleep, and for lullaby music
Songs of a shepherd by Bethlehem fold.

When He is King they will clothe Him in grave-sheets,
Myrrh for embalming, and wood for a crown,
He that lies now in the white arms of Mary
Sleeping so lightly on Bethlehem Down.

Here He has peace and a short while for dreaming,
Close-huddled oxen to keep Him from cold,
Mary for love, and for lullaby music
Songs of a shepherd by Bethlehem fold.

Such beautiful lyrics by Bruce Blunt and music by Peter Warlock.  The carol was composed in 1927.  I really like it because it has medieval modality (this means it is based on a particular set of notes used within the Medieval era as well as using more modern Chromatic notes and the melody is varied.  

I hope you enjoy it too.

xx

sdsds

TARDIS TEASDAY Name of the Doctor

Today's outfit inspiration was last featured on here in March 2022 and was one of my first favourite Clara Oswald outfits from when I first started TARDIS Tuesday.  It has featured several iterations on this here blog

Image borrowed from:
The Ultimate guide to the fashion of Doctor Who

This is SUCH an iconic Clara look. 

A cute tartan dress from NW3 Hobbs, a dormouse necklace also from Hobbs, some burgundy wedge shoes from F Troupe and some opaque tights.

So here's my 2023 iteration:

I LOVE this dress!

There's not a huge amount to say about the outfit that is any different from last time except that I really do love this dress. It's classic, comfortable but looks cute.  I count myself very lucky to have been able to find this dress in my size for not too much and I thought it was the perfect choice for our excursion on Saturday.

To finish the look, I added my handmade dormouse necklace from My Pretty Little Earth.  I decided to wear my maroon Clarks brogue boots as I wanted to keep my feet nice and cosy.

So where did I wear this outfit?

Well, we went back to Mrs Salisbury's in Maldon for Christmas Afternoon tea.

This time last year, we went there for afternoon tea with my Dad, Stepmum and Sister. I dressed as Matt Smith's Doctor in an outfit he wears to accompany Clara in this outfit.

Mrs Salisbury's a wonderful tearoom and cafe in Maldon town centre in Essex and they do Christmas AMAZINGLY!

CBC's younger sister and her husband were supposed to be coming to us this weekend and we had booked to take them to afternoon tea at Mrs Salisbury.  Alas, her husband became very ill on Friday night so they were unable to come. We tried to find someone else to take their space but sadly, were not able to find someone.  

Here was our delicious tea.  CBC had the pescetarian version and I had the regular one.

We each received 6 sandwiches each, I had a pig in blanket, he had a prawn cocktail, we both had a salmon and cream-cheese roll, a scone each, shortbread, clementine tart, mint chocolate mousse, blackberry pavlova and red velvet cake.

We had a hot drink on arrival. I had spiced apple, CBC had Winter Pimms (you could also have Prosecco). We ended up with an extra glass for free as there was a slight mixup with our food order.

Unlimited tea - I had Chocolate-and-coconut and Jasmine Pearl.

Here's how the entrance looks. This place is called Bright's Path.  Doesn't it look magical.

Here's us at our table. We had a nice view down into their new orangery where there were more people enjoying their tea.

My favourite part was the sandwiches.  I actually didn't eat any of my cakes or scone, just my sandwiches and savouries plus the mint chocolate mousse.  We took the rest home in my three handy plastic tubs I came prepared with.

We were really sad that J and S weren't able to come and stay with us, J said she felt like Cinderella all day.  I'm glad that CBC and I were still able to to enjoy our tea. On the way home, we went over to visit our friend N and spent the evening with him.

On Sunday, I had an orchestra concert in Woodford which went well but unfortunately, I started to get a a cough and chest on Friday night.  Today, I've struggled with my voice at school - you really need a voice to teach my job. I hope I can get through these next few days!

 

Hope all is well with you!

Just a label?

 I had a really nice surprise today!

There's a younger work colleague, who I've recently become closer to. She was really kind to me last year when I was suffering from 2 years of no room and at the end of the year, she included me in team celebrations, let me leave things in her room, constantly let me walk through her classroom with instruments, listened in sympathy.  She was still quite reserved when it came to talking about things as I know she doesn't trust lots of people and is very professional at keeping things to herself.  I sent her a card telling her how much I appreciated her friendship at the end of the year.  This academic year, we've been sounding boards for each other a few times and there has felt a genuine warmth  and trust there which I've been grateful for.

Unexpectedly, this morning, when I did my usual cut through her room, she said she had something for me.  When I came back, she said she saw it and had to buy it for me! I was so touched.  I asked if I could open it on Christmas day to which she acquiesced.

When I got back to my room, I looked at the labels.

What a lovely label and the back was so thoughtful. She knows I am very much hot on the eco thing!

What a thoughtful message, one which gave me a lovely cosy shine throughout the remainder of the day! I'm grateful for her friendship!

xx

Train announcements

 Today was a train strike day. My line, thankfully had trains but only one an hour, the first one at 8.21 so I didn't get into school till 9.20am and went straight into Singing assembly. Twas all a bit frantic.

The 8.21 was UNBELIEVABLY FULL! 

What made it more tolerable was the hilarious train driver announcements which he made at every station.

I thought I'd share them:

 "If you can't get onto the roof of this train, there's another one in 15mins..." . 

"Please make every effort to move as far along the train as is inhumanely possible."

 "Please remove all obstructions from the door- arms, coats, legs, sleeves, bags, bicycle wheels so I can shut the doors!"

"I think we can safely say that this train is full. There is another one in 15 mins and if I can't shut the doors, we are not going anywhere!". 

"Please note if that if the doors can't shut, they will break and we are definitely going no where and the train that is 15mins behind will be 20mins behind."

" Bored of this announcement! If you can hear me on the platform, this train is full. There's no way you're getting on this train as everyone has moved down as far as possible. There's another one 15mins behind. If you block the doors we'll be here for even longer so please don't try it!" 

"We'll try that one again: please stand clear of the doors!"

By the time I reached my interchange station, I had no idea how I'd get off but miraculously, the other commuters parted like the Red Sea so I could make an exit. I thanked them profusely!

It made a stressful journey not so bad!

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!

 One thing I miss about church in my old home town is the Advent hymns we always sang.

My favourite was O Come, O come, Emmanuel.     It's been a couple of years since I've had the opportunity to sing this.

The song is a hymn sung for over a thousand years, originally sung in the Medieval era by nuns and monks or so I believe.

In this version here, the verses are sung in a variety of ways.

The first verse is Homophonic- meaning the melody is accompanied by block chords that mainly fit with the main melody.

The second verse is technically sung in polyphony with a few moments of monophony- the melody is sung in a sort of canon  between men and women with moments where the voices unite at the same time.

The third verse features female voices accompanied by a solo oboe in a counter melody.

The fourth verse is again a polyphonic texture with men and women in a quasi-canon and unison moments.

The final verse unites the voices, organ and oboe - voices in unison with chords and the oboe countermelody.

I love the way the final chord is a Tierce da Picadie meaning that the song was in a minor key (sounds sad) but the final chord raises the middle note of the chord a semitone (half step) higher so it becomes major, sounding happy!

Advent 1: Hope

 I don't know about you, but the coming of Christmas, for me, is about Hope! Hope that the darkness will end, hope that something better is on the way, hope that I will see my family soon, hope that I will make it to the end of the term with my voice and help intact.

The first Sunday of Advent has always been about Hope.  The hope of the prophets that salvation was on its way, hope that what and who they had been waiting for, the Messiah, was coming as was foretold, hope in their Lord and saviour.

In a time and a world which feels very dark, I cling to that hope and that promise!

I thought I'd share one of my  Pause for Advent posts from 2016 which I thought was quite helpful:

Sometimes, it feels like things go wrong in December.  Everyone is tired and moody and longing for a break. The days are dark, long and gloomy.  We shiver around radiators, we long for light and hope.
It seems when things aren't going merrily at Christmas, life seems even harder. It feels personal. It feels like everyone else is rejoicing, being merry.

I remember when I was 22 and my boyfriend of 2.5 years split up with me 2 weeks before Christmas. EVERYTHING felt really hard that year. All my household was happy. Everything felt hard and new.  I remember keeping a brave face for everyone but it was really difficult. And all that was, was a break up from my boyfriend, imagine that it was a divorce, death, redundancy, cancer diagnosis- the outlook would have been bleaker.

Or it might be that you are teacher, particularly one dealing with pastoral care, it seems that the pupils are doing their utmost to get in trouble, argue, be nasty to each other, finding the SAME old issues keep coming up and don't seem to be resolved, you doubt yourself, wonder if you can keep doing this job, feel helpless or like giving up.

For all it is the most wonderful time of the year, folks can be generally mean and nasty to each other.
Imagine the family member left at home whilst the rest of the family are out playing, having fun, one can feel forsaken. One can imagine horrors and things going on that aren't true. I feel that sometimes, if the devil can find a chink in our armour, finds our insecurities, he plays on those, exasperates those fears and doubts and blows these up in our mind.

Or the anxiety of knowing you want to provide a wonderful time for your family, but the sheer fact that the sums won't add up and there's no money to pay for it.

Facing a first Christmas without a loved one. I am going to the carol service at my old church tonight and automatically started thinking of dropping in on Norma on my way there and remembering she is no longer with us.

I had started to think about writing this, about Christmas sometimes being difficult and then I saw Ang's Pause for Advent and discovered she had written about something similar.

She shared this wonderful poem which sums it up so evocatively:

Let the bells jingle but make time for tears to fall.

Eat, drink and be merry but do not go hungry in that inner place.

Rest, reflect and remember, Be true to yourself.

Many of us can't play happy families at this time of year.

December is for a difficult diagnosis as well as dreaming of a white Christmas

December is for divorce as well as decorations.

December is for death and dying as well as discos and dancing.

December is for distances that separate us from people,

even those in the same room.

Disappointment in December is especially hard to bear.

Sometimes the light no longer shines in the darkness.

The desolation swallows us up and we die a little.

Yet a kindly word, a bird in flight, a tree alive with hoar and hips

can drown out despair and kindle determination to move on.

Dig down deeper than the tinsel to the place where hope is found.

Maybe, just maybe, the flickering flame will be fanned gentle into fire.

And then when all is lost, all we have is hope.  A friend who is still up when you phone to share your doubts; a fellow teacher who understands the difficulty; a hug or the reassurance that all is not lost.
For me, Christmas is about hope. Christ came to bring hope to the world and for me personally.  I know that if all felt lost, he would be there for me.

There is HOPE at Christmas. A light in the darkness.

Love, peace and hope to you this year, whatever you are dealing with..

xxx

A day in London

 Today was our Christmas concert with my main orchestra, Kensington Chamber Orchestra.

We played a concert of Gluck, Handel, Pontivelli, Wagner and Tschaikovsky.

It was held in a beautiful but rather chilly church near Victoria, St Stephen's, Rochester Row.

Sadly, the church was having work done so I couldn't snap its exterior.

 There were some pretty interesting buildings on our way from the station.

I love the historic flanked by the modern. The urban landscape holds great interest to the historian. 

The pub in the front was the only surviving building on the street following the Blitz.

The Gluck is essentially a solo for flute with strings accompanying. I had to stand as soloist. 

It was the first time in opera that the flute had been used in a solo role like this.

Here's a photo from my seat. 

The Pontivelli Dance of the hours also featured many flute solos.

The conductor was Mark Biggins who did work as Chorus Master at ENO but is sadly moving to Geneva opera. He is excellent!

What a beautiful chancel

The organ is ornate too!

The pulpit is finely made too.

The church had a massive Gingko Biloba outside! I gathered some leaves to make a garland but CBC sad they are probably covered in dog wee. Hmmmm...

The concert was such a jolly affair and I'm  sad it is over! 

I've still got a few more to go. 

Forest Philharmonic next weekend in Woodford, Orchestra of the City the following week on the same day as my two carol performances at school and then Carols on the Green on the Saturday, the nativity on Sunday at church and then CBC's carol service at school the following week!

Phew!  I'm going to be tired by the time school ends on December the 20th! 

Hope you are well!

Xx

Guess the Christmas song-knitted edition

 Hi there,

There's a lovely charity shop near me that has a bench outside.  Every so often, the bench gets yarnbombed! 

Last Christmas, it was decorated with a patchwork of knitted scenes which depicted different Christmas carols.

Which ones can you spot?

TARDIS Tuesday 2nd post of the day- 60 years of Doctor Who

Last week, Doctor Who celebrated its 60th anniversary!

This programme was always been a part of my life.  It is one of my first memories actually. I have forgotten most of my early childhood. Even as a young child under 10, I had very dim recollections of anything before 5. Is this normal or was this just me?

Doctor Who episodes are one of the things I remember though. Vividly, I remember the episode, Mindwarp, in which Peri gets killed (or actually doesn't). I remember watching Doctor Who before that but remember no details except for Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant themselves.  I remember many, though not all of Sylvester McCoy's episodes.

One particular serial, The Curse of Fenric, set in WW2 in a town on the coast, cast itself onto my memory simply from the fact that it absolutely terrified me and I was terrified and, I think, scarred me a little.  These two girls get dragged under the water by a creature and when they emerge out of the water, they are vampiric with white faces, dark eyes and massive talons.  My rational mind knew they weren't real but still, part of me felt their presence any time I was in the dark.  Our tiny bathroom was a thin room which looked out directly onto my Mum's bedroom door. In the evenings, when I went to the bathroom, I had to sit in the bathroom with the door open, directly looking onto that doorway to ensure that the two girls wouldn't emerge out of it to get me.  This lasted a couple of years. At night, I would sleep with teddies around my head and at the sides beside me.  The terror slowly faded but was never forgotten. 

Doctor Who went off screen for a few years. I watched, and enjoyed some repeats of classic episodes I had never seen before, liking Jon Pertwee's era and Peter Davison's too.

In 1996, a TV movie was made of Doctor Who, casting Paul McGann as the Doctor. As a 15 year old, I was struck by this handsome hero and really started to gain an interest in Doctor Who.  For Christmas, my sister bought me the best present- a cheap video shop had opened in our town and was selling Doctor Who videos in it.  She bought me the TARDIS tin with 'A trial of a Timelord' in it.  Oh, how excited I was by this present!  I ended up buying more videos with my hard-earned cash from my job at the chip-shop. I'd spend my weekends watching these.

I began buying Doctor Who magazine, wrote a really cringy letter declaring my love for Paul McGann which was published!!! It kept the excitement alive with no no episodes of the horizon.

The next Christmas, my sister topped that present with a whole set of Vintage Target novelisations of classic stories she'd found in a  vintage bookshop!

I visited a small Scifi fair in a nearby town, went to the Who shop in East Ham with my friend Ruth, also a Doctor Who fan! Utter amazement at a whole shop stuffed full of memorabilia!  I longed for the TARDIS video cabinet!

I joined the DWAS- Doctor Who Appreciation society for a year.

In 1998, I plucked up the courage to book a ticket for the UK's largest Who convention in Coventry called Panopticon! I booked a coach to Coventry and went by myself, aged 17. I met various characters including Sophie Aldred, Sylvester McCoy, Nicholas Courtney, Colin Baker, Peter Davison, several Dalek operators, Elisabeth Sladen and gained autographs for them.  I seem to remember spending most of the day in queues on the staircase! Sophie Aldred admired my turquoise nail varnish. I wore my friend Sarah's cricket jumper in honour of Peter Davison.  I saw two of the employees from the Who shop I'd met at that first Sci-fi fair, Ollie and Jason- it was nice to see a familiar face!

That year, a new Doctor Who shop opened in Barking, not so far from where I lived, and they had lots of signings and things for sale!  It was a great, great shop and I was so sad when it eventually closed!  I remember having my photo taken with K9, AKA, John Leeson! They had these wonderful drawings made of the stars which you could buy to get signed!

I got busy with University so Doctor Who took a back seat for a few years.

When the new series began in 2004, it was an exciting time! Wonderfully, my little sister became interested in the show and we went to the Doctor Who exhibition in London as part of her birthday present! She recently sent me a picture of the two of us arm in arm with a Cyberman which I'd forgotten about!

It was around about October 2012 that I wore my first dress up (or cosplay in the modern vernacular) as a Doctor Who character- I made a Dalek dress as part of CBC's Robot party.   I was ridiculously happy with it!

A month later, inspired by my blog friend Melanie,  who had dressed up inspired by the classic Doctors, I put together my first outfit inspired by William Hartnell.

A week later, I dressed inspired by Tom Baker.

In January, I dressed inspired by John Pertwee!

My next post about Doctor Who didn't come until 2014, though it may have been mentioned! I wasn't watching it as I hadn't got a TV so missed most of Matt Smith's tenure!!

I shared my thoughts on Peter Capaldi, the new Doctor in 2014

October 2014, I wrote my first post on Clara Oswald who I dressed up as with items from my wardrobe!  Then I wore my second Clara inspired outfit!

I then got to know Maricel who introduced me to TARDIS Tuesday! She was so fun and tried to wear TARDIS blue on a Tuesday or an outfit inspired by a Character.I attempted to join in regularly! This was my first post mentioning TARDIS Tuesday and my  second post!

As with many bloggers, she eventually stopped posting which was sad.

But by then, I had discovered that one could find other Who fans on Instagram!!

TARDIS Tuesday has become a regular on this blog - an expensive habit! But it's been a fun hobby to have. I've enjoyed making friends with lots of fans on Instagram!

I've enjoyed watching Doctor Who all these years and I thought the 60th anniversary special was a great episode in many ways. A little contrived in places but it was lovely to see David Tennant and Catherine Tate reunited!

Happy anniversary Doctor Who! You have bought me much joy!

xx