Thursday, December 18, 2008

starting to feel Christmassy

Current work: nonfic and Modern Heat
Listening to: Christmas compilation
Reading: Diane Watt, The Paston Women

It’s nearly the end of term, so I’m trying to catch up with things. Busy week so far.

Tuesday: the radio interview before school, the carpenter and decorator in as soon as I got back, the dentist after school (disastrous news – my lovely dentist is moving! But I can still have a female dentist – not being sexist, just that my big dental nightmare was with a male dentist and I’m now a nervous patient. Actually, my new dentist is DH’s dentist and he has reassured me that she’s nice), and Madam’s school disco in the evening. (Anyone remember Abba in their ‘Waterloo’ days? Madam was plastered in about the same amount of glitter. Bless.)

Wednesday: Painting is ongoing and the kitchen and downstairs loo look much brighter, now. (Looks as if the floor and cabinets are going to be the other side of Christmas, now.) Exciting news on the bird feeder: I think we had a thrush visiting. I might be wrong, but a female blackbird was also in the garden at the time and the thrush was a little bit smaller and had a spotty chest. My new RSPB bird book (the one with the photographs in) arrived so I double-checked in that. Thrushes are declining, so if I’m right I’m so pleased. Very quick trip into town (royalty cheque – sooner it’s in, sooner it’s cleared, and I have a tax bill coming up shortly); and I caved. I said this year we were having a less material Christmas. But. There was this game I knew Madam wanted (not to mention lovely vanilla-scented sparkly stuff from Lush) and a set of Warhammer models son really wants… and I just got paid… and… Ahem. Deal with DH: he took them for food while I did some quiet shopping and stowed it in the car – so they have NO IDEA and their little faces will just light up so much on Christmas Day.

In the evening, we had Madam’s school carol service and nativity. Walking down the path to the church on a crisp evening, with the stars out and the church bells ringing, was really magical.
St Margaret's has a family connection to DH’s great-grandfather. Maybe he sang carols there, too? The children sang beautifully, and Madam made a great shepherd; and the way all the rest of the congregation were drawn in, too, was wonderful. ‘We Three Kings’ was lovely, with the kids singing one verse (discovered that son has become a bass – blimey, when did that happen?), the women singing the Frankincense verse, and the men singing the Myrrh verse (DH has a lovely voice, when he can be bothered).

Today: gloss paint. And the kids insisted on having the Christmas compilation on in the car. This is a home-made version of their favourites from the usual selection, plus some weird ones of mine tacked on. You can’t beat dear old Dean Martin’s ‘Let It Snow’ and Nat King Cole’s ‘Frosty’ and Chris de Burgh’s ‘A Spaceman Came Travelling’ (and yeah, of course Wizzard and Slade). Madam loves the Medieval Baebes’ version of ‘Gaudete’… but baulked at Christian Forshaw’s ‘Mortal Flesh’. Which I happen to think suited the sky we saw this morning. (Potential front cover? Maybe…)

1 comment:

Jan Jones said...

Aw, sounds loverly. Enjoy!