Posted in Journal

This is just a brief post as I am still away and having to use the internet at the library but hopefully from next week I will be able to start posting a little more regularly on here. 

Christmas was very blessed and I spent Christmas Day with my sister and her husband, my sister's daughter and her family and my sister's son, his partner and her father and brother - so there were eleven of us for lunch.

Christmas morning was very relaxed and we had lunch around 2ish - turkey and all the trimmings plus yorkshire puddings (yum). For dessert, my sister had made a Christmas pudding which she set alight with brandy, a French cheesecake, white chocolate mousse with cardommom in (this was "heavenly") and finally a fruit terrine which I had made.  We relaxed after lunch with coffee before opening gifts where we were all very blessed. Early evening we played the game Trivial Pursuits which was fun and we split into two teams for this - a brilliant game! The remainder of the evening was spent relaxing and I arrived home around mid-night.

Boxing day we went to see the "Crookham Mummers" - this is a local Boxing Day tradition that has been going on for many many years. This is play based around King George VI (or it could be the V) and I will go into the story at a later date, but the Crookham Mummers travel to public houses in local villages around Fleet and tell this famous story which lasts for around 1/2 an hour.  I believe that there are other local "Mummers" groups dotted around England.

We then went to a public house for a drink in a village a few miles away - this is the same public house next to what used to be a cricket ground where I used to watch cricket matches during my late teens. Cricket matches are by the looks of things, no longer played there as the area seems to be fairly overgrown. The Barley Mow (which is the name of the Public House) is now very upmarket....

we went to my sister's in the afternoon where I met David's (my Sister's husband) daughter and family for the first time - they live near Hanover in Germany.  We had a wonderful afternoon where we caught up on news, had a delicious meal of cold meats, salads etc. My sister then played a few Christmas carols and other songs on the piano - all in all a very relaxed day.

The one thing that I did miss though more than anything was the real celebration of Christmas, which was celebrating the birth of Jesus. Spending time with my family though was very special and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them.

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I am hoping that from next week I can start to blog a little more on here plus I am also hoping to share some photos which as usual, I took quite a few . I am still in Hampshire and will be returning home for a brief period...........

I trust you all had a wonderful and very blessed Christmas