My friend and her fellow church goers at Wickham Skeith Church managed to gather many different Nativity cribs for the display. They are fundraising for church repairs - always much needed.
Just a few photos...first an introduction.
This one below is very unusual - I wonder where it came from, it doesn't look English.
These below come from Italy, I liked the extra characters working at their professions on the left.
Another selection
I would love to know which country this scene below comes from. Upstairs and downstairs and closing doors - very different.
The card set at the back here looks very old.
The teeniest little crib scene below, not even as big as a matchbox
I think if they keep doing this they might one day have as many as the 200 I saw back in 2018 in Grundisburgh Church.
Hopefully Wickham Skeith church had lots of visitors and raised a goodly amount. Son, DiL and the two grandchildren visited too after I'd met up with them a couple of miles away at Cotton Village Hall for the regular Christmas Fair there. Father Christmas was in attendance for YGD and MGS to visit. They always have activities for children to do - colouring and wordsearch etc which is a good idea and means parents stay longer. I didn't buy anything again - I think I'd seen all the things for sale at umpteen other Christmas Fairs.
When I got home there was a small parcel on the doorstep and inside I found these gorgeous little figures with a note - A beautiful handmade set from Ang at Tracing Rainbows. The little people are turned wood and their clothes are made from felt with stitched and knitted trimmings. I have no idea how Ang made the stable or how she has the patience for all this work on a small scale!
How lovely and so kind, I shall have to hope that my friends church has a crib display next year so I can lend these because there certainly wasn't a set like this there.
Thank you Ang . They will be treasured.
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Yesterday was the next huge bill of this years expensive December....A filling at the Dentist and before I went out I had the Day 8 advent coffee which was simply called 'Breakfast'.
After the dentist I went into Ipswich town centre (Ipswich is our County town - biggest in the County) - probably the first time for 2 years - Oh My Goodness, everywhere is looking even worse than it did. There are perhaps fewer empty shops but empty shops have been replace by phone shops, vape stores and similar. Even two of the charity shops that I used to visit have gone. There was rubbish everywhere and it all looked really depressing. I didn't stay long and doubt I'll be going back anytime soon.
I found some presents to fill a bag from Charity shops instead of doing two hampers with home made chutneys etc this year.(With no homegrown fruit and veg to use and not needing many myself. I just didn't make much)
Some Baylis and Harding bubble bath balls - found two of these. A box with 4 mini gins for Sister in law came from a car boot sale and a set of three pots for herbs for the kitchen windowsill from a yard sale for my sister. It's OK to blog about them as neither sister and husband or sister in law and her husband read the blog (their loss!) so they won't see this! I added a bottle of wine to each bag, one won sometime ago and another won in the tombola from the church Christmas fair. Plus the two food things got from Dobbies using the voucher.
The gifts are already wrapped but the bubble bath things looked like this, they were both £3.50 but from two different charity shops although when I looked on line I found they were only £3.75 each from Boots or Morrisons - so I didn't save much!
But here is a whole youtube thing about everything one family have found this year from charity shops to use for Christmas presents............ if you can cope with several minutes of build-up before she gets to the nub of the matter! and so much arm waving!
( I've tried to watch more of this ladies vlogs but she does wave arms a lot which is really off putting!)
Normally I can find things for two penfriends from car-boot sales during the year but didn't have much luck this year, ending up buying gifts from the craft fairs. But I'm a bit reluctant to buy games etc for grandchildren from charity shops or car-boots as you can never be 100% sure that they are complete.
There are 3 adult children, 2 partners, 5 grandchildren, sister and husband, sister-in-law and husband and BiL to buy for.............maybe I should start looking in charity shops now!
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The Doctor Who spin off with Russell Tovey that started on TV last night was quite dramatic I thought. Amazing what can be done with CGI and special effects - especially the plastic falling from the sky. Clever script too.
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Day 7 of the coffee advent calendar was chocolate/almond flavour which was good.
A small sprig of holly and ivy found on a quick walk to the edge of the village's millennium wood. I didn't go right round the wood - it was incredibly muddy after all the rain we've had in the last week or two.
Holly was thought to bring good luck and a tree was often planted outside the cottage door, protection against lightening in a storm and from witches. It was cut to bring into the house for early decorations
Although Holly has male and female varieties it was a plant for men, who in medieval times would put a sprig on their hats - making them irresistible to women!
One legend says holly had yellow berries until Christ's blood was shed on the cross and the cross was made from the wood of a holly tree and used for the crown of thorns (other legends say Blackthorn which is far more painfully prickly).
Illustration from my book "A Christmas Scrapbook" with a late Victorian or Edwardian Christmas Card
Ivy was not welcomed in the house so much, it was thought of as a weak and clinging plant and because it was often seen in graveyards, climbing over tombstones it became associated with death.
The Roman god Bacchus, a God of wine, wore a crown of ivy. He had a group of female worshippers known as Bacchae who would drink an intoxicating concoction of the juice of ivy leaves and the poisonous fly agaric mushroom. It was once believed that ivy wood in a glass of wine would filter out poisons.
Now Ivy needs to be appreciated as an important plant for wildlife, both for winter shelter and as food for birds, bees, moths, butterflies and other insects.
The Choir of King's College Cambridge singing the well known Christmas Hymn . Once the pagan story of the fight between the male Holly and female Ivy to rule the winter season.
Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown.
Yesterday's coffee for the 6th day of advent was Hazelnut - lovely.
