The One-Off Christmas Car-Boot Sale

 It was very busy at the one-off Christmas car-boot sale on Saturday. Very chilly but that hadn't put people off. The rows of people selling was almost as big as the summer and the car park filling up - you can see cars filling the field below

I'd been looking forward to it and there are usually lots of Christmas bits for sale that the house clearance people have saved up.

But this year it seemed to be the same old junk, rubbish and tat that had been for sale all summer. There wasn't even anyone with charity Christmas cards.

 

The only thing I bought was this............

A brand new hot water bottle in a soft warm cover for just £2. This will be a Christmas present for next year as the three I've got already should see me out!

Then  home for breakfast.

 On Sunday I found I hadn't tried all the different flavour coffees in the coffee advent after all because the 14th was Amaretto and yesterday - the 15th- was called Holiday Blend  - there was no discernible flavour so that's a mystery!

Yesterday was a very grey day, half dark all day. The window cleaner came round again and I renewed my car insurance - that was the 5th big bill after the boiler repair, the car repair to the suspension, the dentist and the hygienist. The 6th -  the annual boiler service - has been put off until January as they are really busy.

I finished all the Christmas wrapping after BiL's present arrived - The amazon delivery people never ring the doorbell or knock on the door nowadays, they just leave things on the doorstep. Luckily I remembered to look! It's no wonder things go missing. When I put all the wrapping stuff away I had a sort out of the Christmas drawer and found some things - badges, labels etc. that had been in the drawer for ages, so they've gone into the charity shop bag. I also came across a Christmas Past Memorabilia Pack that I'd forgotten about  - I've no idea where and when I got it but the things in it hadn't even been unfolded. There was a facsimile of Christmas Day TV guide from 1973. We reminisce about TV back in the day but I'm glad I no longer have to watch two circuses - always hated them - specially the clowns and there were also the programmes with some famous person visiting a hospital and handing out gifts and (shudder) Danny La Rue in a pantomime!

The other things in the pack are copies of  older ephemera.

Now I've unpacked, unfolded and looked through all the bits, they might go off to the charity shop too.

A Child's Christmas in Wales

 I have a very small Christmas book on the shelf . I found it several years ago when I collected many  children's Christmas books for EGS and EGD when they were 3. I wrapped them up and they had enough for opening one each day through advent.

This one isn't really a book for children aged 3, which is why I kept it. It has illustrations by  Edward Ardizzone who was a writer and illustrator for so many children's books back in the 50's and 60's

Dylan Thomas published this in 1952 and it was recorded for radio. It started as a shorter piece for radio  'Memories of Christmas' in 1945. It looks back to the Christmas of his youth in Wales. He died in 1953 aged just 39.  

This was an adaptation for TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDEqeydrEgo

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I had a very quiet Sunday, it was quite chilly in the morning when I went for a speedy short walk up and down the lane to the trees in the header photo. Then I dived into the Val McDermid - Karen Pirie  library book and stayed in the warm. I'm wishing I'd started reading these before they were on TV and in the right order - but I've jumped in at the end. There are no plans yet for season 3 on TV yet so two more books have been reserved. 

Carols

The word carol comes from the Latin caraula  and the original carols weren't just for Christmas. Originally they were any celebratory song - with dancing. Choirs sang church music and everyone else sang carols.. There were carols for Easter, for Wassailing, for drinking, for midsummer and mayday - any folk song and very few were originally composed specifically for Christmas.

The Reformation and Puritanism put an  end to much of the singing and dancing but many carols managed to survive through oral tradition.

It was only much later into the 1800's that folk songs sang at Christmas were gathered together and moved into churches and chapels. Often music was specially written to go with the words.

There are many books about the origins of Christmas Carols with interesting stories - which often go back through the centuries. The old carols we've all sung for years are well known but here are two of my favourite joyous more recent Christmas Carols - aimed at children and both well known in Methodist Chapels. 

(Both youtubes below are from Frodsham Methodist Chapel in Cheshire)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp2QlKTYTZ8. Come and Join the Celebration by Valerie Collison in 1972.

The Calypso Carol - See Him Lying in a Bed of Straw written by Michael Perry in 1964

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_kwvn8G1wE

Yesterday's coffee for day 13 of advent  was chocolate/almond again. I guess I've now had all the different varieties.

The Strictly Semi Final last night wasn't as good as some other weeks I thought. Apparently there was all sorts of nastiness last week after Lewis Cope was voted off - it's taken so seriously by some people. I'm not bothered who wins - we'll have forgotten who won it in a few months anyway - or that might just be me!