Advent 2024 and The Winter Solstice

Today, with the fewest hours of daylight, is the day to go out and fetch greenery to bring into the house, to encourage the return of the sun.

The tradition of bringing greenery into the home goes back a Very long way. This would have been the only decoration available to the poorest homes.

And even earlier each plant had a meaning.........Holly was a symbol of everlasting life and fertility, Ivy was an anti-witching plant with medicinal values, Rosemary was holy and magical and Bay was sacred to Apollo and Aescutapious, the God of medicine. Mistletoe was also associated with fertility and used by Druids in their ceremonies.

Christmas wreaths made of greenery are also ancient, thought to date back to Roman times when they decorated homes during Saturnalia. The wreath is thought to be a symbol of the wheel of the year. (The word Yule is usually thought to come from the Nordic word jol but may come from their word for wheel.......houl).

I've included this a few times on the day of the Winter Solstice but not for a year or two, so here it is again.

Susan Cooper is an author best known for a series of fantasy novels for children

And I've had this book for at least 3 years and still not got around to reading it, must make an effort this year despite having all the good library books to get through.

It has 12 stories from various countries that have been passed down through the generations.

(Anyone in the BBC Look East area would have seen that they featured the Christmas Tree Festival at Stowmarket, that I visited a couple of weeks ago, on the programme last night, it really was the best ever in all the years I've been visiting)

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Sue

Advent 2024 and Tempting Shelves and Bargain Veg.

 It's no wonder people spend more than normal at Christmas time when the shelves are full of specially packaged food that looks so festive.

Everything is Christmassy red. This is Aldi but all the supermarkets have their aisles of Seasonal items, tons of chocolates everywhere. This was yesterday, so still plenty left for Christmas.

Have to say the thought of Pumpkin flavoured coffee doesn't get  me excited!

I went to Aldi to get the bargain pre-Christmas Veg. Despite feeling guilty, as I expect they've cut the price paid to farmers too. But at least it's all British ( apart from the broccoli which I discovered comes from Spain).

Broccoli, carrots, parsnips and potatoes all just 8p a bag! Some years I can't take advantage of these specials as I've needed them a week before, and being on my own a bag of carrots lasts me two or three weeks, and potatoes last me more than a month,  but this time it's worked out just right. I don't buy extra to freeze either - it wouldn't be worthwhile. 

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Sue

Advent 2024 and the Christmas Car Boot-Sale

Last Saturday was the one-off winter car-boot sale, the weather was dry although cold and there were lots of people selling. Many were house clearance people who had obviously saved all their Christmas stuff (and lots of junk) to bring along and there were several dealers with wrapping paper etc. I would have taken a photo from the top of the field but found I'd forgotten my phone.

I didn't spend much money but missed out on a Portmeirion Holly and Ivy pasta/cereal dish by about 30 seconds although the lady who bought it paid £5 for it, which I wouldn't have paid anyway, so a good thing I missed it and didn't have to think about it!

This is what I bought and I was very pleased with the Christmas crackers that have a wind-up toy inside

to race, which will be lovely for Christmas Day now that I have the EGD here, more fun for an 8 year old than nail clippers or a golf tee!. The two other things were a Christmas card for one of the Grandsons for next year and a book of vintage Christmas illustrations meant for scrapbooking but they could be used to make cards. 

Total spend £3 and then I went home for breakfast.

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Sue

  

Advent 2024 and The Oaks in December

It was the first sunshine for about two weeks so I walked up the lane to see how the Oak trees were doing.

Hardly a leaf left except for the odd brown one hanging on.

But one of them has a good covering of ivy and rose hips so there is a bit of cover left for small birds and insects to get out of the very chilly wind

The huge field full of sugar beet still hasn't been harvested. The processing campaign runs from September through to February or March although last year the factory carried on until April due to the very wet winter. One large heap of beet were moved from the edge of a field not far away last week. There one day and gone off to Bury St Edmunds the next time I went by.

 I'm not sure where they will heap up this fields beet - I was trying to gauge how big this field is - going by how big our five acres were at the smallholding  - it's well over 300 acres I reckon perhaps nearer 500. 

On the other side of the road the oil-seed rape crop is growing. About 9 inches to a foot tall now. The bird scarer banger goes off regularly during the day, a sort of dull thud in the distance. Country people soon get used to them - unless the timer goes wrong and they 'BANG' at night - that's not so good but doesn't happen often.

Standing underneath, for a photo through the branches to the lovely blue sky

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Sue

 

Advent 2024 and the Regular Purchase

 This always causes lots of comments about it being a waste of money! which I shall ignore! so don't bother!

 I love to have a copy for the two weeks of Christmas and New Year and having given up my regular subscription in February, after a couple of years, it was a no brainer. I popped into the village shop for my copy this year.

I've perused, with my highlighter pen, and found lots of festive Christmas quizzes every day. House of Games, Celebrity Mastermind, Only Connect and then the usual Christmas version of University Challenge with famous or not so famous but clever alumni. 

There's a Christmas Special episode of Madame Blanc on Christmas eve and then on Christmas Day  Doctor Who and the Strictly Christmas Special. I used to watch Call the Midwife but it makes me cry too much now and if the 2022 version of The Railway Children is anything like the original from 1970 then I daren't watch that either  - it has me in floods from the start!

Death in Paradise is back in the sunshine of Saint Marie on the 22nd but I've never got into the Beyond Paradise crime series with Kris Marshall set in Cornwall (or maybe Devon) but the most recent spin off set in Australia ' Return to Paradise' I thought was much better and the the final episode of 6 is on the 27th and also on Friday I'll probably watch The Big Fat Quiz of the Year which has become a bit of an institution despite Jimmy Carr! who is also back with a new series of 8 out of 10 cats does Countdown.

On Jan 1st and 2nd is the very final 2 part Vera story with Brenda Blethyn and there's a documentary about the the making and story of all the series on the 3rd.

I searched through for the usual showing of the Christmas edition of The Good Life and found it on BBC4 next Monday. I don't really need to watch it as I reckon I know it off by heart!

So it's mainly quizzes and crime for me ................sorted for the duration!

I'm very glad of my TV to keep me company, it would be a lonely time without it.

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Sue

Advent 2024 and Plans Change + Other Notes

• Bought myself the Festive Puzzle Collection - for a change from reading -  these Take a Break Puzzle magazines always come with a pen that falls to pieces after a month or so! The 150+ puzzles take me longer than the pen lasts.
• 

• Last year it was plans for Boxing Day that got cancelled due to everyone being ill. This year it's Christmas Day that has got altered for me. The YD and EGD had planned to go to  a friend and that fell through so now they are coming here instead and my plans for going to the community lunch had to be cancelled - I guess it's what Mum's do! I don't mind at all as it will be a treat to have them here.

• Hopefully this year there will be fewer winter illnesses in Son's family as DiL, YGD and MGS are all at the same school rather than 2 different  schools and a pre-school. Last year the colds, sore throats etc just went round and round the three lots of small children - who love to share all germs!

• I came across this blogger who has listed lots of vintage Christmas books  Babs Beloved Blogs , and I've decided that 2025 Advent photos will be pages from my Christmas books. I did this a few years ago and they were well received. 

• Whoop Whoop new series of Strike (J.K. Rowling) starts tonight. I don't read the books - they are too big and wordy, but love the televised version, plus there's a Christmas special on Wednesday of The Good Ship Murder with the rather handsome Shayne Ward, who should have gone further in Strictly.

• After reading several blogs with people moaning about or refusing to go shopping in the run up to Christmas I've decided I'm odd because I don't mind shopping in the days before Christmas at all. I like the hustle bustle and the decorations in the shops. Colin never took many days off at Christmas because his holidays were more useful in the summer for smallholding so I often got a lift into Ipswich with him when he went into the office a few times before Christmas - the town would be packed, Christmas music playing and lots of Christmas lights.

• Apologies to people who had comments going into spam. If I check daily there are none there, if I forget for a few days there are dozens - including some that were published months ago. Also the follower button had vanished and is now back again - All Jolly Good Fun!

• I need a recommendation for a starling proof bird feeder, if there is such a thing, the darn hooligans flock in and clear out the mealworms in just a few minutes. Very frustrating.

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Sue

 

Advent 2024 and Christmas Music

I came across this Christmas song somewhere. Each year there are new songs and hymns written for Christmas, some catch on to be replayed every year for ever and others disappear.

On Radio 2 last week Vernon Kay played a new piece of Christmas pop music but it wasn't very good, he said he wouldn't be playing it again!....not sure he gets a choice. I didn't hear it so have no idea how bad it was or even who it was by - it will remain a mystery.

I think this is a bit of the new Michael Bublé single - he has a Christmas album every year.

I still like this best

I wrote about how this song came about on a post last year HERE

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The Strictly 2024 final was a really good ending to a very good series. I wasn't surprised that Chris and Diane won as they had been getting the most votes on the Strictly Spoiler website all season and how wrong I was 3 months ago in saying that a blind person doing the series was a crazy idea! 

Back Soon

Sue

Advent 2024 -and December's Library Book Photo

 Brought these home from the library van on Thursday. All books I'd reserved on line.

All crime except for Windswept by Annie Worsley which is subtitled 'Life Nature and Deep Time in the Scottish Highlands'. The crime fiction are by modern writers Louisa Scarr, Judi Daykin, Mike Hollow, Mike Ripley and Ann Cleeves as well as two collections of crime short stories. Plus a 'lost' crime fiction reprint from BLCC by Elizabeth Anthony.

In November I collected these below. I didn't read Bothy, which I thought was about living somewhere remote but it actually was about Bothies - Duh!  Litter of Bones was gruesome and I still have the Persephone book on the right (Waters under the earth). Swoop, Sing Perch has many of the same illustrations in it as the book I own by the same author and illustrator (A Sparrow's Life as Sweet as Ours). Other details of those I did finish are on the Books Read 2024 page.

and these two winter books. I loved 'The Woods in Winter' but haven't started 'Winter in the Air' yet.

On Monday's edition of Mastermind, one of the contestants was answering questions on the Author and her life - she was a bit odd - as are her books!

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Sue

Advent 2024 and St Lucy's Day

 Today is St Lucy's or St Lucia's day.

This is an illustration from the book of Saints. The details about it says Master of  The Deposition from the Cross of Figdor, The Legend of St Lucy (detail), Rijkmuseum, Amsterdam.

The book explains that Lucy wanted to remain single to dedicate her life to Christ but her suitor wanted revenge and accused Lucy of being Christian before the pagan governor of Syracuse, Sicily. The judge ordered her to be thrown into a brothel. Then the guards were told to set fire to her but this failed to kill her. Legends say that to make herself ugly she tore out her own eyes, which were then miraculously restored. After which she became renown for healing diseases of the eyes and the patron saint for the blind.

Finally she was killed by a sword-thrust through her throat. 

An early authority for the genuineness of her story is an inscription to her discovered in the cemetery of St John in Syracuse.

Before the calendar reform of 1752 her feast day coincided with the solstice so she came to be regarded as the bringer of light as the days begin to lengthen. That is the reason she became especially celebrated in Sweden where the eldest daughter of the family puts on her head a wreath with seven lightened candles (health and safety nightmare!) then takes coffee and ginger snaps to the rest of the family.

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Sue

Advent 2024 and NOT A Collection

 I've been saving this photo ready for a December blog post since May!

You've heard about my accidental collection that categorically isn't a collection of Portmeirion Holly and Ivy ware.

Well, I added something to it way back in May - from a boot sale of course.

£1 for a Christmas bell tree decoration, so not too big a spend.

It is still NOT a collection!

(Although I see there are now eight mentions in labels!)

My very first find is HERE

And it was one of the things in that lovely Museums Selection catalogue, that I mentioned last week. Selling for £35 reduced from £50!

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Sue

Advent 2024 Not a Christmas/Winter Photo

 I walked into the Christmas Makers  Market and the first stall was The Chair Lady - who's based in a village just a couple of miles away, and does all sorts of re-upholstery for people's furniture and also makes cushions and footstools to sell. This was such a perfect match and just what I'd been thinking about getting to stop me sitting with my legs crossed and irritating the damaged knee. The lady selling has the bases made with sturdy castors and then upholsters them herself using material that was once made for Multi-York, who were a local based company until they closed and were taken over and vanished.

 

Quite unusual for me to spend out without a lot of deliberation but I would never have found such a sturdy, good size, right height stool or a better match anywhere else, probably ever again.

I knew low spend November was a good idea - it meant I didn't have to worry or feel guilty about buying it.

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Sue

Advent 2024 and December Mornings

 Once upon a time in December several years ago now, I forced myself out of bed at 6 in the dark, pulled on many layers of clothes and headed out to feed and milk the goats, to make sure to get back indoors in good time to get the children up, fed and out to catch the school bus before half past eight.

The joy of retirement in December is staying in bed until it's almost daylight, then a while later dallying over breakfast, of home made toast and marmalade with coffee and  taking as long as I like.

(BTW Colin wasn't  lazing in bed while I was milking goats, he always did their water and letting out and feeding chickens and then back in for his breakfast, because as we always said "the sooner he went to work - the sooner he'd be home again" - flexi hours were very handy for a smallholding!)

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Sue

Advent 2024 - and the Christmas Pop-Up Shops

 This is a local gift shop/hairdressers/café but at Christmas they put everything else away and fill the rooms (it was once a bungalow but has been hugely extended over the years) with all the Christmas decorations you could possibly imagine.

 I called in after meeting the nearest bit of the family at a Christmas Fair in the village hall where they were visiting Father Christmas. The shop and café were packed with people so I had to hang around to get photos - so many pretty things. There are a lot of these Christmas Decoration pop up shops around now and all sell beautiful and expensive things that were unimaginable 40 years ago.

I'm no help to the local economy as I didn't buy anything again. 

I was thinking I've never had blue, lilac or purple on the Christmas tree - perhaps that's a plan for another year after I've searched the charity shops again. After all, variety is the spice of life!

Thank you everyone for comments on yesterdays post about the Christmas Trees in church. They were extra good this year.

The weather in Suffolk wasn't as windy as further west but plenty of rain and flooding across the roads and smaller trees brought down wires, blocking roads so I didn't get far trying to get across to youngest daughter near the coast. Instead I got the last of the Christmas cards and letters  done and decided not to bother going to Ipswich this week just  to put four cards in the Scout Post - there isn't really much to go into town for now so it seemed silly.

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Sue

Advent 2024 and the Tree Festival

 So many decorated trees in the church in Stowmarket this year, seemed to be many more than normal. It was lovely having a coffee in the cafe there and then a look around at all the wonderful ideas that clubs, groups, societies and businesses come up with.

This was my favourite. By a group called Stow Stories who I'd not heard of before but what they are doing sounds interesting.

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Sue

Advent 2024 and Going Green For Christmas Plus This Week's Happenings

 I've got lots of Christmas tree decorations gathered over 40 years and only a smallish tree so a few years ago everything got sorted into different bags. Gold, silver and white, red, green, and finally old fashioned and handmade traditional, so I could swap around each year.

Looking back on the blog to see which had been used last year and found this is what I'd written after going to the one-off Christmas car boot sale.

 I went round looking for green things for the Christmas tree for next year and didn't find any. 

The traditional bits got used last year and  I must have been thinking of using green this year and there aren't many of them. So when I shopped I did a tour of all the charity shops in Stowmarket .......7 and then in Diss...........6  ............ and one in Eye on my way back from Diss and found these..........

After the usual battle with opening up the tree and fluffing up the branches and getting the lights spread out - (glad this is only a once-a year thing!) and putting on all the green and silver and white bits it looked like this. 

( There was one minor disaster, because that lovely long green decoration slipped as I tried to hang it up and it smashed into pieces on my new hard floor - being the only one that was glass - typical!)

Had to shift things around to find a different place for the tree this year as my chair is near the window now and putting the tree where I've had it before meant it was between me and the TV which didn't work of course.

I'm thinking green and silver are a bit 'cold' so I reckon it'll be back to red and gold next year.

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I've had a good week. Sorted out more Grandchildren presents, got all but one card finished - needs a letter to go with it - and all that were done got posted. Bought a few frozen vegetarian main meal type things that are only in the shops at Christmas and met up with my friend from Grammar School days for a coffee in the Osier cafe in the church. While there I took photos of the Christmas tree festival, I'm sure there were even more trees there than usual, it looked lovely and a man started playing carols on the piano while we were there which was nice. I'll put photos on the blog post tomorrow.

I finished the first 'Reading the Seasons' for Winter. Stella Gibbons- The Woods in Winter This is one of the books published by Dean Street Books in the Furrowed Middlebrow cover and I loved it. 

Seems the country is to be hit by Storm Darragh today. (I'm puzzled because we had Storm Bert but I didn't hear about a storm beginning with C ?) Anyway, there are Red Warnings for west coastal areas of the country for very strong winds and rain but over here in the East it might not be quite so bad. Hope they are right, as I'm supposed to be heading to the coast on Sunday and there are so many places on the cross country roads that get flooded. And thank heavens we've not got the huge snowfalls some parts of the US have had.

Stay safe blog friends 'in the west' and I'll be back tomorrow.

Sue

 

Advent 2024 and the Christmas Stamps

 I like this years special Christmas stamps and bought some for sending Christmas cards. 

I'm almost tempted to get a set of the stamps as postcards. Postcards were once something I collected along with umpteen other things at various times! 

They were designed by Jody Joel working with a company called Together Design London

British artist Judy Joel, struck the perfect balance and met our brief impeccably. Judy’s style is characterised by its delightful naivety—employing block colours and simplified perspectives, her work exudes charm and resonates deeply with people.

Cathedrals are such wonderful and welcoming places to visit at Christmas offering a space for peaceful reflection, and we wanted to capture that sense of warmth and community in our designs. In these festive scenes, the cathedrals are surrounded by joyful children, snowmen, carol singers, and a generous sprinkling of snow, all coming together to create a magical, festive atmosphere.

We hope they bring a little heart to millions of people in the world in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Edinburgh

2nd

St Marys Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh. St Marys Episcopal Cathedral, designed by Victorian architect George Gilbert Scott, boldly harks back to upwardly soaring medieval Gothic cathedrals, with its three spires dominating Edinburgh. Consecrated in 1879, St Marys is the largest cathedral in Scotland today and maintains the tradition of regular choral worship, never more elaborate than at Christmas.

Liverpool

1st

Liverpool Cathedral. Liverpool acquired an immense new cathedral for the 20th century, designed by the young architect Giles Gilbert Scott. Consecrated in 1924, the cathedral was not completed until 1978. In what is often called the ‘peoples cathedral, breathtaking heights and a sense of space combine with beautiful craftsmanship.

Armagh

2nd Large

St Patricks Cathedral, Armagh (Church of Ireland). The Church of Ireland Cathedral of St Patrick in Armagh traces its origins to a hilltop sanctuary founded by St Patrick, and worship has taken place on this site since the 5th century. At Christmas, the cathedral’s hallowed walls echo with the sound of carols and all find a warm welcome within.

Bangor

1st Large

St Deiniols Cathedral, Bangor / Cadeirlan Deiniol Sant ym Mangor. Bangor Cathedral stands where St Deiniol established his Celtic monastery in the 6th century. Battered by medieval wars between the princes of Gwynedd and the English kings, the cathedral now celebrates the languages, cultures and landscapes of Wales. Every Sunday and on Christmas Day, Welsh and English coexist in worship and prayer.

Westminster

£2.80

Westminster Cathedral, London. Westminster Cathedral is the largest Roman Catholic church in England and Wales and the seat of the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. It was designed by John Francis Bentley in a neo-Byzantine style and built between 1895 and 1903. Candlelit Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve ushers in the celebration of the birth of Christ.

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Sue

Advent 2024 and the Gorgeous Christmas Catalogue

 This catalogue arrived in the post last week, no idea why as I'd not requested it.

 But if money was no object I could easily go on a spree with all the lovely things in it, although I'd also need a whole new mindset too - buying un-needed even if it is beautiful wouldn't come easily.

I would love the Japanese wind bells for the garden or maybe a musical box  advent calendar with 24 little records that each play 40 seconds each of a Christmas song. Or some different marmalades for breakfast and I love those fold-out Christmas cards.

The Solar System night light looks fascinating and if I had a library I'd definitely be wanting this copy of  Victorian Library steps/chair

There are some nice items of clothing and handbags too and lots of pretty jewellery and jigsaw puzzles, gorgeous Advent calendars and look at that tapestry throw and stained glass lamp.

Colin liked tee shirts with sayings on them and would have enjoyed the Element of Confusion tee shirt. One year at a boot sale someone had loads of new cheap, not quite perfect tee shirts with Oscar Wilde quotes on them, Col bought a couple, he had them for ages.

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Sue