Dear Friends, I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas day, or holiday, however you are spending it.
Mine began, when a girlfriend and I went to Midnight Mass, at a very beautiful and rural small church, not our local church, but one we have been attending for several years now. It is a ten minute drive from us, down a lonely little lane, they continue with the traditional English Mass service by candlelight, which in itself is quite lovely, but more so, as the walls and ceiling are hand painted, (quite unusual for low Church of England), which looks even lovelier in the flickering light. (Having only just returned from a few days in Prague, the decoration in our church is very mild in comparison of the beautiful Cathedral and churches we visited there. The trip, was my husband and my, early Christmas present from our son, the trip to Prague, which was breath takingly beautiful, and one we shall remember for a very long time). We have spent today, the three of us together, and enjoyed opening all the presents, having put the turkey in the oven first thing. Lots of lovely surprises in the form of DVD's for me of Opera and ballet and other classical music, plus some super books, wonderful, and an enormous Thomas Kinkade Snow house, with all kinds of different lights and T.K. tells a Christmas story, no I don't have to have the story on all the time!! We enjoyed our dinner of turkey, chestnut stuffing, roast vegetables and brussel sprouts, bread sauce and home made cranberry and orange relish with port, no room yet for Christmas pudding!!! Lots of phone calls to and from family and friends, what more could one wish for, only that everyone could be as happy as we are today, but sadly a friends Husband died on my birthday the 23rd. So we have thought about her very much at this time, and our heart goes out to her. Tomorrow is Boxing Day, and we shall celebrate at home but with friends joining us for the day, making 7 of us, we will have all kinds of salad dishes, fruits and nuts, and raclette cheese, which we all cook at the table ourselves, and adding meat or salad or savoury items to the cooked cheese, with some hot dishes, of jacket potatoes, and sweet potato with melted marshmallows on top, cold salmon mousse, pineapple mousse, sweet pastries and icecream, so not too much work to do, just preparing the table, which takes the time, oh and not forgetting the Christmas crackers to pull, which have gifts inside, a funny motto and funny paper hats. For those of you on your own this Christmas, I hope this gives you something to read that will make you smile, ( a bit like me with eating since my mouth cancer, it is limited, but I enjoy seeing everyone else eating), likewise encourage more of our friends to write of their lovely day, for those of you to also enjoy, special times are to share. Oh I nearly forgot, although it did not settle, it snowed heavily on and off during the morning, now was that planning???????? Pauline in damp Somerset South West England. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
