Christmas 2020

Mike went back to London for a week while the back of the house was painted - and had a nice shower at last.  Cantanti Camerati put on a Christmas Concert, with only one rehearsal, and luckily it was that week so Mike was able to participate.  (Video below is 52 mins long)

He came back to Devon the next day - just before London went into Tier 4 and the new restrictions came into place.  Devon stayed in Tier 2 so luckily it didn't affect our plans too much.  

Jayne decorated the house much more than I usually do - and it really did look very pretty.  We even got Mary and Jack's Christmas tree from the loft and decorated it.

We went out for a Christmas meal with Peter at The Star Inn - mainly to support the pub!  We had a lovely evening although we were sad to see the pub so empty as it would normally be heaving at this time of year.  The boys got into the spirit of it all and wore their Christmas jumpers.

The model maker (Jolly Roger!) up the road had his usual impressive display outside his house

We met up with Lee and Emma for a walk round Stover and to exchange presents.  Mike had also brought a lot back from London for them from a friend of theirs.  I didn't take Suki's carrier as I thought she would make it round the lake at a slow pace, but she gave up very early on and got a ride in the pram!

Here's a nice card from Harry!

Jayne bought lots of Christmassy food things - we started on them at the start of Christmas week!

Peter, Mike and I did a Christmas medley on handbells for the Guild Christmas Entertainment evening on Zoom, and then on Christmas Eve we did some handbells for the convent over Zoom.  We started with the usual Advent one - but one of the rooms was having technical difficulties so they suggested we record the rest and send them the link.  Hence the people in masks looking perplexed by the screen!

Highlight of the Guild evening was this amazing video by children of some of the ringers, made to raise funds for The Global’s Make Some Noise Emergency Appeal

We rang three bells at North Bovey for the 11 pm midnight mass - the temperature had dropped to zero by then and I was very worried about icy roads, but we got there and back without incident thank goodness. The sky was very clear and the stars were amazing.  It was nice to be at a church service again - I thought I was perfectly happy with the online services and was surprised to find how much I liked being in a church again and how much I preferred it.  I was a bit nervous about the ringing but Peter was very kind and kept things simple and quick.  The vicar and congregation were very appreciative.  We had intended to go back to ring for the Christmas Day family service, but we got the time wrong and by the time we realised it was too late to get there.

On Christmas Day the three of us rang at Bovey church for the 9.30 am service.  There were 3 households in total and we were able to observe all the rules and still ring 6 bells (1, 2, 3 ,4, 6 and 8).  Graham came out to say thank you - then check on the number of households - and then went off saying he had a lot to do!!

Then it was back to the house to put the turkey in and open our presents from the family.  We got lovely presents from everyone - very thoughtful.

We got a good supply of alcohol! Carolyn had sent birthday and anniversary presents too.

Mike's pile

Mine!!

Suki had been very interested in the presents since they arrived in the house

and got stuck in to ripping them open when she was finally allowed.  She even had a soft toy from the plumber who did our bathroom - they had become firm friends over the 3 weeks.  

Jayne was at work in the morning so we planned for a late lunch - and sat down to eat at 4 pm.  It was a very convivial lunch - the food was all cooked to perfection which was more by luck than judgement!  We had to have a digestive pause before going for the Christmas pud though.  This was my first attempt at making a homemade Christmas pudding - and I am pleased to say it turned out really well.  Of course it helped having Mike's amazing brandy butter which has loads of brandy in it!  It set alight beautifully too, but although I thought I was videoing it I clearly didn't succeed.  Ho hum.

We opened presents from Jayne in the evening and had fun with a Mountain Quiz book which Jayne had given Mike.  We ended a wonderful day with Carols from Kings on the iPlayer - which this year had just the boy choristers plus The King's Singers and was absolutely excellent.

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