Happy Christmas!

It's finally here. The Big Day. The 25th. Christmas. Shame I still have a pile of wrapping to do...

This is the last one. Not quite at the top of the tree but as near as a strapping nephew or two could get it. Far enough off the ground to have to use the zoom on my phone, thus rendering it almost impossible to make out on the pic!

 Is it a cheat to finish on a flurry of stars? I don't think that's the technical term for a group of stars. Is it an asteroid? Maybe it's a solar system. It's just too darn late for that sort of general knowledge. But funny really when you think that baby born under that famous star was sposed to have been there when the stars were born too. It's a pretty bananas concept.  

R and I somehow managed a eucharistic moment when we did the last star last year. Maybe we'll manage that when we take these ones down. Twelfth Night outing anyone??

Lille Julaften

It's 1.06am now so I guess technically not Lille Julaften (Little Christmas Eve) any more... but it was nice while it lasted. K got a bit confused with the Danish references to the day before Christmas Eve all day and as he climbed the stairs tonight asked 'Is Santa coming tonight??'. 

 Another two carol concerts in 24 hours. One in the church with rather dangerous candles and unwilling children not performing when they should have. And one yesterday in a pub with a Sally Army band which was only slightly off perfect when I was ushered to the front by over keen (and somewhat drunken) relatives to sing a solo. I think the church should get out more and have maybe 50% of their services in a pub. Definitely going to try to do a carol concert in the local hostelry next year. Love it.

 Last night's was made even better by the picturesque village pub location, the fact that it's exactly at the bottom of the drive of the place we were staying, and by the fact it enabled me to see my nephew, who seems impossibly grown up all of a sudden, serving behind the bar!!

But back to tonight - here's (top) last night's loner by R - there's less wind tonight so you can actually see what it looks like.

Then (middle) tonight's Lone Star ... or is that Lone Ranger? And (bottom of the three) tonight's. Yes, spot the deliberate error? Well, I made the boxy one ages ago but we hadn't used it and by tonight when there should be 23 on the tree there are only 21.. so we thought an extra one tonight wouldn't hurt. Might do several tomorrow. We're not bound by rules and advent regulations, us!

I got a message from friends in Glasgow about similar starry sabotage going off in their neighbourhood. Another friend in Wales thinks she might do something next year. The Willow Wanderer just needs to figure out crocheted stars and we all might somehow be spreading seasonal lurve and beautiful things further and wider than any of us hoped. Ye hay!

And from the nuts and bolts (right) to the very nearly finished version (below) ... it's looking rather lovely even if I do say so myself!

No 22 all alone

Another retrospective blog I am afriad to say.. tonight we might get back up to speed....

L away. R here alone.

Very wet, very windy and very lonely! 

I waited late to see if the rain would stop - it didn`t! 

I wondered if the wind would subside - hardly!  

On my lonesome I arrived to the horrific sounds of animals at each others' throats.

Piercing yelps of despair. 

No one around to share the concern. Not even flat cap man on the corner.

So I peruse a modest perch for tonight's star with voices in my ears of warnings not to go too high.

With an eye over my shoulder for the killer wolf down the cobbled alley,

I'm feeling sad to be so close to the end. 

Where does the time go?

At least the rain is a familiar friend. 

Night night!

Communal star

Last night, R and I were accompanied by 4 other adults, 4 teenagers and a baby. A communal moment after a night of feasting and singing and laughing. A little bit scary when some one else's teenage son is suddenly the one climbing the rather flimsy railings around the tree to hang the star. But his mum was egging him on so I thought at least she would take the responsibility if he ended up in Homerton's A&E department. If it still exists. 

And tonight I have abandoned R to do it alone. Christmas family visiting calls and we will be singing carols in a pub in Whitchurch on Thames by the time she's going out. Maybe this is the night when at last the Turkish corner shop man will be co-opted?

 

Angel of Hackney

I can't get a good picture of it. It's enjoying it's new found freedom and embracing its liberation from static milk carton to swinging dancing sign of Life. The blurry one is shown to the four that have hung it (another scary wobbly-combo-hanging, this time involving a leg up and grappling with the extremely thin railings around the bottom of the tree) and I say 'It looks like an angel'.. 'Angel of Hackney' R responds doing her best Bono impression.

Quite.

Wanted: tall people

 So, we got ourselves a tall(ish) person. And now we have our lovely 19th star in place near(ish) the top of the tree. It was a bit on the scary side to be honest. It's quite a narrow trunk so the ladder sits against it, touching it only in the middle of the top rung. It makes for a pretty precarious contraption. R and me were hanging on to the bottom of it for dear life as A got nearer and neaerer the top. He not only stood on the top rung to get it as high as possible but he hung around for ages, arranging it properly so it would hang and swing just so...

Bit too far away for my phone to get a decent pic though!

Feel pretty sure someone must be taking them down periodically. Only 15 up there again tonight. Either that or they're swimming around in the gutter somewhere. Probably better if someone's actually enjoying them!

School concert time of year

I went to two school carol concerts today. I will go to another two tomorrow. With the special UNICEF one they did in early December that's five. And I only have three children in the school. But I have to say I do love it. Today did not disappoint. Everything you could ever wish for in a school carol concert. My eldest will be at secondary school next Christmas and it feels like the beginning of the end of an era. I am rather ashamed to admit I made some notes to capture it:

There's a fight breaking out in the front row of the year 1 rendition of Oh Christmas Tree. Maybe over zealous actions making out the shape of the tree caught someone's eye? In the next (my least favourite song though all the children seem to love it) the autistic boy in class is sitting in his Santa hat on the edge of the stage, a little way off from the fray. His Key Worker is holding his hands to help him sign the Christmas word, smiling and bouncing his arms to the rhythm. Kids are falling off the stage. Some (including mine I notice) are playing with the leads to the mikes. There's a great poem starting with 10 little snowmen, making it an mathematical lesson as well as a seasonal song. A tough looking boy with a broad East End accent, complete with crew cut, Nike trainers and a chunky Pringle Christmas cardigan, finishes it off: "Then there was NONE!" Wouldn't want to mess with him.

The wonderful headscarved teacher is leading her flock, singing "I love thee lord Jesus" with gusto. A girl, she must only be 6 or 7, steps up boldly to the mike and belts out a slightly off key solo. Actually that's generous. Well off key would be more accurate. There are microphones hitting the deck. 25 violins! 25!! Sounding fabulous. What's the collective noun for violins? And since when did my kids' school grow so many violin players? A dozen brass instruments playing something approximating My Favourite Things. They are cheered for the sheer enthusiasm of their teacher and exuberance of their performance. Makes me pretty glad to have a violin learner at home. And finally, of course, the tear-jerking, hand -waving finale about friendship across cultural divides. "Lift your banners high for justice and for peace. Lift your banners high; may our friendship never cease." Is this gut wrenching schmultz of the tackiest variety or our true calling on this planet; the very stuff of life?? For me it's definitely the latter.

I can only hope that tomorrow's concert offers even half the entertainment!

But that's all a bit of a distraction from the tree and the star and the Advent Adventure. Here's no. 18... we seem to still be missing one or two, but can't really work out which ones. Several people stopped tonight to say how great it looked. One guy rolled down the window of his car: "This is absolutely beautiful" he said. "This is the kind of thing which makes living round here so great".. Yehay!! I told him that next year he should think of something beautitful to do too!

Ah, school carol concerts, advent-y street art... I wish it could be Christmas every day.