Countdown to Christmas: Day 14

Our Cornish holiday continues! We come here every year, and we have a few festive traditions we like to enjoy each time. Today was all about those traditions, and so it was a super-Christmassy day for us.

A Trip to St Ives

We always like to have a day out to St Ives when we're staying in Lizard, so I get a bit of nostalgia for childhood family holidays. We usually do a bit of Christmas shopping while we're here too.

Lunch in St Ives

Even though we only come here once a year, we do have a favourite place to go for lunch... Scoff Troff Café. I had Welsh Rarebit and Cornish Mist tea (earl grey, vanilla and steamed milk).

Christmas Ice Cream

Can't come to the seaside and not have an ice cream. We went to Moomaid of Zennor (in what is now becoming an annual tradition), and I tried their Salted Caramel Christmas Pudding flavour.

Mousehole Harbour Lights

We went to see the Mousehole Harbour Lights this evening. There was no big switch-on event this year, but we arrived just in time to see everything light up for the evening. Absolutely love the Mousehole lights and we wouldn't come to Cornwall without seeing them.

Spicy Hot Apple Punch

And what better accompaniment to the Mousehole Harbour Lights than a Spicy Hot Apple Punch?

Music from the Rock Choir

Although there was no big switch-on ceremony at Mousehole this year, they have a whole programme of songs and carols during the time the lights are on (and we think this actually works even better). We decided to time our visit so we could see Rock Choir Cornwall perform at the harbour, which was very good fun. The choir were awesome and provided a really lovely festive vibe for the evening.

Seasonal Whisky Tasting

Back at Lizard, it was time for our big seasonal whisky night. All year, we've been buying each other seasonally inspired whiskies and saving them up to enjoy in the winter with a nice cheeseboard and some seasonal playlists (though Rob isn't impressed with the inclusion of The Wurzels on the Autumn Equinox playlist).

Advent Tea

Behind Door No. 14 of my Bird and Blend tea calendar... Cookies and Cream!

Advent Jewellery

And behind Door No. 14 of my Avon jewellery calendar... sparkly crystal earrings!

Countdown to Christmas: Day 20

I'm still determined to get these all published, even though we're hurtling into 2023 now. This one is quite a big post, as we did quite a lot on 20th December. We'd had quite stormy weather while we were away, but this was a day when things calmed down a bit so we took advantage of that and went on a couple of trips.

Advent Tea

Day 20 of my Bird and Blend Tea calendar was Peach Soda!

Christmas Earrings

Today's Christmas earrings were a snowflake and Christmas tree combo!

‘Rites of Hospitality and Charity’

The next Christmas chapter I read in Ronald Hutton's Stations of the Sun was 'Rites of Hospitality and Charity'.

Coastal Path Walk

We went for a walk along the coastal path today to enjoy a bit of midwinter sunshine. Although the sun was shining, the sea was still pretty wild! And we got to see a waterfall as well, meaning that we ended the year in the same way we began.

Midwinter Greenery

There are some fantastic evergreens along the coastal path, including ivy and juniper, which was a nice reminder of the season.

Ann’s Pasties

A walk along the coastal path to Lizard took us straight to Ann's Pasties, of course!

Mousehole Harbour Lights

This evening, we went to Mousehole to see the harbour lights. Sadly, since lockdown, they haven't been able to do a big switch-on event as in previous years, but all the lights were up and on by the time we went.

Praze-an-Beeble

On the way back from Mousehole, we always like seeing all the little villages lit up for Christmas. One of our favourites is Praze-an-Beeble, who always put on a good display.

The Santa Clause

Our next bit of festive viewing was The Santa Clause trilogy!