Countdown to Christmas: Day 2

It's the second day of our Yuletide celebrations. Today was more of an outdoor kinda day (for me - Rob was at work all day).

Walk in the Woods

I had a lovely walk in Blackley Forest today, listening to Christmas music and looking out for all the signs that the Holly King's reign has truly begun. There's a beautiful glade of silver birch trees in the forest, and I've fallen into the tradition of visiting it each December, standing in the middle of it and listening to 'Carol of the Bells'.

Stollen

Tonight, I had a bit of a difficult thing to do, as it was the monthly Friends of Crumpsall Park committee meeting, and sadly the meeting when I resigned as treasurer. I've been treasurer for eight years, and I still love the park a lot, but it's time for me to hand over to someone else now. I took some stollen for the committee so that it wasn't all doom and gloom!

Advent Tea

Today's tea in my Bird and Blend advent calendar was Earl Grey Creme!

Advent Model

Today's model in our other advent calendar was a little Christmas wreath!

Countdown to Christmas: Day 1

It begins! Time to get festive again! Last Christmas seems so long ago - I hope I can remember how to celebrate.

Litter-Pick in the Park

The first day of December was the monthly Friends of Crumpsall Park litter-pick. For the past 8 years, I've been organizing these litter-picks each month, but I've recently decided to step down and hand the baton on to someone else. Since it was my last litter-pick (as organizer) and the first day of our Christmas celebrations, I brought mulled apple juice and mince pies to share with the other volunteers.

Festive Afternoon Tea

We went to Stockport Plaza for Festive Afternoon Tea this afternoon, and it was SO festive. We had a lovely afternoon tea (including mince pies), a glass of champagne and some Christmas songs. We were warned that we'd be unlikely to see Santa, as the detector showed him as still being in the North Pole. I swear, when I spotted that the hand had moved around, I was more excited that I've been for a long time. Oh, and the scones were Cornwall-style, not Devon, by the way.

Advent Tea

Rob got me a Bird and Blend tea advent calendar again this year. Yay! Today's advent tea was Gingerbread Chai.

Advent Model

Rob also got us a quirky Lego not Lego advent calendar with a little model to make behind each door. I think at the end, you can combine the models to make four big ones but for now we're making a little one each day.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 31

It's the big day! After an entire month of celebrating, Halloween is finally here! And, as with previous years, the big day itself is actually going to be a lot quieter than some of the other festivities we've enjoyed, because that's how the spooky season tends to go.

Coup de Grâce

Kicked off the day with some spooky tram reading from my most recent Abominable Books box - Coup de Grâce by Sofia Ajram.

Office Cakes

Took a box of leftover seasonal cakes into work today to share with my colleagues.

Halloween Lollipop

One final bit of spooky chocolate for the season.

The Exorcist

This evening, the power of Christ compelled me to go to a screening of The Exorcist at Cultplex. A good way to end my month of Halloween celebrations, I think.


And so the wheel of the year turns. We'll be celebrating again at Christmas.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 30

The penultimate day of our Halloween celebrations! I've got forest, films and pumpkins planned!

Ghost Stories Walk and Talk

Today started off with a really enjoyable Ghost Stories Walk and Talk for Friends of Bailey's Wood. I led a gentle, social walk in the forest, telling stories about lost knights, woodland werewolves, and the time the devil came to Dam Head. And then we had Halloween cakes and cherry squash in the woods!

Halloween Film Afternoon at the Care Home

This afternoon, I was at Castlerea Care Home for our annual Halloween Film Afternoon. I did my traditional dramatic reading of 'The Raven', and then we settled down with some popcorn and Halloween cakes to watch... well... Halloween.

Crown Prince Squash

More squash! We got a Crown Prince Squash in our Groobarbs veg box today!

Halloween Dinner

We went for dinner at my mother-in-law's tonight. I took her a mini pumpkin, and she gave us pumpkin pie (not made from the same pumpkin, of course).

P is for Prom Night

And then we continued our Horror A-Z with my mother-in-law, watching Prom Night tonight.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 29

Day 29 of our Halloween celebrations, and a much quieter day after the last few hectic ones.

Library Visit

I had to go to the library today to get some content for my radio show. They had a lovely display of Halloween-appropriate books, which I... erm... totally ruined by checking three of them out (plus one other book that wasn't on the display).

Pumpkin Lantern (and Friends)

When I got home, our pumpkin lantern had acquired some friends.

O is for One Cut of the Dead

Our Horror A-Z continues with One Cut of the Dead. I love this film so much. Pom!

31 Days of Halloween: Day 28

Another day of celebrating the Halloween season! I can't believe it's been four weeks now! Some really lovely things planned for today though.

Halloween Walk in the Park

I took one of the residents from Castlerea Care Home for a Halloween walk in Heaton Park this afternoon. I promised him we'd do this when we did our Poetry in the Park session at the Autumn Equinox, so we've been looking forward to it for a while. We spotted loads of seasonal things in nature, followed the scarecrow trail, and talked about all sorts of things.

Halloween Treat Bags

I made us little Halloween treat bags to have with a cup of tea on our walk in the park, with crisps and a chocolate apple each.

Pumpkin and Beetroot Soup

I used up half of the flesh from our pumpkin lantern for soup (accompanied by beetroot and a bit of orzo).

The Lodger

Me and my friend went to Stockport Plaza tonight for an amazing screening of Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger, with live improvised accompaniment by Hugo Max on solo viola and percussion. This was such a cool event - so happy that we got to see it.