Wednesday 28 December 2016

One over - one to go.

Well, that's Christmas over and done with - just New Year's Eve to go.   Both of these festivals are precious to the farmer and me - and have been ever since we married twenty three years ago, so we keep them up, albeit with a reduced number of friends joining us.

This Christmas we had the day itself on our own and had a lovely, quiet day.   Boxing Day was spent with my son and his wife and my step grandson and his little daughter of almost eleven months old (Mum, who is a social worker, was working).  D'arcy was a delight - happy and smiling all the time - and just walking and so proud of it.   So our afternoon was spent just playing with her.   In the evening we had a meal and then just sat and chatted.   So really a quiet Christmas altogether.   

New Year's Eve I am cooking a meal for six of us, so that is an easy evening too - the difficulty is always staying awake until the New Year arrives, so we are eating later in an effort to help us. 

Over the period we have had horrendous winds here - although not as bad as in the far North of the country.   I wonder whether people on the mainland going home to places like the Western Isles ever managed to get there as ferries were cancelled for several days and this morning in The Times there is a photograph of a forty seven foot wave off the coast of Shetland.

Today it is totally still.   Fog was forecast but there is no sign of it here.   At a quarter to ten in the morning the sun is shining and there has been a hard frost, so everywhere looks beautiful.

Farming life goes on of course (the animals don't know it's Christmas) and this morning they are coming to 'do' the sheeps' feet (not before time as one or two of them are eating grass from a kneeling position.)   They have just arrived.

Hope you have all had a good few days.   Here's to blogging in the New Year.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

There comes an age where you give up on staying up until midnight on NYE, unless you are naturally a real night person.

Gwil W said...

New Years Eve is called Sylvester over here. I've no idea why. They play the Blue Danube Waltz on the radio at a minute past midnight but it is drowned out as the sky erupts like a scene from WWIII with thousands of exploding fireworks. I dread to think what kind of existence the poor people who slave away in these firework factories endure so we can all have a great time. Spare them a thought.

Derek Faulkner said...

Well I had a thoroughly nice Christmas, out on the marsh nature reserve everyday with the dog and roads quiet because everybody stays in. Just me and the dog for company and thoroughly enjoyed it without having to endure people coming round. Just New Year's Eve to endure now and the ridiculous barrage of fireworks that get let off at great expense.

Rozzie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rozzie said...

I commend you for staying up, Weave. Mr R and I gave up a few years back. Although every year we say, "Maybe this year?"
If we walk around the corner and up the hill, we have a magnificent view of the South Bank fireworks, but with my mobility problems just "walking up the hill" is a whole lot more easily said than done. But maybe this year we'll make a special effort. (We said that last year too, as we rolled over in bed.)

Heather said...

Glad you had a good Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year festivities. We got out of the habit of celebrating New Year as in our youth we both worked that night. Sadly Christmas is not what it was with no babies or young children to add their magic to it. We had a very lazy time and relaxed with just ourselves to cater for.
Hope the sheep appreciate having their feet done - I have to wait for Jan.5th for my chiropodist!

jinxxxygirl said...

Sounds like you've had a wonderful few days Pat! Nothing like a child to enjoy at Christmas time i think... We had the neighbors over for Christmas dinner and my sister in law popped in..... and my daughter was here from Oregon... Other than that its been quiet... New Year's is quiet for us .. just hubby and i... usually we don't make it to midnight...There was a time... years ago that we had friends over and played games until midnight over drinks... but that time is long past... Holidays always remind me to enjoy the moment because they are forever changing... Hugs! deb

donna baker said...

Glad your holidays were enjoyable. I'm going to have to google boxing day. New year's eve is always quiet here. If there is a superstition about staying up I better read up on that, otherwise I'll be in bed. Only superstition is that we have black eyed peas with bacon on the New Year's for good luck throughout the year to come.

Tom Stephenson said...

What had she done in a past life to be a social worker at Christmas?

Librarian said...

Indeed, here's to blogging in 2017!
Your Christmas sounds nice and quiet, mine was nice and quiet, too, spent partly with my folks and partly with O.K.'s family. New Year's Eve will be at my sister's, a small party of seven, including my parents and O.K.
Northern Germany has seen storms, too, but nothing of it has reached my area here down south. It's gone colder now but we've had a beautiful sunny day today.

Joanne Noragon said...

It is nice to read you had a happy Christmas, with so many generations represented. It was as it should be.

Sue in Suffolk said...

We gave up staying up for New Years Eve when the children were small but then had to start staying up again to be a taxi service for them when they were teenagers, now thank heavens we can get to bed well before 12 again but I guess being in town this year there will be fireworks and we will be woken.
Lovely to hear about your good Christmas, hope 2017 is kind to you both

Virginia said...

Happy New Year to you too Weaver. I'm impressed that you have the stamina to stay up to see the New Year in - we're only mid-sixties but we will be well and truly asleep by then! There is a fireworks display in our harbour at 9pm, and we get good views of it from our home, so we will watch that, then just about be ready for bed.

Let's hope 2017 is a better year all over the world than many of us are fearing it might be. We can not control the big events, but we can at least do small acts of kindness day by day. Your blog is one of the things I look forward to daily. Thank you.

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

Have a great time! VEry cold, but I've enjoyed running in it

Yorkshire Pudding said...

What is the world coming to when even sheep have to get their toenails varnished? Why doesn't the farmer just take them to that fancy nail bar in Leyburn?

krishna said...

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angryparsnip said...

Your Christmas sounds like it was lovely.

cheers, parsnip

Alphie Soup said...

I'll drink a toast to the last sentence in your post!

Alphie

Bovey Belle said...

We will be just us on New Year's Eve and definitely won't be staying awake to see the New Year in (lightweights that we are in the sleep department!) I hope that you enjoy your festivities. Boxing Day sounded delightful at yours - having a wee one there brings such pleasure and makes everyone smile.

Any fireworks here tend to be short-lived and at a distance. Growing up in Southampton, all the ships and boats used to sound their hooters at midnight. I'd love to hear that again . . .

Hildred said...

I shall go to bed early and think of all my dear auld acquaintances I had such happy times with in years gone by..looking forward to the new year, the nice blank Journal and daily records; the days getting longer, and spring coming!!!

Fairtrader said...

Sheep in the fancy nail bar? Really Yorkshire Pudding!
Christmas sounded nice and cozy, Pat, we celebrated only with my mother, coming up by train. We had to put her back on the train a couple of days later, the storm was building up. On the west coast of Sweden we had waves like houses and winds on 40 metres per second. Ferries and bridges were off. Trains stopped. New Year will be quiet, our girls never go to parties, our friends couldn't come over this year and my husband is working, so there will be lamb, salmon and frozen cheesecake 'a la Jamie Oliver just for the four of us, watching the village fireworks on the cloudy sky!! And that old film with miss Sophie and James the butler, every year for as long as I can remember!!
May we have a new year with new hope. Let's hope that our fears will come to an end and the terror quiet down!!
Merry Christmas to you Pat, and your Farmer , family and friends.

The Weaver of Grass said...

I had a good few laughs at your comments today. Nail bar in Leyburn YP - gosh the sky would fall in. Happy New Year to every single one of you.

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

Happy New Year - looking forward to more of your adventures - quiet or not quiet - I enjoy them all.

UplayOnline said...

Your Christmas sounds like it was lovely.


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