Well folks, we are really into the countdown to Christmas now, aren't we. I read that today is designated as the day when the most people do their Christmas shopping. I am afraid I am an early bird. I love the build up to the christmas festivities but I always do my Christmas shopping early to save any hassle. That way I can enjoy the next fortnight just doing pleasant little things like hanging up decorations and icing the cake. I also read that this year a lot of people are doing their shopping on the internet to save the rave of trawling round the shops.
The article said that shopping on the internet makes them much more discerning (???) I would not do that as it would mean credit card shopping to extremes and thus deferring payment of Christmas until January - and I wouldn't like that hanging over me all Christmas. But I suppose I am old fashioned.
As I told you the other day, the farmer has to drive into our little market town each morning to collect the daily papers. That way we can get to read them over our breakfast - one of the special times of day when peace reigns supreme in our household (until 8.10am when Tess gets out of her bed, stretches, sits by the farmer and makes teeny noises which, being interpreted, mean "come on it's walk time!" Well this morning I persuaded him (don't ask) to take the camera, because next to the newpaper shop is our gift shop, Serendipity. Every year there is a window-dressing competition and every year Serendipity win it. So this morning, for your benefit, the farmer stood in the wet, dark market place and photographed each of the three windows. He apologises for the poor quality of the shots, but you get the general idea I am sure.
What is your favourite bit of Christmas? Is it putting up the decorations, dressing the tree, cooking the bird, singing carols? Would you like to share your favourite bit with us today?
## Serendipity is even more exciting inside - beautifully set out - but I am reminded of Derrick's wish last week - he wished that people in his gift shop would buy rather than just look - I expect it is the same here.
I love the lights of christmas. I never want to take them down until the days start getting longer.
ReplyDeleteThe shop windows are magical, especially the scene with Santa's sleigh. Besides the build up and preparations themselves, my favorite tradition is joining my daughter and her boyfriend for Mexican food bundled up outdoors beside a fire pit, followed by a nighttime walk through the local botanical garden that has been outfitted with tens of thousands of lights. On the way home they drive me through the neighborhoods I usually walk to see all the lights on peoples' houses. Fun!
ReplyDeleteChristmas Carols in our village pub! My favourite part, always gets me in the christmas mood!
ReplyDeleteDxx
hello weaver! my favourite part of christmas is holding back my children at the top of the stairs on christmas day until "it's time". have a lovely day in the dale. steven
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
ReplyDeleteI love many things.I love the shops at about 4pm when it is getting dark; I love listening to the Christmas Carols from Kings; I love driving around a certain area near here , an area that we call 'tinsel town' as the residents all try to outdo each other with their outdoor decorations!!! ;-)
Thankyou so much Farmer, for braving the elements and taking those shots for us. What a gorgeous shop window - no wonder they win the prize so regularly. My favourite part of Christmas has changed over the years and now I look forward to Boxing Day, when all the family come to see us at about 6pm for an 'American' supper. My husband complained so much about all the work I had to do at Christmas and was deaf to my assurances that I enjoyed it all. So now our poor children come bearing plates of lovely food and I just provide the table, cutlery and plates. Can't be bad!
ReplyDeleteLovely store, and i love that rocking horse! THought I bought a lovely old fellow, figured him to be about 100 years old, then did some research and found he is a knockoff. *sigh* I still love him. Gave him a new tail,even.
ReplyDeleteI love everything about Christmas, the food, the family time, the decorating, the gift giving yes, but the shopping, not so much!
Hello Weaver,
ReplyDeleteYou obviously have a way with that farmer of yours! I'm grateful he took the pictures so that I now have an idea of what I missed when we passed through Leyburn. Serendipity go to town with their decorating and can make the most of their big windows. It looks a lot larger than my emporium! Thankfully, the customers have been spending in recent days - but still room for more!
...please to put a penny in the old man's hat! I love the whole magical package of the season.
ReplyDeleteI think it's the whole package with me. It's all about the kids in our house and we make all our gifts for Christmas so it's interesting to see what they come up with. I haven't been disappointed yet but have been dumbfounded a couple a times. Seems I should know what "it" is always but I don't. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat pretty windows. There are no windows like that anywhere in town, over here. People seem to have lost that desire to make things pretty - they want to cut to the chase and just sell,sell, sell. Your Farmer would get first prize in a 'thoughtful husband' category - what a sweet thing to do for you!
ReplyDeleteI love to stand on the veranda and look at the lights of the tree down in the chicken yard - very pretty, very 'silent night-ish'.
The windows were worth hanging about to photograph! But I just want to point out, that shopping on the internet with a plastic DEBIT card, is no different from paying in a shop - except you don't get coughed and sneezed all over by other shoppers! lol :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful: I want to live in that first photograph! Do thank the farmer, and congratulate Serendipity on a marvellous job.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite bit obviously the rigmarole with the carrot, biscuit and glass of sherry for Santa and the reindeer on Christmas Eve, followed a few hours later by the children's faces when they walk into the room and see he's been.
However, my personal favourite is making the Petit Fours. I have a marzipan addiction I only indulge once a year (has to be homemade)!
And Midnight Mass.
I love the lights too, Lisa.
ReplyDeleteGolden west - that Mexican food sounds wonderful but not in our climate, I think. I agree it is nice to see all the neighbourhood lit up.
ReplyDeleteDenise - you are lucky to have a thriving village pub.
ReplyDeleteSteven - yes Christmas is altogether better when one has children who still believe in the magic of it all. Enjoy it while you can.
ReplyDeleteSal - Carols from Kings - my most favourite part of the build-up to Christmas.
ReplyDeleteHeather - that sounds the perfect party to give - I am still making mountains of food and catering for a vegetarian into the bargain.
ReplyDeleteHi Karen - sorry about your rocking horse - I suspect the one in the window is a modern one as we have a rocking horse maker lives quite near.
ReplyDeleteThanks for calling Derrick - pleased people are beginning to buy rather than just look! Yes Serendipity is a large emporium - used to be our department store. Upstairs they have furniture and a very nice cafe with wonderful cakes. You must call in next time.
ReplyDeleteWillow - glad you recognised the saying in my title! It is not a rhyme one hears much these days - for a start if you tried giving a penny I think you would get a rude word in reply!
ReplyDeleteCathy - I love the idea of making all the gifts. I always try to make some of them and I love receiving home made gifts too.
ReplyDeletePondside - I must say that all our local shops make an effort at Christmas and the little town looks pretty with all the lights on - I shall post a photo one day soon.
ReplyDeleteWhat pretty shop windows!
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question regarding my jigsaw puzzle, try this link
http://www.jigsaws.co.uk/more_info.php?id=3847&c=&t=&p=new2&pgnum=2
If you have further problems please get in touch, :-)
I love the poetry book in its case, I would choose a button and a sort of braid which wraps around it.
I love Carols, and singing along. We always play Maddy Prior's Christmas carols. I love going out with my daughter(s) - usually just the one as the middle daughter's married to her bed! - to gather the greenery for the house, and to make the Christmas wreath from. I love the baking, and hanging up the decorations - though it's tradition that my darling "children" (grown up now) dress the tree, and I'm the lucky one to take the decorations OFF and shove it, half bald, through the window in the New Year. When they were smaller they used to love going to the Christmas Tree farm and walking through the plantation to choose a tree, but then the place sold up and the choice was too big/too small/bare at the back/too expensive so we go elsewhere now. It's lovely just to have all my family around me now they are starting to make their own way in life.
ReplyDeleteMy Favourite part of Christmas is to visit Castleton and see the lights and shops and have fish and chips. Bob.
ReplyDeleteI love to watch people open their gifts. I love seeing the happiness and joy on people's faces, when they visit, when they are enjoying christmas activities and singing. It's those happy Christmas hearts that make my day special, Weaver.
ReplyDeleteOh, for such discipline in the early buying of the presents. We haven't even started - no cards, no presents, just a decorated tree to indicate the season. I'm afraid it'll be the Internet for us and then only when driven by panic.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely! Thank you, Weaver, for your post and the window photos. Your readers may enjoy a visit to the lovely Fenwicks windows in Newcastle (where I was a student and subsequently lived in the early years of my marriage).
ReplyDeleteYou can visit the Fenwicks Christmas window display here on this great Newcastle blog.
P.S. Sorry the link didn't seem to work! Take 2 here...
ReplyDeleteA beautifully decorated gift shop!
ReplyDeleteI love the lights...on trees, on homes, shops, but mostly in childrens' eyes.
Since Christmas is my birthday, I'd have to say, opening two presents to everybody else's one! Well not really, but my family does tend to spoil me. People ask me if I mind that my birthday is on Christmas Day, and I always answer, well, I've never known anything different. I think my brother had a hard time with it though when we were quite young.
ReplyDeleteI love to watch all the flurry & lights,
ReplyDeleteshare the goodwill,
and do absolutely NOTHING stressful in our wee boat/home.
Aloha, Friend!
Comfort Spiral
Serendipity is a wonderful shop! Please tell the Farmer, 'Thanks' for taking these lovely photos.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing is crafting original items for my family and friends. I also love trimming our tree with natural, woodsy items. I make decorations from birch bark, moss and berries. It's amazing what you can come up with. One year I saved fall leaves from maple, oak and birch trees and painted them with metallic bronze, gold and silver. Then I used very lightweight wire (that was basically unable to be seen) to create a tree topper with the leaves. The end result of my Faerie Tree was that it had a flurrie of beautiful leaves swirling around the top third of it. The smallest movement of air would move the leaves, bringing life to the tree. I used dried flowers, paper dollies and ribbons to make nosegays for some of the decorations. The tree was created for a Christmas Tree Auction Fundraiser. I was pleasantly surprised by the price it brought. I only regret I failed to photograph it.
I too like to shop early, so I can take time with the wrapping, which is part of my favorites... the other is making the cookies, which then go out to our neighbors and friends...and I like to go to the shops, the snow has begun to fall here finally and I love touching the beautiful things and thinking about the person I'm buying for...
ReplyDeleteThanks to the rest of the contributors. Seems we all like very similar treats at Christmas. I must say I was rather taken with Bob's fish and chips while looking at the Christmas lights in Castleton. I am heartened to see how we all seem to like the good old fashioned things of Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI love decorating the tree with Christmas music playing. It's wonderful. But then I love most of Christmas. I love the shops all decorated, especially the big malls. Do thank the farmer for his efforts, I think his photos are super. What a store.
ReplyDelete