Being the first Sunday in December, I put the Christmas lights up on the house. Obviously, the tree and decorations will wait for Christmas Eve as per Swedish tradition. Lights, however, are, according to Mirinda, a different matter. The big house across the road put theirs up in about August*, but I refuse to even consider it before December.
Before I started dressing our little house for the season, I popped into Farnham to get the makings for my fruit mince. It takes two days (one to soak, one to warm) so, rather than wait for tomorrow, my normal shopping day, I thought I’d get ahead of the game.
I grieve the loss of my Delia Christmas Countdown but, I think, I’ve managed to make do with my own. This is based on prep of years gone by. Tomorrow, for instance, I’ll be making the turkey stuffing as well as heating the fruit mince.
And, of course, there’s the added pressure of prep’ing for julbord, as well. Not to mention the fact that I’ll be away with the Weasels this coming weekend.
So, having combined the ingredients for my fruit mince, covered them with a tablecloth and put the bowl in the coat cupboard, I headed up to the loft for the lights then started dressing the house. I’ve been doing it for so many years here that it didn’t take long, though I didn’t put them up in the tree on the terrace because Mirinda doesn’t trust me on the big ladder when she’s not home (she was walking the girls). I’ll do those tomorrow.
And, dare I say, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.
* This could be an exaggeration
*it was pre December though!