So this is Christmas....

...it must be, we've got trees!

The ridiculously pretty minimalist tree (I think of it as "Twinkly Twigs") adorning the sideboard in the dining room (that's Kevin's advent calendar beside it).

Kevin loves "grown up"-looking tree decorations, and having put the golf ball lights on the artificial tree in the sitting room, I can't say he's wrong!

On the "jamais deux sans trois" principle., we have a third tree!  A real tree beside the front door of La Folie, decorated with silver baubles and icy blue lights.  It looks wonderful in the dark, but is very difficult to photograph!

Handbags and Gladrags

I'm starting to regard the unpacking of our "stuff" as an ongoing dialogue between me and an endless stream of boxes.  Today it was the turn of the suitcase containing Kevin's suits and my posh skirts and long frocks.

Clothes from Another Life

I've worn a skirt precisely once in the past year, and as everything we wear has to be easily washable in case a big hairy dog decides to jump up and anoint us with whatever is carpeting the stable yard, I can't currently imagine when Kevin will have occasion to wear one of his three-piece suits.  (The silver frock coat was for fancy dress...honest!)

Where there are clothes, there are shoes.  A whole packing case full of shoes.

I got married wearing this pair!

I do have serious handbags.

This just isn't one of them!

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime

Not!

Although that was one of the tracks on the previously mentioned festive CD that was playing while we assembled our new CD shelf unit thingies.Assembling furniture appears to be one of life's necessary evils, leading to such comments as

"Stabtastic, great mate!"

as Kevin impales himself on yet another sharp implement.

"My knees canna take it, Captain!"

as I grovel on the floor making Anne Widdecombe look graceful.

It was worth it in the end, as some of Kevin's collection finds its new home.

We've done Rock & Pop, Compilations, Easy Listening, and Jazz.

Classical, Country, and Spoken Word will have to go elsewhere.

For the eagle-eyed among you, yes, you can see....

...my Spud Trooper on top of the shelf unit.

Darth Tater is on top of the matching unit on the other side of the arch!

Please, please, don't leave me any comments related to Star Wars.

I hate Star Wars.  I just like cute, stupidly dressed potatoes.

The Games People Play

When the weather outside is frightful

A Wii is so delightful...

that Rozzi and her mum, Sharon, made the arduous journey from Puilaurens village to La Folie (okay, they walked up the hill for five minutes) to play a few games on our newly unpacked toy.

Kevin demonstrates his slalom stance,

watched by the ever adorable Betty Boop! 

Oh, yes, and the radio controlled dalek.  (Don't ask!)

Let it snow!

It's December,

and it's snowing.

Just a bit.

Time for a pot of tea and some pre-Christmas choccie nibbles.

No, I haven't gone totally Hyacinth Bucket.

The reason the Roses have been decanted into the Betty Boop "Kiss Me" bowl is because Kevin and I will eat however many chocs are on the table in front of us.  If I put the whole kilo tin on the table, we would eat them all.  Seriously.  We wouldn't mean to, but after a couple of mugs of tea, the tin would be empty.  Hence the handful of chocs in the bowl.

As it's December and snowing, Kevin is allowed to play his Christmas CDs.

We sat on the sofa among the newly unpacked needlework cushions and Bubbas (hilarious talking bears from America - "do I have hat head? - if you haven't got one, get online and order one now!!) and listened to Kirsty McColl and The Pogues....

and, as if by magic, I remembered where I had packed all the needlepoint Christmas ornaments I had made last year - or was it the year before last?

You spin me round

Fortunately, the sitting room at La Folie is LARGE!

Large enough to have the television at one end and the hi-fi gear at the other.

The sofa in the middle can be turned round to maximize the hi-fi expert's listening pleasure, positioning his head at just the right place between the speakers!

Oh, yes - he was playing vinyl.

(As a non-hi-fi expert, I have to admit that the Queen track on this album sounded fantastic - and the Rick Wakeman track even better.)

We are planning to unpack all the boxes of records and CDs, we just have to buy some shelving to put them on when they're unpacked.  You've probably guessed that there are rather a lot of them!