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xmas 08 archives


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we threw our xmas tree away last wednesday.  it was a shame as the needles were still attached, and despite us chopping it down in December it was all quite alive.

and jane finally took the last few christmas cards down which were stuck on the downstairs toilet door a fortnight ago.  so i think christmas is finally over.  oh well.

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i saw two signs that christmas was properly over last week.  a santa hat in a bin, and a branch less tree wandering naked in to the street.

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we've still got 6 christmas cards stuck to a door in our house, so it's not quite all over for us yet

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this man appeared to be standing on the top of a christmas tree in bath yesterday.  can you work out what's going on here ?

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i miss working in downtown london.  over the next few days the streets will be full of trees celebrating how london was once a dense pine forest.  the festival of abandoned trees only lasts a few days, but sadly i'll miss it.

luckily i caught an early specimen as i walked to work (due to my car being broken) yesterday

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"If you take down your lights before January 6th, the wise men may not be able to find their way."  Although in these modern days you'd expect anyone wise enough would have a map or a satnav.  And since everyone has christmas lights anyway, it's all slightly confusing.

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a few days after the event i can show you our christmas day.  a great scoff of food

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but it was too much for james who fell asleep standing up leaning against his chair

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james' dad also feel asleep, but in a more comfortable location

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binky cleaned up

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whilst others played cards (racing demons) on the hallway floor

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and here's some cake.  a very jolly occasion

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i took this pictures back in 2003 and they still make me chuckle

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the nativity is of course back out at church this year.  tomorrow's blog will consist entirely of some of the characters within it.  and of course the wise men on their way

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where's the baby ?

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another blog offering from esther.  it's garry the glove snowman

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worth clicking on the picture to enjoy the googly eyes holy family experience !

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esther let me share this picture with you.  she was keen to tell me she drew it over a year ago, and i actually fished it out of her dustbin to take the photo.

you might think the wise man on the left is heading in the wrong direction, but he's actually hurrying along his camel.  we can only see the head of the camel as esther wasn't able to draw camels at that stage.

so now we know.

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it was our spookily attractive angel viewed from underneath (she's the one on the left).  she's got no body so we were looking up her neck hole.

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esther and kezia made up a special christmas show which they were happy for me to share with you. so here it is:



and a second (repeat) performance viewed from a slightly different angle:

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we went to the supermarket for a french stick at lunchtime yesterday.  big mistake.  very busy

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so, yesterday morning, the girls and i went to cut down a tree at the local tree chopping place. it was twice as expensive to chop a tree down than to chop your own, but it's a tradition now so we have to go through with it

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unfortunately the stock of trees seems to be reducing each year so it took us quite a while to find one we wanted.  we also did more checking for dead branches after last year's 'dead stick' look.

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here's kezia at work with the saw

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eventually the beast was felled

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and then it was back home to get it decorated before it had realised it had even been dug up.

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and this year, just to prove we're especially holy, we've got three angels (that's a triangle)

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i had my last work christmas lunch yesterday.  here it is

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classic british christmas lights display.

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i've no idea what this was about, but it was at the back of our church on sunday

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my secret santa present arrived at work this morning

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it was well wrapped in a jiffy bag then countless (err 2) layers of bubble wrap

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so at 6am this morning i was in a dark office on my own on the outskirts of london opening a suspicious package from an unknown stranger (i know plenty of strangers, but this was an unknown one)

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first thing i came to was this lovely red reusable guerilla carrier bag

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i unravelled it a bit and there was something inside

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so i reached inside and there were two more bubble wrapped items

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inside the bubble wrap was tissue paper

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and finally, the contents were revealed

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two fantastic and lovely egg cups

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so hoorah.  a real success from mr or mrs tweetcret santa

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you can view photos of other tweetcret santa gifts on the flickr pool here

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a hideous santa light stuck on a wall

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the scary giant snowmen of carnaby street
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click to admire the novelties

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little bit of decoration that was on the floor at work

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with windows big enough to get a hoof behind

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the wise men begin their journey

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jane spotted this nativity in a shop window.  the cow looked very angry, but it's only once i got home and looked at the photo that i realised the wise men look a bit bonkers too

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it looks even better seen in it's wider context with the santa and buddha

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to get you in the christmas mood, i say "welcome to cottingham lights"

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(note the drunk snowman in the background)

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sleton quick bite

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i had my first christmas lunch yesterday. 

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and the lights are up and on in london.

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so let me be the first to wish you happy christmas

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i spotted this at midnight in london a fortnight ago.  it's a proper chucked out christmas tree.  not sure if it's early or late. 

kezia saw the picture and thought the people wanted to make sure it was properly dead before they threw it out.