A new Year.

This is what we all wish, hope and pray for, I'm sure.

Thank you to you all for your kind wishes, your Christmas cards and your emails.

I brought my husband home yesterday and we are so happy to be together again.

Happy New Year to you all!

Cornish-isms.

The staff who look after my husband's hospital ward are so very nice.

Gone are the days of the Sergeant major Sisters, and now we have nursing staff who listen, who initiate conversations, which all begin with "Hello my name is...and I'm your nurse/orderly/Dr etc"

I had a small smile listening to a lovely Cornish helper this afternoon.

As she tucked an elderly gentleman into a blanket, tenderly, she murmured "There you are my lover, you'll soon be warm as toast" 

Would this be termed as being politically incorrect? I hope not.

The Cornish terms of endearment are many, the most widely used being 'meansum'. 

(Guess what it means)

We have some lovely phrases here. Dearovim is a favourite.

("E's feeling better today, dearovim")

Somehow it's all very comforting when you're not feeling well.

Long may it last, not be swept away in political correctness.

(Aside....'e is feeling better today, blessim, and I hope he'll be home soon)

Happy Christmas!

I wish you all a very 

Happy Christmas!

I've just made some lovely Mince pies, yes, on Christmas morning!

I'm taking some into the hospital, where sadly my husband was admitted a few days ago.

He's much better and we hope he can come home soon. It's not the ideal place to spend Christmas day!

And of course....we are

Christmas memories

This picture reminded me of childhood Christmases.

For days we would settle down to making Christmas decorations, paper chains to hang, star cut-outs for  the windows, tinsel shapes for the tree. Our table was full of little bits of greenery, wooden cotton reels, walnut shells....(with a toothpick mast and paper sail, they were hung on the tree as the three ships)

The cotton reels were painted red and branches of fir stuck in them to make mini Christmas trees.

The excitement grew when we were allowed to have sparkly shiny bits to stick on...this was before the days of aerosols.

Certain smells remain with me that immediately create my childhood Christmas.

The newly cut aromatic pine branches of the tree.

The scent of tangerines only available at that time of year.

The  glass of sherry drunk by the adults.

And the smells from the kitchen of sage and onion as Grandma made the turkey stuffing.

We had huge knitted stockings, I think they must have been from a fisherman, and they were hung near the fireplace on Christmas Eve.

In the morning their shapes had changed, and knobbly things were pushing their way out of the tops.

We spent very little on things, this being not long after the end of the war. Decorations were made. presents were made, food was cooked from scratch.

We played games together, there being no television.

We sang carols around the piano while my Aunty played. 

I think we were all the better for the simplicity.

(I read today that 297 people have booked tables at Claridges for a Christmas meal, costing £225 per person. 

There are no words.)

Christmas.

The Nativity

by Botticelli.

This is what Christmas is about.

Decorations.

I felt a bit overburdened with the thought of decorations this year...but, finally dragged out the box, and found our lovely wreath which we bought 25 years ago in Libertys. It's a bit battered now and has lost some bits, but it is part of Christmas.

Then, fired by the creative feeling, I found Grandma' silver dish, and filled it with easy bits and pieces and grouped it with the candles. The patchwork has to come out for Christmas.

By now, the urge to decorate had taken a firm hold, so I went off into the garden to find leaves, hung them with baubles and surrounded them with my Angels.

I drew the line at the effort of getting a tree.....but in came my son and his wife, bearing both little tree and decorations.

'Mum, you can't have Christmas without a tree!'

So here it is. 

Aren't I blessed with thoughtful family?

Evening moments.

This evening we sat together and watched a wonderful DVD of The Marriage of Figaro.

No television.

No ghastly 'Christmas' programmes.

Just a peaceful time.

A cup of tea, a homemade mince pie (yes I do bake when there is time)

and quiet gladness.

Thank you for your encouragement on my new site. I am not linking it back to Cornish Cream as I had some unpleasantly tacky comments left on a post and don't want that to happen here.

A new site

Small moments in a day.

Moments that are sometimes joyful, sometimes frustrating.

Because my life is so entwined with 24/7 caring for my husband, moments of time for myself are very important to us both.

A lovely morning was spent last week at the National Trust nearby, attending a Wreath making workshop. Two hours (that's a lot of moments) spent mingling and chatting with other ladies, all being creative and all producing very lovely decorative wreaths.

Mine's a bit lopsided.