Day Nineteen - Christingle and the Comedy of Errors

It should probably be said that the Christingle itself actually ran rather smoothly - and was such a lovely evening! It was everything else that was a comedy of errors!

Picture 1: There is an ornament on this tree that shouldn't be there. That's right: it's a live sparrow.

Picture 2: During Sparrow-gate, Ginny and I had to go off and walk the pup. It was lovely to see the sun rising over Newtonhill Croft.

Pictures 3 and 4: When we got back, I finally managed to catch the bird (Daddy had found a net and Mummy had laid the grounding for it, so we just swooped in and finished the job they had started). The bird flew away, unharmed - then we had to clean and redecorate the Music Room!

Picture 5: I'm just saying: if a bird wants to come inside, it should have been this well-behaved!

Picture 6: Then we had to get ready for the Christingle! This was not simple either, but I'm just too tired to write out everything that went wrong! Suffice to say, the world has gone mad today! I make little Christingle Bags for the service, so here are all the contents that went into them (not including the crib!):

Pictures 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12: Ginny and I headed to the church early to set up. This included lighting all the candles and making the church look SUPER-CHRISTMASSY!

Picture 13: At the Christingle, we made a Prayer Chain. This was a thing of my own devising, where people write their prayers on a slip of paper and then you join all of them together to make a beautiful chain. I found it surprisingly emotional to see them all on the altar.

Pictures 14, 15 and 16: After the Christingle (which, did I mention, was a beautiful way to spend an evening!), we went home for festive food and drink: fish and chips; mulled wine and Irish coffee. Mmmm.....

Pictures 17, 18 and 19: Orlando says, "Why aren't I on here, punks?". So here he is!