Finishing touches to the Christmas tree

Putting up the Christmas decorations is a two day exercise. On the first day the whole house has to be cleaned from top to bottom so that on the second day the tree can be erected and decorated and all the other ornaments put out including two more trees, one goes in the porch and the other next to the TV. But it is worth it as the place looks really beautiful when it's completed. We've friends around for dinner tomorrow night so the house will be looking wonderful for that.

Wrote my audit report for the school yesterday morning while Susan was decorating the house. Did a bit of shopping and bought a few family Christmas cards while I was out. Tesco were selling cucumbers at 5p, yes 5p, each. I bought half a dozen to make cucumber relish (when I can find the time)

In the evening we went round to friends for drinks and nibbles. Nigel is a home brewer of some experience and skill. He was the one who provided the wherewithall to make our cider in September. He'd kept back a gallon of juice to use as apple juice but before he could drink it all it started to ferment with wild yeast. We tried a nip and wow, it's like a cider liqueur and needs to be drunk in small quantities. We're going to make more from next year's crop. His home brew beer was superb too, very strong and reminded me of Belgian beer, rich, flavoursome with great depth. Fortunately Susan had volunteered to drive home.