Rachael and Neil

My friend Jan picked me up at 8.30am to go to Morrisons for the weekly shop.  As well as the usual stuff I had hoped to get some of my Christmas food but the sell by dates were too soon so I will wait until we go back again on Monday.

After unpacking the shopping and having breakfast I did some ironing.  Then I had a nap.  It was supposed to be a short one but it turned into a long one.

Then I finished wrapping Rachael's Christmas presents. Then it was time to go out.   A table was booked for 6pm and I was meeting Neil and Rachael in Deano's Trattoria- an Italian restaurant in the village.

I walked down in the pouring rain. Neil and Rachael were already there - they came straight from work.  The food was excellent - as always.  I had chicken risotto and for pud I chose chocolate fudge cake with ice cream.( see my Extra ).   

Deanos was packed as usual.  And there were 3 birthday celebrations going on so we saw 3 cakes with candles brought out and heard 3 renditions of "Happy Birthday ". 

Neil advised me that Christmas jumpers were to be worn so I chose one which has little gingerbread men on it.  The ones Neil and Rachael are wearing were made by Rachael.  She got plain jumpers and then made a penguin and a koala ( Neil's favourite animal ) which she sewed on the fronts. ( The photo isn't good quality as the lighting in Deanos is poor ).

On Saturday Rachael is going home to Ireland for Christmas so we exchanged cards and presents before going our separate ways.

I chose a Dean Martin song with an Italian vibe for my musical link today

Mambo Italiano - by DEAN Martin

Steps today - 9,120