Reflections

Today I missed church but went along to our postponed harvest lunch which was held afterwards. .... At the last minute in September we had to cancel and it was decided this would be a good date instead! It was a very friendly gathering finishing with mince pies.
I had a Clarins appointment this afternoon in the Spa at John Lewis. The weather was foul so Colin kindly ran me in. I had hoped to do some gift shopping but ran out of time, so that is postponed yet again, if I was the panicking sort then the levels would be rising!
After a lovely relaxing session of just over an hour I came out to find it was still raining. Fortunately I can get a bus from the bus station so was only outside for a few minutes. Just long enough to take this shot along Multrees Walk. The reflections on the wet pavement really caught my eye .
When I got home I decided to make a start on the Christmas tree, we carried it in, put the cloth on the table, fitted the tree in the stand, the star on the top and then lifted it onto the table and cut the net. When the branches sprang out I thought they looked a little odd. On closer examination I realised that all the lower branches were caked in mud! I've never seen anything like it before. I suppose the tree must have been on the bottom of the pile when they were cut. Muttering several bad words I decided that -
I couldn't face taking it back to get a clean one

Standing it out in the garden in the rain would probably just give me a wet muddy tree.

So, I set to with a cloth and a bike of water and washed the branches of the Christmas tree.

I can tell you life is too short for this sort of thing! It's not perfect, but most of the needles are green rather than brown now. I can't believe I chose a dirty Christmas tree. I can tell you now that I WILL NOT DO SO AGAIN.
It's not decorated yet, but at least it is ready for when I get a bit more impetus.
To calm me down, I spent some time unpacking the naivity scene and then setting out the shepherds and their flock. I thought they could make good use of the stable to keep their sheep dry while they wait for the angels message. They should hear it clearly enough as the angels are in place too!
Oh and when checking out my Christmas drawer from last year, I found two boxes of Lindor and a box of maltesers which are out of date, I can't think what to do with them, lol.