One jigsaw done, eighteen to go...

Every now and again I like to blip our dining room table, since that is where my blip life began. This time last year, roughly, I did a preChristmas blip of the table, so thought it was about time to show the scene again, with the enormous pumpkin in view, just before it got made into soup.

We grew the pumpkin/squash in our front garden, but never made it into a lantern because we were in Holland for hallowe'en. Actually, we put it in the cabin and forgot about it! At last, this evening, I made good my promise and made a vat of soup. After having peeled and cut up one half and realising that it had taken me absolutely ages, I simply roasted the other half in its entirety.

In other news, we went to the Prince Albert pub in Rodborough at lunchtime, for some lusty carrolling. CleanSteve has written about that, so do take a look at his blip. It was enormous fun, but I've noticed that drinking at lunchtime means that I'm nodding off by teatime! An old friend of Steve's came round later, with a card, and we had tea and stollen in front of the fire with our twinkly Christmas lights sparkling away in the corner. I really love the cosy aspect of Christmas.

BTW, the Christmas of 2010 really was as snowy as this jigsaw scene, and we did have all these garden birds visiting. I remember trudging to Waitrose through the snowdrifts on Christmas eve, dressed in that year's thrift shop look: an oversized cardigan and ear muffs. On the way back, I saw that someone's shopping bag had burst, and the white pavement was covered in brussel sprouts...