Thursday we manage a little Xmas Shopping...

Amongst some of the goodies that Sean and Sharon brought were our outfits for the Christmas Jingle Party on Saturday - it is the day when we will 'spread the wealth' around the village by visiting as many of the hostelries as we can, singing some Christmas songs and generally having a nice time.  We will then decamp back at ours where there will be something warm in the slow cooker to feed the revelers.  Wendy and Bill our number one stalkers should be with us from Pissouri - it will be great to catch up with them as we haven't seen them for ages for one reason or another and as they are staying over it will give us a great opportunity to have a chat before we all get wrapped up in the festive season.

Not sure quite what happened when I tried to upload this picture but you will get the gist!!!  I would like to point out that this is my T-shirt being modeled by John!  It will go nicely with my santa hat and my snowman ear muffs and as the weather is tipped to be wet and miserable I may well need to wear all three at the same time.

John spent this morning trying to make sure that the eyesore that is our swimming pool is made safe so that anyone going out in the garden is unlikely to trip and fall down the hole and kill themselves on the concrete below - that or impale themselves on the oversized and completely unnecessary rebars that are sticking out.

We had had a little rain overnight and it was threatening all morning so he wanted to ensure that the raft he was building to go over the top would be waterproof otherwise the chipboard will be ruined.  There is always the added issue of the cats as he was creating a giant sized version of the sticky paper mouse traps that are popular here.  We had visions of finding one or other of them stuck and unable to move.  Fortunately the smell of the PVA Bond was quite strong and Minnie (who was the first who looked like she was going to walk on it) took one sniff and then very quickly skirted round the structure which was good news.  We were lucky that although it began to rain during the morning by then the PVA had dried sufficiently.

Up till now we really haven't felt like trimming up for Christmas - everywhere was such a mess and the deep depression that had set in as the project went from bad to worse hadn't helped matters but now that it is just over a week away we really needed to get it sorted plus with people coming on Saturday we wanted it to look nice or at least a little festive.

I am nowhere near in the same league as my lovely friend Elaine when it comes to Christmas decorating.  Her house always looks fantastic with a real theme running through and thought put into the placement of decorations unlike me who just throws it all together and has a whole load of disparate decorations that sit together in an uneasy alliance!!!

I know I am tempting fate this year as Boris has not as yet seen Christmas decorations (or at least we don't think so as he appeared up here last Christmas) and I have put the feathers on the tree this year - I put them on a couple of years ago and found two or three that had been licked to within an inch of their lives as I reckon the cats mistook them for a bird.  I will be well surprised if the tree lasts the course.

I had that age old conundrum as to how the lights were refusing to work when we had put them back all working and all carefully wound in a wreath that then turned into a million knots when I tried to unravel it.  As a result the colour scheme is somewhat eclectic this time as I had to put the red lights around the fireplace and not the white.

Although John is still unconvinced about the colour of the accent wall in the lounge it certainly is in keeping with the Christmas theme of a nice holly red and he has ensured that there are plenty of good dry logs on the hearth so that our visitors will not be cold.

We always say that we don't buy very much for Christmas but I seem to have done an awful lot of wrapping today.  We try and be sensible and limit the amount we spend because to be fair we tend to go and buy whatever it is we need during the course of the year so by setting a limit we are challenged to find something nice for the money.

Next week we will have a special early Christmas Day with Sharon and Sean - a vegetarian one and will exchange gifts then.  We set a limit for our present proper and then we play a version of the present game where we buy a secret gift for no more than €5 and play a game which may mean you end up getting your own gift back.

On Christmas Eve I will be having Klaus and Sheila around for a meal with Mum and Dad - like last year I will be doing little Christmas gift bags on the table rather than buying Crackers which are expensive over here and full of crap.

Although we have done all the Christmas Shopping we are going to do save for the last minute bits of food.  John and I normally go out one day together and have a mooch about and then a spot of lunch or something together and we have had to cancel it several times because of the workmen coming or not as it happens.  We decided to go today and it was probably just as well that we would be in the warmth of the shops as it decided to chuck it down just as we were leaving.  As it happens it didn't look like it lasted long but we were glad to be getting away.

In the end we plumped for the Mall as we did have a few things we needed to get in Jumbos - we were dreading it as Jumbos is a nightmare at the best of times but this close to Christmas?

Unbelievably the Mall was fairly empty and the tills at Jumbos a pleasure to pass through.  We decided to treat ourselves to a Giros which we love and at €3 each it was cheaper than me going home to cook something.

In the end we were only out for a couple of hours but it was good for us to spend time together and not worrying about that bloody pool.

A quick visit to the winery as we went past to top up with some of our favourite wine for Christmas and a quick visit to check up on and feed Millie and give her a cuddle and then we made our way back home to light the fire and put our feet up.  Not such a bad day after all.

As we settled down to watch some TV I was prevented from working on my crocheted blinkie by a very sleepy Boris who was using Charlie's ever expanding backside as a pillow.  Peace reigns and long may it last.