Creating new traditions...

Today we made some new Christmas Traditions with John and Pickleball John going for a quiet Christmas beer and a pizza at the Brewery for a couple of hours and I went off down to Emba to spend some quality time with Mum.  It is a juggling act really and one that I am still learning because bar moving in with her we cannot be with her all the time although we often feel guilty that we are not and on the other hand we need to have time to ourselves and our own social life.  Sometimes I manage successfully to have all the balls in the air and then, bugger me, I drop them!  So today I was taking Mum to the Marks and Sparks foodhall in the Old Town just to see if they had some nice little goodies for our Christmas and Mum was looking for a little gift for Sheila and Klaus as they are having Mum for a day over Christmas and it just so happens to be on Sheila's birthday.  So we went for a wander but the prices were astronomical even for a little Christmas treat so we abandoned that idea.

Mum and I headed off for the Elysium Hotel - Mum had been last week for afternoon tea and had loved the decorations and wanted me to see them and so we were going to treat ourselves to a cuppa and a piece of cake.  The carpark at the Elysium is quite small and I was keen to park my car somewhere safe - I was a bit concerned about the motor on my left!!!  Actually I was going to take a photo of Mum stood next to it but she was worried she might set off the alarm so kept well away!!

The Elysium really is a lovely hotel and I would imagine it is pretty magical if you can afford to stay there over the Christmas period.  As you walk across to the reception there is a lovely tableau with an old bus all decked out and beautifully done.  We were lucky that we had chosen the one day this week when there was no rain, in fact it was a pretty stunning December day.



You cannot fail but to be impressed by the decorations which are all so tastefully done.  The centrepiece is the stairwell with a massive tree that spans the two floors and all the handrails covered in baubles in gold and cream and a sort of teal colour.  As you look around there are little decorations all over - not in your face and perhaps slightly understated for those guests for whom Christmas has little or no relevance.

Mum is a nightmare to photograph, basically she doesn't like it so she is never still long enough to get a good snap!  We sat in what I guess they call the Drawing Room and had a cup of tea and shared a piece of apple crumble cake.  I meant to make a note of the tea we had - it was black tea with loose large tea-leaves in a bag and it made a splendid cuppa - in fact we got two big cups each out of the pots of water.  The cake was delicious - the apple was slightly tart and the pastry light and not overly sweet.  It might have been a bit on the pricey side but it was a lovely way to spend an hour or so.


As we left I managed to get Mum to stand still long enough to get a selfie with the bus behind us.  The sun was beginning to set on what had been a glorious day - pointing the camera directly into the sun you get some pretty amazing results because it looks like we are in darkness but it was only about 4 o'clock but then again we are fast approaching the shortest day.

It was a lovely afternoon and I dropped Mum back home and made sure she was in and safe and sound before going up the hill to the Brewery to pick up the Johns.

I was so glad that I had booked them a table inside because the Brewery is in a strange position where it seems to have a climate all of its own and can be quite chilly when the sun goes down.  I have to say that the courtyard looked quite unappealing!  The boys seemed to have had a good couple of hours although the other John was mortified to discover, just as we were dropping him home, that he had left his two slices of leftover pizza at the Brewery and he had saved them for his tea!

We returned home with the sun in our eyes - it was a glorious sight.  We hoped that was an indication for a nice day tomorrow.  With the clear skies the temperatures fell away sharply.  Di tells me that they checked around 9.00pm and it was only 4 degrees - that is bloody cold in anyone's language.