Diary 25 December Christmas Day

[Gibel]

Definitely a Christmas Day like no other. I went to my church for the Christmas morning service at 10.30. The preacher announced the first hymn ( not for us to sing) and the organ made an extremely loud fart like noise and stopped and the lights went off. Alarms could be heard from nearby and yes you’ve guessed it a large area had a power cut! The organist moved to the piano and the preacher fortunately has a carrying voice as the microphones no longer worked.

Arriving home no heating, lights or cooker. About 12.20 the power came back but my heating didn’t. Out came an old convector heater so the lounge is warm the rest of the flat is freezing. A friend delivered my Christmas dinner which was absolutely delicious and she tried the heating but we think the pump has gone wrong.

In some respects I wasn’t surprised at today’s disasters there’s been enough of them the last 9 months. Soon I shall get a hot water bottle into my bed, I’ve already got out a big fleece blanket for my bed.

[louisa maud]

Oh Gibel
So sorry you had such a wretched day, I hope you will soon be tucked up in bed for a restful night, tomorrow is another day

Louisa Maud

[Gibel]

Definitely a Christmas Day to forget, Christmas dinner was lovely though.

[Roobarb]

What a day Gibel! A couple of positives to be thankful for- the versatility of the organist and preacher,  and such a lovely dinner provided by your kind friend. Not good to be without heating though, hope you can stay warm and manage to get it fixed soon.

[Roobarb]

My day was pretty much the same as most of the others since March. Went for a walk about midday, lovely sunny day but cold. Not many people about, said happy Christmas to a couple of people I passed.

Put some washing in, did some ironing. Then the three girls from next door and their father brought my dinner round,they absolutely spoilt me. Turkey, roast ham, every veg you can think of, Yorkshire puds. Prawn cocktail starter which I kept for later on, Christmas pud. Also a gift bag with three mini bottles of wine, one of each colour, a mini bottle of Prosecco, chocolates and mini mince pies. They're so kind to me, I find it quite overwhelming.

After that I did very little, just read, had a look at Rootschat and watched TV later. Had a number of messages from friends today and a phone call. It doesn't bother me being on my own on Christmas day but I know a lot of people are finding it very difficult this year.

Was remembering Christmas day when I was a child, I used to get into trouble for eating half my selection box before dinner. I hated it when all the adults went to sleep in their chairs in the afternoon. I think my mother was entitled, she never stopped. They were happy times anyway.

I hope it's been a better day than many were expecting. 

[Ruskie]

Oh Gibel, that’s awful - just what you don’t need especially at this time of year and especially at the end of this challenging year. I hope you manage to sort your heating out quickly and easily.

Roobarb, you have the neighbours from heaven. That all sounds amazing and they are so generous.  Wonderful!

My day was as normal, and we have no restrictions on movement and gatherings, in fact it was almost a carbon copy of last Christmas, and the one before and .....  I just have a simple lunch with my fairly small family (there were 9 of us this year). I cooked a glazed ham (was not too happy with the result), we had numerous salads, and I managed to produce a pavlova which turned out quite well, served with lots of cream and berries, raspberry coulis and passionfruit.

Though the day was quite bearable and nowhere near as hot as it is most Christmases (Max around 30 I think), I would much prefer a cold weather Christmas with the traditional Christmas fare so I am a bit envious of all your “turkey and trimmings” dinners.

Usual walk of the dog in the late afternoon. She met her new friend Charlie, the labradoodle, and tried to get a bit of a friendly biff on with him. He is the dog I saw a couple of months ago on the footpath. I have since met him and a few members of his family. She also had a bark at a little French bulldog that zoomed up to his fence as we passed. I heard him before I saw him. He didn’t bark, but I got the impression he would’ve been keen to fight her. 

[Roobarb]

How lovely to have a normal Christmas Ruskie, I think that's top of the list for a lot of people here for next year. I'm envying you your lovely summer! Good to hear that you've been able to meet Charlie's family. 

[Caw1]

Oh dear Gibel... so sorry your day was spoilt by a power cut and  now a non working boiler pump.... been there and had both happen the former on Christmas Day too!
Glad to hear your friend supplied you with a lovely hot meal though... stay warm and safe ... hope the boiler gets fixed soon for you..

Roobarb - your neighbours sound such wonderfully generous people... how kind to supply you a delicious meal with all the added extras...
it’s good sometimes to look back on past times with all the memories of childhood Christmases .... I wonder  if you siblings have similar memories too.. always interesting as each of has different recollections of the same event...
Good to hear from friends too...

We were promised a frosty morning... which I love to see the grass and trees glinting with ice so I was disappointed when I pulled up my blind to find nothing! Sunshine which was lovely and very cold...
By 9.30 the turkey was in the oven ... breakfast eaten, we always have croissants on Christmas Day... used to make my own now I just buy them!
Got ready put on a nice dress, tights and shoes... OH wore nice shirt and trousers felt odd as we weren’t going anywhere but thought it would make the day as normal as usual...
Messaged a few friends then had a zoom with daughter, SiL and boys... they opened their presents from us so we could see and they seemed pleased... T the  eldest was thrilled with his T shirt with an electric guitar on it and the books he also had... J the youngest was showing us all his Lego car kits he’d had and was pleased with his t shirt too with monster trucks on it!
The  present that went down the best was the box of magic tricks we bought for both of them ( good old Lidl’s!)
Of course them mummy was subjected to having all the tricks played on her!
We opened our gifts from them and I was delighted with the jumpers she’d got me and few kitchen things I’d listed from Lakeland... one of which was a battery operated meat temp fork.... she had hoped that we would have been with them so she could have used it! Said I’d buy her one...
OH was pleased with the weather station she’d got him... ours has given up the  ghost and I’ve been trying to get him not to buy one! ...he got another jigsaw from the boys... where’s Wally one...
We had hand made cards from them, lovely pictures and good writing... T’s card was a pop up one so looks like he’s following in my footsteps! Good boy!
It was lovely to share time with them but sad to say goodbye knowing we weren’t going to be magiced on, or crawling around the floor with the scalextric they’d had...or shared dinner with them... but same for lots of people and we got over it...
Lunch ran smoothly... didn’t seem such hard work as normal... enjoyed out meal finished just in time to watch the Queen....
Realised we’d not opened gifts to each other so did that, sat and relaxed watched tv...
An enjoyable day if a little quiet!
Getting ready to batten down the hatches with the stormy weather coming tomorrow... and new tier 3 rules for us too...
Hope others days were ok... what a strange year for us all...certainly a Christmas that won’t be forgotten in a hurry...

Caroline

[DianaCanada]

We made the best of Christmas this year, like many of us, not being able to see our loved ones, or only briefly.  We met in a nearby city on Wednesday with my two daughters for a brief outdoor chat and exchanged gifts in a huge parking lot, where several other groups were doing the same, masked and distanced.
Today we did video conferencing on our smart phones, along with son and his girlfriend, they live 4.5 hours away in the eastern part of our province, daughters are in Niagara area and we are farther west.  Skyped OH’s daughter and family in Ireland.
We had our Xmas meal last night in honour of OH’s Scandinavian (half) background.  Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and goodies for dessert.
Yesterday morning there was no snow on the ground, but snow began after lunch, and has gone on for about 30 hours now.  Dog (pictured) was having a great time, by late today it was up to his throat, he was leaping through it as best he could...light snow, thankfully.  OH can’t wait to get the snowblower out tomorrow, the plow has been but of course, has filled in the end of the driveway.
We go into lockdown at midnight tonight, southern Ontario for 28 days, northern Ontario for 14 days.