Christmas Again?

Well, it's nearly Christmas. It seems to have come around so quickly this year. I suppose the last month or so has just flown by in many ways. It's just been a busy old time. Winter is setting in for sure and jobs need doing. And so yet again i find myself apologising for not blogging often enough....

The Nativity Scene at Cascais Shopping Centre

So Winter is here. And it's been cold, but not too wet though. I kind of remember last year at about this time it was raining a lot. So, most days after tea I light a fire, to try to keep the house warm through the evening. I've erected a curtain up in the archway between our living room and the hallway and it seems to be doing it's job of stopping at least some of the heat from escaping out under the front door. Hopefully it will mean that we burn less firewood than last year and save a few quid, or at least have some left over for next winter.

As far as other Xmas preparations go, the tree went up a couple of weekends ago. The kids, particularly my youngest, are desperate to get their hands on the chocolate decorations, seemingly not content with their daily dose hidden behind the doors of their advent calendars. I was going to make a point of buying some new decorations, but it seems that with each passing year we have a growing collection of hand crafted items coming home from school, and so when I got the boxes out from the loft and opened them up, it didn't seem necessary. Maybe next year I will push the boat out and get a couple of new bits of tinsel?

The Nativity Scene at Cascais Shopping Centre

Christmas shopping is, as it always is for me, a difficult and slow process. It's not that I harbour some deep seated abhorrence of shopping or anything like that. In fact I quite like the opportunity to get out into the shopping mall on my own and waste a couple of hours meandering the halls. I'm just not very good at the actual shopping part. I need to prepare myself, make a list of things to buy and then get out there. The list is, of course, the difficult part; deciding what to buy people. Once I have a list, it's not too bad. Thankfully I have the next best thing to a list. A wife! She has of course done all the hard work and the vast majority of the present buying is done, dusted and posted off to the UK. All that is left for me to do is the one remaining and most difficult of present buying jobs: to buy her something! She's told me that she wants something to keep her feet warm. (See, I told you it was cold right now!) In some respects I'm happy enough to buy her some socks, but it's hardly original or, dare I say it, romantic? Maybe I'll get the kids a couple of extra stocking fillers while I'm out. It's always nice to go into Cascais Shopping at this time of year too, just to see the Nativity Scene. It's always fabulously detailed and every year it seems to get a little more intricate. It draws quite a crowd, with chidren queueing up to walk up the ramp and through, spotting the various festive characters lit up in the buildings on the way, and finally throwing a couple of coins in at the end.

Delicious Roasted Castanhas

I suppose the thing about Christmas that I look forward to most is the time off from work. Having the chance to relax, unwind and be with the family. We've decided to spend the Xmas holidays here in Portugal this year. Last year we saved up our money and flew to England for Xmas, but it just costs so much to get all five of us there and back. the year before that I remember taking the kids down to Carcavelos beach on Boxing Day and having lots of fun with a football. So here's looking forward to an enjoyable break filled with seafront strolls through the clear crisp wintry air, afternoons in the park with the children playing football and cosy evenings roasting Castanhas on the fire.