Oh the weather outside is Frightful

I always love this time of year.It's dark by 4.00pm so the hens are in their  coop by 3.30pm where it's warm and cosy and I can then shut the cottage door on the wind and rain outside and relax with a book , some craft or baking.

We're lucky that the walls of our cottage are a foot thick so with the doors closed and the burner on the house is warm and comfortable ( a bonus when we have snow and come rolling in from sledging on the back field in the winter)

This week has been a mixture of present wrapping, writing Christmas notes and reading Christmas blogs for inspiration. We've been to watch "Saving Mr Banks" at the cinema which has inspired me to re-read the Mary Poppin's books and today a friend prompted me to list the ten most influential books I had read as a child.Wow that was nostalgic and I 'll write about that another day.

 It's been busy in the run up to the end of school term. I've sung carols in our local Costa Coffee, and in our town Christmas concert, and  my daughter has been  ice skating in Blackburn on her school rewards trip.
It's a busy time but over the years I have discovered the magic of making Christmas special if you  avoid the commercialism and value what is important.

On Tuesday I spent an hour with special friends at a Christmas coffee morning in aid of the N.A.S. Home made  cakes and chocolate jigsaw pieces ( a symbol of  autism) with coffee and chat. I came away with  books to read over the holiday period and yummy cakes for the family.

 My daughter designed a Christmas jumper for school - a combination of snowflakes and Christmas berries were sewn to her cardigan to create a cheap and simple Christmas sweater.

We had a lovely early Christmas meal with grandparents at the weekend as they will be away for Christmas. My autistic son loved it - calm and relaxed without the pressure of presents and noise and loads of guests. He happily pulled crackers, ate his turkey and chocolate cake then sat with his dad and watched the rugby.He even asked tonight when we are going to put the tree up.

"When school breaks up we will do it ", I said.

Then yesterday it was the school carol concert at St Andrew's church Coniston. In the churchyard are the graves of John Ruskin and Collingwood. We are so.lucky to live in such a beautiful setting! The service was lovely and my daughter  played bass guitar. Then to round it off I popped into the village Honesty shop and bought some Christmas decorations which the pupils had made to raise money for our local Hospice. They will take pride of place on our tree when it goes up tomorrow!