Guarding the dessert menu

Finished off (making, not eating!) the Christmas cake this afternoon - a layer of dark chocolate, then marzipan holly leaves by way of decoration. Then very carefully scraped stray solidified chocolate from the surface of the kitchen table!

Open Mic at the local pub in the evening, a small but select pre-Christmas gathering, with half a dozen performers including MrM and his friend John. They were all playing/singing Christmassy things apart from one, whose entire repertoire comprised sad, sombre songs of war and misery. Oh joy!

The stuffed toys, part of the pub's seasonal decorations, seem a strange choice, as there are hardly ever any children there to see them. I rather like the reindeer though!