Outdoor Socialising

This isn't Christmas - it's Midwinter. We decided to have a big fire outside on Midwinter's Day, and invite our friends to socialise outside and at a suitable distance. After a while we realised Midwinter's Day fell on a Monday, and several of our friends are still working, so we moved the fire to Midwinter's Eve, Sunday.  
Many of our friends are self-isolating in the run up to Christmas, so they feel they can safely meet up with other family.  Others have symptons that probably aren't Covid but who wants to take a chance? It's going to be a small affair.
Ruth and family weren't sure they could make it on Sunday so they phoned this morning and asked if they could come today. They would also love to take us up on our offer of chopping down a suitable tree in (or near) our garden. So here we are!  This obviously isn't the big fire but this mini-version burned well for the hour or so we were sitting nearby, and it certainly kept me warm as I chopped up bits and pieces and looked after it.
There was mulled wine to drink, and we ate saffron buns, ginger biscuits and mandarins. And tomorrow we'll be doing it all again, with a bigger fire and maybe 5 more visitors.  
The rest of the day was spent in a fairly relaxed way, with a little cooking, listening to the entireity of Handel's Messiah and freezing the sourdough loaves I produced yesterday and baked this morning.
It feels like the holiday may be beginning!