'Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap.

These words are the beginning of a poem called " A Visit from St Nicholas "  written by Clement C Moore and first published in 1823. You can see a tiny illustrated book of this poem in front of my flowers.

Musical link THIS CHRISTMAS EVE - by The Osmonds

The flowers arrived this morning - a Christmas gift from Becky.  They came with a small box containing four truffles - which I ate immediately.

I was up early this morning as my phone " pinged " at around 8am.  It was one of my neighbours sending a group Whatsapp message to say that it was snowing.  So I jumped out of bed and dashed to the window to see our first snow of the winter.  It was coming down quite heavily but it didn't last long.  We had a longer blizzard later on but all in all it wasn't much of a snowfall.  But it was lovely to see and a few of the children in The Close had fun playing out in it.

Neil still went out for a 5 mile run at around 10am.  And then he did a quick turnaround and dashed up to Sunniside to get some Geordie bangers.  They aren't sold in many places and the shop in Sunniside announced on their Facebook page this morning that they had some in stock so Neil hotfooted it up there to get some of his favourite sausages.  They had a multibuy deal on so he got 2 packs of bangers and one pack of pigs in blankets.

While he was out I wrapped his Christmas presents.  Main one is a pair of expensive running shoes ... See Extra. They are exactly the same as the pair I bought for his birthday in August which are now worn out.  He likes these shoes as the soles are very thick and cushioned.  They aren't built for speed but are great for long runs.

I had made up some gift bags for the 8 children in The Close  - mostly sweets and chocolate but also a couple of little notebooks and some pencils.  So I delivered those this afternoon.

At 5.45pm everyone in The Close congregated - at a safe distance - outside our neighbour Ron's house to give him  his Christmas gift from all of us.  A hamper full of goodies and a pair of pajamas,  Ron is 94 and lives alone so we had a collection to get him something for Christmas.  One of the children knocked on his door and when he answered he was given his goodies ( he had been given prior warning that something was happening ).  It was a quick presentation as we didn't want Ron standing in the cold for long. 

We all stayed out in the street for a bit so we would ring our bells at 6pm. (  On Christmas Eve at 6pm ( local time ) everyone around the world was asked to come outside and ring a bell for 2 mins to spread Christmas spirit and to help Santa fly his sleigh. ) It was lovely to see everyone and feel like part of something bigger.

This evening has been spent watching TV.  So all in all I've had a lovely Christmas Eve.  I've added another Extra of my great niece and two great nephews all ready for bed on Christmas Eve in their matching PJ's.  The little one was born in March and I haven't even had the chance to meet him yet.  Roll on 2021 - I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Sending my best wishes for a lovely Christmas to all my blip friends.  Have a lovely time tomorrow.  Take Care.  And Stay Safe.

Steps today - 5,595

CORONA CLASSIC - Perry Como - Christmas Eve