Birch textures

I woke at 2 a.m. with the Christmas menu running through my head, and realised that I really needed to fetch more eggs and butter - so another early start, though Waitrose was much more civilised today and I was out of the shop by 7.,30 a.m. 

Most of the rest of the day was spent preparing for tomorrow - cooking and tidying, but I managed to find an hour to sneak off to Swaddywell Pit for some fresh air. Sadly this coincided with the appearance of a cloud bank, so the only photos I took were intentional camera movement shots of the Silver Birch trunks.

ben and Sarah came over at 4 p.m. with some extra chairs, and helped me make the crackers. We then sat down for a buffet meal which included baked Camemberts and Gravadlax - treats that we only ever seem to have at Christmas. By about nine we were all feeling quite shattered (Ben and CJ had been working all day) so decided to call it a night so that we would feel fresh in the morning.