Carols at São Bento

Today was the day! 

About twenty of us (some had left by the end, here) expats gathered at São Bento, outside Monsaraz, for some carol singing, and readings from Isaiah, Luke and Matthew. Plus mince pies, English Christmas cake (neither available here), mulled wine (kept hot on a gas burner), and other nibbles. 

After days and days of warm sunshine, it started raining as we gathered, but mostly held off, though heck! was it cold, and mostly too foggy to see the town - my Blip taken as it was clearing at the end. Just to make us northerners feel at home. We had a lot of fun - those on my WhatsApp can see a snippet on my status.

Gratefuls:
- for Mike on his cavaquinho (shame he's hidden) and Eileen on her accordion; neither are experts, but they did a good job trying to accompany us
- my first mince pie of the season, though wasn't one of mine, they'd all gone, need to make more
- the feeling of camaraderie; this isn't an expat area, and folk can feel quite isolated, so it's good to connect occasionally