Carols, Cash and Cardboard Boxes

S0rry for the mini-break. Trust me, I did not get swept away to exotic climes. I have instead been having the usually busy busy week* that involved me getting very little done and being in a permanent state of diary-checking to see where I was going next.

Monday saw the welcome of my co-students in my first craft sale/christmas soirree in aid of Great Ormond Street.

One of many happy customers, wearing my scarf, clutching my fudge, and brandishing the cash that contributed to the £100 raised!

Tuesday and Wednesday evening was a double whammy of carol concerts. I went from having none to having two offered over the weekend and before I could say free mince pies, there I was, descanting where none would dare and having a beautiful time.

Lincoln's Inn will chiefly be remembered for its burningly toxic mulled wine (portly barristers sure do know how to get the mingling started) and St Bartholomew's (on behalf of Mencap) will be remembered for the bizarre amounts of corporate labelling at the end of the service. It seems saying thank you in the 'programme' (their words - surely it's an Order of Service??!?) was not sufficient and the organ pealed out merrily after over five minutes of genuflecting to Her Royal Highness Prince Edward's Wife and thanking all the corporate sponsors for their donations and the Church Warden for allowing 'the use of this beautiful space'. I think my face looked something like Duckface's....**

Tonight sees me hosting soirree number 2, though I have now been awake and 'sitting in' for the broken boiler man to come and make my house warm again since 8am this morning and I'm not sure that the party will get into full swing if I have to dish out jumpers along with the mince pies.

Friday I'm off back to Cheltenham to see my parents and exchange presents.

* The busy-ness is chiefly due to MirrorMirror's ability to go from strength to strength, make it into any number of glossy magazines and entice its customers to spend lots of their hard earned pennies! Most popular items include the ever-pungent bath melts, ceramic milk bottles, egg cups and delicately girlie salt & pepper shakers. When I run my b&b when I'm grown up, these will be on each table at breakfast.

**The rather random reference to Duckface is because St Bart's is where the final wedding of Four Weddings... is filmed and no, it's much much more beautiful in real life.