It's beginning to feel a lot like Xmas

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, dear reader,

my mince pies are made,

the commuting male is having a wobbly

my tree is up

the mulled wine is by the stove  (yes Mr Him is cheating )

and  has been drunk

the wild animals have become enlightened

My fridge is smelling of ripe brie fresh from France  (French market visit )

Merry Xmas from our house to yours

Elfing Around

Dear reader, enough is enough.  I've taken finance department Xmas festivities into my own hands, or head.

The most intriguing comment I had was 'it's surprising how normal it looks.'

Mrs No Name - Christmas Tree Challenge

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, in other departments at work, not mine.  In legal they have a chocolate advent calendar suitable for, well me really.  In human resources they've had a Christmas tree competition. In finance we have the flipping auditors!  This is getting to be a habit.  

Not long ago  HR bake had a cake Bake Off and the legal team bring a dog in day.  What did we have in finance. ..year end accounts!

The HR Christmas tree challenge operates like this. You take a photo of your tree and give it an anonymous name.  The pictures are placed on a wall and everyone has to guess who's tree.   I love the anonymous names, Kate Moss  (tall skinny tree), it's not a range rover (must be a man's tree ). My favourite is Mrs No Name. What's your favourite?

Anna does Tidying

My fastidiousness to being neat  is cutting edge. My attunement to orderliness is razor sharp.  The result is a house that's harmonious in ambiance and cupboards that are uncluttered.  I am Minimalist Woman.  In my dreams!  This very week my 21 year old cleared some surfaces and dumped left about recipe books and CDs outside my bedroom door. The meaning being 'put these away where they belong.' At work, Petra, shuffled papers on my desk mumbling ' look you don't need these. Let's get them out the way over there so you can see what you're doing. ' If I go to take bits to a charity shop I invariably come out with more, because ' I always wanted a lime green pencil skirt for the chihuahua, and at that price...'

When I read Sue at My New Life in the Country saying that she's doing a reverse Advent calendar I thought what a darn good way of putting real order into my space.  The idea is that I find something each day to donate.  So far I have given an unwanted last year present, still wrapped, to Mr Him s work raffle.  Donated some pottery jars from my dressing table to my 21 year old. I'm putting a box together in the attic for when she gets her own place. I've emptied a drawer in Mr Him's chest of drawers (it contained clothes for decorating flopping.) Really they could be in the attic given how often he flops.  Half were thrown out.  He really was not going to fit into lycra age 17 again anyway.  What have I done with the space?  Used it for my scarves, of course.  I've also put aside for charity a pressure cooker and my lycra gym trousers (it's only fair really).

Seasonal Outings for Glass Slippers

Dear reader, December has been hectic and we're only in the first week.  

Last week the One Team Thunderbird had her 21st birthday.  

This event was to last a week, according to her note on the fridge.  The birthday, as it turned out, also occupied the freezer for a week.

 After two days  we Mutton people (Mr Him and I ) were exhausted, and in desperate need of putting shopping away in the freezer.  Her note had also dictated she was to wake up to balloons around her bed and be given an x box 3. She was disappointed. The balloon fairy did not arrive in the night but her boyfriend did get her an x box.

She went out to a Western themed restaurant on her big day with her work colleagues.

The next day she had dinner out with Mutton Woman  (moi), Mr Him  and her friends.  Now I must mention here that I had had my work Christmas lunch that day so was very overindulged myself  (although it didn't include an x box 3, which is as well as I wouldn't have known what to do with it if it had.)  

At my Xmas lunch I was a designated photographer.  As such, as colleagues posed I took thematic pictures of the walls behind them, signs to the restrooms, decor, food and drink.  My colleagues thought this was weird,  funny and disappointing for their Facebook friends, all wrapped up in one seasonal feelings parcel.  

The newly 21 year old enjoyed her dinner out with us but equally did not understand my attitude to pics. 

The next night she and her boyfriend went to his work party at The Grand in Brighton, where she took pictures that I didn't understand.  500 selfies appeared on facebook as she took selfies from various spots in the hotel.

 She wore my shoes and glitter cardigan and kept them out way after their usual bedtime. (note the freezer still loaded with her birthday bits).

 I found the shoes collapsed in an indecorous and disheveled heap in the hall the following morning.

For the sake of full disclosure I should tell you that Mr Him and I also went out that night and arrived home just before  midnight, unlike the shoes.  I realised the limitations of Mr Him and his appearance as the clock struck 12. My shoes appeared to rather fancy themselves as glass slippers that were impervious to the hour.  

Mr Him and I had gone to a ball the other side of the Kingdom county. The ball started with a vinyl disco 

which heralded in a male stripper, if you used your imagination.  The singer came on stage in an overcoat and stripped down to leather trousers adorned with glittery bits.

  

Vintage Fair Mutton Style

Is it wrong to not want to go out but just stay in snuggled watching TV and drinking Mr Him's sloe gin? That's what I wanted to do last weekend. We had -5c temperatures, we had a fire and we had sloe gin.  What is a mutton woman to do!  Spend weekend on sofa of course. This was interspersed with vacuuming, cooking,  cleaning, washing clothes and instructing Mr Him on bulb planting.  

The previous weekend however did see us venture forth.  We embarked on a journey to  a vintage fair.  Mr Him did whisper to me on the way ' you aren't planning on selling me are you. ' He had unfortunately  seen the label prepared earlier 'Bloggers giveaway' so I had to abandon any such plans until the next vintage sale. My element of surprise had been destroyed.

Oldest,  Team One Woman Thunderbird and her boyfriend the Automotive Engineer joined us.  We caught the train so as cocktails could be imbibed, as you might well anticipate as this is my adventure.  

The fair was in the old Corn Exchange in Brighton.  Although it was called a fair it was a sale.  

First Mr Him puzzled over how the Automotive Engineer managed to find a mouth laser.

One Woman team Thunderbird selected a flower for her hair.

 Mr Him pondered plaid shirts

Then we enjoyed cocktails with our young adults

I did however get a vintage hacking jacket, not quite tweed, Hastings Battleaxe, but close.