Approaching Christmas

 Maybe 2013 is a year best forgotten – but at last we seem to be turning the corner. Things are at last looking better. Hope everyone else is seeing the same too and that you all have a wonderful Christmas holiday.

If you are still looking for Christmas gifts, or just a nice afternoon out, i can recommend the Christmas market in the middle of Manchester. its spread across a dozen or more street, sort of from the Arndale centre, down thru St Anne’s Square and then it fans out. Lovely atmosphere, coffee with a  rum in it, some quirky and original gists. Really busy times are a bit of a crush so its best avoided, but some great live music on every street corner it seems.

Its going to be our first all at home as a family for many years, we have usually all been working.  We have ten guests for Christmas Day lunch, so are all really looking forward to that.  Boxing Day we have to take over from my Mum who always had “open house”, a tradition that seemed to go back to our childhood.  Of course I missed most of them, invariably working over Christmas, either in clubs, or in radio, both of which took me far and wide. 

The last seven years we have been 'mine hosts;' at The Triton, and both Christmas Day and Boxing Day were two of the busiest trading days of the year.  We would fervently hope and pray for good sunny weather, as snow always turned trading at the Triton into a disaster - our friends in the media would bleat that the entire world was under a snow drift and no one should venture out. Very annoying when you've had contractors come in and clear the car park, and people are ringing to cancel!  This year we won't be fretting about the snow - it usually makes our garden look as tidy as my neighbours! 

Boxing Day for us this year will start an hour after the big game (thats The Tigers v Man U !)  and will feature a Murder, guaranteed!  We have a few glasses of wine some whereabouts the house. 

I should emphasise that these pictures of our home (right) and the Triton (above) were taken two years ago when we saw heavy snow and that this winter has been very mild so far, with a nice blue sky this morning and yesterday, not bad  for the shortest day of the year!  At least the nights are starting to get lighter now!