It's been quite a few days hasn't it? I hope you had the Christmas you planned for - ours was hectic with us here, there and everywhere and full of food and family, and I'm back at work already. Christmas Eve seems a while ago but I know I was keen to get Christmas started once work was done. Thankfully it seems a lot of people left London the night before us so our journey was unexpectedly smooth. Result.
MOH had made a Yule Log the night people were leaving London - a tactic he may get to repeat in future years.
It made its first appearance on the dining room table after tea on Christmas Eve. A good move as there wasn't much room to enjoy it the next day, well there never seems to be does there?
Christmas Day started with fizz and croissants and it wasn't long before we were unwrapping our presents. This year I've been gifted some lovely presents and I'm sharing a few of them with you today.
To celebrate this strenuous activity, I settled down with a sherry and a new book...
Sherry o'clock and a good cycling book. Happy Christmas!
Posted by Life at 139a on Friday, 25 December 2015
There was a handbag from MOH - and yes, the yellow phase is continuing as you can see! It's the one we saw recently in Brighton, the one that was no longer available online, but with help one that was tracked down in London. I love the colour and I think I'll definitely stand out.
Then it was time for more food, as is often the way at Christmas. Turkey with all the trimmings and wine to match, followed by Christmas pudding which all went down very nicely indeed. My afternoon was spent on the sofa with Nigel Slater, sadly not him himself but his new Kitchen Diaries book - I do like his books, and I don't think you can beat a good book Christmas Day afternoon.
The next day we headed off for Christmas part two and another Christmas lunch. For me, that's one of the best parts about Christmas and visiting family - the number of Christmas dinners I get to eat! There were more gorgeous presents too. I spent most of Sunday morning embossing anything and everything with my new die cutting machine. I've a feeling there'll be some shopping soon so I can extend my repertoire and move beyond embossed flowers.
The final present I'm sharing here is this beautiful lap quilt made by my mum. Isn't it fab? I'm loving the detail on it, each caravan is different, and has it's own embroidered door knob and button for a wheel, and the bunting's super cute too.
Back home and the next day we went out on our bikes, heading towards Tower Bridge again - it's a favourite ride of ours. This time though we stopped off on the way at The Mayflower in Rotherhithe, a restored 16th century pub. It was originally called the Spread Eagle, but is now named after the ship chartered by the pilgrim fathers who left Rotherhithe for America in 1620.
It's only six miles or so from home, but we stopped briefly to go inside before heading onto Tower Bridge - which was buzzing with tourists - and back along the north side of the river. Then as cycling was such thirsty work, we headed through the foot tunnel at Greenwich and stopped off at the Cutty Sark for a beer and a pork pie, and unbelievably sat outside. This weather really is bonkers.
So a busy Christmas for me, with plenty of miles covered. How was yours?