Pause for the 4th & final time

We come to the 4th and final pause in Advent - the time seems to whizzed by so quickly.

As in all my previous posts I guess my main theme is family and spending time together.

Yesterday it was MrVV's turn to have a brass engagement and the rest of us went with him as its one of our favourites - one that has become a tradition within our family.  MrVV has played with his band for over 30 years now since he was a young boy and barely able to see over his instrument! I've been coming to this engagement with him for about 20 years and the boys have been every year since they were born.

Thats him on the far left of the picture - the one that forgot to read what uniform was required!!

We were at Snape Maltings to await the arrival of a very important visitor.

Here's litte son waiting to see if he can see his barge coming up the river;

"I can see something coming"

"Can you see a hint of red?"

"He's getting closer"

"He's wishing us all a Merry Christmas"

Because of the weather the crowd was much smaller than previous years but I hope it meant that all the small children were able to go and visit the great man in his grotto.

We didn't stay much longer - we were all so cold despite wearing many layers.  Instead we headed home to another new tradition - hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows :)

We're now on the home stretch and the finishing line on the 25th can be seen clearly.  I've still quite alot to do - presents to wrap, a pressie swap with my sisters tonight, last minute food shopping, cleaning the house and one final brass openair carol service on Christmas Eve.

Today is the shortest day of the year and this evening we shall be lighting candles to mark this and to remind ourselves that the sun will be coming back and the days will gradually start to lengthen.

See you later in the week  - stay warm & I hope you all get everything you need to do done.

xxxx Vicki xxxx