Living It Up In Leicester

We always like to try and get over to Leicester during the Christmas period.
 

 

It is a wonderful bus journey through the lush countryside of Leicestershire.

 

 Proudly hanging onto my bargainous yellow frilly brolly; a fiver from TKMaxx.

 

If the bus windows each way weren't so filthy they could've been some pictures of some of the lovely houses and their wonderful festive lights. So, just a few of us and the town centre lights!



 

We just caught the market as it was closing. It always looks so beautiful. The traders lay out their goods with so much care. I didn't get a picture of them, but even the new potatoes are laid out all neat. Sadly, it makes Northampton's effort look rather bleak!

 

 

I would eat a lot more of this good stuff if I had access to produce like this! (Well, maybe not the tomatoes!).

 

So, I guess on that note, a good resolution for 2013, that I wish you all a hale and hearty New Year, with all that you could wish for, for you and your families!

Z xx

Festivities

 Arguing it out with the Christmas tree!

 

To all of you who I didn't get round to sending personal wishes...

HOPE YOU HAD A HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Z xx

Kitsch 80s Christmas Card Designs

I doubt this would get passed the Christmas Card Police nowadays!

 



Do you think the makers of the Meerkat ads for the Coronation Street got this card for Christmas?

 

 Cannot beat a "Jolly Santa" card; any year, any age!

This one actually has a name...'Any Takers?'

Too cute for words

Sprouts have the same effect!

 

Can't beat 'squiggles' playing with the deccies. It makes me think of that film 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'.

 


Aaaaah!

 

Granny snowman gets a look-in too! Personally, I think she looks a little too much like the wolf from Red Riding Hood!

And this one? Well, just in case you haven't realised what month of the year it is, here's the Care Bears to remind you!



80s Christmas Make-Up Ideas

Sorting through a stash of stuff kept from way back when, I found a whole load of fashion and make up pages ripped out of magazines. Things that inspired me or that I aspired to. And, tell you what, some of them still make me go 'ooo' 30 years down the line.

So, I thought you might like a little lookie and where better to start than Chrimbo make up ideas! Not sure which mag this article came from - Look Now, Woman's Journal there's a myriad of titles!

Enjoy and if you try any ideas out take a photo and show me!!

 

You Light Up My Life

So, there I was, all ready to put my lights up at the window...

 

 

...and I can't find the little suctions hooks anywhere!

When we packed up  all our belongings, Christmas seemed like an eternity away and now it's just a fortnight! Arrrgh!

 

 

They were all safely in an old Barielle hand cream tube box, where they have been kept for years, but quite where that has gone to, I'm not sure! Mr B said he'd buy some new ones but I said I'd just use some white LX tape. Then he said what about using some black tape to make 'leaded windows' and then spray each 'dip' with fake snow. That set me thinking! Not sure where the can of spray snow is now either!!

Run -Up

 

The run-up to Christmas picks up the pace as Santa is seen out with 'hands-on-head' Olympian and friends.

Even the rail replacement coach is festive.

 

 

It's a joy!

 

(Mr B Guest Post)

 



Bible-Bashing Saturday

This post is not written to offend anyone; just for me to let off steam!
 

 http://reigninggifts.com/BIBLES,AudioBooks.htm

We may be fed up of Christmas starting in September but I seem to
be suffering a new phenomenon...
 

In the space of half an hour I've had the Gospel Hall shove a stash of printed stuff through my letterbox. And they left my gate open.

 

Then the doorbell went and this couple were trying to 'sell' me God on my doorstep! She obviously seemed unaware of stepping into peoples' personal space as she tried to be all chummy. Sorry, but it just p*sses me off.

 

I know a lot of you are religious and that is part of what makes you 'you' and I value all of you as you are. I chose to be Christened when I was 16 and then got Confirmed. Away at boarding school, it may not have been for the 'right' reasons. I may not be a church-going, God-fearing soul, but I do hope that I am a christian with a small 'c'. That I try not to hurt people, that I care for those that need it, that cross my path, not only close friends and family.

 

I do pray for things, but don't feel the need to go to a specific building to do so. Again, at school, a certain vicar would often make comments to do with collections and us being from a fee-paying school, as though all our parents were millionaires (in the days before the Lottery!). In actual fact a lot were like me - sponsored or from the Forces, so our parents were just regular 'Joes'.

 

The Baptist Church we went to always made you feel welcome as did the 'high church', which I loved for all the theatricality of it. I love visiting The Hidden Gem when I go to Manchester. (Posted about here and here).  I just like to sit and think and, yes, pray.
 

 Sketch of St. Mary's by L.S. LowryLowry (1887-1976) was chiefly noted for his portrayal of industrial scenes in Salford and Manchester.In 1962, he produced this chalk and charcoal sketch of St. Mary's.(Reproduced by kind permission of the copyright holder, Mrs Carol Danes.)

 

But, I do not need pushy 'sales people' bothering me at home on my doorstep!

If you're still reading, thank you!

Rant over!

Z xx

The Three Cs

 

It's a "Castle Carlsberg" Christmas!

I got myself out and about yesterday afternoon. It was beautiful but cold. Outside Argos, on my way to TKMaxx I spotted this car, right, with its' layer of snow. Must've been visiting from the outskirts of town, I think!

It's In The Air (Mr B Guest Post)

On the last afternoon of November, on my way to our storage container, I saw a swan fly majestically overhead. An hour later, on the train to work, horses in a field were back lit by the setting sun.

 

On the first day of Advent...Santa hats.

 

It started with the sighting of a girl in a Christmas pudding jumper and now it's official...the run-up to Christmas is back.

 

We have all this to look forward to!

Who knows what treats are in store?

 

I told Elishka about the swan;  said it was reminiscent of Clara from, "The Nutcracker", being flown to the Kingdom of the Sweets on the back of a goose.

It seemed a little sad to see a lone swan. "Maybe it was Christmas shopping" said Elishka, "Like the snowman in the John Lewis advert."

 

"Here's Santa now!" I exclaimed, as a figure appeared in Cinderellas' fireplace.

No, it's just Patch changing the butane canister for the flame effect.