Christmas cards.

I have just received my Christmas card from Digby a dog I sponsor at Dogs Trust.

first snow

The past two evenings I have stayed late at school with a few other members off staff to paint the scenery for the Christmas Concert next week.
The children were extremely excited when it started to snow at lunch time but it soon turned to rain and I didn't think much more about it.
I left work and headed home about 5.45pm but went via the motorway instead of over the hills. As I climbed to our junction (it is the highest motorway junction in the UK) the sleet turned to snow and the traffic ground  to a standstill!
I managed a photo as I sat waiting to move again....just before I really started to panic! 

But I managed to get home and now I am waiting for Hubby to get home. I did phone and warn him how bad it is.
So this is the first snow of Winter.
 I wonder if we will have a white Christmas?

This was the sky this morning.....shepherds warning?

and this was from the playground at lunch time.

He didn't make it!

No this Father Christmas didn't make it to the big day!

We all know Father Christmas leaves the Children of Great Britain a gift or two on Christmas Eve but here are a few other Gift Giving and Christmas Figureheads from around the world.

France   Pere Noel

Norway Julenissen

United States Santa Claus

Finland Joulupukki

Malta San Niklaw

Spain Papa Noel

Marry Christmas

I know I am a little early with this title....but it is day four of my Christmas Challenge.
After work I called in at the local garden centre for some bird food and was greeted by this

the whole place was a wonderland of Christmas lights.

Nadelek lowen

Nollaig shona

buon Natale

Nollaig chridheil

feliz Navidad

Nadolig llawen

god jul

joyeux Noël

Winter Walks

Day three of my count down to Christmas. I spotted this Christmas tree sign near the supermarket with real tinsel and a star advertising trees for sale at a local garden centre.

*The evergreen tree was an ancient symbol of life in the midst of winter. 

*In 1846, the popular Royals, Queen Victoria and her German Prince, Albert, were illustrated in the Illustrated London News. They were standing with their children around a Christmas Tree. Soon her subjects were imitating their Queen and her family.

*********

So this weekend we started thinking seriously about Christmas. On Saturday we drove to Bankfield to look at the Christmas Craft Selling exhibition. 

We didn't think it was as good as last year when we bought a few presents.

But it is such a lovely place to visit and we wandered around the rest of the museum too.

Then on Sunday after a very lazy morning we decided to go for a walk locally.

Isn't she gorgeous?

It was a bright, sunny day with a very blue sky but very cold.

And where the sun hadn't reached, the frost lay still on the ground.

We stayed on the lanes as the footpaths were sodden.

We walked up from Millbank to Cottonstones.

sun spots on this photo but I love it anyway.

Then back down the hill

The sun was getting low in the sky.

It was time to go home.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Christina Rossetti

No snow here but we did have a very heavy frost last night and it made a beautiful pattern on the velux window in the spare bedroom (luckily it was on the outside!)

December

I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try

to keep it all the year.

Charles Dickens

So December is upon us. I am going to try and do a post a day....I may fail miserably but I will try. 

A post everyday with a little Christmas theme. 

But I will also add other bits to some of them, after all, it is not ALL about Christmas. Some people don't want to read about it, as it is all around us and it is not a happy time for some people.