And that was that. — An Elegant Sufficiency

Oh my word. I really don’t know what happened these last few weeks. Well, I do really. The builders packed up and took their skip and portaloo home, but continued to visit us almost daily, finding small jobs that needed to be completed. Finally, just before Christmas, two painters came to make sure every corner was covered and the last of the building team put a final finish on both staircases, working his way down from the top and seeing himself out of the front door at the bottom with a wave and call of “Happy Christmas!”

And that was that.

The house was filled with sweetness and there was time for a little baking, though no Christmas cake this year for the first time in many years. I’m not sure we missed it, for we are always overwhelmed by so many good things to eat.

The scene was set one dark evening for friends to come for our usual Feuerzangebowle.

They are all pretty experienced fire-setters now and need little encouragement to work their way through a few mugs of rum-laced glühwein.

We’re happy to have assistance with the lebkuchen and Christmas sweets of course.

My Advent calendar this year was a small daily jigsaw and on Christmas Eve, there he was, Father Christmas himself.

Though we spent the day quietly, with Bettine and then later, here at home, we were thrilled to find he’d brought many surprises including this little weather tracker. Since my Hero installed it in the kitchen, it seems to have tracked non-stop rain though - has it stopped raining at all since then?

We saw in the arrival of 2024 with our friends from Lancashire, enjoying the same procedure as every year (James) streaming Dinner for One from German TV as usual on New Years Eve.

Waking to an empty house yesterday morning, though, it was time to start afresh. As soon as Christmas is over, everything begins to look tired and we were certainly ready to say bye to it all.