A beautiful bright sliver of moon shining in the deepest of blue sky was waiting to greet me as soon as I opened the back door this morning. In the distance I could hear (un-aided !) a donkey braying away, as if setting the scene for a nativity play.
My daughter and her family are arriving this afternoon and Christmas is just around the corner. To top it all, the days are now getting lighter, at this latitude we get to enjoy a
an extra second of daylight today and I don't intend to squander any of it. Winter is sometimes a miserable time of year, yet it can also offer the best of times too.
LS, you look to have been having fun. Has your MIL got her big surprise yet ?
Rick, you have an impressive tree puller, a good festive challenge would be to pull a spare cracker with it. Oh hang on, can it really be true that you don't have Christmas crackers in America ? If that is so, perhaps I should explain. First, imagine an empty one of these rolls being gift wrapped :confused2:
Inside is folded a paper hat that is worn to make everyone look equally ridiculous during Christmas lunch (Only the sulkiest adolescent would ever think to spoil the fun by not wearing the hat

), a slip of paper with a really bad joke, a small gift and most importantly it goes BANG when pulled between two people. Only one of them is "lucky" enough to win the contents, but Christmas being a time for sharing, we make sure no one goes without.
The History of Christmas Crackers -- Christmas Customs and Traditions -- whychristmas?com