Evergreen

 I'm not big on tradition but I do stick to the one my Mum introduced, letting her December-born child enjoy her birthday before any thought was given to Xmas. Cards were left up and presents remained on display for a fortnight after the main event. Here's what remains of my 55th birthday, I've already drunk the booze, eaten all the baklava & hung a fabulous framed picture on the bathroom wall. Jon & my friends get me, there's books, vintage postcards, handmade goodies, tribal jewellery, ethically produced, plastic-free skincare, fancy organic teas, a charity cat calendar and a pair of light-up magnifying specs as I'm as blind as a bat!

Lord Jon & I acknowledge Xmas Day but don't go overboard. We exchange gifts with a handful of friends, Marcus (my brother) and each other. Last Monday I sat at the PC with a list and purchased our presents online, all from ethical businesses - either indie companies or British charities. Tony had been eyeing up Jon's Bank Robbers (explanation HERE) when we were last in 'Spoons and I'd managed to score a pair from eBay for a quarter of the retail price. Within an hour, everything was purchased. No queues, no crowds, no bother. A while ago I registered with Easy Fundraising, which donates a small percentage of your online expenditure to a charity of your choice so Stray Cats Rescue Team West Midlands got a little Xmas gift, too.

Everything had arrived by Friday so after Jon had hand-printed brown parcel paper using the dregs of the paint we'd used to decorate the lounge back in 2018 & printing blocks we'd bought in India over the years, I wrapped the presents. We never buy conventional wrapping paper or gift bags as most of them are laminated with plastic and can't be recycled, they'll be festering in landfill for years after we've departed the planet. There's no foil bows, sticky tape or synthetic ribbon either, we use garden twine which can be chucked on the compost heap to break down naturally. The gift tags were cut from a box that originally contained handmade soap. 

In recent years, on Xmas Day we'd meet the Dead Relative's Society for a lunchtime curry at our local Indian restaurant but sadly Nessa's became a victim of the pandemic so, in a moment of inebriated magnanimity last month, we invited the gang round to ours for lunch instead (the other member, an 80-something retired university lecturer, isn't pictured). With things the way they are at the moment no one's sure if Xmas is going ahead or if we'll be put into lockdown in the next few days but there's food in the freezer if it does. 

Talking of food, we don't buy anything that we don't normally eat. No tubs of chocolate, party packs of savoury snacks, mince pies, cakes, fancy biscuits or weird alcoholic drinks with cream in them. No Xmas TV either, the only festive film I've ever watched is A Christmas Carol and that's only because I studied it for O Level English Literature.

We have fairy lights up all year round and, as always, I bring some greenery in from the garden to celebrate the Winter Solstice. 

I fell in love with these paper-wrapped globe baubles, handmade in India from recycled plastic on fabulous fair trade website, Ian Snow, a few years ago but was disappointed that they'd sold out. I was thrilled to spot a box of eight listed on eBay. They arrived with their original tags attached & individually wrapped in sheets of the Hindustan newspaper. The recent storm, Arwen, had brought loads of branches down in the garden and Jon found the perfect one from which to suspend a few. 

The remaining four are adorning a few more twigs salvaged from the garden.

I wove some pentagrams from sticks lying around the garden, spraying them with a can of gold paint I found under the sink. They were used symbolically by the Ancient Greeks before you accuse me of being a witch. 

I'm under strict instructions not to hang anything on the new & recently painted front door so it's just the kitchen door adorned with greenery this year. According to European folklore, the hanging of evergreens was used as a symbol of continuity and sustained life in the bleak winter months, something we could all do with.

Phew! With all that festive stuff out of the way, it's business as usual - minus the eBay shop as we've closed it to coincide with the Royal Mail's Xmas posting deadlines. 

It was off to the clearance chazza on Sunday morning. Lord Jon's gradually working through his coats, giving each an outing. It was the turn of this 1960s windowpane check woollen overcoat, scored for £3 from a charity shop back in the Summer.

I'm certainly getting my wear out of this Dilli Grey cord maxi skirt. On Sunday I wore it with a charity-shopped Accessorize beret & leather belt, a vintage Anokhi blouse from eBay and a 1970s Kashmiri woolwork waistcoat that Cheryl gave me. Jon had to endure the weird headband for another night as I wanted more curls.

What did we find?

Two 1980s scarves, the vibrantly checked one was made in France by Francois Duchamp & the other made in West Germany and 100% cashmere, a Lunn Antiques cotton nightie (which I'll be wearing as a slip under my Indian cotton dresses, I never wear anything in bed), Duffer of St George cardi (now in Jon's wardrobe), a 1970s green glass genie bottle to add to the ever-growing collection, a Robert Harris thriller (one of our favourite writers so we're not breaking our book-buying ban!) and a rather marvellous 1970s Fat Lava West German floor vase by Scheurich  - we pushed the boat out for this one, it was part of the charity shop's Gold Ticket Line and cost £5, I've found it's twin on this website HERE for £95.

Ahhhh...Xmas Day, 2007 spent on an empty beach in Kerala. Covid restrictions permitting, we're hoping to escape England for another trip in Wales in the next day or so (not quite as exotic as India!) Hopefully, I'll be back to report back before the end of the week. 

See you soon!

PS Don't forget that English Heritage will be live streaming the Winter Solstice from Stonehenge (for free!) on You Tube on Wednesday 22nd December at 7.25 GMT. It was utterly magical last year.