A festive diary and Christmas memories.
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Went Christmas Shopping in Harrods.
We have a German Christmas Market in Bromley this year! It opened yesterday and will be there till December 23rd. I went last night and bough a wooden incense burner in the shape of a toadstool house. I also bought a German Christmas cake called Stollen. The market comprises a series of huts decorated with green garlands and fairy lights. Each hut is a shop or stall. They sell Christmas decorations, tablecloths, candlebra, food and cakes. I am going back on Sunday to try the spicy sausage!
Saturday 23rd.
Went Christmas shopping at Fortnum and Mason. Bought lots of biscuits, one lot because it was in a beautiful tin with a goose on it. They had a counter full of beautiful cakes decorated with fruit. I've never seen anything so amazing. Also bought some cranberry sauce and Hershey's chocolate syrup. Bought a beautiful silver ice bucket.
Christmas Day.
Received some lovely prezzies. A beautiful book called Bowie Style full of rare photos.A League of Gentlemen book. Cuddly toys and a lots of choccies!
Christmas shopping day in Harrods. On the train we noticed a familiar looking person reading The Times. Someone wearing a red hat trimmed with white fur. Perhaps he was getting the sleigh serviced!
Harrods have got a wonderful window display this year. I took some photos.
First we went to the Tree Trim Shop. What a massive disappointment. Harrods used to sell the best Christmas decorations ever, but not now. I have never seen such a load of ugly overpriced tat in my life. Over-sized baubles in hideous colours and patterns, and designer rubbish. What happened to all the traditional glass baubles and those shaped like santas, snowmen and clowns etc? Those wonderful little toadstools, that you wired to the branches of the Christmas tree (Luckily I bought loads of these over the years), and the red wooden Swedish candlesticks and candelabra as seen in Ingmar Bergman's film "Fanny and Alexander". Not to mention the Christmas tree candles, and tree candle holders from Germany that are designed to safely hold lit candles. Perhaps they've had better stuff and it's sold out. They opened the Tree Trim Shop in August this year! They used to open it at the end of September which was still a lot earlier than other shops, but it does seem to have gone down a lot in the last few years. Anyway, for the first time ever I didn't buy any Christmas decorations except for a couple of cuddly toys - a snow bear and a husky in a father Christmas hat.
We went to the cookware department and I spent a fortune. At last they have started selling Baker's Secret. I bought two Texas Muffin pans, three 8" round cake pans, a ghost-shaped cake pan, a cake lifter and a special oven tray for cooking frozen chips.
We popped into the Dress Circle restaurant for a slice of chocolate cake and a drink.
Next stop was the food halls. We went down to the pantry. I bought two tins of biscuits just because I liked the tins. I also bought a jar of monosodium glutamate because it was in a lovely little jar! I was disappointed that they had no unsweetened chocolate or Oreo cookies.
Couldn't resist the Toy Kingdom. Bought two teddy bears. A light brown bear wearing a red fleece and a blonde bear wearing a blue fluffy fleece.
We got the number 14 bus to Chinatwon. We went to the Kowloon Restaurant in Gerrard Street and had a wonderful meal. See PigBlog.
We were lucky to get a bus straightaway, the number 38 which goes to Victoria via Piccadilly. My favourite bus route!
We got straight on the train and only had to wait five minutes for the bus at Bromley South. When we got off the bus, three young women were passing by. One of them saw Mum and started singing "Grandma We Love You" to the embarrassment of her friends. Then she went up to Mum and hugged her. Then one of the other girls said she wanted to hug Mum too! Then the first girl hugged and kissed Mum and wished her "Happy Christmas" and then did the same to me! All this in full view of the bus passengers. This is what happens when you come after 10pm on a Saturday night! What a fun way to end the day.
Went to Ginny's Kitchen for our last Chinese meal before Christmas. The food was exquisite. See PigBlog.
Went Christmas shopping in the Glades. Mum bought me a Zirconia ring from a new shop called the House of Silver. Went into Bare Necessities to see if they had anything interesting other than hair accessories and jewellery and came out with a large cuddly multi-coloured cat and a small box of Christmas decorations. Couldn't resist going into the Disney Store for the umpteenth time this week and ended up with a huge cuddly Tigger.
We sat down for a little rest before going into Marks and Spencers to buy something for tea, and I fell asleep!
Went to Oxford for Christmas shopping. To my surprise and disappointment there were no Christmas lights in Cornmarket Street.
Bought quite a few things in Boswells Department store. A cuddly polar bear, a small teddy, a reindeer fridge magnet, some tinsel and a set of bookends and matching ornament depicting teddy bear sailors in a boat.
Got some double chocolate chip cookies from Ben's Cookies at the indoor market. They're the best. Especially when you eat them straightaway while the chocolate chunks are still warm and your fingers get all sticky.
Took some photos in the market which was beautifully decorated. They had turkeys hanging up outside the butchers. Very festive and old-fashioned.
There was a shop called Christmas Warehouse but they were just selling cheap junk.
Went into The Works. Didn't buy anybooks but bought a tiny teddy for a pound, really nice, and a video of the TV series "Doomwatch" starring a very young Robert Powell.
We had a nice meal at The Old Orleans. Potato skins followed by chicken topped with cheese and mushrooms and accompanied by breaded mushrooms, stir-fry vegetables and chips.
Rushed around the Glades trying to decide what to buy in my guise as Secret Santa. Have seen several things and have to make up my mind this afternoon as it is my firm's Christmas dinner tonight and we all have to take our presents along.
The Christmas dinner was held at the Old Orleans in Croydon. Rex picked me up in his car. We had a drink at the bar and my boss John came up and revealed he was my Secret Santa and gave me my present. He said I could open it after dinner. Everyone else got their presents handed out after the main course. I opened mine and it was a cute battery operated pig, which oinked and walked about. Brilliant!
Phil was pleased with the presents I bought him, a Simpson's glass, a Simpson's disposable travel razor and a talking alien computer key ring.
Jean's present from Natalie was a lovely candlestick with two silver candles. Christa received a lovely small black handbag.
Rex gave me, Jean and Sally a lift home. As is now traditional (at my insistence!), we go home via the best Christmas lights. The lights in Shirley are magnificent this year and the ones at West Wickham are very good too. What I really wanted to see though. was two of the houses in Hayes which are decorated for charity. I used to pass the one in Addington Road on the way home from work on the bus, but now I go home by tram I don't get to see it. I've always wanted to take a photo of it, so as I had my camera with me I got out of the car took a couple of pictures and made a donation. The house is mainly covered in lots of tiny red lights, but in recent years more colourful additions have been made. Despite the massive amount of lights I think it's really tasteful and very beautiful.
Next we went to the one near Ravensbourne School (where David Bowie went!). This is a huge house with a large garden and drive, and is covered in lights and illuminated figures. People were stopping their cars and going inside where there were lots of things you can't see from the road, including an animated reindeer. It was magical!
