{"id":11991,"date":"2014-12-01T11:07:38","date_gmt":"2014-12-01T11:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/miriamrogers.co.uk.gridhosted.co.uk\/?p=11991"},"modified":"2014-12-01T11:07:38","modified_gmt":"2014-12-01T11:07:38","slug":"december-and-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miriamrogers.co.uk\/?p=11991","title":{"rendered":"December and Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"December<\/a><\/p>\n

Faith, Hope and Love<\/strong><\/p>\n

So it\u2019s arrived then? December I mean. There was I thinking it was ages away and in the twinkling of a Christmas light it\u2019s here.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

Yes of course I complain:
\n\u201cWhere has all the time gone?
\nThe last year I mean, twelve months, just gone!
\nWhat on earth am I going to get you?
\nWhere am I going to store all the food?
\nThe fridge isn\u2019t big enough\u201d.<\/em>
\nThen you join in:
\n\u201cWhat on earth have you ordered? How many have you invited?\u201d<\/em>
\nAnd back to me like a tennis ball. \u201cYes we do need all that wine
\nand<\/em> the port and if you think I can cope with \u00bd a bottle of Amaretto left over from last Christmas you\u2019ll be cooking your own Christmas lunch!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

But I love it, love December, all the prep, the carols, the friends dropping in, the drinks parties, the lunches, the family coming over.
\nBringing the stuff down from the loft, (Yes, all of it please) forgetting it\u2019s all still on our bed when we head up to bed.
\nThe photos I take, the notes that I make, the lists, the cards and the sparkling lights.
\nThe Christmas china, the table linen and the jolly napkins I like before the day. But, white linen napkins on<\/em> the day.
\nThe red-stemmed wine glasses, sugared almonds in the red cocktail glass and the chocolates in the little wicker hamper.
\nThe twiggy tree, the beautiful welsh black crib figures with the little bail of straw that has survived another year in the loft. We had that at our old house and we\u2019ve been here fourteen years!
\nAll go on the big windowsill please.
\nThe wrapping paper, ribbons and Washi tape. Yes that\u2019s new but red of course.
\nOh! Scented candles and the wreaths and the bells and the holly leaves.
\nThe fairy lights, unravelled all around the room. Fingers crossed and breath held. Will they work? Will they work? Will they work?
\nDo you remember our dad checking all the beautiful big bulbs, giving them a little twist to see if they were just loose or \u2018dud\u2019
\nThese days it\u2019s all LED lights and no such thing as spares.
\nOh! Mums golden reindeer! I know it looses its gold bits everywhere and every day, but she loved it and now I do too.
\nMums *\u2018Flight out of Egypt\u2019 that we bought her, she loved it so much and the remaining four figures from the crib we had as children, I like that on my kitchen windowsill. I expect you know the story of the babe wrapped in a bandage?
\nI\u2019ll find it and post it in a few days.
\nThe shopping, the deliveries, the crush and the rush
\nThe films and the music, the cards and the love.
\nAnd the tree, the most beautiful, most perfect tree I can find to decorate with love and memories and maybe a glass of mulled wine while I think of you and the Christmases we\u2019ve shared.<\/p>\n

December and me, smiling, happy, singing along with Christmas carols, writing to my blog friends, spending time with \u2018here\u2019 friends
\nSending love.
\nFeeling loved.<\/p>\n

Faith makes all things possible. Hope makes all things work. Love makes all things beautiful.<\/p>\n

December and me, like November and me<\/a> is Sian’s<\/a> lovely idea.<\/p>\n

*The Flight out of Egypt is a black Welsh Slate figurine depicting this<\/a> scene<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faith, Hope and Love So it\u2019s arrived then? December I mean. There was I thinking it was ages away and in the twinkling of a Christmas light it\u2019s here. Yes of course I complain: \u201cWhere has all the time gone? … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-christmas-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miriamrogers.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miriamrogers.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miriamrogers.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miriamrogers.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miriamrogers.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11991"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/miriamrogers.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12002,"href":"https:\/\/miriamrogers.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11991\/revisions\/12002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miriamrogers.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miriamrogers.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miriamrogers.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}