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Yes, there will be a great deal of tidying up to be done now. The house looks so bare without the Christmas decorations, doesn't it? 

Keep safe and warm, everyone.

Chilly and very cold overnight and more snow forecast for the extreme south-west tonight.   We are just on the eastern edge of the forecasted snow area, but I'm thinking that venturing out tonight for choir practice might not be a good idea - icy, slippery and possibly snowy roads could be treacherous, particularly as I have to walk through the village to the practice.  I'll wait and see how the day develops.     A friend has recently fallen and broken both the radius and the ulna bones in her arm badly, also some of the wrist bones, though the cause of the fall was not ice, but a wayward root sticking up in the path along which she was walking. 

Keep warm, everyone, and drink plenty of hot drinks.  Our woodburner is crackling away in a jolly way.  It's so large that it can heat the whole ground floor of our little cottage if we leave the room doors open.  The layout means that you can do a circular tour of the ground floor, allowed by the fact that extensions have been added twice in the house's history (though not by us).

We've even got a sprinkling of snow down here in Devon ... and we're only a few miles away from the sea.   Although it's sunny, the sun still isn't melting the "snow", so I guess we are in for a very cold night.  I thought last night was the coldest so far, but we shall see what tonight brings.  Thank goodness for our electric blanket.

It will be a struggle for us to stay up and see the New Year in, I feel.  I remember as a child that my father, a dark-haired man, would set out just before midnight to bring the New Year in for our neighbours, carrying with him a lump of coal and some cake.  This was called "First footing".  Every year he would bring Warmth and Food to them in this shape.  We lived in north Lancashire, so perhaps this was a northern custom.  Dark-haired men were, I suppose, thought to be safer than fair-haired Vikings.
 
On New Year's Day, or in the days following it, there would be a knock at the door and there would stand some children, probably the same ones who had sung carols at our door before Christmas, dressed in scruffy clothes and aprons.  They were the Mummers, who did not say a word, but made a humming sound all the time they were in the house.  They brought with them cleaning cloths and dusted round the furniture, apparently cleaning out the old year.  Of course they wanted some kind of payment, either cash or sweets.  Does anyone else remember the Mummers?  Viktoria, I'm sure you do!

I'm enjoying a quiet day after doing two washes and putting them out on the line for a blow on this chilly but sunny day.  I've been catching up with my fiction reading before my library books are due at the end of next week and reflecting on a happy and pleasant Christmas time with the family.  I always give my grandchildren a "Santa Grannie stocking", actually a large gift bag full of small items, some useful, some amusing, and this time my 14 year old grandson said his favourite Christmas present was a telescopic ball point pen which converted into a back scratcher!  I must say that one of the most intriguing presents I received was also something quite small - a block of Shea butter with lavender fragrance.  It looks like a bar of soap, but you just hold it in your hands and rub it round them,  resulting in scented and soft hands. Sometimes the simple things are the best!

Almost time to say "Happy New Year" to everyone and wish them good health and happiness in 2026.