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There's a little tree out there today!

Yesterday Ma & Mol came back over to mine (the roads had drained miraculously again once the rain stopped) and we all went out to lunch in the village.  There's a big hotel at the traffic lights in the middle, the Donington Manor, and they'd delivered really good Christmas brochures some weeks ago, so we thought it would be fun to try.  We were most surprised to find we were the only people lunching there that day (some business people in the bar, but nobody else in the dining room), given that it was the last Friday before Christmas.  Service certainly wasn't speedy, but they were in no hurry to hustle us out which was nice.  There were Christmas crackers, and we had a bottle of wine and the full 3 courses each.  Sarah and Mol started with goats cheese on a baked beetroot base, Ma had the chicken parfait, and I had a winter vegetable soup.  Then we all had the turkey and trimmings (we had to ask them to make us bread sauce, which was a surprise, but there was plenty of turkey each and the stuffing was particularly good).  And then Sarah had Christmas pud, Ma and Mol had a mocha creme brulee, and I had a Eton mess with blueberries.  And then we staggered home.  We all looked very lovely.

 After a nice nap, we poured some drinks (which turned out to be much needed) and got down to the entertainment I'd found for us the other weekend in Ripon.  These little puzzles were like lego but a fraction of the size.  Sarah's was described as "over 90 pieces", Ma's and mine over 110, and Mols' over 150.  And as the end result of each is only 4-5cm high, you can imagine the size of the pieces.  I thought they'd be great fun.   And they were.  But I did wonder if I'd be murdered before we finished.

It took much puzzling to start with.

Engineering skills turned out to be a benefit here, with my ducks being completed well ahead of the rest......

Sarah's rabbit (and carrots) came in next.

 Then the koala.

And finally the little dog and his food bowl.

I think they'll all be most relieved to know it's the only party game I got this year.  We spent the rest of the evening singing along to Mamma Mia - one of our Christmas traditions.  Great music.