Sunshine and Christmas lights

Some of you might have noticed that yesterday's activities are missing from the blog - that's largely because there really was little to report (and a little bit because we gave ourselves the night off).

Helen spent the day finishing off a pile of work as it was her last full day at work before Christmas while I... well, I can't actually remember what I did - very little other than read really and start planning the layout for our permaculture-based vegetable garden, a complicated task involving companion planting but one that I'm hugely excited about.

At about 4pm, once the cats were safely inside and the geese shut away for the night, we went into town to walk Reggie. We had a leisurely stroll along the river in the last of the day's light. While we were walking, we noted that, it being only two days away from the shortest of the year, we can now categorically say that it gets dark no earlier than 5pm in the depths of winter - a good hour later than in the UK, which we were pleased to realise!

After our walk, we got back into the car and headed towards Montecatini in search of a new set of Christmas lights. We'd never experienced such busy traffic - it was something very similar to rush-hour back in the UK and we even had to queue in traffic for a while. It was the first time we've really noticed there being anything like a rush-hour here. Anyway, when we finally made it to Obi, we went into their 'Christmas grotto' section and picked up the longest set of fairy lights we could find, before heading home, putting up the lights and settling down with dinner, wine, a fire and a Christmas movie before bed.

Our own Christmas grotto: the blues and greens.

The reds and oranges.

Today started late for me. Helen got up to sort the animals and exercise at around 7.20am as usual. As she did so, I was just contemplating getting up, only to open my eyes again two hours later! I still can't quite seem to get enough sleep at the moment.

As has been the pattern for the last few days, it was a chilly and clear start to the day, warming up as the morning wore on and the sun rose higher in the sky.

A beautiful clear start to the day.

So, after breakfast, we decided to head into town for Reggie's daily walk. We had a good hour's walk today up and down the river banks in the warm sunshine before heading to the supermarket to get a few basic supplies to tide us over until we do the proper 'Christmas shop' with the other Smiths: Paul, Marie and Nero the Pug, who will be setting off on their journey towards us tomorrow, arriving Monday afternoon.

By the time we got home it was around 2.30pm, so we had a late lunch - indoors today though as this morning's sun (which was hot enough at one point to make me wish I was wearing shorts) had by then been obscured by cloud.

While eating lunch we looked at our list of jobs to do and, having divided them up, we decided to leave most of them until tomorrow and that we should enjoy our first official day of Christmas here on our hill by opening a bottle of Prosecco, lighting the fire and then making some brandy butter and mulled wine before cosying up for another Christmas movie this evening. Luxury indeed!