Added to these Paul's homemade ginger and almond biscuits bagged and ready to go.
Yesterday a drive towards Chesterfield stopping off at the churchyard at Scarcliffe with a holly wreath for Mum and Dad's grave - we could hear the carols being sung at the Sunday morning service in the church as we walked quietly by.
Then it was time for coffee and warm mince pies at a friend's beautiful home where we sat chatting and catching up on news whilst watching the birds on her feeders and the pheasants on her lawn, visiting from the farmer's fields nearby. It was my first mince pie this year and I forgot to make a wish.
After a lovely lunch with my sister and brother in law, more pleasant chatter and exchange of cards and presents to put under the tree, we drove back via Matlock and Ashbourne where we stopped for a little walk around to look at the lights in the town centre. Just us and a few others feeling the magic of the lights in the bitterly cold night air.
Soon it was time to head for for home where my kind and thoughtful neighbour had been in to feed the cats, draw the curtains and put on the lights to welcome us home. What a perfect day, during which, for a short while, I forgot all the worries about how to keep paying the mortgage whilst the house languishes, still for sale, our savings dwindle and the work dries up after Christmas.