Here we are then, another in the continuing (and very enjoyable) neighbours’ pre-Christmas Dinners. So far, we’ve hosted at ours, dined at Rosi & David’s and we have Trish and John’s to look forward to next week! Tom was good enough to act as Chauffeur, and we were whisked from ours to theirs together with …
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Category:Christmas
John Lewis Christmas Advert (2017)
Here we are then, this year’s Christmas Advert from John Lewis. This year’s offering is Moz the Monster “Joe befriends a noisy Monster under his bed but the two have so much fun together that he can’t get to sleep, leaving him tired by day. For Christmas Joe receives a gift to help him finally …
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Long Weekend with Ralph & Karen
Ralph and Karen are staying with us until Sunday! Yay!!! Thursday Ralph and Karen arrived just before lunch and after a quick nibble, it was off for a sight-seeing afternoon around picturesque Stratford-upon-Avon… …we dropped into Rick’s place – Hathaway Tea Rooms for a quick nibble, but no sign of Rick though! (That, unbeknown to …
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Kept in Haddock!
As we get closer and closer to the festive season (looking for any excuse to get together with the neighbours!), we kicked things off tonight with a fish & chip supper here at ours. The ‘Gang-of-Eight’ were all here: Tom, Julie, John, Trish, Paul, Karen, David and Rosi. Over the years that we’ve all known …
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Doctor Who Christmas Special 2016 – The Return of Doctor Mysterio
The whole Doctor Who ‘thing’ has now become such a significant event at Christmas, that this year’s episode, for the first time, got a gala launch at the National Film Theatre. Apparently, there were Santa-shaped bouncers on the doors and fake snow too! This was the seventh festive episode written by showrunner Steven Moffat – …
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Christmas 2016
I picked up Lee on the 23rd as she’ll be staying with us over the holiday period. The weather forecast for today was atrocious (the tail end of ‘Hurricane Barbara’) meaning ferocious winds and rain after 3pm, so I did the deed earlier. As things turned-out, the forecast was spot on, so smugness prevailed once …
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Christmas Carol Concert 2016 – The Citadel
It was off to The Citadel in town tonight hosted by Kettering’s Salvation Army, for our annual Carol Concert. As usual, we picked up Lee and parked in Sainsbury’s car-park. On arrival, it seemed much busier this year, but we were still able to bag our normal seating. David and Valerie were singing in the …
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Neighbours’ Festive Get-together 2016 – John and Trish’s
You can’t really go wrong with one of John and Trish’s traditional Christmas meals! They’ve been a regular event these past few years and we love ‘em! Not only is the food fantastic, but it’s another great opportunity to get together with the neighbours for a chat and catch-up – well, we haven’t done that …
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Christmas Begins (2016)
We’ve all got different prompts for when Christmas celebrations officially begin – is it when the Supermarkets start putting out their Christmas lines?, your first Christmas lunch?, the BBC Christmas ident being seen for the very first time? …or when the Sales start being advertised on TV? For me, it’s when the Christmas TV Times …
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Neighbours’ Birthday Get-together 2016 at Tom and Julie’s
Tonight was a double celebration with both Julie’s and Paul’s birthdays coming up in the next week. Tom took on taxi duties and picked us up around 7.15 and luckily, we were able to travel light, as Karen and I had dropped off a lot of the prepared food earlier in the afternoon. By 7.30, the …
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Stanford Hall
We drove over to Stanford Hall this afternoon. We’d had an invitation from the Jeweller – Tarratt – who made our wedding rings and they were having a ‘do’ here. And what a posh event it was, judging by the cars in the car-park! We parked up and headed for the Hall. Tarratt had taken …
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M and S Christmas Advert 2016
Not to be outdone by this year’s John Lewis Christmas Advert, M and S launches theirs – Christmas with love from Mrs Claus… Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in life, not publishing my first post until 2004 – well into my 40s! My lifelong love of technology and communication (in all its forms), …
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John Lewis Christmas Advert (2016)
Here we are then, for some, the official start of Christmas with the John Lewis Christmas Ad for 2016 – Buster the Boxer. As usual, Kleenex at the ready! This is the story of a little girl called Bridget who loves to bounce. When her mum and dad buy her a trampoline for Christmas, they …
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Doctor Who Christmas Special 2015 – The Husbands of River Song
The Who Christmas Specials, are by design, a different beast from their episodic counterparts. They have to be; The audience is probably family, rather than dedicated fans; and the storyline needs to be easily understandable to the majority, who are probably nursing a full stomach and packet of aspirin! I still recorded it and watched …
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Christmas 2015
Christmas EvePretty much a lazy day here. Lee was with us and we spent time catching up with missed TV programmes and looking out for bargains on the ‘net.Ann cooked a rather delicious Chicken and Chestnut pie yesterday and we made light work of it for lunch together with almost a whole bottle of a …
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Salvation Army Carol Concert – 2015
As is customary at this time of year, we headed for The Citadel in town for our yearly pilgrimage to the 6.30pm performance of the SA’s Carol Concert. Normally, this would have been our FIRST opportunity to test our singing voices (scary!), but we’d also been to another a week-or-so ago in town, recommended by …
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Pre-Christmas Get-together with the Neighbours
Sometimes, all the signs are that it’s probably best to stay under the duvet. This morning was one of those times! We retrieved the Polo from five-days of ‘intensive care’ at the garage, only to find that after taking it for a spin, the exhaust system fault light re-appeared. Then, just as we were heading …
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Our First Carol Concert for 2015
Normally, our first Carol Concert in December is the Salvation Army event in town at The Citadel. Their event is next week, but it was ‘pipped at the post’ by this rather impressive celebration (that we only found out about earlier this year, courtesy of Valerie). David was good enough to chauffeur us there and …
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Lunch at The Hare
We caught up with Geoff, Rhonda, Paul and Sue at the Hare in Loddington today for lunch. We’d originally tried to get in this evening, but they were fully booked! It’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas!🙂 Unfortunately, we had to rush off, after about an hour-or-so (as Ann was due at the Job …
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Christmas Begins
We’ve all got different triggers for when Christmas officially begins – is it when the Supermarkets start putting out their Christmas lines, your first Christmas lunch, the BBC Christmas ident is seen for the very first time, or when a bit of tinsel starts appearing on a website. For me, it’s when the Christmas TV …
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Duxford Day, Neighbours’ Night
We were up with the lark this morning as it’s a packed programme! Duxford DayFirst stop: Duxford, where we were lucky enough to get a private tour of the exhibits, courtesy of a fellow OCA member, John Kershaw, who is a volunteer there. It was a freezing cold day (and at Duxford, it always feels …
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John Lewis Christmas Advert (2015)
Here we are then. For many, this means Christmas has officially started! Their advert ‘Man on the Moon’ was launched at 8am (UK time) today and just like 2014’s and 2013’s you might want to have the Kleenex handy! Ahhh! Read more about this year’s advert HERE. #ManOnTheMoon Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late …
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Bank Holiday Rush
I picked up Lee on Sunday and Nicki joined us today for a lazy Bank Holiday. We’d quite forgotten that Nicki still had our Christmas presents so that got the day off to a great start! I’ve now have some high quality cleaning products for the XKR, so they’ll be put to good use in …
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A Perfect End to Christmas – 2014
It’s our turn to host ‘a little something’ for the neighbours – perfect timing then as we’re coming to the end of the Christmas festivities for another year. We’re going out on a high (or should that be heavy?) with a full-on menu for Paul, Karen, David, Rosi and John and Trish. Tom and Julie …
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Doctor Who Christmas Special 2014 – Last Christmas
I always approach the Who Christmas Specials with some trepidation – it’s nearly always a broader audience watching (in this family at least), and the expectation is so high, given the frequency of trailers on TV leading up to the day. In recent years, I’ve taken to recording it, and then watching it on my …
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Christmas 2014
It was our first Christmas without Mum and it did feel a little hollow. Christmas Eve A mild day weather-wise – no frost, no snow, no rain – just mild, although it did turn cold when we went for our afternoon walk around 2pm. The day began early, as I drove to M and S …
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Roulade!
It was good to see Jo and Janet tonight – they helped us with another test-drive of the recently-decorated Dining Room, by attacking a rather ginormous Lasagne followed by an even larger cheese-board. The Pineapple Roulade, courtesy of Mr Asda, was particularly tasty, and I might need to get another, if we are to survive …
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Heaven Stent
Today, Denis went in for his scheduled NHS stop-over that included a two stents and the rather tongue-twisty rotablation procedure. All being well, he’ll be discharged on Christmas Eve, and so we’ll go to his for Christmas Day, having prepared him a full Christmas Lunch wrapped in foil! Steve PalmerI got into blogging quite late in …
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Christmas Carol Concert 2014 – The Citadel
Christmas is getting closer! After last night’s excellent Christmas meal courtesy of Trish and John, tonight, we exercised our lungs by attending the Salvation Army’s local Carol Concert at the Citadel (as we do every year). David and Valerie were there, and so were Jo, Janet and Helen. Val managed to reserve us a couple …
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Christmas Begins
For me, Christmas begins when the Festive editions of the TV Times and Radio Times are out. Most years, it’s pretty easy to secure both at the same time, but bizarrely, this year, on Saturday, there were plenty of RTs everywhere, but no TVTs. After a bit of shopping around, I tracked down the TV …
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