The Time Between Lockdowns

The first of December was a gloriously sunny day, stark contrast to the previous rainy week.  My husband and I went for a walk a short distance from our home to forage for some sloes.  My husband drove his new car and we managed to collect a bag of sloes, which I froze for using to dye with at a later date.

Fortunately for us our second lockdown ended the day before we were due to attend Glow at RHS Wisley. Glow is an illuminated light trail through the gardens at Wisley, an event that is held each December.

Our part of Hampshire was classed as Tier 2 so all shops were still open in the lead up to Christmas, but this year I did most of my Christmas shopping online for the first time.  We continued with our Christmas preparations in the hope that we might get to spend time with family, but decided on a socially-distanced day trip to see my parents pre-Christmas to exchange gifts.  Sadly the day beforehand, a wide band of the country went into Tier 3 and we had to cancel because it would have taken 7 hours each way to avoid going into a Tier 3 area.  We were all disappointed as we hadn't been able to see each other since my Mum's birthday in August, but it was far better to keep everyone safe.

I mended a wreath I made a few years ago (my husband claimed it attacked him as he entered the house!)  It survived intact this year!

We put up our usual tree.  It is one we bought for our first Christmas we were married.  I decorated it with needle-felted animals and birds that I had previously made and this year added some silver, glass acorns and artificial eucalyptus sprigs.

Mid month we visited Jane Austen's House at Chawton.  We were lucky to have the house to ourselves.

  Our Christmas was a quiet one, just the four of us at home, the usual rounds of eating and evenings spent playing board games and the occasional walk around the village to work off a few calories.

Finally most of the country went into Tier 4 at the end of December.