Deep and Crisp and Even...

This is how it started - just a light layer of snow.  And then we got this...

Of course it looks beautiful when it is unsullied - like many people I've taken dozens of photographs but gradually the pristine layer is being destroyed as we come and go.  I went to the shop this morning and the pavement is lumpy with impacted snow/ice - walking  is so dangerous!  I have just had an email from a Swedish friend who told me it started snowing there in October and has snowed pretty much every day since!

I have been training this Berberis into the shape of a Christmas tree for a number of years now - and this year it really does look like one!  Well, it could be a sharper shape but George wouldn't cut the berried boughs off because the blackbird likes them!  And he has been busy eating the berries (the blackbird, not George)- the window is  our dining room and as we sat having lunch today we could hear him busily rustling around and see the snow falling off the branches.  He also enjoyed the crusts from the smoked salmon canapes -

 I am really pleased with this photograph - it is taken through my lovely new glass kitchen door - not bad, is it?  Guess what we call him?  Yup, that's right , Blackie.   We had our Christmas party last night after the Carol Service - 45 people (should have been 50 but some out-of-villagers couldn't make it) came back for drinks.  We have been doing this  for some 40 odd years and  it has become a bit of a tradition with our friends - they just  assume that we are going to do it!  Now it is getting harder - clearing the furniture  to make room for everyone is quite a struggle.  And we have been all day today putting everything back. 

It looks cosy, doesn't it?  This was taken after the first light layer of snow.

Oh dear, I wonder are we going to get any more?  The vicar has just called to ask George if he has got enough shepherds for the Crib Service on Christmas Eve - will Noah the donkey be able to get down here from 'up in the hills' above Royston?   The live donkey is the star of the show so fingers crossed.  I am going to go and cosy up round the fire now and just DO NOTHING.