Christmas Stars
Star gazing at Christmas time
The agent is trying to teach me to recognise the different constellations. He says it’s easy to tell a star from a planet by the amount of twinkle. Every year, when we finally have everything ready for Christmas Day, we both look at the sky and think of the shepherds following their star to Bethlehem.
I like checking to see if there’s an extra twinkly Christmas Star amongst all the others…
Yours, thinking of times long ago in far-away lands,
Merry Christmas!

Christmas : It’s a Wrap!
My Christmas spree…
Yesterday I went on a massive Christmas present buying spree and staggered home ruing the times (almost all the time actually) I elected to watch netflix instead of working on my biceps.

The Agent’s stocking presents are in the 2 orange bags and Lady Egality’s present is in the green bag with stars in. I hope she likes it…
It’s a wrap!
As it is so cold, the Agent has lit a fire and I’m ensconced right next to it, armed with enough paper & sticky tape to wrap up Windsor Castle. I’m wrapping in secret so the Agent is banned from sitting in his usual chair & has to stay in the kitchen.
Yours in rather a muddle,

Christmas Crackers at the Ox and Moose!
Christmas Crackers at the Ox and Moose!
Way back in November, Sir Plym emailed all Castle Coopians asking if we’d like to sign up for a Christmas get-together supper at the Ox and Moose.
Dear All,
Egality and I would like to invite you to join us for an early Christmas dinner in the Ox and Moose. We have provisionally reserved the whole of the main dining room and are seeking to attract between 25 (the minimum) and 40 (the maximum) villagers.
Together with St Mary’s and the Village Hall, the O&M is one of Castle Coop’s major plus points; we are keen to support Lady Langshan behind the bar especially as at the same time we can have fun and enjoy some good food and drinkable wine. (Hurrah!)
Lady Langshan from behind the Ox and Moose bar has offered us a special O and M deal on both the food and the wines with a three course Christmas Fayre meal and a small reduction in the normal prices of the listed wines.
We are suggesting dinner on Saturday 6th December at 7.30pm. Please advise us if you’d like to join in by this coming Sunday, 2nd November:
A Box of Crackers!
On Saturday morning, Lady Langshan from behind the Ox and Moose bar, was rushing here, there & everywhere getting everything ready for hosting the Castle Coop Christmas supper. By lunch time she thought she had finished laying up the tables; the Ox and Moose was festooned with ‘Welcome’ bunting and a huge Ox and Moose Christmas Party banner, held up by strategically placed standard lamps was managing to stay put. Completely unexpectedly Sir Burford Brown turned up saying he and Lady Brown wanted their first Christmas in Castle Coop to be “a Cracker”!
Lady Langshan added the crackers to the tables immediately and we all thought the room looked extremely festive – don’t you agree?
Later that night we all had a simply splendid time!
The Graf read his cracker joke out to us
Q. Why is milk fast?
A. because it’s pasturised before you see it!
and then Sir Burford Brown stood up and enacted his joke, walking backwards down the length of the welcome banner saying, “oh, Oh OH!), Apparently he was being Father Christmas on rewind.
We all laughed our heads off (possibly encouraged by the ‘small reduction in the normal prices of the listed wines’).
On finding a whistle in his cracker, Sir Plym immediately brought into play a rule that at every blast of the whistle all the men had to move 2 places clockwise round the tables. Conversation became extremely lively as a result.
Yours beginning to feel swept up by the Christmas spirit,
Christmas party time in Castle Coop!
Christmas party time in Castle Coop!
Lady Egality and Sir Plym threw a wonderful Christmas party on Saturday evening, for us all .
Mince Pies and…some more Mince Pies:
I made some mince pies to hand around but then burnt them in the oven .. I had to make a second batch for the party.
I was pretty pleased with the way they turned out in the end
and thought the final result merited a few gold stars. Then Miss Pepperpot said perhaps she should help me the next time I tried making them which was a supportive comment I didn’t really appreciate.
Hot Punch and a Duet:
There was lashings of hot Punch to drink at the party which was so delicious that we all started singing ’Ding Dong Merrily’ very merrily indeed.. We became rather carried away and abandoned our cares. Sir Plym and Colonel Pyncheon duetted an a cappella version of ‘O Christmas Tree’ while the rest of us sang la-la as a background accompaniment and then Trev the Rev made pound coins appear out of Brown Owl‘s ear to great applause.
Yours, full of Christmas cheer,
Read MoreDecorations! Christmas preparations: part 2
More Christmas preparations…
Christmas Decorations
The agent and I have been very busy decorating our house so that it looks festive for Christmas.
Read MoreChristmas preparations in Castle Coop…part 1
We’re all getting ready for Christmas in Castle Coop…
Read MoreCrisis for Castle Coop’s Christmas Carols!
The agent and I are in crisis. Digby D, my faithful correspondent, has just emailed me. He writes, “According to the NY Times you are preparing for the worst storm in 60 years! Hope you have the hatches well battened – assuming you survive everything unscathed, I look forward to LL’s report on it all.”
Read More