Lovely family day, eleven of us here today, and two birthday cakes!
Storm clouds on the horizon….
Porthtowan 123123 Photo by Daughter no 1.
Whether you write the date as we do in the UK or as they do in the US, today’s date is fun! 311223 or maybe even better is US 123123!
After being treated to a delicious brunch at The Blue Bar in Porthtowan we had a very windy walk on the beach. A couple of the gusts nearly had me blown over but LiveWire 4 marched all over the beach, collecting stones and having fun.
One of the family decided to go for a paddle!
Later, we visited our lovely friends and spent some time admiring their very beautiful young cat, Frank.
After a busy day playing games with LiveWire 4, we snatched a late walk in between the very heavy showers and just caught the pretty pinky sunset.
A bit more prep today, family favourite, sausage rolls. No more prep, they start arriving tomorrow!
The weather has been wild, the trees bending to the ground, the lashing rain almost horizontal but we’ve spent the day in the kitchen cooking up a storm, ready for next week when we will be 15 for meals on one day, 12 on three other days and 7 for the rest of the week. In the freezer now are a vegetarian Chilli, a Beef and Chestnut Casserole, two Sweet Potato and Chestnut Nut Roasts, a Chocolate Torte and a Lime and Ginger Cheesecake. All the makings for a Chicken and Sweetcorn Lasagne are there too and people start arriving on Friday. Happy days – family all together for the first time in four and a half years!
Mixture of chestnuts, cashew and sun-dried tomatoes just before the fried onions and garlic are added to be followed by mashed sweet potato. It’s a scrumptious nut roast!
Lovely walk today on the beach, met friends (by accident), watched the waves, dodged the incoming tide – not everyone managed! Enjoy the gallery.
For the first Christmas I can remember, we didn’t go for a walk on the beach by the sea, (It rained all day!) but here is one of my Angels for Ukraine, posted here with love for our Ukrainian friends and for all Dear Readers in the hope that you have had a good day today.
It’s Christmas Eve and I send love and peace to all my Readers out there in the world. 
I love that some of our cards are of doves as friends also wish for peace.
Our family from Spain, visas granted have arrived in London today to spend the first week with siblings and cousins and will be with us for New Year. Great excitement all round!
There is a delightful post box topper just down the road of Father Christmas and another in Truro, sent to me by a dear friend. I am in awe of the amazingly detailed work here creating the sleigh, the parcels, the reindeer and of course, the Man himself. 
We have a new decoration, a frieze of doves, to represent peace in our home and our yearning for peace in the world. 
I loved this washing line outside the nursery that we passed on Thursday, Santa costumes and fairy outfits – just delightful.
We were in Falmouth last night for the funniest show of Christmas, Christmas. Time. by Near-Ta Theatre and the street lights were lovely.
We love our visits to our Dear friend Ti and sharing poems with her. This was one of the ones we all enjoyed today, by Mary Oliver.
Commentator Award
