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!
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.
It was the Christmas get-together at the allotment this evening with a wonderful fire (which will result in biochar for us all to use as a soil enricher ) and a delightful selection of mince pies and mulled wine – a lovely warm evening in every way.
My contribution, Galette Jalousie filled with mincemeat
The Suitcase Singers sang our hearts out in Trelissick Gardens this afternoon with an enthusiastic audience up for joining in and having fun.
Afterwards we went into Trelissick House to see the gorgeous decorations, delightful Christmas trees, one at least in every room, and some quirky dancers. Click on any photo in the gallery for more detail.
Beautiful Christmas tree decoration from Poland
Yesterday was International Human Rights Day and a friend sent me the following poem which moved me to tears.
Summer (’16)
BY RACHEL TZVIA BACKThe cyclamens have a hard time
breathing in July.The sun ravages them and earth
is too dry.Still, try remembering March light
and the tightdeep-buried bulbs that somehow
do not die.2
The children are scattered
like weeds.The children are scattered dust-colored
dirt-coveredlike weeds. Mid-summer grey reigns,
and rainexists not even in memory, here where children
dressed allin debris peer out from under slabs of
jagged stones,bombed homes, mountains or ruined
thronesthey may have climbed, small kings and
queensof imagined realms, smoothest pebbles
in small palms theircaressed totems and favorite songs as they
would have climbedhere where now they half-buried lie, small bodies
crushed by pitched-blackweight, there they wait, to be pulled out from
under the remainsof broken town, mangled concrete, piled-up stones,
bones, dust clouds andshrouds, on the children who are
scattered nowacross the whole countryside
like weeds.3
At the edge of another summer.
At the edge of a fallow field.
At the edge of day.Waiting
For last light of dusk
To call all the children
Home.A Note from the Editor
Today is International Human Rights Day.
It was fun to hear this band while shopping this morning.
This afternoon I raided the garden for greenery and made our Christmas wreath for the front door. 
While in town, I took my favourite cashmere cardigan into Make-A-Mends to see if they could do anything about the holes in the elbows. I love this rich blue and beautifully warm cardigan and didn’t want to lose it. Within 3 hours rather than several days, I had a message to go and collect it and I LOVE it! Mend and save! My cardigan now has extra added value and extra lovely colour.
Thank you Sarah of Make-A-Mends, fabulous job!
Thank you Sara of Make-A-Mends, fabulous job!
We had a lovely breakfast with good friends this morning and then went shopping in Truro. In the Apple shop there was a delightful grow box with mint thriving.
The Christmas market on Lemon Quay has been upgraded with some delightful wooden huts rather than the white tents that have been used for years. It had a really lovely continental market feel to it and will be even better as dark falls. 
Regular readers will know how I love angels. I have bought many over the years on all our holidays. This one we bought in September in Santa Fe. She’s a little bell and is gorgeous!
The lovely Mr S has put up the outdoor Christmas tree of lights. I love it.. 
I was in town this afternoon for the Christmas Light Switch-on and to enjoy all the other festivities going on. First I was in The Ladder where there was a super craft market and various workshops, one of which being run by our lovely neighbour – transforming plain knitwear int o Christmas jumpers. Here she is with two of her fabulous creations.
There was a choir, there were lanterns, decorated hats and the switch-on, lighting up the trees and our Fore Street.
We have a new venue for our secondhand book shop, The Idler, right onto our main street and we wish it every success.
The sunlight on wet leaves in the front garden lit up so much through the front door that I thought the neighbours had put Christmas fairy lights in their trees already.
I bought a Christmas cake tin many years ago. This is the first time I’ve used it to make a cake for tomorrow’s extra market at the Redruth Switch On Christmas Lights Ceremony.
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