Farewell 2019 .........

2019 is slowly ebbing away to be consigned to history and you find The Towers in a flurry of ultra early morning hyper-activity, as we always like to start the New Year relatively straight and tidy,  which sadly means starting it, although it is our most favourite time of the year, void of all festive frou frou ..........

....... and although Darrell ALWAYS refuses help of any kind when he goes all Laurence Llewelyn Bowen on us putting it all up,  he NEVER EVER refuses our help when the time comes to pack it all away!

For such a bijouxesque type flat its hard believe how Darrell actually manages to get it all squirrelled away after .......

 ....... however after a few days at Lucy's and very much admiring her minimalistic  style  ........

....... I have a spooky, Derek Acorah type feeling that he may also be considering paring down our festive decor somewhat because of all the work and storage involved both before and after, however, I will believe it when I see it ...... in say eleven months time!!

So as we are just about straight we celebrated by supping from our Christmas mugs for the very last time this year .......

........ before getting down our "usual" mugs ........ which we all admit to missing as, whether it's true or not, they do seem to give a more generous and comforting type suppage than our festive ones.

It's 10.30 and we are done, giving enough time to start all over again preparing of Iris and Bertie's New Year Sleepover.  It will be a day/night of much fun but with a certain (adult) restraint ........ there is a chance that we may not be up to hear Big Ben's chimes  ....... so we'll raise our mugs of tea to you now and with much love wish you all, our beloved and faithful Mum's Monkey followers a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR ...... see you on the other side!!!

We're Back ......

Well ...... you find us just back from our Christmas sojourn dans la belle Wolverhampton ..... it was all pretty fabulous, but more of that in a day or two, for we have work to do ..... to wit preparing for our annual and much anticipated Iris and Bertie New Year Sleepover.

But, before we make haste for said preparations, we thought we'd share our amazing surprise gift with you, sent by Hugh (Darrell's best friend,and mentor and tutor in all things de rigueur and a la mode) which was delivered on Christmas Day by Hugh's personal "Man That Does".  We've all held a long felt want for a Christmas hamper, but never actually dreamed we'd ever  receive one in real life, let alone two ...... and from their contents, Hugh knows us all so well!

They were both filled with the most wonderful comestibles like as wine, winter punch, fudge, chocolates of every description, crackers, biscuits, mince pies and little jars of Bombay Mix and chocolate peanuts and raisins to name just a few,  it was almost tooooooooooooooooooo much, and I have to admit it all became quite emotional as we carefully delved into the shredded straw to pull each delicacy out and then gasp in almost disbelief as our "treasure" was revealed.

Before we left for The Homeland we carefully put everything all back safe for our return, and now we are home we intend to go through it all over again, carefully deciding when we should partake of its contents either individually or occasionally one or two together, in such a way as to embrace and enjoy every single morsel .......and who knows, bring you  the odd review or two!!  What can we say but THANK YOU soooooooooooooooooooooooo much Hugh, you really made our Christmas soooooo extra special!!!

He's Been ........ It's Christmas Morning 2019

It's here...... it's finally Christmas morning and .................. he's been!!!!

Nigel, unusually, didn't wake on the hour, every hour, as is his usual want, he slept all the way through until half past seven, in fact I had to nudge him a couple of times to to make sure he was OK.  Darrell was a little fidgety, and me, well I lay awake, safe in the knowledge that he'd been but savouring the peace and quiet before a wonderful festive mayhem ensued.

As soon as his eyes were open Nigel was straight out of bed to collect our stockings and bring them back bed. our stocking, let's just say, once again, did not disappoint ........

.......... everything he left us was just perfect, even down to the Marmite heart sachets right at the very bottom.

Nigel got the most fabuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuulous grey, faux fur dressing gown which Darrell reckoned, if Nigel was so inclined, could easily pass as a proper faux fur coat which could be very welcome on a particularly cold winters nursery/school run.

There was also a beautiful bright fair isle jumper for him too, which he decided would be his go to garment over the holiday and then beyond.  Green isn't a colour Nigel wears a lot, but we all agreed it rather suits him.

For Darrell there was his much longed for a la mode, de rigueur cable stitch, hand knit cardigan. He was soooooooo chuffed. He really wanted to Whats App a picture to Hugh there and then, but as we'd  all agreed that we wouldn't use our phones during this special day, he would have to wait until later to send it.

Darrell also found some very posh, fragrant tea lights in his stocking so I guess he'll be disappearing to luxuriate at some point today with a cheeky Cherry B in hand, most probably when Nigel and I are washing up after he's cooked his wonderful and much anticipated Christmas dinner.

And then there's me ...... I don't know how he does it, but Santa couldn't have chosen a more perfect jumper for me ........it's exactly what I would have chosen myself.......

............. plus there was a pack of my beloved chai latte, which I will greatly enjoy probably as a most welcome nightcap at the end of today's festive proceedings.

We all felt truly, truly blessed in a special bumper Christmas edition Hello Magazine type way and hope your morning has been just as wonderful too.

We're going to take a few days off now, as tomorrow we are travelling back to the Homeland for a proper Wolverhampton Christmas with all the family, armed with our sack of absolute tut  ....... but, we should be back after the weekend when we have our traditional Iris and Bertie New Years sleepover to prepare for ................ and, to be honest, it just doesn't get any better than that!!!

 xxxxx HAPPY CHRISTMAS xxxxx

Christmas Eve 2019

We love Christmas Eve almost as much as we love Christmas Day, it's a time when you know everything that has to be done, has been done, and if it hasn't there is nothing you can do about it.  It's time to chill and relax, full of anticipation for the big day itself.

Darrell has spent the whole morning prepping all the vegetables to an inch of their lives, thawing the turkey crown .........

.......... his pigs are neatly tucked into their blankets .......

....... and as for his stuffing balls????

To start the proceeding later this morning we are off to see Frozen with Iris and Bertie at the Regal, our very beautiful Art Deco cinema .......

....... followed by tomato soup and cheese toasties for everyone back at The Towers, with a little cracker pulling and perhaps the odd carol or two.

Then when everyone has gone home we will all go down by the river  .........

........ and hang our tradition lantern on a branch of one of the trees and light it to remember all those beloved people who are no longer with us to share this very special time. 

They will all be in our hearts and memories over the next following days and I am sure silly stories involving some of their festive antics will be told over the yuletide table.

And then......  it should be beginning to look lot like cocktails as Darrell has promised us several revised versions of one of his famous potent festive concoctions which should take us very nicely to a final double/triple or possibly quadruple checking that our stockings are securely hung .......

......... before leaving a large glass of milk, and a pork pie (we don't "do" mince pies at The Towers) for Santa, a pile of carrots for his all his reindeer, and then leaving his magic key somewhere only he can find it ......................  

........... then not a creature should be stirring, not even a mouse!

Time To Write Our Letter to Santa 2019

Last night we all gathered round the table to finally put pen to paper to write our letter to Santa, the most thought about and anticipated night of our year.

This year I was the scribe, while Darrell promised to serve a cheeky Cherry B with faux Aldi Pringle  accompaniment, but not until our letter had been safely cast to the wind, no way we could risk any spillage or greasy finger marks spoiling such a document and then be found wanting in the cleanliness department by our beloved Santa.

Nigel being the youngest and most excited went first asking Santa for a nice, new, warm dressing gown and perhaps a new bright jumper for best.

Darrell asked for a real hand knitted cardigan of a cable stitch type nature as Hugh had told him that anyone, who was anyone in London was only wearing genuine "granny knit" this season. In fact, from what I hear, Hugh has been enjoying the odd stitch and bitch session himself in various dressing/green rooms while waiting to go on stage, he says he finds it " .....soooooo very relaxing darling" and has completed several cotton dish cloths which he has then "presented" to the various helpful members of staff he has encountered. ........ But I digress, Darrell also asked for one or two fragrant tea lights so that he could enjoy a candle lit bath now and again when he felt the need to chill.

And finally, it was my turn, I asked Santa for a pack of my favourite Chai Latte at it's sometimes hard to find and thinking along the same lines as Darrell and Nigel something new to wear would also be rather lovely, but I left it to Santa to decide exactly what.

With that we all put our names to said letter and then went outside to cast it letter to the wind, as it was dark we didn't see where it went exactly, but just knew that somehow it would get to Santa.

We all returned to the warmth, where Darrell had our promised Cherry B's poured complete with a cocktail cherry on the side and festive glass charm, plus a bowl of aforementioned faux Pringles and then sat talking about this and that .......

........ and musing over what we'd actually find in our stockings on Christmas morning, it's almost palpably and tangibly exciting for words ...... we might burst!

A Couple of Evesham's Domestic Festive Illuminations

The walk after our rota-ed nursery/school run can be pretty long and boring ......

...... however during the festive season it becomes a lot more interesting with all the Christmas lights outside everyone's houses, we can't bring them all to you, but these are Nigel's two top picks.

This is a stunner, it's the house with the very odd front door that we mentioned and pondered over a while back (and yes, we have an update for the New Year!).

With its two shivering snowman Nigel is oft to linger. It's been a long felt want of both Nigel and Darrell to have an inflatable festive novelty outside The Towers but unfortunately this would put us in terrible breach of our lease, so I am afraid they will just have to want and admire the work of others.  

Nigel says he strongly suspects that the inhabitants of this quite substantial house may have had "hired" help in the form of a team of gentlemen to put up said illuminations, as he happened to notice their van and trailer parked outside during their erection on several occasions.

Our picture sadly just doesn't do the overall effect justice ......

....... goodness only knows how many lights there are on both fences to the side, on the various decorated potted shrubs, not to mention the tree on the pavement outside  ....... or what their electricity bill will be like at the end of the month!

Just a little further along the same road is this magnificent beast, which we have featured before, it's stunning and puts the official tree of Evesham in the High Street to absolute shame.

It's a truly a tree to aspire to, if Andy were still with us now he would be certainly taking notes, working out how he could make one of his very own, who knows, perhaps he's up in Heaven right now busy constructing something along the same lines to furnish his cloud and no doubt thanking us for pointing it out to him.

We have done our own small bit at The Towers, but nothing to compare to these. Sadly our efforts don't photograph too well, but we have a star curtain in both bedroom windows and our snowflake projector outside. However, thinking of next year, Darrell is wondering that since we don't actually have a balcony from which the flying of flags, drying of washing or hanging of plant pots is strictly verboten whether he could risk, if, he sees any in the sales making a considered purchase of some outdoor fairy lights and just running them along the sills and between the two windows ........................ hmmmm, I am not so sure ........... we will have to see!

Hmmm, The Not Quite Right Festive Photoshop and The Totally Non Festive????

The winter edition of our free Wychavon magazine has arrived but despite it being Christmas I think I may have too much time on my hands to think, ponder and muse over it!

It's the cover picture that I am pondering over most .......

....... even resulting my calling Darrell over for his expert opinion .......

There is just something not quite right about the picture of Santa's little Elf and the way she is holding a Quality Street tin in an effort to demonstrate it being disposed of responsibly ....... it is me or has the picture been photo-shopped, because if it is real she must have incredible finger strength with which to hold said tin in such an awkward angle/fashion.  

Darrell is inclined to agree with me re: angles etc. but also added that such a container, rather than being so casually discarded could instead be very useful to store things in ...... including all manner of baked comestibles!

There was also a slightly unseasonal artical on Wychavons "public facitities"

...... while we are really chuffed that Evesham has a "diamond status facitily at Viaduct Meadow ........

........ perhaps the news could have waited for the spring edition perhaps ......... it might have been a more edifying read then, with the tourist season and attractions just beginning.  But like I said at the beginning, perhaps I have a little too much time to think, ponder and muse about such things!