Christmas Day at Compost Mansions 2012

Well the world did NOT end, the Sun rose again on the Shortest Day,  and we even had a dry and sunny day here for Christmas.

Our tree is up in the sitting room, decorated and smelling of fragrant pine. The other decorations are all in place, the woodburner has been keeping us warm and cosy 24/7 for the last few weeks - good job we have lots of wood available ha ha ha :-)

 

Greenery from the wood decorates our house and home made wood cookie decorations from home grown, home cut wood adorn the tree ...you can tell I am a Forest School Leader!

Home made music scroll decorations ...

Home made straw and tissue paper stars

Outside,  the feathery laydees all got special hot mash as a Christmas dinner - separate bowls to avoid any bullying(!)

Marjoram is the only hen still laying at the moment - all the others are either getting too old or are moulting

Yarrow hen ( aka Limpy Chicken) is winding down now we think - not ill but after a year with us out of the cruel cages she is beginning to look very tired. But she still enjoys sunshine, mealworms, cuddles and food so not a bad life.

The wood is absolutely sodden underfoot - you can't really see it in this photo but there is standing water all over the ground, even though it is on top of a slight hill!

A rare glimpse of blue sky and sun, shining on the willows by the pool

A shamefully neglected veg garden but it is too wet to even consider walking on the soil, so it will have to stay looking untidy for a bit longer.

After I took these photos and did the outside chores and Compostgirl had fed her Guinea Pigs ( they got special food as well!) we settled down for an afternoon of Christmas dinner eating, some nice stuff drinking, reading our new books, playing with craft kits and stuff and watching some Christmas TV.

We have all had presents we wanted and will enjoy using. We have lots of food and drink in the house, the animals are all bedded down warm and fed outside and indoors the three cats are basking on the rug in front of the woodburner.

We had Roast Ribs of organic, local beef for Christmas dinner ( yum) and  enjoyed a lazy day of books, music, tv and a few drinks just us as a family. The only outside work which has to be done is looking after the chickens cats  and guinea pigs - who will get special food and extra cuddles for Christmas :-)

Best wishes to all of you my lovely readers, have a wonderful time and I look forward to you visiting The Compost Bin in 2013 - hopefully it will be a drier, more successful growing year for us all :-)

Hope you all had a lovely day, we certainly did :-)