Advent Day Twelve, decorating the village

Handmade decorations

Advent Day Twelve

Decorating the village

We are halfway through Advent and although decorations have been popping up in villages all around us, until today, our village wasn’t looking too festive. This afternoon a small group of elves met outside the village hall to help install and decorate the wooden Christmas trees that were made by volunteers in 2015. Sadly, this year we were a very small group and if I’m honest, somewhat lacking in Christmas cheer. I think the problem was that, as so often happens, it falls to the same few people to organise and it's easy to feel overwhelmed with the responsibility, especially in the run up to Christmas. 

My cycling elves

I wasn’t the only one of us who has a seriously packed-out diary this week, but I think I managed to raise a smile or two with my silly Santa hat and my cycling elves giving us a helping hand. Christmas at home might be a low-key affair, but I do love being involved in decorating the village and helping Père Noel to distribute his gifts to the children. 

 

The trees might be decorated in a more minimalist fashion this year, with a little less of the garish garlands of tinsel, but with the lights on the salle des fêtes and the shiny bows, there is still a bit of sparkle and magic.

 

Our village looking festive

Our families in the UK awoke to snow this morning and a little further north from here also had a few flurries. I’m not a fan of snow so thankfully, we are snow-free for the moment, but it did drop to -3º overnight. My winter discovery today is that my new glove/mittens were just perfect for having my fingers free to tie up the fiddly ribbons on the Christmas tree bows, while the rest of my hands stayed nice and warm. I will be keeping my fingers crossed (also easy in my new glove/mittens) that it won’t snow here.