Christmas Card 2011

In previous years I've posted an outdoors Christmas picture. This year I'll share the minimum effort decorations going on in my hallway. Today there has been ice, sleet and hail outside. Do you blame me for staying indoors?

I did venture into Birmingham earlier in the week to find that this year the visiting German market has got bigger but is selling fewer things, that I've already missed the best bargains in the supposedly post-Christmas sales and that the bull is ticking off several trends at once (onesies and knitwear that could be either festive or channelling The Killing) in his new outfit.

Have a lovely Christmas.

K x

Christmas card 2009

The Cannon Hill boating lake has frozen over in the current cold snap.  Birmingham is fortunate to have had just enough snow and just enough sun to make this kind of weather pleasant.  For walking in the park, anyway.  Although, the Canada Geese are angrier than usual.  Blaming passers by for the frozen lake.  And frustrated geese lack Christmas spirit.

If you're somewhere that has had far more snow, and your life has been as disrupted as that of the geese, you have my sympathy.  But I hope you'll forgive me posting a pretty picture.

After all, a significant number of the real Christmas cards I've received so far feature pictures of snow.  It's unusual in Britain to have actual snowfall so close to Christmas Day.  So how could I resist using this icy image to accompany my virtual card? 

Whatever the weather with you, I hope you have a happy Christmas. 

Postcard from the arcade

It is a well known fact that High Streets are hell and shopping centres are soul destroying.  So, when undertaking Christmas shopping, both are best avoided.  Lucky me then, that I managed to support some independent traders in Birmingham's arcades and markets, and am now wearing the smug expression of she who has completed her Christmas shopping.

I also got to enjoy the 'even brighter than New Street's' lights on Birmingham's Piccadilly Arcade (pictured), having spent the previous weekend shopping with a glass of mulled wine in hand on York Road and Poplar Road in Kings Heath during their Christmas shopping event - an experience which can be recreated any evening at the German and Craft Markets in the city centre.

Of course, in Birmingham city centre, much of the shopping available is of the identikit chain type.  Smaller towns fare better.  For those in southern England, may I recommend Antique and Contemporary Furniture and Gifts in Princes Risborough?  OK, I admit to a family connection, but it really is a lovely shop.  And, while I'm confessing, I also admit that I did some of my Christmas shopping online; so now have the tense wait to see if everything arrives on time.  Perhaps a glass of mulled wine while I'm waiting will help...

Christmas Card 2008

Only ten days to go until Christmas so I'm showcasing the Christmas decorations on Birmingham's Selfridges slug. Anyone who hasn't visited the city in recent years is probably thinking, 'What the...?' It's a building I'm fond of though – iconic and fun, especially with its Christmas decorations up.

I've just been to the Post Office with a stack of actual cards and parcels. And yes, I had to stand in a ridiculously long queue for the privilege of posting them. My own fault for not doing it sooner, I know! So the ability to post a 'card' here, from the comfort of home, with a cup of tea by my side, is a wonderful thing.

I hope you have a good Christmas and wish you all the very best for 2009.
K

Postcard from Birmingham's German Market

Birmingham's twin city is Frankfurt, which I guess explains why the largest German Christmas Market outside Germany sets up in Birmingham every year. Stalls selling stollen, gluhwein, wooden toys and other German flavoured products set up along New Street and Christmas shopping gets underway – much easier when you have a glass of warm wine in hand!

Unsurprisingly, the stalls selling alcohol and frankfurters do the best business. Makes you wonder what Birmingham exports to Frankfurt in exchange – a pub selling pints of mild and faggots?

The crowds at the market this evening would make you wonder 'what recession?' Seems where Christmas and alcohol are concerned we still have money to spend.