A Capital Christmas - Part 2

So, Christmas Day in London dawned...freezing cold and slightly misty. This was the view of the BT Tower when we set off for our walk...

We went to church at 10am. I don't go to church, although Paul does sometimes...but I made an exception. Partly because St Marylebone is extremely beautiful, and is the place that one of my heroines, Elizabeth Barratt married the poet Robert Browning in secret....but mostly because the music that accompanied the service was Mozart's Coronation Mass! It was a lovely warm service, full of candles and carols.

We made our way home through the deserted streets...

to little Alice and hot coffee with cinnamon buns that I'd bought on Christmas Eve from our local Nordic Bakery.

We were going to wait until dinner to open our presents (we'd just brought those we were giving to each other, the others we'll open at New Year with my family at the farm...) but as we were feeling a bit sad at not being where we were supposed to be on Christmas Day, we decided to exchange them straight away.

Amongst lots of other treats, I received something that I've wanted for soooo long:

yes, that's me with my new love....my limited edition cranberry Kitchenaid mixer!! Isn't she bee-yoo-ti-ful??

We called my parents, read our new books and relaxed until it was time to take another long, frosty walk with Alice...all around Regent's Park, laughing as she tried and failed miserably to catch the hundreds of squirrels that ran around taunting her before escaping up the nearest tree!!

BBrrr it was cold! So we went home again to watch TV and cook dinner. Free-range duck, cranberry compote, roast potatoes & parsnips and brussels sprouts...we'd forgotten a pudding, but there was cheese & biscuits & medjool dates...and champagne.

We called the friends we should have been with, heard the laughter and clattering plates in the background, knew they were missing us as we were them...so more champagne & TV!

Then it was time for bed...we were all pretty tired by then:

It was wonderful to spend the day with our sleepy little girl!

And now it's Boxing Day - sunny and very cold again. We're off to walk to Covent Garden now, hoping to have lunch at the wonderful Peter Gordon's new restaurant Kopapa. I hope that you had a wonderful magical Christmas Day.

To be continued......xoxo