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Good morning, Elle!
Snowing on top of black ice here!
I am just home and here I shall stay.
Had a few things to do.
Was at Dunelm getting lavender car air freshener!
Got some for the girls' cars too.
And had a trip to TESCO and Currys and ASDA.
My friend's girls had two rabbits and the cats stalked them.
I suppose a natural thing for a cat to do.
The rabbits were frightened by them.
Just a few wee bits of chocolate for Mr Jingles.
Make him feel welcome.
It is Christmas in Mouseland, too!

Good afternoon, Rusty!
Oh dear, snowing on top of black ice is not good - it can be very dangerous.
Have you had much snow?
I hope it will not affect your friends' flight tomorrow?
I am home now, until tomorrow morning's walk!
Since having lunch, I have been down to the Post Office to buy my stamps, came home and stuck them all on.......and then went out yet again to post the cards!
Another friend then dropped in......and we have been chatting for the past hour.
I think I need to buy in some more mince pies!
We are having a lot of visitors!
Did you buy anything of interest at Currys?
Our toaster is on the way out....I think we shall soon need a new one!
I've had no time for crosswords......I might take a quick shifty now........
Have you remembered to put up your tree before your son comes?

Hello, Elle!
Snow has stopped, but roads are slippy.
No news from Belfast, so I imagine all is OK there.
Not sure when they are flying in.
I just had a look at the tablets in Currys, it is next door to Dunelm and that was my main port of call.
Now, when I was in TESCO I noticed they had a large range of toasters, many different colours, if that is any interest to you?
Puzzle complete.
One I am not convinced by the definition, but on the whole, a fine creation by the setter.
Now, where is that tree?!

Hi, Rusty!
Have you found your tree?
I like having my tree up - it looks so pretty!
I did not find today's crossword easy.....
There are three clues that I cannot do.....
It doesn't help that they are all on the SE corner and interlock!!
20a: Idealised picture from this setter's past (5)
??A??
16d: Some Asians worry about limiting decline in islands (9)
T???A?E?E
17D: Pass learner driver , perhaps , initially missing accelerator (8)
?????D?R
I am completely stuck!
My daughter has just phoned on her way home from work.
The heating has broken down in her office and they have all been freezing!

Hello, Elle!
Tree up!
20, I had to consult Chambers. I'm ago. Imago.
I always thought an imago was a stage in an insect's growth, but it can be an image, too.
16, Taiwanese. Decline is "wane", worry is "eat" reversed with "is" for islands. Roughly! I think!
17, is "Collider".
Pass is "col", "l" for learner, "(r)ider" for driver.
Col is easy for us Tour de France fans.

I went to my granddaughter's nativity play today, it was really good, better than my grandson's though the children are much younger. The funniest bit was the shepherds all singing "While shepherds washed their socks by night". I thought they'd be in trouble but they went on to explain in song why they were not doing any such thing ("Who'd wash socks in the dark"?) I laughed out loud.
It was not irreverent, it was very sweet.

Hi Ros,
Hope you had less trouble freeing your car from snow/ice this
time?
How many grandchildren do you have? Any more Nativity Play to
attend?

Hello Elle and Rusty,

Hope all is well with you.

Reading your posts today reminded me that I, too, have a small
white Christmas tree that I usually put on the bar. (There is a bar
but no alcohol in the house!)
I shall get it out tomorrow. It's about 30 to 35 cms high (11 to 13")
and is quite sufficient for me now.

Hi, Rusty!
How is your son?
Has he been having any trouble getting about for work, with the snow and black ice?
Well, I have certainly just experienced a "blast from my past"!
I have had a phone call from a very old friend.... I did not at first know who was calling me......
She and I were friends many years ago, in our teens!
We re-established email/ letter contact a few years back, through a mutual friend, but had not spoken for about thirty years.....until tonight!
What a lovely surprise!!
Thank you for the crossword answers.
I had thought that "imago" meant the adult stage of an insect?
i did not know "collider " and had to look it up .
I see it is an accelerator in which two beams of particles are made to collide.
I am still learning something new every day!



Hi, Ros!
I am envying you seeing yet another of your grandchilden's plays!
You are very fortunate !
We have, though, now seen a mini video of one of BB's finest moments!
But it is not the same as actually being there!



Hello, Pigale!
Yes, fine thank you!
Having a good day with unexpected visitors and phone calls out of the blue!
I hope your "small" tree doesn't follow the same fate as my little one....
Have your cats "met" it yet?
My two played football with the tree.....baubles and all........
I bequeathed it to the charity shop - I though it might best benefit another family!
And went back to my bigger tree!

Hello Elle,

Well, the cats have not 'met' it this year, but they did last year.
Minette had a good but delicate sniff at it, Fluffy did not bother.
But there again I had not put any baubles etc... I don't think a
white tree really needs it? And as I said it will go on to of the bar
and only Minette gets up there - Fluffy is more a 'stick to the
ground' type of cat, except for the trees in the garden of course!

Have you finished your decoration? You mentioned Tree-card (or was card-tree?) the other day - does that mean you put some of your
old cards on a string fixed on the wall, to look like a guirland?
My aunt and cousins used to do that. I have never seen the
equivalent in France.

Yukky, windy and miserable day once more!