Our planned annual get together to celebrate the festive season turned out very different – and more exciting – as previous years. Hours before we were due to meet, our host Moira sent out a round robin saying her power had been cut and, although she still had heating and the house was warm, there was no electricity for lighting or cooking! The response from Sue, our LO, was to be expected: Keep calm and carry on! So thirteen of us (unlucky for some?) arrived, armed with candles, candleholders, storm lamps and our usual delicious selection of food and drink, and what a wonderful candlelit evening we had.
The mulled cider warmed us at the start and our table groaned with baked ham, poached salmon, pies, tarts and salads of every description followed by raspberry trifle, homemade brownies, biscuits and sweets. Tricia’s Escape Room Quiz* and Lyn’s Doggy quiz (who remembers Rhubarb and Custard?) and Christmas Ditloids did require us to get out our phone torches but we had a wonderful evening. We left Moira with a loaded dishwasher which couldn’t be used until the power returned, as it did early the next morning. But we will remember our candlelit Christmas fondly!
*The scenario: We were locked in a John Lewis Department store on Christmas Eve and had to solve the puzzles for the key code to get out – great fun!