In anticipation of summer, we are bottling ginger beer. 

The bug has been growing on the window sill for a week now. Each morning we feed the yeasty mud with some more sugar and ginger. 

Despite the sound of it, it is downright fascinating watching it bubble away.

The first batch is bottled.  Tasting should be in a week, when summer finally arrives.  However,  it feels like I can guarantee rain by simply hanging out the washing.  Hopefully, I haven't cast a jinx on summer in the same way.

The bug is still growing.  One ready to give away and the other ready for round two.

 
It is all about the little moments.  The calendar has turned, the decorations are coming out and we are counting down to Christmas.  We have a nightly tradition of advent calendar and Christmas stories before bed.  The candle is new for us.  We pop up between stories to check how far it has burnt, with a little line for each day. We take it in turns to blow it out.

Oh, we have so many Christmas stories, that I really must share them at some point.  Stories that warm the heart, talk of a certain Saint Nicholas (anyone remember him in all the rush?) and some that have me so misty eyed I find them hard to finish.  We sit on the couch, huddled, necks craning to see pictures and we read.

It is nice to be spending the time together.  As we hear of family members battling with illnesses and odds, the lists of perfectly co-ordinated decorations fall away, and we remember it really is a privilege to spend these moments together.