The First Day of Christmas

I'm not actually sure when the first day of Christmas is supposed to be. Is it the 12days before Christmas, leading up to all the poultry, and leaping, dancing, musical people landing on your true love's doormat on 25th December, or is it the 12 days starting with Christmas Day, in which case surely you'd want a turkey in a pear tree (or in the case of here at the Manor, a goose), so you'd have something for dinner? I mean, a partridge isn't going to go very far, is it? And I'm talking a cooked one here, because a raw one in its live and natural state can shift at quite a speed when it wants to, so I've heard.

Anyway, I digress. The reason I ask this, is because I want to know if it ties in with Advent calendars and Advent Candles. Chez nous, we have a candle. When I was growing up, we had a calendar, a proper nativity scene, not one of these chocolate concoctions with the Simpsons spread all over it. No, a proper nativity scene. 24 door. Which, shared between me, my brother and my sister, meant we got to open 8 doors each, and my sister always got to open the big double door in the centre which narked me, even though it was always a star.

But when I grew up and my waistline began to outstrip my height in proportion, I went for the candle option come 1st December. Besides, I like candlelight. It's one of the most magical and symbolic essences in the world. And seeing the candle shrink as we head towards Christmas adds to the atmosphere.

Usually, I purchase our Advent candle from a local garden centre. It is about a foot tall and tapered. You have to keep a close eye on it the first three or four nights because it burns through the numbers quite quickly, but once you get to the 9th or 10th, the burning down to next number can take a good couple of hours.

However, this year I found a pillar candle from a different merchandise outlet (why use a short, snappy word like 'shop' when you can use an irritatingly longer phrase, just to make yourself sound more educated?). And yesterday evening, Heather lit this fat pillar candle to burn it down to number 2.

Three hours later, and that pillar candle was going nowhere. It had just about managed to burn a tiny puddle in its centre. It appears to be one of the most durable Advent candles in the history of whenever.

Today, we set light to the candle at lunchtime, just to give it a head start. And now the candle has burnt a little tunnel down its centre, which means I have to blow it out, and excavate the edge to bring it in line with the hole in the middle. The sides are still the same height they ever were, numero intacta. I tried to encourage the sides to 'collapse', by using a matchstick whilst the candle was still alight and the wax theoretically soft and pliable, but no way was it going to play that game. Solid as a rock, the outside of that candle. Solid and unmoving.

I never have this trouble with my usual tapered candle. Which just goes to show that it is sometimes better to stick with what works well rather than change it for something you think could be better.

And of course, this year is Pandora Kitten's first Christmas! Already she has tried to set fire to herself on the Advent candle and she also helped me on Monday when I did present wrapping. (Mostly by sitting on the wrapping paper, and chasing scissors as they cut.) But it's the interaction with the Christmas tree we are most looking forward to. Kittens and Christmas trees are always a bit of a laugh. In fact, climbing Christmas trees is something they never really grow out of until they get old and fat like Phoebe and scaling a lap is difficult enough, let alone climbing a tree. Tybalt still skits up the tree even though he is nearly 7, which is practically middle aged i.e the cat equivalent of me.

I know what will happen. We'll bring the tree inside, and decorate it and within twenty minutes Pandora will be up the top with Gonzo the Fairy, or removing decorations and leaving them at strategic places around the house, or just flinging herself at it in a wild and destructive fashion and thus implementing many bouts of redecoration.

So far, the first day of Christmas has gone well. Pressies are all bought and wrapped, the goose has been ordered and the candle is being recalcitrant. Tickets have been booked to go and see Sandi Toksvig and Ronnie Corbett at the Royal Festival Hall the week before Christmas, and tickets have also been booked to take the children (aged 23, 21 and 19) to see the pantomime with Adrian Edmonsen as Captain Hook (aarrrrrrrrrrrrh!). Heather is revving herself up to make Christmas biscuits, sausage rolls and mince pies, and I'm scheduled to defrost the freezer on Friday.

Christmas tree shopping this weekend, I think. And card making, too.