Wet.

We woke to a sunny morning and then saw rain clouds blowing in from the west. After that the day turned grey and very wet.

I made a start on our Christmas dinner, cooking carrot and swede mash. We are not planning a traditional dinner, for one I don't really like turkey and secondly it's only the two of us. However carrots were on promotion at Tesco's, 15p for a kilo bag and carrot and swede mash freezes well. The swede takes longer to cook so I left it cooking with the windows open for an hour before adding the carrots. Plenty of butter and a generous dash of pepper went in as I mashed and bashed with the masher.

I finished the right hand mitten today. As I checked the pattern (it's different for left and right) I realised I'd been over confident knitting the left hand mitten without looking at the pattern and had missed three rows that should have been done before separating off the thumb. I had to search for the loose ends which I'd already sewn in but now all that needs doing is the top two inches. While I knitted Speedy amused himself rolling around on the floor with the ball of wool.

Peter and I exchange minimal Christmas gifts, mainly consumables, and today I found the perfect way to muffle the clinking of beer bottles - sit each one in a sock! I think Peter would happily not bother with fancy wrapping but I like to see the presents looking a bit special and we continue to keep the presents secret until Christmas morning. The bag of beer, tied with a gold ribbon is secreted under my bedside table to be placed on the other side of the bed while Peter sleeps.