'Twas the night before Christmas

"December is the twelfth and final month of the Gregorian calendar and the first month of winter.  It derives it's name from the Latin word decem, meaning ten, as December was the tenth month of the oldest Roman calendar.  The Latin name is derived from Decima, the middle Goddess of the Three Fates who personifies the present."
~Daily Lore :  December~

I really don’t know where the days were disappearing to lately. I no sooner started one week before it has ended and the new month was beginning. The days seemed to be slipping by unseen. And I’m playing catching-up with my blog, again. Aaargh…

It was the last month of the year. As we drove through the neighbourhood, Christmas lights were up on the streets, windows, in the shops and on the trees. December nights with twinkling lights were magical things that stir the hearts and souls. They always made me smile and feel all fuzzy inside. My tree and decorations were already up and the cards addressed and stamped, ready for posting. It made me giddy with excitement.  I just love all celebrations. Always have and always will. It was about the feelings that abound during this time of year. The season of goodwill and peace on earth towards everyone, that feeling of love which seemed to be in abundance. A time to reconnect with loved ones and honour tradition.

I was chuffed with my home-made natural wreath, all sourced from the garden. It was worth to be out in the cold, wet and windy morning searching for the materials. There was ivy, leyland cypress firs, cotoneaster berries, rosemary and thistles beautifully tied in the wreath. I made 2 and one was hanging on the kitchen door. I think, after Christmas was over, I’m going to hang them on the doors upstairs. They were just too lovely to be thrown away.

“Symbolizing eternal hope, the wreath goes round and round. And where it start or ends cannot be found. Woven of things that grow – for life, and hung for holiday delight.”

~Unknown~

I started the month with an invitation to a St. Andrew’s Day celebration at the Post-Graduate Hub. The festive season had now begun. The patron saint of Scotland, it fell on November 30 which was on a Saturday and that was why they had the party on the next working day. There was a lot of folklore associated with St Andrew's Day, particularly around young women, who hoped to marry. At midnight, as November 29 becomes November 30, they prayed to be shown signs about their future husbands. They peeled an apple in such a way that the peel remained in a single piece and threw this over their shoulders. The shape that the peel formed on the ground indicated the first letter of their future husbands' names. Hmm…good luck.

St Andrew's Day was often a celebration of general Scottishness with traditional food, music (especially bagpipes) and dancing. The staff at the Hub were also garbed in tartan and rocking some very sexy kilts. Scottish music was piped in and we had fun with the quizzes. The table was groaning with yummy kippers and smoked salmon on oatcakes, melt-in-the mouth buttery shortbreads and teeth-crunching tablets. I loved this table lined with Irn Bru, Drambuie, Glenmorangie whisky and Red Label.

Babe and I attended an evening talk about badgers vaccination at our favourite playground. At Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, the badger vaccination programme was in its second successful year. We listened about their progress at the end of the vaccination season and learnt what they’d achieved and learnt so far. There was footage of the badgers (and other animals). We saw the kits used and find out what their plans were for the upcoming year. Each badger vaccine costs £20 and every trap £100. Staff time to carry out the baiting of traps and injections were significantly expensive. Vaccination of badgers helped reduced the spread of the bovine TB. Recent studies had shown that vaccinating one third of uninfected badgers in a set helped unvaccinated cubs less likely to test positive for the disease. We met a few badger cull activists but due to time constraints, we were not able to have any proper conversations. I salute their dedication. Just stay safe.

Then it was time for my mid-year annual review. Groan…The acting manager wanted to give an update to our new manager when he takes up his post after the new year. We went through the objectives that I’d set out early in the year and see how many I’d completed. I was very surprised to see that I’d done all and even added more to my list. Whoop…whoop. A big pat on my back. I was impressed :-)

“Everytime another review comes out, I let out a deep breath”

~Michael Chabon~

On the weekend, we went to Bradgate Park to check the Christmas Fayre.  And thousands of others had the same idea. We drove around twice before we managed to get a parking space. One of the overflow car-parks was used for the fair. Wrapped up warm we trekked towards the very muddy field to check out the stalls. Carol singing by the local school kids were ringing in our ears. But they were drowned by these amazing chain saw wood carving demonstrations. We spent some time here checking out the lovely sculptures and they weren’t cheap.

We gave the stalls selling local produce, arts and crafts and food a miss. The queues to get into the festive fayre at the Conservatory Tea-room was just too long.The flyer indicated the presence of alpacas but we couldn’t find any. Parents with children were queuing for the Santa’s woodland grotto. Santa was going to have his hands full. In the end, we checked out the living history arena and watched a war demonstration by members of the Sealed Knot. They were re-enacting a skirmish which was a very small-scale of military tactics of the Civil War period involving pikemen with their 16 foot pike. I don’t want to be at the end of that.

Nearby we spotted this very handsome bird of prey checking out the crowd. Unfortunately, it was being handled by a very grumpy handler who looked like she doesn’t want to be here. No wonder she was standing alone, on her own in the midst of the festiveness. Bah…humbug.

“Take hope from the heart of man and you make him a beast of prey”

~Ouida~

We left the fayre and headed to the deer park. A lovely horse-trap was waiting for passengers taking the visitors for a short ride through the park. A trap was a light, two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage, accommodating about 2-4 persons. It was a hit with the children. I loved the sharp, hollow sound, as the horse’s hoof struck the pavement, clop…clop..clop. We waved to the children as they went clomping passed us.

We couldn’t walk along the banks of the River Lin that flowed through the park. It had been raining for some time and overflowed its bank, making it very muddy and very slippery. We spotted our favourite Widgeon downstream among a flock of mallards. I brought a loaf of bread and had a ball feeding them. He was making a lot of noise, chasing away the other ducks even though there were plenty of bread bobbing up and down in the water. It began to be a bit chaotic when a flock of gulls joined in the party. We spotted a herd of Red Deer well camouflaged among the bracken by the river. From their body stand, we knew that they were waiting for the right moment to cross the river to get to the open fields. We noticed that some people were getting too close to the deer and some with children. These were wild animals for heaven sake. Check out those antlers. The sound of  clop…clop..clop.  of horse’s hoof struck on the pavement spooked the deer and they went scuppering back into the undergrowth.

We waited for a while and they came back. As soon as the coast was clear,  a herd waded through the river and thundered across the pavement towards the open field. All breaking for freedom. It was a lovely sight to behold, an encounter that always impressed me. The rutting season was long over and they had left the matriarchal herd and were now regrouping with other unrelated stags for winter. After hundreds of photographs, it was time to head home.

I’d to sit for 2 days of Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST) webinar. It was designed as a lightweight derivative of the Library of Congress subject headings that would be easy to learn and worked well with faceted discovery systems. But I found it a cheap way of employing non-professionals as cataloguers to assign subject headings. It was a simple, low-cost, low-effort approached to describing web –resources with minimal effort resource description. It was a cost-cutting exercise. For me, it was down-grading my profession as a professional metadata librarian. I was surprised that the Library of Congress was promoting it. I’ve informed my colleagues that I refused to have FAST anywhere in the catalogue and will not implement it!!!! Breathe in and out very S-L-O-W-L-Y.

After all that ranting, it was a marathon feeding session all in the name of the festive season. First was ‘not a Xmas’ lunch with JH at the Warwick Arts Centre. We’ve been trying to meet for lunch for ages and even at the last minute, there was a change of plans. We’d a lovely time catching up over a spicy Thai vegetable soup and mopped up with a lovely seed roll. Then there was a Xmas party with my exercise class.  I brought nibbles from Iceland and added to the groaning table. There was soo much food and all were very rich. I guess we will be doing lots of exercises after this. And I was not wrong :-)

“Christmas begins about the first of December with an office party and ends when you finally realize what you spent, around April fifteenth of the next year. “

~P.J. O'Rourke, Modern Manners ~

While we were having our meal, there was the lucky dip and everyone got something. It was a festive candle for me. Then, it was a Strictly Dancing session. The ladies can really dance. It was fun learning the Waltz and Ballroom dancing. And then more food was consumed. Next, was passing the parcel and I won a set of toiletries. Back to eating again. I joined them for musical chairs where I was outfoxed by a 70-year old. Well, it was either that or I’d to but her out of the chair. We left at 9 pm when the party was still going strong.

My colleagues and I had a departmental ‘not a Xmas’ lunch at the Burn Post Inn. This was for CC who won’t be joining us for the main Xmas lunch because she will be in Canada to celebrate Xmas with her parents. We drove to the Inn which was just 10 minutes away. Since we weren’t having a Xmas meal, our table was away from the merry crowd, wasn’t decorated and no festive hats either. I had the St. Louis-Spiced Salmon Jambalaya with spicy jalapeño and paprika rice, topped with a maple syrup. It was superb. For desserts, I chose the Triple Chocolate cheesecake. We’d a wonderful time and it was also a thank you to JF for being a brilliant acting manager.

As usual to end the year, the annual  Library Staff Open Day was upon us. It was like Marmite, you either love or loathe it. Moi just tolerated it. We were encouraged to be festive and wear a Xmas jumper. I’d to search high and low and finally found one in Asda. I wore it with pride especially as I suggested wearing it for a good cause. Friday 13 December was deemed Christmas Jumper Day, for which people were encouraged to wear their most embarrassing jumpers to raise money for Save the Children charity.

All money raised from Christmas Jumper Day activities helped saved the lives of the world’s most vulnerable children. In the world’s poorest countries, more than 7 million children die every year from easily preventable causes like diarrhoea and malnutrition. Simple solutions, like vaccines and mosquito nets save lives – so by getting friends and colleagues to take part in Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper day and donating £1, we can help make a real difference.

The Open Day started with  bribes of delicious Danish pastries all washed down with gallons of tea and coffee. I’d to bring my own herbal tea bags because they weren’t provided. Then an hour briefing by the Librarian and his deputies about the exciting things that had happened in 2013 and going to happen in 2014. Next was a talk on Widening participation at Warwick by the senior assistant registrar. Not the usual topic that we were used to but still an eye-opener.

After the talk, we went to the seminar room to check out a few exhibitions and displays that had been organised by members of staff. There was PIIRUS a search engine designed for researchers within the university to find their research match; ENQUIRE; PG Hub international days; ENCORE, WRAP and Q&A’s on social media. There was a Christmas wish tree where we were encouraged to hang a wish. One of my colleagues wished for the availability of wi-fi to staff who were working in the ground floor and I seconded that. Then it was lunch time. The organisers laid out a very good spread and for the first time more and varied vegetarian finger foods. We tucked in while trying to do the musical Christmas quizzes. It was a lovely end to a lovely afternoon.

Finally, the day we all waiting, our Christmas lunch at Scarman arrived. At 12 pm, my colleagues and I made our way to the restaurant. I encouraged everyone to dress up as I wore a beautiful traditional green sequinned baju kurung. We didn’t have time to linger and was taken to our seat immediately. Our starter of fresh melon was already laid out. We pulled the crackers, laughed and groaned at each other’s silly jokes and donned the paper hats. We enjoyed the starter and tucked into thickly, sliced bread.

Then we proceeded to the cold buffet spread. I’d the cold salmon cubes, chilly prawns, sundried tomatoes and peppers, spicy Indian snacks and potato salad. I didn’t overfill my plate because I still have a main meal to look forward to. As usual, we checked out each others plate and having a taste. After a slight gap and a glass of water, we queued for our main meal. I chose the baked crusted sea bass minus the trimmings. I felt they were too heavy and helped myself to the cold buffet again. It was just right. I finished the meal with an Eton Mess. It was the only one alcohol and gelatine-free. Then we adjourned to the bar for coffee and mince pies. We could have stayed here the whole afternoon but we’d an office to go to.

To end the working week for the year (for a majority of us, moi included), we said good-bye and good luck to 2 wonderful colleagues. The first do was for JS who was moving down the road. I contributed spring rolls to the already groaning table. We’d a lovely time polishing the food. I’m going to miss her very sparkly cup-cakes. Later, in the afternoon, it was another do for SA who was leaving us for greener pastures in the University of Birmingham. I gave her a Coventry tea-towel to remind her of her stay here in Warwick everytime she used it. We were going to miss both of you. 

My holiday started on the 21st December which was the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. We were on the upward curve again and the light strengthened. The solstice was also known as Midwinter. The word solstice derived from Latin, Winter Solstice meaning Sun set still in winter. Almost everything in the garden was slowly dying back except for this Hellebore which lit beautifully during the gloomy, cold days.

“Winter solitude..

in a world of one colour

the sound of wind”

~Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)~

Babe and I braced ourselves and went shopping for those last bits and pieces for Christmas. The crowds weren’t as near horrible as I thought they would be and it was kind of cheering to be amongst them. It was very tempting to buy those BOGOF tins of sweets, biscuits and chocolates. We’ve a mountain of them piled up like a Xmas tree on the dining table. Everything had been prepared and just waiting for the big day.

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.’

~Major Henry Livingston Jr. (1748-1828)~
(previously believed to be by Clement Clarke Moore

 

A very Happy 80th birthday to Abah. Semoga panjang umur, murah rezeki dan sihat selalu.

Congratulations to HH when a stork flew in with a baby bundled in a blue cloth.

Innalilla wa inna lilla hirajium Mak Teh who had gone to meet her maker.