2020 has truly been a different year. The pandemic, Brexit, the US election, a very tumultuous stock market. We spent Christmas with only the immediate family present. This is the first time since year 2001 that we celebrate Christmas at Knightstone without anyone of my older children present.
And since many years we have had the Church Choir singing at Knightstone before Christmas, but now that and many other events have to be postponed until 2021. Hopefully we will be able to vaccinate the main part of our population, which is the only way to come back to something like more normal times. If we ever will be back to those times?
We had a smaller tree this year and Jennifer limited the Christmas decorations to our main rooms although their were “advents lights” in nearly every window of the Manor.
We went out once, having a dinner at Michael Caine’s Lympstone Manor, but other wise we stayed at home. We celebrated Christmas Eve with a Swedish dinner (and toasted to the fact that at last Britain and EU could agree upon the divorce agreement). And on Christmas Day we had the turkey with all its traditional trimmings, but started quite “un-English” by having oysters.
When our children were smaller, we divided the gifts between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but now (another first) we had all the gifts after the dinner on Christmas Day. Another proof that we are becoming more and more English as times go by!
Below you have a little slide show showing some moments of our Christmas holidays:
Slide show (click to advance):
The Great Hall with a Christmas Tree only half the size of our normal ones.
This time we had the tree between the two windows, which let us keep most of the furniture in place. We only removed one sofa
The fireplace and the tree are the two focal points
Jennifer decorated the stairs with some of our "tomtar" from our Scandinavian collections
The tallest tote was at the bottom of the stairs
As we were only four of us this Christmas we had all our meals in the more intimate breakfast room
Here too, Jennifer put tomtar all around and the lovely candle crown that we got from the Swedish Church has pride of place on the dining table
We didn't do much to the drawing room apart from the lights in the windows
The stairs to the Solar and my Chambers got decorated as well
We had a dinner at Lympstone manor just before Christmas and here we are before Lewis drove us to Lympstone for the evening
And in front of the Christmas tree
Lewis took the photos, where i appeared, but here I am behind the camera again
The ladies having a chat
Eric hates to be cuddled by his sister, but tries to put on a brave face
Christmas Eve. We had a typical Swedish Christmas dinner of herrings, beer and schnapps (closest to the camera), then Janssons temptation (a Jennifer specialty) and behind the candles are gravad lax and Swedish ham and closest to Eric are the meatballs and prince sausages.
But on Christmas Day we starded off with two dozen oysters and a glass of white wine …
…followed by the turkey with all the dondiments and vegetables…
… and a bottle of Chateau La Tour de Pressac from 1974
And here the family is toasting all of you who watch our images.
After dinner we moved to the Great Hall for champagne and Princess Cake, the very typical Swedish cake that all of us love.
Mikee and Eric served the cake
Jennifer had her cake at the fire place
And then we opener the Christmas gifts. Eric got a new computer from Mikee
and Mikee got a poncho from me
Here she demonstrates it. Although we have stopped believing in Santa, the excitement of Christmas gifts is still there!
And Jen got a sexy coat from me. Doesn't she look good in it?
And after we had given out the gifts it was time to clean up. The brown bag under the tree contains gifts for my grandchildren, and we will find another time to deliver them safely.
