Merry Christmas

So here we are then, Christmas Day lots of presents being opened here in UK with NORAD reporting Santa is just about delivering the last of the presents in America. 

Sally and I skyped our friend Sharon in Canada yesterday and she showed us around her new house as well as commenting on the fact that she had not wrapped a present yet and that 13 people were due in a few hours for some kind of Christmas Eve do.  This is typical of Sharon who always manages to pull it off at the appointed time!

Years ago i put in a calendar somewhere online an old friends birthday which falls on Christmas day.  That must be a real drag as a child because you are bound to get the old old story of, "well yes that's for your birthday and Christmas!  Sadly this friend died not long ago so its with a tinge of sadness that I leave the reminder running in the long forgotten calendar.  All the best to the memory of Chris. 

But the world go's on and the fire is roaring and we will no doubt be having our bucks fizz soon along with the traditional Christmas Day breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toast! mmmmmm!

Later we will pop down to our local for a couple of drinks before returning to tackle a Christmas dinner rather than the steak and chips that we normally have on Christmas day.  We'll listen to what the Queen has to say intently and not be able to remember any of it tomorrow, before watching a film or two and having a few drinks. 

I managed yesterday to complete the little project i picked up from my brother in law.  He was going to dump an old cast iron fire grate and asked if i wanted it.
here's the pic of the grate in the back of Boris the day we picked it up

it looked a bit daunting but the work required was just to wire brush off all the rust and apply some grate paste.  By far the most time consuming was getting the brasswork looking decent. 
here's the pic of the finished item

We have no intention of using it so once i have established its pedigree i will probably sell it.  any offers out there? 
I have sent off the dimensions etc to an online company who sell a reproduction that's not amillion miles away from the look of this one for around £200. 
Compiling the data i weighed the individual bits and was surprised to find that the brass "dogs" either side of the fire basket weigh 4lbs each and the total weight of the fire is 117lbs! 

Finally then - - - - have a good Christmas day and don't forget the old adage of "Everything in moderation".   

Enjoy the day