{"id":44158,"date":"2024-12-02T10:06:59","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T10:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=44158"},"modified":"2024-12-02T10:07:05","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T10:07:05","slug":"almost-time-for-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Almost Time for Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Now that December is here, it’s almost time to put up the Christmas decorations. Although a few things have felt a little Christmassy already. First, we added some lighting to our new pergola. We put these up in the middle of November so I was a little worried that people might have thought that we’d been a little premature with the Christmas lights – not so, these are year-round lighting!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Lights<\/a>
Lights around the Pergola<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Snowy Mountains.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Next was an abandoned walk in the hills. I had hoped for a nice little walk bagging a few Nuttalls with a crisp covering of snow. What I actually got was full-on winter conditions with knee deep snow and worries about the car getting snowed in.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Snowy<\/a>
Snowy Wales<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Without crampons and an ice axe and being there on my own, I soon decided against it. It was hard going at lower levels and would have been dangerous up in the clouds on the tops. So, once I got to a steep, rocky slope to climb, I decided it was best to turn back instead. No Nuttalls for me and not much of a day out either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concerts and Community Lights<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Anna was then playing in a charity concert at the Morlan Centre, raising money for the Lifeboats and a local hospice called HAHAV<\/a>. I haven’t been doing much lately so decided to go along and sit in the audience. As well as the silver band there were several choirs singing too and with Christmas songs and carols it was another Christmassy affair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was followed on Saturday by Anna playing in the band once again for the turning on of the Christmas Tree lights in Aberystwyth. Another festive evening with lots of people enjoying themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Christmas<\/a><\/figure>
\"Anna<\/a><\/figure>
\"The<\/a><\/figure><\/div>
\"Christmas<\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
\"Christmas<\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What with all that done and the advent calendars already on day 2 we’d better start about getting our tree and decorations up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now that December is here, it’s almost time to put up the Christmas decorations. Although a few things have felt a little Christmassy already. First, we added some lighting to our new pergola. We put these up in the middle of November so I was a little worried that people might have thought that we’d...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1312,"featured_media":44160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"yoast_head":"\nAlmost Time for Christmas - A Simple Life of Luxury<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Almost Time for Christmas - A Simple Life of Luxury\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Now that December is here, it’s almost time to put up the Christmas decorations. Although a few things have felt a little Christmassy already. First, we added some lighting to our new pergola. We put these up in the middle of November so I was a little worried that people might have thought that we’d...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life of Luxury\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/justal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/justal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-02T10:06:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-02T10:07:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_3086.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"950\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"713\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alan Cole\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@justalcole\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@justalcole\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alan Cole\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/almost-time-for-christmas\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/almost-time-for-christmas\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Alan Cole\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372\"},\"headline\":\"Almost Time for Christmas\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-02T10:06:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-02T10:07:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/almost-time-for-christmas\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":321,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/almost-time-for-christmas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/IMG_3086.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/almost-time-for-christmas\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/almost-time-for-christmas\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/almost-time-for-christmas\\\/\",\"name\":\"Almost Time for Christmas - A Simple Life of Luxury\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/almost-time-for-christmas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/almost-time-for-christmas\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/IMG_3086.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-02T10:06:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-02T10:07:05+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/almost-time-for-christmas\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/almost-time-for-christmas\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/almost-time-for-christmas\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/IMG_3086.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/IMG_3086.jpeg\",\"width\":950,\"height\":713},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2024\\\/12\\\/almost-time-for-christmas\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Almost Time for Christmas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Simple Life of Luxury\",\"description\":\"Tales from a down-shifted family - Making the most of modest means in West Wales\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372\",\"name\":\"Alan Cole\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/Selfie.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/Selfie.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/Selfie.jpg\",\"width\":950,\"height\":713,\"caption\":\"Alan Cole\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/Selfie.jpg\"},\"description\":\"Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pixelwave.co.uk\",\"http:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/justal\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/justalcole\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.alananna.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/justal123\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Almost Time for Christmas - A Simple Life of Luxury","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Almost Time for Christmas - A Simple Life of Luxury","og_description":"Now that December is here, it’s almost time to put up the Christmas decorations. Although a few things have felt a little Christmassy already. First, we added some lighting to our new pergola. We put these up in the middle of November so I was a little worried that people might have thought that we’d...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/","og_site_name":"A Simple Life of Luxury","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/justal\/","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/justal\/","article_published_time":"2024-12-02T10:06:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-02T10:07:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":950,"height":713,"url":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_3086.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alan Cole","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@justalcole","twitter_site":"@justalcole","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alan Cole","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/"},"author":{"name":"Alan Cole","@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372"},"headline":"Almost Time for Christmas","datePublished":"2024-12-02T10:06:59+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-02T10:07:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/"},"wordCount":321,"commentCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_3086.jpeg","articleSection":["Lifestyle"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/","url":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/","name":"Almost Time for Christmas - A Simple Life of Luxury","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_3086.jpeg","datePublished":"2024-12-02T10:06:59+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-02T10:07:05+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_3086.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_3086.jpeg","width":950,"height":713},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2024\/12\/almost-time-for-christmas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Almost Time for Christmas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"A Simple Life of Luxury","description":"Tales from a down-shifted family - Making the most of modest means in West Wales","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/45ecde6c89b31a9e21f97fdde4c21372","name":"Alan Cole","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Selfie.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Selfie.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Selfie.jpg","width":950,"height":713,"caption":"Alan Cole"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Selfie.jpg"},"description":"Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.pixelwave.co.uk","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/justal\/","https:\/\/x.com\/justalcole"],"url":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/author\/justal123\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_3086.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1312"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44166,"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44158\/revisions\/44166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}