Farewell to Guests and Yuletide parties

 This Christmas has been a memorable one, usually we are quite low key and the only day that we celebrate is Christmas Eve.  It has been lovely celebrating with a huge number of old and new friends over a number of days and reading this post at Badinage, made me realise it is hasn't been the glitz and the glamour that is the best bit, it's just being with people that we care about that matters.

There weren't too many photos of Cliveden, I am sure that Cynthiawill do Alice far more justice than I have in this.  She was the belle of the ball, quite breath-takingly beautiful in her Cinderella dress. The consensus was Grace Kelly at her best, the young man to her right thought so too....

 The little guy also concurred, although he is less steadfast, he spent the later part of the evening dancing with two ladies in their 30s...

Dinner was tasty and we got our very own close quarter magician, his balancing acts were more successful than the card tricks...

 Cynthia and I relaxed after dinner and watched the young on the dance floor...

 I was tired after three days of partying, our poor guests also had jet lag, I am not sure they ever really knew what time of day or night it was.

We picked them up at 6am to return to the airport.  It was a beautiful time to be in London....
This was our first sighting of the Christmas lights this year, and they were spectacular...

And Claridges isn't bad either...

The trip to Heathrow was an easy run and we only wished that they could have stayed longer.

Now we are back at the cottage, with oodles of cakes and mince-pies, settled in front of the fire, waiting for the snow to come...(Miss B engrossed in Country Life) 

But she will always look up for a photo....

 I hope that you are warm, cosy and relaxed as Christmas draws to an end.