Birthday in York and Getting Ready for Christmas

Our Cadbury's Advent Calendar is up!

We put the tree up before my birthday this year--since we're going to be away, we wanted to enjoy it a little longer.

My little dough mouse ornament from 1993 :)

And my clay gingerbread man from 1992!

We bought this one last year in January--it's a Wedgwood Jasperware bell with little penguins on it, and it's says "New Year 1979". We've been collecting Jasperware, and it's also cool that it's almost exactly the same age as Richard!

When we were touring Castle Howard, I loved this Christmas pudding ornament that I saw on their trees--and I was thrilled to find it in the gift shop!

Our stockings are up!

Last weekend, we went to the Otley Victorian Fayre

We had mulled cider & roast beef sandwiches for lunch

Richard's Santa Hat--it's a charity one for Text Santa from Morrisons, and the mistletoe is hilarious!

From one market to another--we went to the Christkindlmarkt for my birthday eve dinner

His & hers German drinks--Dunkel bier (dark wheat beer) and mulled wine

York's Christmas Market

We went to the York Castle Museum--there were a few sections we hadn't seen last time, like this brilliant toy exhibit. I love this metal pedal car--and the fact that Paddington is driving!

This doll house looks just like the Cath Kidston sweater, and now I get it a bit more--it's meant to look like a classic doll house.

The Victorian street in the Castle museum

The birthday girl at the York Castle Museum

Out and about in York with my eggnog latte!

Castle Howard

Yesterday we went to Castle Howard--their Christmas market started this weekend!

We bought some lovely white chocolate & lemon shortbread and locally made raspberry & sloe gin

In the rose garden

The carriage house

The fall leaves are fantastic

I love intricate garden gates

Castle Howard

It's so fun to see these stately homes all done up for Christmas!

Even the statues are decked out with garlands

The Christmas tree in the great hall is 17 feet tall and the guide said it took 6 people to bring it in!

Richard's grandfather collected bronzes, and he had a chariot just like this one

Their exhibition on the First & Second World Wars was good--I liked the propaganda posters and this comic from a WWII-era issue of Punch

We both had what was described on the menu as a "hot turkey roll with stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy"--it tasted great, but looks terrible here! It was swimming in gravy, so you had to eat it open-faced with a knife and fork. After lunch, we had tea & cake--I had my first mince pie of the season and Richard had a slice of Christmas cake.

We look so happy, all full of gravy, lol!

We took a walk around the grounds--it was chilly, but I love the fall leaves!

The Temple of the Four Winds

The view is just amazing--I can see why they built a folly on this side of the estate!

It started getting dark around 3, so we made our way back to the shops in the carriage house

The walled gardens are out of season at the moment, but they still had a vegetable patch going and a few things were still in bloom. 

We'll definitely come back in the summer when it's in full swing!