It was a very Christmassy storytelling night, with lanterns lit across the garden and the entrance way, to shine through the atmospheric mist that had surrounded our home. The aromic smell of mulled wine lingered in the kitchen, with lots of Christmas nibbles waiting on the table to be nibbled on. Children were the first to take part in the Christmas storytelling, and we all gathered around the fire to hear: Thomas' brilliant version of the nativity (very well read), Richard's very funny 'A Christmas Carol' (complete with a very humourous Scrooge voice), Ros' Syrian tale of a wobbly camel on his way to see the newborn king (complete with cuddly camel), Esme's trick of falling off the chair a number of times and the word 'candle' said wonderously throughout the evening, Oscar's tale of the Bible rolled up into a few sentences (very well done, Oscar), Abi's very own written and coloured-in story of the the birth of Jesus, co-read by Dad, Nick (they made an excellent team, and it was an excellent story) and the grand finale, Claire's reading of 'Twas the Night before Christmas' which made all of us feel very Christmassy and excited!
After that, some feverish work by some elves was needed to get the place ready again for the next set of storytellers, and just in time, the fire was re-lit and the mulled wine was...mulled...Again, wonderful stories were told - funny, moving, thoughtful, magical and inspiring. There were many times where we all had our eyes shut, listening to the voice of the storyteller taking us to a new and wonderful place. To begin the storytelling, we cut the Panettone cake and shared it round...Sue and Drew started us off with a double act of 'Mog's Christmas' - a very endearing tale that was very well told with some first class comic timing, Janet (my mum) read an extract from 'The Dean's Watch' by Elizabeth Goudge - about an angel looking over the earth on Christmas Eve night, remembering Christmas' past - again beautifully told, Catherine pulled out all the stops with various voies with her tale, 'On Angel's Wings' by Michael Morpurgo that had most people very moved by the end of the story, Richard read us the most dramatic part of 'A Christmas Carol', told very...dramatically, Ros read her made up poem about a wobbly stair, and had a fun time getting everyone to say what they thought was under the wobbly stair...We were also very honoured to have 2 friends who I work with come along too, who enjoyed the stories and meeting everyone. One of the girls, Claire, told us the Irish legend of King Lir and his four children, who were turned into swans - a very beautiful tale, told in a very magical way - so thank you Claire!
Thank you to everyone who came and to all who contributed something. Looking forward to next year!
Ros
