Ilkeston - 'Twas The Week Before Christmas
w/e 22 December 2013
All of this week's pictures were
taken with a Kodak DX6490
'Twas the week before Christmas and I thought it
the time
To add captions of couplets with each pair in rhyme.
To illustrate each image below,
I thought would be easy to give it a go.
But as I began I soon realised,
That I couldn't think of a suitable rhyme for realised
So reverted to type and carried on with my usual descriptive
narrative.
Shoppers were out in force during the week and shops selling
Christmas cards were thronged whilst nearby cafes and coffee
shops were also doing a good trade as people popped in for a
drink before continuing with the last minute preparations for
Christmas.
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Seasonal and blockbuster films on offer at the Scala
cinema included Saving Santa and the latest instalment of The
Hobbit series.
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Santa himself took a break from his preparations to sit and find
out from local children exactly what they wanted come Christmas
Day so that he could get them ready for delivery.
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Another figure clad in a Santa costume, this time of the female
variety, was out with her helpers collecting for the Quackers
Community Farm in Cotmanhay together with a goat and a pig who
reside at the farm.
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There was no shortage of holly wreathes for front door hanging
on the Saturday market as we made our way to St Mary's Church
for the Christmas Tree Festival.
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  Details of the Festival giving the opening
times of the church for viewing of the trees were available on
the notice board along with additional information about the
services that were taking place over the Christmas period. These
included a service of Nine Lessons and Carols on Sunday and a
Christingle service on Monday 23rd. Not forgetting of course
the dates when Santa would be in his Grotto in the Cantelupe
Centre. A banner on the gate and an open door (left) also indicated
the Festival was open and inside (right) were many trees sponsored
by local businesses, organisations and schools.
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The church had been beautifully decorated throughout with candles,
holly, flowers and decorations, a crib and a Nativity scene to
complement the many Christmas trees.
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Model angels and poinsettias adorned the screen and added to
the festive atmosphere that had been created in the church.
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Three of the side windows had representations of the Wise Men
already on their way to Bethlehem along with more decorations
and white Christmas trees.
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The other two Wise Men can be seen in the windows in the background
of this image of the wooden Nativity scene while their destination,
the crib with the manger (see this week's jigsaw puzzle)
is also partly visible towards the right of the picture. There's
no figure of Jesus in the manger yet as in the days leading up
to Christmas we're still awaiting his arrival there.
But Jesus was born and laid in a stall,
So it's Season's Greetings from me and Merry Christmas to all.
(See I knew I could get another rhyming couplet in somewhere!)
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