The Laboratory

In an time of creeping secularisation, we mustn't forget the traditions of yesteryear. For example, I am shocked that Marks & Spencers no longer call these "Christmas Whips". Who can forget in the 1970s our parents hiding Christmas Whips all round the garden on the Second Sunday in Advent and then we had to go and hunt for them in the snow? No, of course not, just a bit of nonsense! Seeing this little fella on our shopping trip yesterday was a bit more nostalgic...

Today's calendar pictures are dedicated to the De Ath family of Crowborough, who put in a request for their favourite things - a goose, a bear and a train. I couldn't find a Christmas photo with all 3 of them, so here's what I tracked down ... A snowy sculture of a goose and bear (and fox) in Anchorage, Alaska A bear tries to steal a goose called Gaylord A Canadian Christmas train