The Laboratory

Traditionally the penultimate day of the Calendar is a clearout of all the things we wanted to put in but didn't have room for. So here, in no particular order: The classic Henry nativity, born anew for 2025 What kind of monster would put a giant guacamole dip on top of a record player. Everything about this is wrong. And yet ... yum. Woke Christmas decorations. Farage would ban these. Last chance to buy the must-have Christmas gifts for the kitchen. Yes, £600.

We have so many creative and decorative friends. Lou in Wales is one of them, and she shared a picture of a wreath by her friend Beth that it themed around Bletchley Park. I've posted it as big as I can, but you should see some punched-hole tape, some Made In Britain ribbon, and even a little Enigma machine. Marvellous!  

Every year on the Advent Calendar we are delighted to present guest posts from our friends, and making a regular appearance is Louise from St Fagan's: "Here are two wreaths for your advent calendar. They were made by my sister Kate, and we foraged for most of the greenery in Williamson’s Park, Lancaster."

Welcome back to Lou, an old friend of the Advent Calendar, who is today sharing one of her crafty crafts: " Ta da! Made by my own fair hand IN THE RAIN this afternoon. It’s not terribly artistic but hey, it was free! What they don’t mention in Country Living magazine is that you will impale yourself on brambles when you’re collecting bits of fir tree from the driveway which you share with your celebrity neighbour, and that you will spend 20 minutes trying to quietly extricate yourself." Lou has a gorgeous house in South Wales and all her decor is the creme de la creme. Thanks for sharing!

Here's a cracker joke that Adam made up: Anyway, here we are on the last day of the Advent Calendar. Thanks to all 30 of our faithful visitors who checked in every day, and everyone else who we'd encourage to find out what you missed! It's been a busy December, Adam had 4 carol services to play at, while Sarah had 4 staff parties to attend. But we have enjoyed seeing so many people, and getting lovely cards and letters. Wishing you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas and New Year! Final pun of the year:                        

Another couple of bad Christmas puns today ... we're working our way up to our favourite!

We do have a couple of themes for this year's calendar, and maybe it's a bit early to be mentioning the first one, it may cause an immediate decline in viewing figure. But here we go ... Christmas PUNS!! Sorry. And a blast from the past - from 2007 here are some cracker "jokes" sent to us by Peter Tisi, friend of the calendar. They really don't make them like this anymore (thankfully). PS Hello to all of Sarah's colleagues who are now fans of the calendar!