Saturday saw us make an early start to Canterbury for a family get together.
My sister in law and her husband were celebrating their Silver Wedding Anniversary and had booked a lovely restaurant in the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral.
We had an hour to fill before the actual event, and had free access to the grounds and cathedral.
It was a rainy and blowy day so we were glad of the refuge!
Outside the cathedral is probably the biggest nativity scene I have ever seen!
The stained glass windows were beautiful...
...Teen One in particular appreciates their beauty...
...but the main reason for using the opportunity of free access...
...was to bring to life Teen Two's history lesson on
Thomas Becket
We always buy an advent candle for the Teens...not for any religious significant, simply a fun way to count down the days...but these are the largest ones we have ever seen!
Something I couldn't help noticing was the lack of any reference to the Bible in the cathedral!
This was the only verse I found...but it must be said we did not see the entire building...but I do like this verse
"A soft answer turneth away wrath"
I don't know the significance in the verse to this memorial to Henry Coare Kingsford, who I believe was an Admiral in the Royal Navy over a hundred years ago....maybe it sums up the sort of man he was?? No idea...but an excellent verse to live by none the less.
Grandma and Teen Two took the opportunity for a quiet sit down after the walk round... I didn't see the arrow when I took the picture, but it made me smile when I uploaded it...it just needs a caption don't you think!
Before we knew it, it was time for the main event...
...our tables were beautifully decorated with these origami water lilies, painstakingly folded by hubby's niece.
Not only did they have our names on, they also had the meal options we had chosen earlier in the year...which was just as well as most of us had forgotten what we had chosen!
It would seem this wasn't the only thing we had forgotten!
As we entered the event, our nephew handed out "I SPY" sheets, which we were then challenged with ticking off who we could see at the event, who had played a major part in the wedding proceedings all those years ago.
I saw a family member who was well known for her cake decorating skills and said " you made the cake didn't you?"
"No" she replied...."but you did the flowers didn't you?"
"No" I replied!
Neither of us thought too much more about that little conversation and very soon the food started to arrive...
I had a very delicious salmon as did Teen One...
...Hubby and Teen Two went for the pork option...given that pork, fish and vegetarian options are the lowest on hubby's "likes" it wasn't much of a meal choice for him... but he was so hungry he said he almost enjoyed his pork.
I had a taste of it an it was delicious! I personally was spoilt for choice!
Dessert for most of us was treacle tart... which had the lightest butteriest pastry and perfect filling.
After the meal my sister in law brought back many happy memories of her special day....with the help of the "I SPY" list... imagine my surprise when she turned to me and thanked me for doing the flowers at church and at the reception...and also sorting out a mistake the hotel had made, putting out the wrong colour napkins!
I had no recollection at all!!
THEN...she turned to the cousin, who was on our table and thanked her for the lovely cake she had made!
She too had no recollection and the two of us, masking our embarrassment in front of the whole room, spent the rest of the time wondering how neither of us could remember!
For the evening "do" we were all invited round to their house for a further catch up, viewing slides and photos etc.
It was good to meet up with family we seem to see only at weddings and funerals...and as there haven't been any of them recently....it had been some time since we had seen one or two of them.
We were rather bemused to see two of the visiting children running around in these strange suits!
They can apparently see through the fabric ok, but it was very bizzare.
It was finally time to say goodbye and take a short drive to our hotel for the night.
It was good to start the new year seeing both sides of our family and a reminder that family really is the centre of our lives.
