The end ...

Just the end of the Christmas Cake!
That moment is delayed crumb by crumb ... slices get thinner and thinner ... until eventually it has to finish!  And yesterday was the day that the cake board was cleaned by Eliot (no photographs) and the cake enjoyed by me!

It seems another age, another era, when the cake arrived!  That was at the beginning of December (according to the date on the picture!)

 The chorister is still in the box ... couldn't bear to eat him at all!
Of course, Eliot did show an unhealthy interest in the cake from the very beginning ...

So now ... the cake is gone and it is time to pack away the Christmas plates and return to the ordinary days before lent ... Ash Wednesday is 5th March ... in just three weeks.

O God, 
you know us to be set 
in the midst of so many and great dangers, 
that by reason of the frailty of our nature 
we cannot always stand upright: 
Grant to us such strength and protection 
as may support us in all dangers 
and carry us through all temptations; 
through Jesus Christ our Lord.