Hello from me, a late arrival at the kitchen table (I don't think I've ever dropped by here before). Here are some 'Lebkuchen Herzen' (heart-shaped German Christmas biscuits) to add to the table <3 <3 <3 <3. I've only put 4 on the plate, but there are plenty more in that tin over there. Help yourselves.

Hope everyone is starting a nice, gentle run-up to Christmas Day. How are you feeling today, Jimmy ?

Ebbie, isn't it great when a love of music-making gets passed on from one generation of a family to the next ? This has certainly happened from my father's side of the family - from his mother and her mother before that, and it looks like continuing, too. I was clearing out my parents' flat this year after my mother died, and made a wonderful find: a tape of our family Christmas "concert" of 1975, with all of us playing, singing, chatting and laughing (more laughing than anything else). It was quite extraordinary to hear all those familiar voices, several of whom are now long since gone from this world and I hadn't heard for decades, but there they all are. So many happy memories, and future memories in the making today.

What kind of family music-making are people planning for the next few days ? I've just this week acquired an autoharp, something I've had my eye on for a while now. Still need to look to see where the chord buttons are, so there are a few longer-than-necessary pauses, but my daughter and I are going to have some fun, with her playing flute or whistle and me limping along behind with my autoharp chord changes!

I'll bring some Gluehwein with me, next time I call by the table.

- jeanie