Daryl is angry to see his brother’s severed hand,
He threatens T-Dog with his crossbow and
Rick points his revolver at Darryl, he’ll fire for sure,
Darryl stands down, there’s a trail of blood on the floor.
To retrieve the bag filled with guns, Glenn has a plan,
But two men arrive in a car and they kidnap this man,
Rick, Daryl and T-Dog take a young Latino hostage and he tells,
He’s from a group called The Vatos, they want the guns as well.
The Vatos GangThe retirement home
The Latino named Miguel, tells them where the group is,
They go there and find their leader, Guillermo, and his
group of survivors, he won’t trade Glenn, Rick asks with all his might,
Guillermo orders them to bring the guns or be ready for a fight!
After discussing what to do, the three men go back to broker a deal,
They offer half the guns in exchange for Glenn, but Guillermo doesn’t feel
This is what he wants, everyone is jittery, there is tension in the air,
When a grandmother appears, she scolds her grandson and gives everyone a glare.
The Veto’s are protecting a retirement home, the old and the frail,
Rick sees they are good people, so he hands over the guns to ensure they don’t fail.
AmyDale
Back at the camp, the group are having a celebration fish fry
When nobody hears the screams of Ed as he is bitten and dies.
Next Amy is exiting Dale’s RV and is bitten by a walker on her arm,
Andrea is upset, she should have protected her sister from harm.
The campsite is overrun with walkers, some survivors are eaten,
The rest of the campers take cover behind Shane and Dale, they won’t be beaten.
With limited ammunition they fire at the walkers and pray to the Lord,
When Rick and the others return and shoot down the horde.
In the arms of Andrea, Amy takes her last breath and dies,
And Andrea is inconsolable, she breaks down and cries…
Harry gazes up at the sky,
The stars and moon seem so high,
He wonders if life is out there,
And if there is, would they dare
To invade Earth and capture everyone,
And not rest until their evil work is done.
Harry thinks, “They’ll not get me,
Or my friends and not my family.
I’ll punch them, I’ll kick them, I’ll do what I can,
To make sure they don’t take over this land.”
“I wonder what their appearance will be,
Would they have one, two or even three
Pairs of eyes and a great big hairy belly,
Perhaps they’ll be ugly and very smelly.”
“Their language will be different to ours,
Whatever they speak on the Planet Mars,
The King will be ginormous with a crown on his head,
His will issue his orders as he’s sat on his bed. “
Harry can see something high up in space,
He takes his binoculars out of their case,
Harry looks closely, it’s travelling quite far,
Is it a spaceship, a meteor, or a shooting star?
He runs into his house and says to his dad,
“We’re going to be invaded, it’s really bad,
They’re landing on Earth, God’s own creation,”
“It’s okay,” replies dad, “That’s the International Space Station.”
Just before Christmas we bought another Hairy Biker’s recipe book – we have quite a collection now – this time we thought we would go for the 12 Days of Christmas because we thought it would give us a few ideas for Christmas. Unfortunately we didn’t use it before Christmas as most of our family were ill, but we did make this turkey curry last week with some frozen leftover turkey we found in the freezer.
This is their thoughts on the dish:
This simple curry is made mainly from store cupboard ingredients, but it has a lovely fresh taste and mouth-watering aroma. You don't have to add the tomatoes if you like a fairly thin sauce, but if you prefer it thicker, use Maris Piper or similar. The starch in the spuds will thicken the sauce as it cooks. You can serve the curry with rice if you like, but it's just as good without. This recipe makes a medium curry, so if you like your curry hot, add a little more chili powder or fry a finely chopped chili with the garlic.
Ingredients
600g new or old potatoes 2 tbsp sunflower oil 2 medium onions, halved and sliced 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced 2 tsp ground coriander 2 tsp ground cumin 1/2 tsp ground turmeric 1/2 ground ginger 1/2 hot chilli powder or cayenne pepper 1 tbsp tomato puree 1 litre chicken stock 3 tbsp mango chutney 2 bay leaves 500g cooked turkey cut into chunky pieces 4 tomatoes, quartered 200g young spinach leaves sea salt flakes freshly ground black pepper
How did I get on?
First we peeled our potatoes and then cut them into thick slices. After cooking the onions for 5 minutes, adding the garlic and we then sprinkled over all the spices. Next the tomato puree and stock is added, followed by the potatoes, mango chutney and bay leaves, seasoning well with salt and pepper. This is brought to the boil, heat reduced and then simmer for 10 minutes.
Spices added!After chicken stock added!
Then the leftover cooked turkey is added and is returned to a gentle simmer for 10 minutes. Next, the tomatoes are added and the spinach leaves are scattered over. Cover the pan with a lid and continue simmering for a further 5 minutes until the spinach has wilted and then it’s ready to serve!
Spinach and Tomatoes addedCurry
Thoughts
Well I have to say, hats off to this recipe, it’s probably one of the best curries we have made! It looks like a lot of ingredients but most can be found in your store cupboard. This is a great recipe for using up leftover turkey. It was delicious and accompanied with Naan bread and mint yoghurt, it’s a great Indian meal! But wait, what about the rice? Well, let me show you how we made that!
Rice
Just before Christmas we treated ourselves to a new toy – a Thermomix!
Thermomix
There is over 2500 recipes in the memory of this piece of equipment – we have only just scratched the surface but keep a look out for future recipes when we try to do them! This time, it was just steamed rice, which was simply adding litre of water together with chicken stock and turmeric for colour, pouring the rice into the steamer and cooking for 20 minutes, and voila, perfect rice!
To easily make your Christmas cake, you can do no worse than buying a cake kit, I found one in Marks and Spencer for £13, all you had to add was butter, eggs and an orange.
After adding up the cost of the ingredients, it worked out cheaper to buy the cake kit.
I made the cake a month ago, and fed it once with some whisky and today was the day that I was going to decorate it with a simple design of a few snowmen. I have done a step-by-step guide for an easy Christmas cake to wow your friends and family!
Christmas cakeMarzipan cakeIced cake
I used the marzipan from the Marks and Spencer kit, but to keep to the theme of simplicity I used Dr Oetker Regal-Ice Ready Rolled Icing to cover the cake.
The next thing to do was to make the snowmen: these consist of a head, body, arms and legs and that’s it.
Head, body, arms and legsFinished snowman
To make the eyes, just use a cocktail stick to wiggle a circle, then using black sugarpaste make small balls and after dabbing some water in the holes to make them stick, place the balls as eyes. For the nose, make a cylinder and place it on the face with a dab of water, the smile is created with a cocktail stick. You can have some fun making scarves, bowties, buttons, top hats, anything that takes your fancy!
Finished cake!!
You can add little snowballs, I used a snowflake cutter and holly leaf cutter and the cake sprinklings from the cake kit to decorate and finished with a light dusting of icing sugar for snow.
So there you have it, a simple Christmas cake which is fun, colourful and most importantly…. easy!
Merle Dixon is still handcuffed and is shouting in fear,
He screams to God to help him, the walkers are near.
They hear him screaming and bang on the locked door,
Merle gains his composure, he's not asking God anymore.
Merle handcuffed on roof of store
He sees a handsaw knocked down in their rush to leave,
He reaches over to grab it, he can get it he believes.
The group arrive at the camp and Rick sees everyone:
Shane, his partner, Lori, his wife and Carl, his son.
Rick tells Lori that he knew she and Carl were not dead,
"The family albums had been taken from our home," he said.
Rick meets Daryl, and tells him about Merle's plight,
It's his brother they left there, Daryl is angry and wants to fight.
CarlDaryl
Rick agrees to go to Atlanta with Daryl and look everywhere,
And also Glenn and T-Dog, who feels guilty he left Merle there.
While they're gone, Lori speaks to Shane about their affair,
She tells him to stay away from her, he says it's not fair.
The woman in the group are in the quarry getting things clean,
When Carol's husband, Ed, shouts at her, Andrea intervenes.
Ed slaps Carol and Shane who is angry, beats up Ed,
Shane says if he sees him abuse anyone again, he's dead.
EdCarol
Back in Atlanta, the four men arrive at the store,
They make they way up to the rooftop once more.
Darryl runs onto the roof, he starts yelling and crying and,
Rick and the others arrive, there's no Merle, just a severed hand!
The official charts began in 1952, but the contest for having the Christmas number one began in 1973 when Slade and Wizzard both released festive songs, which Slade won with Merry Xmas Everybody and Wizzard’s, I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday reaching number four in the charts.
Between 2002 and 2014, the top spot at Christmas was dominated by reality singing competitions: Popstars: The Rivals and The X Factor. This trend was interrupted in 2009 by a Facebook campaign to prevent Joe McElderry, X Factor winner, from reaching number one, where people were urged to download Killing In The Name by Rage Against The Machine.
More recently, non-traditional acts releasing novelty songs have been successful, most notably YouTubers LadBaby, who raised money for the Trussell Trust.
The Beatles are the only group to have had four number ones, Paul McCartney has been at the top of the charts eight times with various acts. Cliff Richard has spent four Christmases at number one; two as a solo act, one with The Shadows and one as part of Band Aid II. The Spice Girls have had three consecutive number one, with Melanie C having a fourth with The Justice Collective. YouTubers Ladbaby have had three consecutive number ones.
Bohemium Rhapsody has reached the top twice at Christmas and Mary’s Boy Child the only song to have reached number one by two different artists. Do They Know It’s Christmas has been Christmas number one for three generations of Band Aid.
1952
Al Martino
Here In My Heart
1953
Frankie Laine
Answer Me
1954
Winifred Atwell
Let’s Have Another Party
1955
Dickie Valentine
Christmas Alphabet
1956
Johnnie Ray
Just Walkin’ In The Rain
1957
Harry Belafonte
Mary’s Boy Child
1958
Conway Twitty
It’s Only Make Believe
1959
Emile Ford & The Checkmates
What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For
1960
Cliff Richard & The Shadows
I Love You
1961
Danny Williams
Moon River
1962
Elvis Presley
Return To Sender
1963
The Beatles
I Want To Hold Your Hand
1964
The Beatles
I Feel Fine
1965
The Beatles
Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out
1966
Tom Jones
The Green Grass Of Home
1967
The Beatles
Hello Goodbye
1968
Scaffold
Lily The Pink
1969
Rolf Harris
Two Little Boys
1970
Dave Edmunds
I Hear You Knockin’
1971
Benny Hill
Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West)
1972
Little Jimmy Osmond
Long Haired Lover From Liverpool
1973
Slade
Merry Xmas Everybody
1974
Mud
Lonely This Christmas
1975
Queen
Bohemian Rhapsody
1976
Johnny Mathis
When A Child Is Born
1977
Wings
Mull Of Kintyre / Girls’ School
1978
Boney M
Mary’s Boy Child – Oh My Lord
1979
Pink Floyd
Another Brick In The Wall
1980
St Winifred’s School Choir
There’s No One Quite Like Grandma
1981
The Human League
Don’t You Want Me
1982
Renee & Renato
Save Your Love
1983
The Flying Pickets
Only You
1984
Band Aid
Do They Know It’s Christmas?
1985
Shakin’ Stevens
Merry Christmas Everyone
1986
Jackie Wilson
Reet Petite
1987
The Pet Shop Boys
Always On My Mind
1988
Cliff Richard
Mistletoe & Wine
1989
Band Aid II
Do They Know It’s Christmas?
1990
Cliff Richard
Saviours’ Day
1991
Queen
Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are The Days Of Our Lives
Lori is in the woods, berries and plants need to be found,
The survivor camp is hungry, a noise makes her turn round.
Afraid that it's a walker, she stifles a shout,
But it's Shane who appears and they start to make out.
LoriShane
The voice on the radio tells Rick he can get out,
The walkers are feasting on the horse, he shouts,
Rick grabs his weapon and a grenade by his feet,
He opens the hatch and runs down the street.
He runs into a young man, who is called Glenn,
They make their way to his hideaway den.
When they reach it, a gun is pointed at Rick's head,
"You have compromised the group," a female has said.
GlennAndrea
The woman is called Andrea and she likes to be bad ass,
They hear shots from the rooftop, they run up real fast.
Merle Dixon is sniping walkers and behaving quite mad,
Morales tries to stop him, Merle beats him up bad.
MerleMorales
Rick takes command of the group and has to act tough,
He decides the best plan is to use his handcuffs.
Merle is left coupled to a pipe on the roof space,
The group hatch a plan to escape, it's not safe.
They slaughter a walker and drain his blood and guts,
Rick and Glenn are covered, this has to work, no ifs or buts.
They make their way to a nearby construction site,
The horde ignores them, the plan is working, hold tight.
But then to their horror, a sudden rainstorm begins,
The guts are washing off, the walkers are closing in.
Rick manages to run to the site and get in a truck,
Glenn hotwires a sports car, that was a piece of good luck.
Glenn sounds the horn and gives a loud whoop,
And Rick drives the truck to get to the group.
T-Dog is guarding Merle, Jacqui tells him to flee,
But in his haste to unlock the handcuffs he loses the key.
T-DogJacqui
To ensure Merle is safe, T-Dog locks the door,
And they run to the truck to escape the gore.
Just outside the city limits, Glenn speeds in his car,
They're headed to their safe zone, it's not that far.
It’s nearly time for those Christmas songs to be hitting the airwaves, or for the supermarkets to pipe them into the shop when you’re desperately searching for that packet of bread sauce. Christmas songs are their own breed, some stick around for years and years, some are hits just for that year and then fade away not be heard of again.
There are some Christmas songs which I groan when I hear them, or when I ask, “Alexa, play some Christmas songs,” and these end up on her playlist. Personally, the song that I don’t like hearing at Christmas is Do They Know It’s Christmas, controversial I know, but I think it’s because when it was released that’s all I heard and now I’m a bit fed up with it.
Anyway, so now you know my least favourite Christmas track, here’s a list of my top five.
Number Five: Stop the Cavalry – Jona Lewie
This record peaked in the British charts at number three in December, 1980, it was kept from number one by two re-issued John Lennon songs, who had been murdered on 8 December. Jona Lewie states that this was never meant to be a Christmas song, it was in fact a protest song, but the line, “Wish I was at home for Christmas,” and the brass band accompaniment made it sound like a song to be played around Christmas time.
Why do I like this song?
I love the tempo of this song and can’t resist joining in with the Dub-a-dub-a-dum-dums whenever I hear this song.
Number Four: Step Into Christmas – Elton John
Written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, it was released as a stand-alone single with the aptly titled B side: Ho Ho Ho (Who’d Be A Turkey At Christmas?). It was the ninth most played Christmas song of the noughties in the UK and its highest chart position was number 8 in 2019 and 2020. The video had a cameo appearance of Taupin, and showed Elton John holding a Watford F.C. supporter’s card, he later went on to own the club.
Why do I like this song?
It’s a lively song and one which I can’t help singing along to.
Number Three: I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday – Wizzard AND Merry Xmas Everybody – Slade
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday was released in 1973 and was beaten to the number one spot by, yes, you’ve guessed it, Merry Christmas Everybody. Both records have entered the charts almost every year since their release and have each been covered by numerous artists including Robbie Williams, Oasis, Spice Girls, Kylie Minogue and Girls Aloud. There was no promotional video for Merry Xmas Everyone, with Slade preferring to promote the song on Christmas television programmes.
Why do I like these songs?
Who could not like these songs? I grew up listening to these songs during the festive period and what Christmas party isn’t complete without a drunken dance to these classics?
Number Two: All I Want For Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey
The best selling Christmas song by a female artist, reportedly earning $60 million in royalties. It was number one in most countries, although it didn’t reach the top of the charts in the UK until 2020. The song also featured on the British film Love Actually. The clip below is from the film sung by Olivia Olson.
Why Do I Like This Song?
This is the song that when you sing it, you realise that you can’t sing, but you still give it a good go. It doesn’t lose its freshness and vibrancy.
Number One: Last Christmas – Wham!
Last Christmas was released in December, 1984 and was prevented from reaching number one by Band Aid’s, Do They Know It’s Christmas! Which ironically brings me back to the song I like least to hear at Christmas! This song spent five weeks at number two, but eventually reached number one in 2021, making it the longest journey to number one since Tony Christie’s (Is This The Way To) Amarillo.
Why do I like this song?
George’s vocals, the great video, it’s Christmas all wrapped up. When I hear this song, I am totally filled with Christmas spirit!
Honourable mentions:
Merry Christmas Everyone – Shakin’ StevensWonderful Christmas Time – Paul McCartneyDriving Home For Christmas – Chris ReaFrankie Goes To Hollywood – The Power Of Love Fairytale of New York – Kirsty MacColl with The Pogues
Yes, I know I said it was one of my least favourite Christmas songs, but it was the fastest selling single in UK history and it did raise a lot of money for famine relief, so here it is, Do They Know It’s Christmas by Band Aid.
When the firework has let off its last bang and whizz,
It's time to stock up on some wine and Bucks Fizz,
It's getting close to that special time of year,
To raise a glass of cider or perhaps a beer,
And celebrate with lots of good cheer.
It's time to go shopping and buy all of the toys,
For all of the girls and all of the boys,
A cardigan for grandma, and granddad some socks,
For grandchildren cars and horses that rock,
All wrapped up in a special Christmas box.
Then there's shopping for our Christmas dinner,
Fingers crossed, this one's a winner,
Some hate parsnips, some don't like sprouts,
I can't see what the fuss is about,
It'll all get eaten, I have no doubt.
We have to decide, give the tree some thought,
Do we buy real, or something shop bought?
To get the decorations I have to reach in,
They're in the loft and kept in a bin,
Oh my Lord, I could do with a gin!
We go to the theatre to see a pantomime,
I'm sure we will all have a really good time,
We boo at the baddie and cheer the good guys,
The Prince is the hero and slaps his thighs,
After the final song, it's time for goodbyes.
It's Christmas day and time for our dinner,
I can confirm, this one IS a winner,
Sitting around the table is my family,
Laughing and joking, it's such a joy to see,
It's all been worth it, there's nowhere I'd rather be.
We try and do something each year to celebrate the holiday season. For a few years we went to the London Palladium to watch the pantomime and then walk around London to see the Christmas lights, another year we went to Longleat Festival of Lights, but due to Covid, obviously last year we didn’t do anything. So this year, we decided to go to Bournemouth, which is about a 45 minute drive from us and we took our daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren to the Christmas Tree Wonderland.
We arrived at Bournemouth at about 6:15 PM, after inexplicably getting lost, even though we’ve driven to Bournemouth numerous times! The first stop was to get some fish and chips and where better to go than Harry Ramsden’s. We had a lovely meal there, the batter really is very light and tasty!
So then it was time to wander through the Christmas Tree Wonderland…
There were an array of different lighted up Christmas trees, with a few other displays as well including a reindeer, polar bear and, of course, the main man himself, Father Christmas.
We walked around the park, it was lovely to see Harry’s face as he saw each Christmas tree, he’s nearly three, so just beginning to understand what happens this time of year. He loved the bright lights and excitedly ran from one display to the next.
At the end of the park, we came across an ice rink and we stopped to watch the would-be Torvill and Deans, skating around a fairly huge ice rink. There was the usual people hanging onto the sides, gingerly making their way around the rink, and I have to say, that would be me, skating is definitely not my thing!
View of the ice rink
You need to pre-book the ice rink, there are sessions of an hour each, from 10:30 AM until 20:30 PM throughout the day and prices are:
ADULT -£12.50 CHILD – £10.50 SENIOR CITIZEN – £11.50 and FAMILY – £41.00
A quick look around the stands in the city centre, which were mainly food outlets and we headed back into the park to walk along the back path where there were even more displays to see.
Gingerbread men, one of Harry’s favourite biscuits!
One last stop at the Carousel, it cost £3 per person, but it seemed to go round forever. Harry chose his horse and held on tight!
Gee up Neddy or Coleen!
We were very impressed with Bournemouth’s light display, it must have cost the council a lot of money to stage this and for it all to be free as well is wonderful.
A journey through the meaning of life and anything else that grabs my attention!
Making My Home A Haven is important to me. Sharing homemaking skills. Recipes and food. Bible Studies. This is a treasure chest of goodies. So take a seat. Have a glass of tea and enjoy. You will learn all about who I am and Our Neck Of The Woods.
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