And the band played Jingle Bells

I was just lying on the bed, possibly a little bit asleep, when Alexa started playing Jingle Bells. I didn't have a clue what was going on!

Then I realised there was someone at the front door. Maybe I was tireder than I thought after yesterday's shenanigans.

Spent most of the day yesterday cooking curry or being in the hall preparing for our Curry and Quiz night. And it went very well. Everyone turned up, cleared their plates, and enjoyed the quiz. That is the official statement.

Behind the scenes it was chaotic but fun. Apart from the fact that my attempt at cooking a huge saucepan of rice failed and we had to make some people wait for food as rice was rescued and hurriedly microwaved. And that, after worrying that we wouldn't have enough, we had loads of left over. And, as a fund-raising effort, it wasn't very successful because we hadn't realised how much all the food would cost.

But it was our first attempt at a community event and was very successful in getting members of the community in and giving them a brilliant time.

Several people said we'd been too ambitious and should have had a simpler menu but Kim, the other organiser, and I agreed that the first one needed to be impressive, and that the community at large is less accepting of mediocre, even in a good cause, than Christians. So we're happy. But tired.

There was a choice of Chinese chicken curry, chicken saag, or lamb roghan josh, as well as two vegetable curries, one sweet potato curry, paneer curry and black dahl. Served with rice, naan, gunpowder potatoes, and kachumber.

On the table we served poppadoms and pickles.

You know what it's like: you're very busy but suddenly decide the jam jars - aka flower vases - just have to be decorated.