We return to Packwood House just a few weeks after our last visit. This time we've come to see the House decorated as it would have been for Christmas 1918 at the end of the First World War.
The simplicity of the decoration stands in sharp contrast to the excess of modern-day Christmas. It stands as a poignant reminder of when duty, service and honour stared in the face of the apocalyptic horror of trench warfare.
Outside,
the Kitchen Garden is empty save for a solitary volunteer tending to a border. She too
departs leaving us to contemplate the ethereal beauty of nature as it begins its
winter rest.
It's a bitterly cold Saturday afternoon and we're at Villa Park to support the plucky boys in claret and blue as they take on the recently relegated Stoke. A chilling wind swirls ice-cold sheets of rain across the ground. Hardly ideal playing conditions.
Stoke are well organised under the regime of new manager, Gary Rowett. They press hard and high, forcing Villa onto the back-foot much of the time. Half-time provides a welcome opportunity to retreat to the warmth of the stand and a hot cup of tea - the game still locked in a goal-less draw.
That doesn't last long. James McClean dispossesses a floundering Alan Hutton just two minutes into the second half and sends over a cross which is steered into the Villa goal by Joe Allen. It takes an inspired substitution and the introduction of a re-invigorated Jonathan Kodija to bring us to life. He wins a penalty, scored coolly by Tammy Abraham after a long wait.
Our joy is short-lived. At the other end of the pitch the lack-lustre Ahmed Elmohamady concedes a needless penalty, which is duly converted by Benik Afobe. Villa do not give up, however. With just six minutes to go Yannick Bolasie puts in a superb cross which is headed in by Kodija for the equaliser.
Not a great game by any stretch of the imagination, perhaps as a result of the inclement weather, but at least the unbeaten run continues. We just need to convert some of those draws into wins over the Christmas period to move closer to the play-off spots.
