Just coming up for air after a frenzied 10 days.  Christmas shopping?  No.  Writing the cards?  No.  Planning the mega-Christmas lunch?  No.  Buying presents?  No.  we’ve got to start all those things now. So what have we been doing?  Well, quite a lot of mistletoe stuff, naturally.  Plus Caroline’s just taken voluntary redundancy from work – so that was a Big Thing to cope with –  and to look forward too.  The end of 19 […]

Last year we had the Mistletoe Belt Buckle promo video – light-hearted and in the worst possible taste (and no-one bought me one!).  You can see that video again here. This year’s tacky mistletoe video prize has to go to Smirnoff, who’ve launched a fake "Save the Mistletoe" ad campaign, based on the activities of the (hopefully fictional!) Mistletoe Appreciation Society of America (or MASA – geddit?).    (NB there’s a birthdate and country of […]

Just been checking the stats and links and see that Mistletoe Travels is featured in the Guardian’s online Advent Calendar – on the 9th (just after 8th Raymond Briggs’ [no relation] Snowman and just before 10th Poinsettias).

After today’s Druidic ceremony the auction takes place as usual.  Not so much stock this time – perhaps sellers were put off by the ‘glut of mistletoe’ press stories and the large number of lots brought in last week.  Prices are likely to be higher today – a regular phenomenon of the second sale of the season.  Here’s a trailer being loaded up after the sales.   This chap, though small, seemed determined to buy […]

Tuesday 5th – and this year’s Druidic mistletoe blessing.  As before, Druids of the Mistletoe Foundation, plus local Druid groups, are attending the mistletoe auctions, before they begin, to bless the stock.       We have a better turn-out than last year, despite the early start on a cold morning.  Some have been travelling since 3.00am.  With the changed layout of the market stock I’ve had to move the location a bit (all sussed […]

Saturday 2nd Dec.  To Tenbury, again.  This time to see attend/help out with the formal opening of the Mistletoe Festival – to be conducted by Julie Felix (who’s giving a concert later) and the newly crowned Tenbury Mistletoe Queen and her assistant (aka Head, and Deputy Head girls fo Tenbury High School).  Here we see Queen and attendant arriving in their mistletoe-shrewn pony and trap.     There’ve been a few hiccups in arrngements for […]

The Tenbury Mistletoe Ball is full to bursting this year, we’ve had to take over the bar area (shame!) as well.  94 guests, mostly local, but including some mistletoe enthusiasts from far afield – Rod and Ruth Chapman from Norfolk, and Willem and Karin from Utrecht. Dinner is dominated, on our table, by some oneupmanship between me, Rod and Willem on our mistletoe growing prowess.  Rod has been growing it out of its normal range […]