Christmas Festival weekend

We have survived! It was jolly hard work over the four days - it took Thursday to load up and travel there and then set up the stand - then we were trading 9-5 over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I was pleased with the stand by the time we had finished it, and it offered a huge range of books for the customers to browse through and from which to make purchases.

The show wasn't as large as it has been in the past, and some customers were a little disappointed with the lack of stands - there were a lot missing from previous years. The Showground also double booked Usborne so there were two of us there. The other poor chap came off worse as he is a "beginner" with Usborne and doesn't carry the amount of stock I do, not has he the experience of doing big shows. The Showground said that they now had a policy that such a show could support more than one of us. Sorry, but we didn't agree. He and I were selling the exact same range of books, and it looks unprofessional to have two of us there - and no end of people commented on there being two of us. The other stallholder was a nice chap, and we talked about things together.

This was a cosy corner for slightly older kids to browse through the fiction titles and make their own selections (photo above).

And so the FGs were at their aunt's house for the weekend: they helped to bake Christmas cakes on Saturday afternoon and had a trip to the cinema on Sunday to see "Mamma Mia!" which they enjoyed. We missed them and were very glad to have them home again last night. Big hugs all round!

The FH is exhausted after the weekend, and has been asleep in the chair in the lounge all morning so I had better take him some lunch. Today it is raining and is forecast to go on and on. Baking is on the agenda, I think, as the freezer and tins are empty. I did get a new gadget delivered yesterday - an electric slicing machine, so I will be able to slice my home made bread to an acceptable thinness for lunchbox sandwiches now, saving a little more money.