Imagine our surprise when Santa popped in! Yes, this lovely doggie is called Santa. She was very excited when she came in, was more than willing to have her tummy rubbed and managed to snaffle a few treats. She was less keen when we popped her reindeer antlers on and tried to take a photo. Hence why she is a touch out of focus.

Many thanks to Richard for bringing Santa in to see us. Rather appropriate to have her in the Christmas Eve edition of Sheldon’s Times. She’d be welcome down our chimney any time.

Amanda has written you all a fun little quiz. You can either have a go now, or wait until you are all around the Christmas table. Whenever you do it, remember, it is not like a game of Christmas Monopoly or Pictionary – no arguing, no fighting. It’s just for fun. Answers may appear in next week’s Sheldon’s Times. Or perhaps they won’t.

No change here from what was reported last week, but if I tell you again it might sink in. Here goes:

Saturday 25th December Christmas Day – closed
Sunday 26th December Boxing Day – closed
Monday 27th December – closed
Tuesday 28th December – closed
Wednesday 29th December – open 0900-1800hrs (as normal)
Thursday 30th December – open 0900-1800hrs (as normal)
Friday 31st December New Years Eve – open 0900-1400hrs(ish)
Saturday 1st January New Years Day – closed (hangover)

We will be closed from Sunday 2nd January to Friday 7th January to undertake the annual stocktake and 2021 business analysis (core statistics to be revealed), reopening on Saturday 8th January 2022 and returning thereafter to normal opening hours.

Being such traditionalists all of us at the shop are having fairly predictable fare for Christmas dinner tomorrow. But the interesting thing (as far as I am concerned!) are the wine choices that go along with the food. Here’s a little snapshot of what we are having (to drink) with our main festive meal:

Carol:
I’ll be doing presents tonight with family to avoid the rush in the morning. I’m then going to my brother’s for for lunch tomorrow. I’ll be doing most of the cooking and we are having turkey, with carrots, sprouts, 3 types of potatoes (roast, dauphinoise, boiled). I’ll be enjoying my personal favourite, a glass of Lyme Bay Pinot Noir rose. This off-dry wine is something I really enjoy.

Jude:
In the morning we’ll be having some mulled wine. When we get to lunchtime we’ll be having turkey with all the trimmings. And interestingly I will be tucking into a rather nice bottle of Whispering Angel, the most popular of the Provence roses and a fine accompaniment to the white meat from the turkey. In the afternoon we are all going to hit the cream liqueur.

Esther:
We are having a family Christmas with my parents over from Norfolk. Beef will be the main event and I’ll be serving Sottano’s Enologo Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina. I love this wine for it’s richness and sense of place. We’ll have a bottle of Sheldon’s Champagne to get us started and probably dive into the port after the meal.

Amanda:
We’re having chicken with all the business. We are eleven in the house so there are a lot of mouths to feed. Sheldon’s Champagne will help the smoked salmon go down and then we’ll crack open a bottle Macon Bussieres from Joseph Drouhin followed by Karl Johner’s Gladstone Pinot Noir. Karl Johner is based in Baden Baden and makes great Pinot Noir in Germany, but his Gladstone holdings are in New Zealand and are delicious. Good Burgundy without the Burgundy price tag.

Shane & Trish:
We have a couple of village drinks parties to go to from midday onwards, so we’ll be arriving home full of ‘cheer’ ready to cook a 2-rib beef roast (thank you friends at Paddock Farm) with most of the bits. Dom Perignon will help with the cooking (2008 Legacy Edition I think). Smoked salmon will precede the cow which we will have our favourite white – Joesph Drouhin’s Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru ‘Embazees’ 2017, then with the beef I remain a little undecided. By that stage we’ll be half cut and I always make generous wine choices when I’m like that. Undoubtedly it will be a lovely old Bordeaux, I’ll select the bottle on the day!

It has been great to see many of you visiting the shop in your Christmas jumpers in the last week. My colleagues have my full admiration for their commitment to festive knitwear, I have been less prolific, using the excuse of not wanting to get my pullover dirty in the cellars and warehouse.

Regarding our visitors, we have both a selection that fit into the ‘runner up’ category and a shared first place.

Runners Up: A lovely selection of woolies in the shop over the last week.

2021 Christmas Jumper Competition Winners: Ollie, Dougie & Jackson
Some of you may recognise all three dogs here, they have after all been former Dogs of the Week. Both visits took place in the last 48 hours. Nice to see the boys sporting the festive wares.

Many thanks to all of you who popped in wearing your Christmas garb. It certainly brightened our days and made the team feel less conspicuous in their own outfits.

No reindeer antlers on this one I’m afraid. But it does have gold wheels. A Porsche 911 Turbo S 992.  Not much else to say, errr, other than it generates 641 horse power, gets to 62mph in just 2.4 seconds and has a top speed of a mere 205mph. Insane.

A big thank you to Henry for bringing it along, and for the smattering of other wonderful vehicles he has turned up in over the last 12 months. It has been our pleasure! If I have been a really good boy, perhaps Santa will bring me one for Christmas?!

All that is left for me to say is a very Merry Christmas to you all. We hope you all have a super break. Eat well and drink even better. We’ll be back in the shop on Wednesday 29th from 0900hrs to deal with any in-between wine emergencies. See you then, if not then in 2022.