I have a thing about empty things: shoes left by a door; chairs waiting to be filled, a room that has just been vacated. I don't know what it is, but I think it is either the sense of "waiting," or the "echo of something" that has been, that I love on some level and I don't know why!

Anyway, this is the room in our home today, waiting for my team to arrive for our annual Christmas lunch. Everyone brings part of the meal and I always cook the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. If you could only smell the wonderful aroma of roasting beef, hot apple cider and scented candles!