Well, it was (more than) a month in the making, but when it came down to it, Christmas felt like it absolutely flew by. You now join us in that slightly confused haze known as Betwixmas. What day of the week is it? Can we still class eating miniature bars of chocolate as an acceptable breakfast? Why does the supermarket have Easter eggs in stock? We just don’t know.
So, rather than live in a rather confused state surrounded by mince pies, we thought now was the perfect moment to look back over the month we had. It was definitely not what we had in mind – it felt like every weekend had events cancelled due to a different storm rolling in – but it did have some absolutely fantastic moments that we are very happy to be looking back on too.
It was a month without any team birthdays, and it seemed as though that everyone was so focused on prepping for an almighty Christmas that no big personal markers happened either! Not to worry though, there’s plenty to catch up on in the Coffee Can World.
St Swithuns Winchester – Christmas Fete
We love attending a School Christmas Fete – there’s something truly nostalgic about the excitement of a tombola, craft tables and a home-baked cake stall. Our mobile coffee van always goes down a treat at school fayres because, let’s be honest, it can be a little bit taxing on the parents who are left to carry round all sorts of tombola prizes and handfuls of sweets.
We had no idea when we turned up at St Swithuns that it was going to be one of our only fetes in December, as so many others fell victim to the storms. Nonetheless, it was a fantastic way to kick off December!
A Festive morning with Polly at the Pavilion café
Looking back, a standout moment for when it felt like Christmas had arrived in the Coffee Can world was when Polly the Midwife (who many of you already know, but we’ll reintroduce momentarily) hosted her annual Christmas meet on the Bourne Green.
Polly is a truly wonderful connection we’ve made during our time on the Green – she’s a qualified Midwife who generously spends some of her time each week at the café offering support and advice to new parents at a drop in feeding support group. It’s a pleasure to see friendships form and support shared at the Tuesday meet which Polly leads, so when the idea arose of a Christmas fundraiser, it was an immediate yes.
Polly’s event raised funds for the Gaza Infant Nutrition Alliance – an integral organisation which works to support mothers of newborns in conflict. Tickets for the event sold out far in advance, and we knew we were in for a full house on the day. Laura and Amy spent time decorating the Pavilion to welcome our guests, and all was set for the day.
What an absolute triumph it was! Craft events were organised allowing parents to create decorations using the hand and footprints of their children, games and raffles were held, and a much-needed natter over a brew was had. It kicked off the festive proceedings marvellously!
All Saints Christmas fete
The weekend of the 7th and 8th December 2024 will go down in our books as one of the most disappointing weekends we had in December. THREE of our events got cancelled in the space of 24 hours because of the storms which took over England. We know that there is no controlling the elements, and that is the risk on taking on outdoor events, but we couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed that all our festive eggs had been put in one basket and we had lost the bulk of our festive events.
That is to say, except for one glimmer of hope – the All Saints Christmas Fete. It turned out that this local school had created quite a contingency plan to ensure that an indoor version of their event could take place.
A massive thank you to the team at All Saints for working away in the early hours to move their event indoors and for asking us to still attend. We were a little worried that no-one would want to queue outdoors for a coffee, but they’d even thought ahead enough to place us under cover with a queue system that could go straight indoors – genius! We had a fantastic time, and were really thankful to still see a bit of festive sparkle in a rather glum weekend.
The Great Biscuit Throwdown of 2024
We’ve accidentally become involved in one Christmas tradition unlike any other, but truth be told we’re never going to complain about it. Introducing: The Great Biscuit Throwdown which happens annually at our Pavilion Café.
Born out of a rivalry between friends, this tradition sees 4 friends compete to produce the best biscuit of the year. The judge? Whoever happens to be on shift at the Pav that day. This year it happened to be a joint effort from Cathy and Kate, who were poised to take up such an honour of a role.
Costumes were a welcomed addition this year, and the stakes were higher than ever to see who would take home the trophy. After much deliberation, the winners were declared, and the biscuits were distributed. We never know when the Biscuit Contest will appear, but we’re forever thankful to be involved.
Staff Christmas Party
We’ve glossed over so many jam-packed days at our two coffee shops throughout December. We brought back our festive menu, hosted a scavenger hunt, had our own Letters To Santa delivery service going and flew through our festive sausage rolls. All in all, it was a busy ol’ month (and busy year for that matter!) so it was time to celebrate.
A Thursday night in Farnham town at the Nelson Arms. Our go-to local, who also played host to our Christmas dinner last year. We got as many of the team together as logistics would allow and headed to dinner. An absolutely superb three course meal was had. Did any of us make it through all three courses? No, we were stuffed. But that is testament to just how GOOD the food was.
Hilarity ensued with the reveal of our annual Secret Santa. Thoughtful gifts, practical gifts, offensive gifts – we covered them all. None of us can keep a secret so conversation round the table immediately turned to who had who. Then we headed down Castle Street to the Queens Head for more drinks and Karaoke. We have a couple of incredibly talented singers amongst our ranks and got to hear some genuinely great covers!
Hospitality never rests though, so we headed home relatively early in support of those who were on the coffee shop opening shifts the following morning. There were some sore heads, but it was definitely worth it.
St Andrews carols
We wrapped the weekend before Christmas up in a really rather fitting way, with a hot chocolate service at the doors of St Andrews Church in Farnham for their family carol service.
In the midst of a month which had seen events change, scale down, or all together cancel, this was the festive boost we needed to see ourselves into the week of Christmas. A clear night sky, the organ playing, and candles filling the entrance to the Church – it was the sign we needed that Christmas was approaching and that it was time for some rest… until January.