Abingdon Christmas Extravaganza - and a smiley snowman

November is over. Tomorrow night is the annual Abingdon Extravaganza, parade, Christmas lights switch-on and fireworks. This year there will be entertainment in the market square, and hopefully the temperature will be slightly warmer than last year when some of the band musical instruments froze...not to mention one or two Cubs and Brownies.

We spent Sunday doing our Christmas window, and very festive it looks too. Someone came into the shop this evening asking "where did you get your snowman". She was gutted when she learned it had been made for us...

He is a very smiley snowman, and he has been making a lot of people - young and old - smile.

And here he is at night. Aaah.

If you come into the shop, take a look at this utterly gorgeous nativity set from German toy company HABA. Designed to be a family heirloom, and drawing on a German tradition of lovely wooden, handcrafted nativity sets, this does have a wonderful wow-factor. £99 - but we are selling it for £87.99...

The parade starts at 6.45pm, with fireworks scheduled for (approx) 8.30pm. And this Saturday it's a special Christmas shopping day in Abingdon, and all the car parks will be free...

2010 Reloaded

Tomorrow has the feel of a 2010 'relaunch', as if it's the beginning of the year all over again, and the past two weeks haven't really counted (what with one thing and another). Thanks to some staff heroics, tromping through the snow and slush, working in five layers of clothing, having to mop the floor several times a day, etc., the shop has been open every day since the start of the year, and although it's fair to say that some of the those days have been a tad quiet, it has meant we've been able to rush around setting up events left, right and centre for the first few months of the year. If you fancy seeing some of the mouthwatering treats we've got lined up for early 2010, take a look at our events page - or read the latest edition of our newsletter which went out at the end of last week. Tomorrow we're all terrifically excited about welcoming Ali Shaw - ex-bookseller, ex-Bodleian librarian, but more importantly author of The Girl With Glass Feet - to Mostly Books, and getting to know someone we feel is a major new British writing talent. Last week The Bookseller described Ali's book as 'The sort of book that awakens people to the wonder of reading'. Couldn't agree more. A few tickets are still available at £3 each - if you fancy an evening out Monday night (January 18th at 7.30pm) let us know you are coming, and we'll have a glass of wine ready for you. It's down the back of the stock room, so consequently won't need chilling...

Snow Books

With apologies to the genuine article. Shame about the scaffolding of course. Apparently the very old listed building we reside in has a few issues with its roof that can no longer be patched with tape, and they needed to put the scaffolding up to find out why. Turns out the entire roof needs replacing, so I guess we're stuck with this for a while. Last night we had a fab event with Hilary Bradt and Bryn Thomas of Bradt and Trailblazer respectively. Blog to follow, but a big thank you to them - and all the other hardy souls - who trekked out in the nasty weather to hear a first class discussion on travel publishing in the 21st century. P.S. Some lovely snowy shots of Abingdon here. The Knowle is just down the road from us BTW...