The Week Advent Arrived

The Week Advent Arrived (and Dr Thomas Turned Into a Festive Elf)

You know those weeks when you come home from holiday and life immediately becomes a circus?
Welcome to the McIntosh flat — equal parts wool, medical revision, and premature Christmas spirit.

While I’ve been knitting yet more hoops (so many that I’m basically a geometric shape), Dr Thomas has been preparing a lecture on anaemia. Which means every time I proudly wave a new knitted sample at him, he responds with:

“James… please stop waving that needle. I’m revising the iron absorption pathway.”

Romance, alive and well.

And then — Advent began looming.

In most British households, Advent tiptoes in politely.
In ours?
It becomes a full-contact seasonal event.

“James… is it time for the wreath?”
“James… where will the Advent calendar go?”
“JAMES… ADVENT IS COMING!”

I now live with a festive, medically-qualified elf.

So yes — we bought the wreath.
A stunning handmade creation from Paula, my old school friend from Northern Ireland, who runs the small business Cabin Craft.
Once it went on the door, the whole building suddenly declared:
“Christmas is here, darling.”

And just when I thought the week couldn’t get any more McIntosh, a lovely customer sent me a photo of the most delicate lace knitting I’ve ever seen — the kind so fine it literally slipped between her ring and finger. She’d bought the tiny needles from me, and honestly, the result looks like it belongs in a museum.

Lace knitting isn’t fast.
It isn’t loud.
It begins with a quiet loop and a breath — and then one day you block it and it blooms.
A little miracle in stitches.

So that was the week: hoops, haemoglobin, handmade wreaths, and lace that made my heart flutter.

— James
(and Dr Thomas, who is now pacing the hallway muttering, “Where shall we put the Advent stars?”)