Turning on the Lights

"What sort of carols are those? They're not the old sort we used to sing. They're in another world!" The old farmer in the audience didn't think much of the Community Choir's selection of songs - they were singing the Boar's Head Carol at the time, which is medieval and partly in Latin, and later they did Gaudete (also in Latin) which was introduced as being by Steeleye Span, though it's also medieval.
I saw the farmer again later - he'd bought light up devil's horns for his grand children, and he needed help to switch them off.
Later the Hay School choir sang seasonal songs about shopping and Baby Jesus, with lots of waving at parents in the audience, and the littlest children dancing around at the front. And everyone could sing along to White Christmas and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer!
In the marquee, there were lots of local stalls. Deb was there with children's books from the Cinema Bookshop, and there was fudge and hot chilli and Hay School doing raffles and games - I got a bunch of holly from them, and spent the rest of the evening pretending to be a shrub. Gwyneth was there with some lovely Canadian-style mittens she'd knitted (which really are toasty-warm), and Pugh's were doing hampers.
Outside Jackie and James were sharing a stall between Castello de Haia soaps and The Thoughtful Gardener, and Stuart the greengrocer was selling festive fruit.
In the Buttermarket there were mince pies and mulled wine, and Karl Showler was acting as Father Christmas - it was lovely to see him back in Hay.
Mac Eager (celebrity for the night) was looking very smart, and pushed the plunger to turn on the lights to great cheers.