Some Fretwork and the Interminable Christmas Play at the Chalet School

[EmilyAlice]

Now girls, line up and listen because this term is a busy one. Firstly we are combining our hobbies club and the Christmas play, so we will need our fretworkers to get busy on the scenery, some beautiful découpage for decorations, our nimble-fingered needlewomen on costume duty and some scrapbooks for - er...
Now one other thing girls. As you know the Chalet School has moved from the Tyrol, to Guernsey, to Armishire, to some island or other and thence to Switzerland.
This term we have moved again and the first thing I want you to do is to find out where the bloody hell we are....

Hope you're having a blast, Margot. Are you at Achensee dear little Tiernsee for the rest of the week?

Just a flying visit today sadly...

Hi there am currently re visiting my wonderful chalet school stories and am confused by reading prefects!

So reading prefects and Carlotta Von Eschenau is I thought the dd of Frieda as in the same baby iin ‘Joey goes’ but then who is Wanda Von’s mum In Red heads? They are not sisters??

Help

I am in corn flower by the way with the oaoml snd verity mooning Away

Well, I'm not entirely sure, but Carlotta Von E's mum can't be Frieda - surely her surname is van Ahlen?? (sp?). So I guess there are two Carlotta's? That's a really unhelpful answer, sorry...hopefully someone will be along with a real answer soon.

This is it prim! Is it another EBD ism I wonder? Or maybe Wanda or Marie kept their maiden names after marriage. Ha ha ha ha ha

I seem to remember someone marrying Marie's brother (?), so that would be who the mum is. Can't remember who it was though!

Oh yes it must be a chalet girl though surely. But friedas dd was a Carlotta as joey choose it as she ‘refused to have another baby called after her’

Isn't it Bernhilda Mensch (Frieda's sister) who marries the Von Eschenaus' brother? So she'd be Wanda's mum, and also Carlotta v E's - if indeed there are two Carlottas and it's not just EBD muddling Bernhilda's and Frieda's children up! I'm really flaky on the later books.

Frieda was (as usual) incredibly understanding of Jo over that whole "not another baby named after me" business!

Ah right so Bernie married Marie’s brother! That would explain Wanda but Carlotta? I am sure by dates that Carlotta is the same baby Frieda has in Joey goes? Gretchen was her older sister who was delicate.

I think it’s an EBD ism as Wanda is a friend of Jacks and at school as a senior while Carlotta is a junior.

I know it must have been a pain for jo to have so many babies named after her

It's about time we started thinking about the next Christmas play. I think I'm going to be a baby angel this time and have golden curls. I won't let Joey paint my halo though.

Witchend
Surely you mean the winter festival play - we have to get up to date!

Nooo, I want to be a baby angel. Time to start plotting Witchend's tumble into a precipice so that I can have her part. There's only room for one baby angel on this thread!

Just did a double take at a Daily Mail headline about Jack Maynard being kicked off I’m A Celebrity...

Joey's birthday tomorrow, girls. Are you ready?

She will be 99 if anyone is counting. 😀

All together now:
Happy Birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday our dear Jo
Happy birthday to you.

Followed by:
Freudesheim's burning
Freudesheim's burning
Too many candles
Too many candles
Blow them out
Blow them out
Trust Joey
Trust Joey

And we can all have a good laugh about how wholesale she is and that no one else would ever think about having 99 candles on the cake while Anna clears up the mess.

I will sing at the Christmas concert. I won't have such a beautiful voice as Jo who at 17/18 years apparently has the same vocal quality as a choirboy but I will do my best

I am reading Jo Returns to the Chalet School to DD. Am particularly enjoying Jo writing her first book and going back to take out any particularly mad schemes so that her potential readers don't get any ideas. There's a certain irony in EBD including these kinds of ideas in her books (Polly has rung the alarm bell waking up the entire valley) while also suggesting that authors shouldn't include them in there.

Also had forgotten how many children Jo's brother and wife produce in such quick succession. They are visiting and announce that they are going back to India for the next 3 years, leaving behind all their children including the 10 month old baby - but there is already another baby on the way due in about 4/5 months time. They certainly didn't hang around!

It's a good job that Madge and Jem apparently seem delighted to take on the entire family's children. If it was today I could see the post in AIBU. "My brother wants to leave his 4 children with us, including a 10 month old baby. I already have two babies of my own. AIBU to want to say no?"

Without any real evidence for it, I always feel like Mollie Bettany keeps having more in the (poss subconscious) hope that one day she'll get to keep them with her. Even knowing why they're better off with the Russells (health-giving alps vs deadly India!) etc etc, I feel like maybe there's a sort of instinct thing going on there.

Fascinating that EBD pays so much attention to questions of child-spacing in a girls' school story though! There are detailed considerations of both Jo and Madge's obstetric histories at various points... I am very much with Madge on the sizeable gaps and relatively restrained overall family size, but I suppose it's different for wholesale folk!

Mainly though I popped in here to wish you all a very merry Christmas from the dear little Tiernsee! smug who me not at all

I hope everyone’s shoes are filled with Bon-Bon’s! Merry Christmas!

I like to think that Dick and Mollie were just to naïve to know where the babies were coming from They always seem to announce it in tones of surprise.

Happy Christmas all.

We've just put our (artificial) Christmas tree up and been astounded at the size.
I'm sure it was huge when we first got it. Even my youngest will be almost looking down on it. I nearly went back up to the loft to see if we were missing a bit.
I think I might buy a new one in the January Sales..

Too naïve. Lost an "o" there somewhere.

The perils of marrying a man who isn't a doctor.

Late to the party, but bonnes fêtes everyone. 😊