The twelve days of Christmas

Images of gifts in the song the Twelve Days of Christmas.

The Photo: The twelve days of Christmas song poster showing the twelve different gifts. From Wikipedia. The illustration is by Xavier Romero-Frias. The song, published in 1780, tells of a series of increasingly grand gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas.

The twelve days of Christmas: To Help bond with the villagers in village that supplies most of the staff that works at Blackthorn Castle and a large part of the goods and services needed to keep the estate running smoothly especially during holiday celebrations I decided, with the help of my Chamberlain and his events coordinator, to have a performance of the presentation of the gifts given in the song The Twelve Days of Christmas over those the twelve days.

The staff and villagers have been working for months to get all the bits and pieces; personnel, birds, musical instruments, costumes etc. necessary to put together and rehearse a simplified presentation of gifts over the twelve days from Christmas to Twelfth Night. By simplified I mean that there will be only a single representation of each day’s gift, rather than duplication of the preceding days gifts for each succeeding day (as there is in the song) which even for me is quite enough! The eleven pipers and the twelve drummers have been the most difficult and time consuming with rented flutes, drums and uniforms and repeated practices to play a very simple tune on the flutes and rolls on the drums.

The gifts over the twelve days are:

Day 1 partridge in a pear tree (to be carried in a cage)

Day 2 turtle doves (to be carried in a cage)

Day 3 French hens (Image knitted into a warm woolen sweater)

Day 4 Calling Birds (Image knitted into a warm woolen sweater)

Day 5 Gold Rings (Image knitted into a warm woolen sweater)

Day 6 Geese a-Laying (Image knitted into a warm woolen sweater)

Day 7 Swans a-Swimming (Image knitted into a warm woolen sweater)

Day 8 Maids a-Milking (Image of milk pails knitted into 8 warm woolen sweaters)

Day 9 Ladies Dancing (9 teen girls from the local dance school - costumes from London)

Day 10 Lords a-Leaping (Young adult men in costumes from a London costume shop)

Day 11 Pipers Piping (Villagers in costumes from a London costume shop)

Day 12 Drummers Drumming (Villagers in costumes from a London costume shop)

        57 total villagers involved on the 12^th day.

The villagers have taken to “the Twelve Days project” as it’s become known with enthusiasm. It has already been a success in that more of the villagers are getting to know me from my being deeply involved with the project especial the dance students in the “nine ladies dancing” production in which they will be wearing tutus and pointes.  

Logistics for the Twelve Days performances: The performers are being picked up at 9:00 AM each day from the village. A large drawing room has been converted into dressing rooms for the performers and there are two male and two female dressers to help the performers with their costumes which are being stored at the castle. The partridge and turtle doves are being cared for here during the run of performances and the musical instruments are being stored at the castle as well to prevent a performer from forgetting his or her instrument. Up through day seven (7 Swans a swimming) a thirteen-passenger van can handle the performers and their equipment.  For days eight and nine (8 Maids a milking and 9 Ladies dancing) a bus will be used for the twenty-four performers and equipment. For days ten, eleven and twelve a second bus is added. Fortunately, the weather is forecast to just be rainy with the temperatures in the high 40s and mid-50s. With the castle access road improvements made last year the busses haven’t and shouldn’t have any trouble and as a precaution the road will be sanded as well. There was a great deal of interest by the villagers in being in the performances, especially by those who had never been to the castle before which is about a third of them and the performers enjoyed tours of the castle. Even so, to deepen the commitment of the performers a noon meal and a modest daily stipend is being provided.

The dance floor: In the great hall, where the Twelve Days performances will be held a sprung Marley floor has been laid over the stone floor so the “9 Ladies Dancing” in pointe-shoes, Gaynor Mindens with sueded tips, are much less likely to have a fall or injury.

The Christmas trees decorated: The red cedar trees were put up and decorated several days ago, and presents for my guests have been placed around the main tree, the one in the library. The staff have their own Christmas tree below stairs. I love the scent of cedar and they look gorgeous!   

The castle’s Yule log lit: My predecessors at Blackthorn Castle, traditionally had the castle Yule log lit on Christmas eve. So, yesterday, Friday the 23rd I opened the doors to the great hall and the massive Yule log was hauled in by a team of horses. One end was inserted into the huge fireplace with the remaining eighty percent jutting out into the great hall where as it burns it will be winched slowly forward across the hearth and into the fireplace. It should burn for the twelve days of Christmas the last being Thursday January 5^th. The end of last Christmas’ log was chopped up and placed under it as kindling and I lit it in a brief ceremony this morning. There is a twenty-four-hour fire watch posted in the great hall as long as the Yule Log is burning. 

Weather for Christmas: The weather service is calling for light rain for most of the day on the 25^th with mid-day temperature in the low 50s (F) so at least there will be no snow.  All my guests have arrived and our celebrations will be inside. So, it will just be the Twelve Days performers who will make the one hour trip up from the village in chartered four-wheel drive vehicles each day with the last performance by the entire cast on January 5^th.

Wishing all my friends (you know who you are) and readers a very merry Christmas, a happy New Year and the blessings of this holiday season.

End of year celebrations prep

Winter in the Cambrian Mountains Wales, UK

My Wards and their boyfriends have arrived: Bea a 19 y/o who graduated from St Lucy’s in 2015 and is attending Cambridge; Willow a 22 y/o Brit-chick who danced for the Royal Ballet. She is Jack’s natural daughter by an RB ballerina. When released from the company Willow danced in my ballet Co. in Vegas and she graduated from UNLV. She is now going to grad school at Cambridge; The Dryads, Bryony and Claire, in their mid-20s and former dancers with the RB are studying for Doctorates in Clinical Psychology at University College London. Everyone was off on December 2^nd and they don’t need to return to school until Tuesday January 17^th.  They have all brought gorgeous boyfriends so the scent of testosterone laced sweat again wafts fragrantly throughout the castle! They will be with me for seven and a half weeks, wonderful! I’m hoping to take them shopping in London for the sales after the New year!

The Barony and the twelve Days of Christmas: The Barony has always counted Christmas as the first day of the twelve days of Christmas so Twelfth night will be on Wednesday January 5^th in 2017.  After that my plans are still to be decided. Because of the Zika virus scare I haven’t been to my villa in the BVIs for more than eighteen months. I’d love to go and soak in the warmth of the water and sun with my wards. If I decide to chance it, we will leave for Virgin Gorda after Twelfth Night.

Christmas and the Old Ways: Returning readers will recall that my predecessors and I celebrate not only Christian holidays and festivals, but also the Celtic Goddess Rhiannon. In our Celtic celebrations, human reproductive tract secretions exchanged during mating rituals are used during fertility ceremonies. Instead of animal blood being spilled the transfer of seed from male to female in an act of ritual breeding occurs on stone altars where animal sacrifices once were offered to Venus/Aphrodite before Celtic mythology morphed her into the Celtic horse and moon Goddess Rhiannon.

The Winter Solstice: This year the solstice occurs on Wednesday December 21^st when I will be Cycle day 12 and fertile. My flat spring latex diaphragm will be filled with fertile cervical mucus which I will allow a lover to remove and lick the stretchy mucus into his mouth to swallow as I take a fresh FS diaphragm out, apply spermicide and insert it being sure to check that my cervix is beneath the dome before I let him penetrate me with his wonderfully long, hard and dripping love arrow.

My predecessor, Edith 22^nd Baroness Blackthorn, was at an advanced age and unable to participate or facilitate so the celebration of celestial events had been discontinued the last few years until I arrived and my duties were explained to me by the Barony’s Chamberlain.  As it has been since I’ve become Baroness, celebration of celestial events will occur inside the massive blackthorn perimeter that shields the altars from the sight of unbelievers. This fall the medieval underground access to the holy site from the castles deep cellars has been restored so it is once again safe to use. That’s good news as it keeps the celebrants dry and relatively warm while moving along the underground passage from the Castle to the Celtic holy site to come up inside the massive Blackthorn barrier.

Blackthorn Castle decoration for Christmas: The silver is polished and all the table linens have been washed, starched and pressed. And hundreds of new fragrant beeswax candles have been placed in the chandeliers and candelabras throughout the state apartments as well as the living areas.  The great hall, library, drawing rooms, my suite and all the guest suites have been decorated with fragrant fresh greenery which has to be replaced every few days as even evergreens begin to dry out after a while. Over the years, the gardner has established an area where he grows pine, cedar, holly and mistletoe to be used specifically for decorating so we are assured of having enough greenery. Given the number of open flames from candles and fireplaces during the year-end holidays my predecessor, Edith 22^nd Baroness, had a hose butt installed and a large hose connected and hidden in the great hall in case a spark starts a fire. With the Yule log, ablaze there will always be a fire watch set, just in case.  

Yule log tradition at Blackthorn Castle: My predecessors at Blackthorn Castle, traditionally had the castle Yule log lit on Christmas eve. So, on Saturday the 18^th in the early morning, after Tim and I celebrate Rhiannon/Rigantona’s equine Feastday in her grotto temple we will have a celebratory breakfast Then I will take my regular ballet class with my wards. After that I will officially open the doors to the great hall so the massive Yule log can be hauled in by a team of horses. One end will be inserted into the huge fireplace with the remaining eighty percent jutting out into the great hall where as it burns it will be winched slowly forward across the hearth and into the fireplace. It should burn for the twelve days of Christmas the last being January Thursday January 5^th, Twelfth-night. Returning readers may recall that this year’s log was selected cut and has been drying for the past year. On Christmas day, it will be lit from kindling made from the remains of last year’s log.

‘Tiny’ Tim for Christmas: I’m over-the-moon about Tim having two weeks leave from his studies in Oxfordshire over Christmas, New Years and Twelfth Night.  Returning readers may recall how well Tim and I work as a mated pair so I don’t expect any problems during the Winter Solstice ceremony although it will be his first time as a mate to a woman during a Goddess blessed ceremony. Afterward, if things go well we both should be high on endorphins and basking in the afterglow during breakfast. Last year, with Marvin, I collected his liquefied semen – more than 10 ml since he came three times - in a Diva Cup so I could use it as a dressing on his salad at supper. I’ll see if Tim can match him this year. Although I think Tim may want to drink it straight away. I invited Marvin, and his current squeeze, Miss Nexplanon, but he hasn’t responded so I suppose he intends to stay in Cambridge with her for the holiday.

My fertility over the Holidays: Since I’m cycling naturally I can’t be certain, however what should happen is that on:

• Sunday December 18^th, for Celebration, of Rhiannon/Rigantona’s equine Feastday I should be CD9 and newly fertile.
• Wednesday 21^st December The Winter Solstice. I should be CD12 and fertile.
• Friday December 31^st, New Year’s Eve I should be CD 22 and luteal.
• Thursday January 5^th, Twelfth Night, I should be CD27 and luteal.  

So, on Rhiannon feast day and the Winter Solstice I will wear a latex flat spring diaphragm for contraceptive protection. On New Year’s Eve and Twelfth Night I will be able to take Tim with neither of us using protection so not only will I be discharging his liquefied semen, but I will have his sperm in my tubes!

The castle’s Christmas Trees: We are fortunate to have a very large stand of red cedar trees (Juniperus Virginiana) on the estate. They were brought to the UK in the 18^th century by one of my predecessors. The head foresters here have been having more planted each year for a very long time and the trees thrive in the cool moist climate with a growth rate of one to two feet a year. When I was growing up in South Western Virginia we always had a red cedar Christmas tree. So, this year I’m having cedar Christmas trees in the main drawingroom, library and my own suite of rooms. The species is a bit prickly to handle, but the cedar’s wonderful scent makes up for that. Cedar is not native to the UK. However, it is particularly well adapted to mountainous climates where they receive winter precipitation which is ideal in the Cambrians as we get the moisture off the North Atlantic.  Not being a native species it is most often found in the UK when planted in parks and gardens of large estates.

My responsibilities: This is only my second Christmas as Baroness and last year it went very well. That was because my Chamberlain has done all the heavy lifting as he has been doing marvelously well for years. Together this year we have brushed off a few cobwebs and I think the villagers as well as my guests will have a fine time.   

I’m deep into execution of the plans for the series of celebrations previously mentioned: On the Winter solstice, on the 21st (I’ll be channeling the Celtic Goddess Rhiannon outside on a cold stone altar so I’m hoping for dry weather), then Christmas for the villagers as well as my estate. Then there is Boxing Day (December 26th) when bonusses are given out to the staff and suppliers of the estate for the exemplary work they have done on my behalf over the past year. Then New Years and festivities during the twelve days of Christmas ending on Twelfth Night, 5th of January. It’s my entertaining busy season and I get chills thinking about it!

It’s a considerable responsibility which if things go wrong I would rightly be blamed. Even though I’m the hereditary heiress and I’m being gradually accepted, I’m still looked on by some as being “not one of us” so I’m still proving myself with the locals. I have an amazing staff and with their help I’m slowly winning them over. One of the wildly popular things I began last year was letting the staff shop at the January sales in London. I paid for their round-trip train fare - they rode The Dragon (my two private rail cars) back and forth - and two nights in a descent hotel and they went in three shifts. On the estate, we managed rather well with some adjustments even though shorthanded for a week.

The staff reduction (during the January London shopping trips) worked so well that my Chamberlin suggested we cut the staff. I declined as loyal, well trained, hardworking service staff are a valuable asset and difficult to come by. The village relies on my estate for jobs and so I have continued the current staffing level. Well, actually staffing headcount had increased when I arrived as in the last years of my predecessor’s life entertaining declined and then ceased so positions had gone unfilled when opened by attrition.  And unless terminated for cause the policy is last hired first fired. Long term that won’t work as many of the staff are approaching retirement age and even training motivated people takes time. Another reason not to let staff go is that many of the new hires are sons or daughters of the present staff and it is important to me, and the estate, to retain continuity and institutional memory in service positions where possible.

The forecast is for cool and cloudy weather in the Cumbrian mountains for the next several weeks So I’m hoping that comes to pass.

Readers, please pray for me that everything will go smoothly

After the holidays, Tim as a partner

Roast pork tenderloin just as Mrs. Bridges makes

The Photo: Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this loin of pork. (With Apologies to William Shakespeare.)

Yule log quenched: Since 12^th night as celebrated by the Barony was on the evening of January 5^th  on the 6^th the footmen quenched the butt of the Yule Log and moved it back to storage for use in igniting a new Yule Log next Christmas.

My circle leaves for Virgin Gorda: Bea, the Dryads (Bryony and Claire) Anya and Willow who got time off from the ballet and their boyfriends left for London aboard The Dragon. They boarded Limnaea II at Stansted for the flight down. Chris went along returning to work in London leaving me alone with Tim and the staff to care for us.

 

Tim goes boar hunting: While I was attending to estate business my head gamekeeper took Tim out wild boar hunting. It was a miserable wet day and the animals were deep in the brush for the most part, but the gamekeeper got him two good shots at large sows (225+ lbs) and he killed them both with headshots. He has a current firearms certificate and used one of the Barony’s .375 Holland & Holland rifles. The Trichinella test came back negative and the village butchery skinned, cleaned and cut them up for me. Tim took the tenderloins for us and the rest he gave to the gamekeeper and the castle staff which made him very popular!

Riding with Tim: Returning readers will recall that I renamed a lovely young mare in the Blackthorn stables ‘Mellten’ (Lightning in Welsh) in honor of Rhiannon’s horse which in The Mabinogion can’t be overtaken when she is riding it. Mellten is extremely fast, sure footed, has been trained for fox hunting (actually drag hunting now) and seems very fond of me. When I’m astride her we are like a single entity jumping hedges, ditches and galloping flat out. It feels marvelous to have that much power between my legs and I always end our rides on an amazing high that is almost sexual in its intensity! when astride her I like to have a pair of Ben Wa balls inserted which makes things very interesting indeed!

I rode Mellten and Tim was astride a young stallion from the stables. He took me on a tour of some of the fox hunting terrain on my land as he and his father have ridden to hounds on the Barony land with the local hunt for years. We were fortunate that the morning was dry and sunny and the temperature was in the low 40s (F). It was wonderful to get out in the fresh air with Tim and see how well he rides. Cook has fixed us some sandwiches for lunch and we ate by a stream that had settled within its banks again after Storm Frank. I had a lovely time.

Kitting out Tim as a ballet partner: We were fortunate that Nikolai and Tim are almost identical in size so the tights, dancebelts and slippers stocked for him in the men’s dressing room fit Tim perfectly! The first evening we were together I knew I wanted to teach him to be my dance partner so we went into the ballet studio men’s dressing room and got him into a dancebelt and tights pulled and rolled down over a military webbing belt to show of his genital bulge and cheek cleavage and fit him in slippers which, knowing I was going to dress him for class, I had already sewed the instep elastic on.

I’m very pleased with how well Tim is adapting to ballet class the exercises, terminology and he is amazingly strong and good with lifts so that he is becoming quite a good partner given that he has only been taking instruction and class for a few days.  Of course he came to me in superb physical condition, very strong, extremely flexible and is a fast learner.

Barre pleasuring: After the new larger ballet studio (which I’m going to use for large classes during Summer Intensives) was finished I had the wooden floor, mirrors and barre in the old studio refurbished being careful not to remove the patina from the pleasure brackets gotten from decades of women using them to masturbate by rubbing their pelvises against the rounded protrusions designed for that purpose. When my predecessor, Edith the 22^nd Baroness, had the castle’s old ballet studio updated in the 60s she had the 19^th century bronze ‘pleasure brackets’ installed. They had been salvaged from a Paris ballet school which also trained courtesans and they are marvelous to masturbate with while fully attired in practice clothes. It is in this studio that Tim and I take class as I like the view to the east from the windows and the feel and scent of the water sprinkled sprung wooden floor.

Tim noticed the shiny bronze knob on the brackets and asked if they didn’t get in the way. So I told him what they were for. When a man isn’t handy after class and I’m fertile and needy in a modern studio I like to give myself an orgasm by tying a towel over the barre and around a smooth modern barre bracket so I can rub the shaft of my clit against it while watching myself in the mirror or looking out a window if there is one above the barre. He was fascinated to learn what the protrusions were for and that generations of women had used them to pleasure themselves over the years. I find the sense of history comforting when I masturbate on a bracket and wonder who the women were that had used it before me and what became of them. That type bracket is a bit more in the way during class, but makes up for that by the intense pleasure received by rubbing against it.

Edith was still in her 50s when the French pleasure brackets were installed and was (according to her diaries) still very sexually active. But living alone a good bit of the time masturbation of the French sort, on her toes in pointes caressing her clit against a barre bracket, could often satisfy her need. Of course that shows up as ‘bracket burn’ worn spots in the fabric on the crotches of tights or leos, but that was (and still is) to be expected when few men were available as is still the case in ballet schools today.

 

Yule Log, wild boar, Solstice weather forecast

A Yule log ablaze in an open hearth fireplace

Yule log tradition at Blackthorn Castle: Edith, my predecessor as Baroness Blackthorn, traditionally had the castle Yule log lit a week before Christmas. So on the 18^th, after Marvin and I celebrated Rhiannon/Rigantona’s equine Feastday in her grotto temple we had a celebratory breakfast before I took ballet class with my wards. I’m very pleased indeed about how well Marvin and I worked as a mating pair during the ceremony. It was his first time as a mate to a woman during a Goddess blessed ceremony. We were both high on endorphins and basking in the afterglow during breakfast. I collected his liquefied semen – more than 10ml since he came three times - in a Diva Cup so I could use it as a dressing on his salad at supper.

At noon I presided at the lighting of the Yule Log in the massive fireplace in the great hall. Osborne, the castle’s head butler, had the stump of last years Yule Log brought in and placed in the hearth as a starter for this year’s log and then the log was pulled in on a roller equipped sled and manhandled into place in the fireplace with one end barely sticking out. As it burns the protruding end will be jacked forward pushing the burning end further into the fireplace. All the area around the fireplace is of masonry so sparks shouldn’t start fires. As you might imagine the new log is huge, part of an old oak not fully dry so it won’t burn like gunpowder, but will last until 12^th night. Returning readers will recall that 12^th night is the end of the 12 days of Christmas, Epiphany in the Anglican Church Of England, when the three wise men are said to have arrived to worship Jesus. The lighting went well. I asked all the Castle staff to attend as part of beginning the holiday festivities. When the Yule Log is lit there is always a servant in attendance to turn and jack it as necessary to make sure it doesn’t go out and sparks don’t start a fire.

As late as the early 19^th centaury the great hall fireplace was used to roast whole sides of venison and boar, but now is rarely used for cooking just for warmth and lit as a custom of the holiday season. I have two stone masons working full time on the fabric of the castle. Knowing that the end of year holidays were coming I had them carefully check and clean the massive hearth and chimney to be certain that it was safe to use. For the last year they have been checking and repairing the fireplaces in all the rooms in the castle. Edith had let checks of fireplaces in distant seldom used rooms go. However, since I have groups of friends staying and will be having women who take my ballet intensive or dive-sex classes staying here I am having them all checked as one can’t be too safe with open fires. But a nice warm fire on a cold rainy or snowy night, and Goddess knows there are enough of them here, can be wonderfully comforting.

An east tower conundrum: I wondered why there were flues at the bottom of the east tower to ventilate the Celtic temple if Wales was becoming Christian when it was built. From the stonework the flues appear to be part of the original tower foundation, but not nearly as ancient as the Celtic braziers and carvings of Rhiannon/Rigantona on horseback that appear to be original to the grotto temple. My Oxford Celtic expert thinks that the original castle builders in the 13^th century still secretly worshiped Celtic Deities and had the ventilation for the grotto temple included in the original tower so the family could continue their Celtic worship in private while conversion to Christianity was going on around them.  Apparently that aspect of the family’s beliefs disappeared in the 14^th century as early items in the garbage and trash that was nearly ten feet deep when I had the debris cleared dates from that time. My Celtic Don has found nothing in the muniment room that addresses activities in the lower levels of the east tower during those years.

As I mentioned in my entry for November 19^th the east tower of the castle that (so legend has it) hadn’t been entered in more than three hundred years since the 12 y/o son of the 18^th Baroness fell to his death from its roof while hiding from a playmate is said to be haunted by him it. My Celtic expert thinks the ghost story was begun as a warning to the curious to keep people - other than the family - out of the tower who might accidently stumble upon the Celtic temple. That explanation seems logical to me as, since I’ve been Baroness there have been a great many workmen as well as my wards and I in the tower at all times of the day and night  and we haven’t encountered him.   

Wild boar hunting: More than eighteen months ago 42 wild boar were released during a burglary of a farm in Maesteg far south of Blackthorn Castle. They are primarily nocturnal, very destructive to crops and dangerous when confronted. Recently wild boar have been sighted on Barony land so several weeks ago Charles, my Chamberlain, organized a boar hunting party of local farmers and castle staff who have been in the military and would like to join the hunt. Since the castle is a considerable distance from Maesteg we don’t think any on Barony land were from the ones released there, but this is the first boar have been seen in the area in years. The hunt was very successful and eight large sows (without piglets) were killed. Samples were sent for trichinella testing and all came back negative four were kept to roast for the holidays at the castle and the rest divided among the others in the hunting party.

Wild boar as table meat: “The biggest difference between wild boar and domestic hogs is that the meat of the feral hogs has much less fat. The meat will be darker and the grain will be tighter. It's not necessarily tougher, but it can be dry compared to domestic pork. It may have a gamey taste.” Well, yes, but if marinated before barbequing the baby back ribs are very tasty and melt in your mouth. The castles cook, Mrs. Bridges, (yes I know, but that’s her real name) would barbeque wild boar baby back ribs from a local butcher for Baroness Edith and her guests. However, this is the first time in years that the Barony has actually shot its own although we did have the local butcher skin, clean and carve up the various cuts so nothing has been wasted. I’m going to serve the tenderloin at Christmas for those who aren’t keen on turkey or who would just like to taste wild boar. Just to be certain I had Mrs. Bridges roast two cuts; a tenderloin and a set of baby backs – not from the ones shot on Barony lands - gotten from the village butcher and they were delicious!

Weather forecast for the Winter Solstice: For Tuesday, December 22nd Sunrise 08:23 Sunset 16:03 at Llanidloes. The forecast is for temperatures in the low 50s (F) with heavy rain at 9:00 AM and wind gusting to 48 mph from the south west. If that actually occurs it will very unpleasant and dangerous on the open fighting top of the east tower.   

Christmas at Crag Abbey

Christmas Gaynors with Reflexions and introducer

The photo: A pair of my Gaynor Minden hard shanked play shoes worn for Christmas showing the wear from ‘winging’, putting my weight on my big toes when en pointe. The satin covered platforms wear through much quicker on the rough wood and stone floors of the abbey. On Christmas day I was CD11 and fertile. I should ovulate this coming Friday, 12/28.  So in addition to the Oves screwed down tight on my ripe cervix I’m ‘double bagging’ and wearing my diving diaphragm, the latex Reflexions, over it for an additional layer of protection because of the number of different men and frequency of my taking them.

Pointe shoes at Christmas: The choreographer Christopher Wheeldon (quoted in the January 2014 issue of Dance Magazine) said “Chorographers gravitate to fantasy, escape and romance because these are themes that work in the pointe shoe.” I totally agree! However, I like to bring a bit of fantasy and romance into my every day life and the lives of those around me as well and slake my shoe fetish at the same time by wearing pointes as much as I can, which is to say as much as I want.

So I’m wearing pairs of red satin hard shanked Gaynor Minden shoes this Christmas, pink 50 denier leggings and matching wool leg warmers under a red wool skirt trimmed with white rabbit fur. Jack said I look a bit like one of Santa’s ballet–girl helper elves, requisitioned by His Grace to help coordinate the Abbeys more intimate holiday activities.

The Abbey Christmas tree: His Grace has a small stand of Douglas fir trees on a well drained and sunny spot on this estate from which he has the Abbey’s Christmas tree harvested each year. It’s brought into the Great Hall and erected and decorated two weeks before Christmas. Everyone’s presents were placed under its branches and we all gathered around it after breakfast Christmas morning to open our Gifts. The trees were planted specifically for harvesting as Christmas trees by his grandfather when he decided that the Abbey would be rebuilt and used as the families seat since the properties that came with the Abbey were extremely valuable for scarce timber and minerals.

Lighting the Yule log:  The Yule log was cut from a huge oak which had toppled last year somewhere on the estate. It had been cut and drying for almost 18 months and was cut to fit in the massive fireplace in the Abbey’s Great Hall. When we arrived late Sunday afternoon the girls and I participated in the ceremony lighting it with the remains of the log that was burned here last Christmas. It will burn in the huge fireplace for the next few days, perhaps until the New Year and will always be attended. Reminiscing, Himself said he recalls helping light the Yule log in his Grandfathers time when the Abbey was mostly ruins.

The solstice ceremonial costumes: During a dawn ceremony on Monday in the outer bailey of the Abbey the initiate’s ceremonial costumes were burnt. I convinced His Grace that the Earth Goddess would look with favor on saving parts of the woman’s ceremonial costumes for our protection during our stay at the Abbey because as priestesses there is a cachet in a male guest breeding any of us, which is how having sex with us is thought of during this festive three week period.

I’m certain the men, if they give it any thought, know we are using effective contraception. Even so the fantasy that one or more of the priestesses, or other female guests, will become pregnant from their efforts during the house-party is something that - knowing the male ego as I do - they all fantasize about or perhaps even wish for.

I asked His Grace for this favor because I’d already had encounters twice with men (other than Jack) on Sunday night and been thrown against the bare stone walls of a staircase and taken with vigor. I’d say those encounters were brutal if I hadn’t enjoyed them so much. However, the walls are ice cold, rough and hard and the other women aren’t nearly as masochistic as I am and we all could be badly bruised or even have a bone broken when thrown against such unyielding walls.

Breeding vests: What I suggested was to have his seamstresses take apart the shearling robes that the priestess had worn; removing the sleeves, cowl and lower part of the robe so that it ends mid thigh while leaving the high collar and letting us keep the white Mountain Hare hoods to protect our heads when worn with the modified robe that has become a long shearling vest that protects the woman’s back and buttocks from the rough, hard, cold stone walls when taken spontaneously. His Grace readily agreed and called the resulting garment a ‘breeding vest’ which proved to me that he harbored the same fantasy as his male guests. His leather crafters quickly opened the seams, removed the unneeded parts and finished the edges so the garments looked like purpose made vests.  So of the women’s ceremonial costumes our Freed shoes, sleeves, cowls and the bottom section of the robes were burnt as offering to the Earth Goddess while we continue to use the other portions as breeding vests in her service honoring her every time we are penetrated during this festive season. And, they work wonderfully for warmth and protection from the stone walls of the Abbey!

Male sports: In the bad weather here the men have been skeet shooting off one of the abbeys terraces on the west side of the Abbey when clouds lift and the rain and sleet stop. Jack is the best shot followed by His Grace and the others. Chris, our male Gyn, is a surprisingly good shot. And there are cards. Himself is an amazing card player and while he was with me for Thanksgiving he won several thousand dollars at a rival casino. So, the guys are playing for matchsticks because Himself knows most of the other men can’t afford to loose money and he doesn’t have anything to prove to any of them which would make him hyper competitive rather than being a good host.

Another facet of the male as hunter is rape fantasies, which turned out to be far more popular than I had thought. Perhaps because the men know they are dealing with beautiful and very experienced women and there will be no consequences for them, unless they seriously injure a partner, so they let slip some of their civilized veneer and acted like the animals men are. Tanaquil had alerted me that rape ‘fantasies’ were part of some very sophisticated European house parties so I told the other girls what we could expect. It turned out that the possibility of spontaneous rough sex with handsome virile men known to be sexually safe, from the standpoint of STIs, was quite a turn on for most of the women and certainly for me. 

His Grace’s French ballerina, ‘Mademoiselle Oui’, was one of the first to be taken. She was caught unprepared in a hallway and didn’t enjoy it as much as she has during later rape encounters. She has even come around to wearing her old pink satin Repetto pointe shoes now since she found I was right that pointes give her more options when being impaled on a staircase. After her first encounter of that sort she came to me for comfort and guidance. She is in her early 30s and not nearly as sophisticated as she thought she was. She has a Mirena IUD inserted so she should be safe enough, but she suffers from vaginal dryness, a common hormonal contraceptive side effect. I gave her some DiveGel+ applicators which should temporarily cure her dryness and stabilize her pH as she enjoys sampling the male guests.

Women as prey – prepositioning supplies: Given how spontaneously sexually active we are Tanaquil, who has years of  experience planning country house parties, suggested we preposition feminine supplies in some of the most heavily used areas like staircases and upper hallways. Things like condoms (which none of us use), prefilled disposable applicators of DiveGel+ (used here primarily as a vaginal pH stabilizer), baby wipes and tampons to absorb the liquefied ejaculate that can never be entirely Kegeled into a baby wipe. Housekeeping had wicker baskets that blended in and that could be easily hidden behind tapestries on the walls for both the supplies and the trash after use. We try to ‘get caught’ on the staircases as the risers give us more opportunities to be taken en pointe and adjust our height to that of our partner.

I think it’s useful for the men to think of us as playthings or in some instances as prey during the house-party as then it’s easier to mind fuck them. And, at least with my girls we are all so strong, as far as pelvic musculature is concerned, that we can relax and let the man have his way until he is inside us and then we have him! Because we are then able to wrap our arms and legs around him and ripple grip him to orgasm in a few minutes regardless of how experienced and proud he is of his iron will and marvelous control. Or worst case, if he is hurting us we can tighten until we cause the blood reservoirs in his penis to rupture and at that point all he wants to do is escape. If that happens he will never be the same no matter how skilled his reconstructive urologist is.  

The Christmas feast: Was held in the late afternoon in the Great Hall as befits any medieval baron, who His Grace reminds everyone of, with his family around him. He and his house guests sat at high table while the staff and estate employees sat at tables below us while the kitchen and serving staff struggled to serve everyone quickly, efficiently and pleasantly. The menu was staggering with venison, roast beef, turkey, pheasant, and potatoes, green veggies of all kinds with mince pie, plum pudding and ice cream with coffee and wine to wash it down. It was exceptionally well done for both the food and service. Later in the evening some of the guests who are professional performers were expected to perform briefly so Willow and I couldn’t eat as much as we might have had we not been dancing later.

A three act strip show: After dinner Mademoiselle Oui, Willow and I performed briefly. Each doing a brief piece to recorded music, to hold the men’s attention.

Mademoiselle Oui Stripped to ‘Bolero’: Wonderfully done with great sensitivity. She captivated Himself and drew him into her act by draping her cast off garments on his shoulders except her G-string which she inverted and slipped it over his head like a mask so he could inhale through the scent of her vaginal musk. Then she was down to her pink satin Repetto pointes and pasties.

For New Years she will dance the Dying Swan.

Willow stripped to ‘Toyland’ all 4 verses, played twice: I’ve been working with Willow since she joined my troupe on a holiday striptease routine because I knew she would be coming along to His Grace’s Christmas celebration and professional performers are given an opportunity to perform in the Christmas Show at the Abbey in front of the family and house-guests. We decided that a seasonal song for her would be Toyland:

“Toyland, Toyland, beautiful girl and boy land
While you dwell within it you are ever happy there
Childhood's joy land, mystic and merry Toyland
Once you passed its borders you can never return again”

She stripped out of a Santa suit of sorts… down to her Penetrator plug and pink satin Gaynor pointes, no pasties, and her performance was very well received.

For New Years She and one of the POB men are going to dance the balcony pas de deux from Romeo and Juliette. A week isn’t much time to get that down solid with a partner never worked with before, but they are committed to doing it.

I stripped to ‘Santa Baby’ Eartha Kitt’s version, all 8 verses:

“Santa Baby, slip a sable under the tree, For me.
been an awful good girl, Santa baby,
so hurry down the chimney tonight.”

I stripped out of a skirt and blouse that were made up of seven individual Hermès scarves loosely knotted together, shedding them one by one until I too was down to red satin GM pointes a Penetrator and a smile. Then I walked among the audience adding a jet or two of breast milk to their coffee if they wished. I was pleased to see that several who usually take their coffee black had me add milk. 

For New Years I and another of the POB men will dance the Black Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake. Again that isn’t much time, but if we concentrate and our chemistry is good there is a good chance we can dance it well.

Boxing Day: Today, the day after Christmas (12/26), is Boxing Day. In England it traditionally had been a day to give gifts to those in service positions and on His Grace’s estates it continues to be celebrated that way. However, in general the day has morphed into a bank holiday and a day of sales by merchants and football games between professional and local teams. This year Himself gave all his employees Barbour waterproof sweaters. Here at the Abbey his employees, including everyone in the village that supports the abbey, gathered in the Great Hall for the distribution of gifts.