So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax and as you begin to comfortably fall asleep.
I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words.
And as you comfortably fall asleep I'm just going to tell this bedtime story in the background.
And in the land of Winterhold,
A place where the air hums with the ancient enchantments and the snow falls so delicately,
There's a deep stillness.
The world seems to move so slowly here as if time itself has softened.
It's a land that feels almost cradled in the most delicate reverie,
With a soft golden sun.
And at night the stars twinkling overhead.
And in homes dotted throughout this land,
There are eleven bakers,
Each one renowned for their craft.
And they've been practicing something new.
Each baker has received a letter from the Queen,
An invitation to a royal feast.
Only these bakers will be doing the cooking.
And they read the script.
Each scroll being an invitation to the great Christmas bake-off.
And the Queen herself will host it in the grand halls of Winterhold Castle.
And the winning cake will be served at the royal Christmas feast.
And the bakers have been practicing for this for months.
And they all make the journey to Winterhold Castle.
And at the castle gates,
They're greeted by the soft sound of festive music.
And the most pleasant and friendly people.
They're shown through to the great hall.
They can smell food already being prepared.
Spiced cakes,
Freshly baked bread,
Different sweets and food.
There's a deep warmth within the castle.
A fire crackling in the great hall.
Decorations up around the walls,
Lights glowing softly.
Each baker is shown to a different room.
Each offered a chance to rest and sleep.
Enjoy the night and some time in the castle before tomorrow.
Engaging in the contest.
And on the morning of the contest.
It's snowing outside the castle.
The inside was so warm and welcoming.
As the first round of the great Christmas bake-off begins,
Each contestant takes their place at a station.
Each one meticulously arranging their tools that they need.
Icing bags with glistening tips.
Bowls of whipped frosting.
Perfectly crafted gingerbread walls waiting to be adorned.
The gingerbread houses stand there like tiny castles themselves.
Their surfaces smooth and ready for the most intricate designs.
Those bakers begin.
Decorating those Christmas gingerbread houses.
Piping the icing so delicately.
Forming decorations of roofs and walls.
Intricate patterns swirling to life.
Watching the bakers work is so rhythmic and soothing.
Almost lulling the observers into a deep reverie.
And those bakers seeming to almost go into meditative states as they focus so intensely on their baking.
And after completing their first task,
The resident mischievous elf wanders into the room to give some light entertainment before the next task.
Tumble is a small creature,
No taller than a child's knee,
But his eyes sparkle and his presence is so playful.
He flips and rolls and jumps around the room,
Performs tricks and entertains everyone.
And after being playful and giving a bit of an interlude between baking,
The bakers move on to the second round.
And to the sound of Christmas music,
The bakers have to craft the perfect yule log.
And so they begin to make their yule logs.
The smell of those yule logs cooking.
And then the sight of bakers decorating the yule logs.
Each a deep chocolatey flavour.
And the Queen looks on.
Thinking deeply about each yule log,
How they're coming along.
Which ones she likes,
Which ones she's not so keen on.
And she notes her judgements in her mind.
Before moving on to the final challenge.
Each baker has to craft the most grand Christmas cake.
And the grandest of the cakes will be served up at the main meal.
And so they all begin to mix up the ingredients,
To form their Christmas cakes.
To cook the Christmas cakes,
The aroma of cinnamon,
Nutmeg and other senses filling the room.
The bakers concentrating,
Doing their work while also having a sense of fun from the experience.
And a camaraderie of being here with these other bakers.
Piping their intricate designs onto their cakes.
Adding additional decorations.
And the eleven bakers doing a grand job with their cakes.
Seeming to almost imbue their cakes with a sense of magic.
Pouring their hearts into their creations.
And after hours of working on their cakes,
They step back from their cakes,
Their creations in front of them.
As the Queen re-enters the Great Hall,
Comments on the beautiful smell of the food in here.
They all stand so quietly in reverence waiting for the Queen's judgement.
She walks from cake to cake.
She tries a small slice of each cake.
She shows positive responses to each cake,
As if enjoying the taste of every one.
The bakers unsure which one she'll choose.
And then she stops,
Having walked up and down those cakes,
Before one cake.
And she says that this cake is the one that best embodies the spirit of Christmas.
The humility,
The warmth and the beauty of togetherness.
This is the cake that will take centre stage for the feast.
And the other cakes will still be eaten.
They'll be sliced up and served up,
And laid around the main cake.
And the bakers all get to be congratulated for their hard work.
Each one given an honorary place at the feast,
With the winning baker given a prize position.
And they get to go back to their rooms,
Or just wander round and pot around for a while.
Ready to prepare themselves for the feast later on this evening.
And so the bakers head off,
Wander round the castle,
Spend some time in their rooms relaxing following their baking.
Before coming down for the feast.
And as they arrive for the feast,
So the queen has made sure,
The feast is temporarily halted as they're introduced as being the bakers.
Before then.
Having them mix and mingle in the pre-feast gathering.
And then taking their seats,
Enjoying the meal with the other guests.
And then the prized baker being called up,
After the main meal,
To be presented as being the prized baker.
As their cake is shown off before the guests.
And the cake is cut and handed out to the guests to have a bit each.
And the cakes from the other bakers are shared out as well.
And then they continue to mix and mingle with the guests.
And as the meal ends,
The guests continue to sit around mingling.
Engaging with each other,
Having conversation.
Taking themselves away from the meal tables.
To a couple of the rooms nearby,
Where the guests can just talk and socialize for a while.
And then after socializing for a while,
The queen's showing signs that it's time for the party to come to an end.
And for the guests to depart.
And the guests gradually leave the party.
The bakers are allowed to stay for one more night in their rooms,
Before leaving in the morning.
And the next morning those bakers head back into town.
And back in town those bakers are received by the town folk.
Almost like they're somehow special.
They're praised for how good they are at what they do.
They're asked what they had to do,
What the competition entailed,
What they baked and prepared.
And the bakers all said,
Why not cook a feast for the town?
And so the eleven bakers worked together to prepare a feast for the town.
Taking over the local hall.
And others in the town came and prepared that hall and dressed it up.
Decorating the hall.
Spreading the word among the whole town.
And the bakers worked hard to cook up a feast for the town.
And to replicate the cakes they'd made at the castle.
And that evening the town folk arrived at the hall.
The bakers greeted them.
And welcomed them with the food they'd prepared.
And the town folk enjoyed that food.
Enjoyed the time spent chatting and engaging with each other,
With those bakers.
Making their own judgements of which food they liked the most.
And which cake they felt should be the winning cake.
But the bakers wouldn't reveal whether the town's decision was the same as the queen's decision.
They just smiled at each other and decided to keep that to themselves.
As the town felt they were so lucky to have these bakers.
All equally as good.
And at the end of the evening they all worked together to clear away.
Any leftover food,
Anyone who wanted it took it away with them.
They all said goodnight to each other.
Wished each other seasons greetings.
Before heading home to bed.
Settling down in bed.
Drifting and floating so peacefully.
So comfortably.
Into slumberland.
