A Bun Fight and other January Happenings

I thought I would do a bit of a catch up post as so many things have been happening and
 I have no time to blog - no change there then!
 I really enjoyed the free time I had over Christmas and really relaxed, in fact I believe I practically vegetated! My ideal state of dress is a dressing gown although most days I do actually have to get dressed, I do a pretty good job at hiding my true inner self, a lazy slob who would enjoy laying around all day, in comfy clothes
(as my Grandma would have said clothes "on the slack side"- meaning loose fitting)

Over the Christmas break I caught up on many a missed post from some of my favourite bloggers, met several new ones, albeit virtually, and generally mooched around the internet.
Sadly that break came to an end and back to school and work we went, and that treadmill we're on began to turn rapidly again.

Friday was our book group Christmas dinner evening, at bit late obviously! We had originally arranged this for December but events conspired against us and we had to postpone to January. For a change we held our dinner at one of the members houses and hired a chef and waitress, it sounds extravagant but as it was local we didn't need taxis (just accommodating husbands), we took our own drinks and a couple of members supplied a selection of deserts.
 It was therefore less expensive than a restaurant and taxi.
 It proved to be a superb evening and the food was exceptional, even the deserts! We had our usual vote on the best, most memorable and most forgettable books of the year;  always fun after a few drinks as there are always a few books you cannot recall ever having heard of let alone read.
This years favourite was Pompeii by Robert Harris although strangely it was also top of the list for "the one I couldn't finish" - it almost split the group in half.

the glass we all wanted to have our wine in!

 It's an uphill battle now we're back to the grind, ballet started (termly fees and new uniform required), gymnastics started (termly fees due), counting down to the cricket tour (final payment and kit to sort), the start of county cricket training for both (hooray) boys and kit to order and pay for; added to that we have a birthday for a special Little Miss who turns 11 on the 13th - which always seems like the day after Boxing Day to me!

I've been chasing around like the proverbial trying to get organised and buy her a present or two.

This year we had arranged a surprise for her which happened on Saturday, something she'd wanted to do for some time - she had her ears pierced. I know thoughts differ on this but we figured as she approaches High School maybe the time was right. Little tiny sparkly studs now sit on those tiny ear lobes, very pretty but very scary when I saw her leaping around at today's mini party, where she managed to catch them on the sofa and pull one right out!

We had a family tea out yesterday after the ear appointment, both boys had to loiter around the streets of Norwich while the piercing was done despite them wanting to watch! (would there be blood, screaming, fainting maybe?) and today she has friends at home for a cupcake decorating party.
 I feel I have reached a point where, and I probably shouldn't admit this out loud, I really don't want to host another sleepover, organise another party or even host friends for tea - am I a bad mother? Probably!

I had the idea for a cake decorating party a while ago after visiting a cafe where classes were held, Little Miss was keen to go to the city centre venue with a couple of friends. However given my very slap-dash style of parenting when I eventually telephoned the café the next available date was in March - a bit of a long wait when your birthday is in January!

I can do that I thought to myself, how hard can it be? All memories of previous parties for the boys (or should I say scrum downs) were momentarily forgotten and off I went on my journey of random planning and invitation by text message!

I spent most of yesterday making cupcakes for them to decorate as well as the birthday cake. As per family tradition I make all the children's birthday cakes, to their own design. Now I'm no artist and I think they take great pleasure in coming up with increasingly difficult designs, the most memorable one was from Number 1 son when he was about 8, he wanted a cake to look like himself whilst wearing a diving mask and snorkel!! I did manage it, and here is the proof!

A perfect likeness!

This year I was given the spec - a gymnast on a beam! Well you probably have some elaborate ideas on how that should look but there is always a cheats way round things if you search the internet long enough! I came up with this....

I think it does the job, in silhouette, along with the winners gold medal; Number 1 son did ask why there was a giant "H" in the middle but then he is very short sighted! I iced her name on at the top and she seems quite pleased with it - unlike those invited to today's party who were only allowed to look at it as she explained it would not be cut until her actual birthday tomorrow! And I didn't bother with party bags either..... slap-dash I tell you!

The party started at 12 o'clock with parents told to collect at 4pm, just about long enough I thought to ice and decorate a couple of cakes - wrong! I gave them all two cakes each along with piping bags full of buttercream in various colours and lots of different types of decorations. I turned my back to wash up for about 2 minutes and found they'd finished them! So in the end they each did 4 and the boys had to judge the best, they made some super cakes I must admit, and enjoyed it too.
Sadly the decorating only took up about 20 minutes so there was a bit of time to kill, they ended up playing a board game - how very civilised!

I can't believe she's gone from this

  this

and this

to this

those 11 years have gone in a flash, and always accompanied by Tigger!

I have a feeling I no longer have a baby!

On Tuesday I'm off for a few days away with my best friend, we go every year for a bit of pampering; our very own "secure unit" if you will. I'll be home on Friday but will probably manage a bit of blog reading while away. I aim to be spending most of the week laying around, being escorted to treatments or meals -
unfortunately my friend will insist we dress for dinner but apart from that it'll all be good.

And for those wanting a picture of the "haircut of nightmares" it's a bit like this....

don't tell him though, as he seems happy enough with it!

Take care and have a good week, I'll be in the "quiet room" wearing a dressing gown!

An Emergency Hairdresser

We had an emergency today, not a big one you understand but one which managed to have both me and the builder quaking in our boots for a little while this afternoon.

Number 2 son has hair like Harry Potter, only lighter! It grows in the shape of a mop and is thick, whatever we do to it, it remains mop shaped! He wants it cut, but preferably without leaving the confines of his bed or being more than a metre away from the x-box controller. This obviously presents a problem but being the slap-dash parents we are we often let the little things in life slide - we weren't always slap-dash but after being either side of 50

 (only one of us is the right side of 50!) and after 3 children all of whom can be demanding in their own way, we try to give up stressing over the "little" things.



Very similar, only darker!



So despite having 3 weeks off over Christmas he still didn't manage to get himself a haircut; he is approaching 15 and we do use the little salon in the village which is within walking distance; but as we didn't man handle him through the door his hair has remained mop-like!

It'll do we thought, I was probably going to get round to sorting something out this coming weekend, I've just got to ease myself back into the normal work/school routine this week

 (only for this 1 week though, I'm away next week  - yipee ).

But at work today an email arrived from number 2 son's school, he's off on a big cricket tour in February (we should be joining him too) and they will be taking photos of the players for the official tour brochure on January the 8th, lunchtime. Ok I thought, I must sort that haircut, wait, what date? Tomorrow!!

Oh crikey (or words to that effect) I thought, that leaves tonight, and he gets off the school bus at 6pm. A haircut was looking unlikely, I could do it myself maybe, I am experienced after all.....

(my experience is at the end of that post!)

Luckily my boss was out all day so I googled a few barbers and hairdressers and made a few calls, sadly none were open late tonight. I phoned The Builder, we both discussed the options, a raging & upset son, with mop hair or we pull out all the stops to find someone who could handle scissors. A Facebook call went out but little response, then the builder phoned me back (thank goodness for bosses on long business lunches!) he had found a free newspaper on the site he's on just now, and therein was an advert. Not a glossy ad I'm afraid just one of those "Hair by Jane" types, a mobile hairdresser from up the road. No photos or pictures, just a telephone number. And apologies to hairdressers called Jane, I don't wish to cast aspersions!

A call was made, she may be free, she would call back later.

We had no other options, mobile Jane or no one it would have to be, number 2 son was reluctant, we encouraged him with lots of "the ad says she's qualified" , "it'll be fine, don't worry"

and some "what could possibly go wrong?".......

He googled a photo of the type of thing he liked and mobile Jane arrived. Well she hurled herself through the door more like and wandered about making comments about the house, "how many bedrooms do you have here", "are you attached to next door then?"

"What would you say your fuel bills are like here ,...roughly?"

 Then proceeded to tell me all about her life, with little regard to the photo of the hairstyle we had up on the laptop

(did I mention my new laptop?)

I could see it start to go wrong with the pointed over the ear cuts, a Dr Spock look alike! and then the back...it didn't need to be straight did it? And the fringe, well she did really well to get that shape without the use of a pudding basin.

I had to stay smiley and positive looking as number 2 son sunk further into the kitchen chair. Mobile Jane explained she was fully registered and qualified (originally we thought that must be a good thing) and lots of people these days aren't you know, we were lucky to find her!

We bid her goodbye and paid the full £10.

So what does it look like now, I couldn't possibly photograph  the end result, but I'm going down to the salon in the village to book an appointment for next week; and tomorrow we'll have to wax it to within an inch of its life, well the bits that are long enough anyway!

So we were lucky to find mobile Jane at such short notice, hopefully we'll lose her just as quickly!

Happy New Year to you too

Well here we are in 2014 and here I sit tapping away on my red laptop! That was a surprise Christmas gift, that sentence could have so easily have read "here I am waiting to use my new door handles" or "here I am waiting to use my new microwave" or even " here I am waiting to jump from  plane" - all gifts I've received in the past!

But a laptop it is and I'm over the moon. I can blog from anywhere in the house, not just my tiny, chilly, paper strewn office tucked out of the way. It also makes it slightly more comfortable to type from the squishy sofa, not least because my rear end is.at present one almighty bruise!! When we exchanged gifts with my sister in law I was the lucky recipient of perfume,  the builder however received a selection of Beano comics and some football programmes from the 1970's . Yes a little bit random but he  is very hard to buy for and they were spread all over the floor and read from cover to cover for the rest of the afternoon! Therein lies the problem; spread all over the floor, shiny magazines..... I leapt up to answer the phone (leapt  may be an exaggeration given the amount of food I've stuffed in) and proceeded to skid across the floor and bump down on the ground and leg of the sofa. I'd like to say gracefully landed but sadly in was very definitely an earth shaking moment!
And now most of my rear end is lovely shade of dark purple, as was readily pointed out more than once I'm lucky not to break a hip given my age!!! Yes I did hit them!
(Luckily for you I have no photo!)

Who knew they could be so dangerous?!

How did you spend your New Years Eve? Or as the native Norfolk-ians say "Old Years Night"

Many moons ago we used to host a party with much celebrating and wine and chatting and wine and nibbles and wine......., however since we became parents the difficulties of babysitters, taxis and overriding tiredness seemed to have put paid to anything other than nodding off on the sofa and shuffling off to bed at 5 past midnight! But as the children are older we accepted a party invitation this year and off we trotted dressed in sparkles (not The Builder) to see in 2014 with friends. It was a lovely evening despite the 45 minute drive to get there, we played some silly games and watched the fireworks both in London (On the TV) and in their village.

Building the tallest tower using only spaghetti and jelly babies!

More difficult for the children as they ate most of the jelly babies!

It reminded me we must be more social in future!

We left Number 1 son at home with 3 mates and some beer, there appears to be more empty bottles than the amount of full ones we left for them???

They did manage to remain the polite young men their parents had taught them to be though, they made me smile as they staggered to the door the following day; 6' tall 17/18 year old boys; very unsteady and with bloodshot eyes, all saying "thank you for having me" and "I've had a lovely time, thank you Mrs Cricket". Ahh bless them!

Between Christmas and New Year we got together with some old friends for a family evening, we always used to spend an evening with them sans kids where the booze flowed and the conversation always became risqué - however that was a few years ago and  this time we all had our children with us and we shared some games and some memories. Despite feeling very middle aged it was a lovely evening, I do love my friends. Charades with teenagers was funny in a different way, who knew a shrug of the shoulders and a curled lip could signify so much?

I don't make resolutions as a rule expect from the usual, I will lose a stone in weight and start taking regular exercise, but this year I feel I need to go back to basics in the kitchen. I always thought I was a fairly competent cook, I've enjoyed cooking for friends over the years and as you may except have prepared many a cricket tea but I seem to have lost it just lately! I need to pull myself into line and stop over or undercooking everything I touch - there's nothing complicated about it I just need to pay a little more attention to what I'm doing and stop being distracted (although I can see a little red laptop-shaped distraction looming large!) This Christmas I managed to over cook the turkey, over cook the pudding (Nigella's steamed chocolate pud) despite a hand written note in the cookery book from last Christmas reminding me not to overcook it! I've overcooked a joint of beef and under cooked a joint of pork!

It really is laziness, I need to weigh and time everything and go back to basics - I vaguely remember telling myself this last year though so it my be all forgotten before January is done.

I have loved looking around blogland and catching up on past posts, partly because I have more time to do so right now. I know time will be short again soon, cricket practice started again this evening and everyone will be back to school and work on Monday or Tuesday (I really must look up which day they start school/college!) - it's going to be hard to get up and at 'em!

So Happy New Year to everyone, I'm overwhelmed by the fact that I actually have "followers" but it has been so nice to get to know you all.

I hope 2014 brings you the best of everything.

xx

Christmas

Spoiler alert, this post contains references to Father Christmas which aren't suitable for young ears!!

Well that went fast didn't it? I hope Christmas in your house was a good one,

 it was quite a quiet one for us this year;

 I've enjoyed it but it did feel a little odd. It was the first year in a long time where no one believed in the magic of Father Christmas, no magic snow foot prints down the hallway, no glittery reindeer food on the drive, no carrot and mince pie in the hearth - we did however have to stay up til the wee hours to hang the stockings on the ends of beds long after the kids were supposed to be asleep.

 The boys always share a room on Christmas eve and there was some muffled sniggering as I sneaked in at gone 1am!

We had finished the food shop on the Sunday and got a bit of baking done - I'm not sure why I pack the freezer with so many goodies as we seem to live on chocolate,

 salted peanuts and cold turkey for days!

The freezer remains stuffed with home baked goodies so it will last a few weeks yet. There'll be some good packed lunches for school and work anyway. 

As I've always baked and home cooked a lot, my kids consider it a great treat to be able to choose shop made things as Christmas treats, which is why tonight we have one of those huge chocolate gateaux, full of cream and sponge, from Tesco!

You know the ones, they are huge, say they'll serve 18 (?) and cost about £2.99

(and yes taste of cotton wool and foam)!

In a slight break from family tradition we spent part of Christmas eve at hospital; nothing to worry about but the builder was diagnosed with a slipped disc a couple of weeks ago and had an assessment on the 24th. It seems the problem has been there a while and will probably need surgery at some point, possibly in 2014, the most memorable line from the appointment was -

 "why Mr Builder you have the reflexes of an 18 year old!"

 no, he will not let me forget that in a hurry!!

After that visit we sneaked off to a café for a quiet coffee and cake, very delicious and such a treat - Mr Builder doesn't often find himself in the city centre shopping! And then home for the usual family Christmas Eve visit to Holt - described better last year! We stayed and wandered around looking at the pretty lit up market town, then our usual stop for coffee and something at Byfords - I had the soup this year as I'd had one lot of coffee and cake that day.

Hot chocolate - huge cup!

 And then we made our way home to prepare the turkey which had been delivered earlier.

I seem to cook a little less each year, now it's just the 5 of us and not a whole host of family members (long story, family rift) the turkey is a lot smaller and it's mainly me eating the veg.

Anyway we gorged the night away on crisps and other junk and the 3 kids eventually went to bed. The deal was that Little Miss would be first up and was allowed to shake the boys awake, hopefully not at dawn! As it turned out she overslept and number 2 son staggered in around 9am - wow what a lie in!
 They always congregate in our bed to open stockings, everyone has one, mine was a little limp this year (not much fun doing your own!) and contained an orange some chocolate coins and a deodorant (well it was all I could find in the bathroom at 1am)

The kids had a little more success!

 Holiday sunglasses!

Can't think who Father Christmas aimed these at!

One of these etched glass hearts in each stocking except mine - no one loves me!

We did have a nice time though and it seems like we were all just a little bit spoiled, me included! After the birthday-which-must-never-again-be-mentioned I was given my own laptop, in red (my favourite colour). Strange as it may seem this is my first gadget! I only use the home desk top and my little phone for internet use, my phone isn't great either (neither is my eyesight on a tiny screen) which explains some of the gobbledy gook comments I occasionally leave on blogs!

I haven't yet managed to get everything I use on it yet so it's still sitting in it's case, I tried but the many fast and helpful hands reaching over my shoulders were confusing me! But it does look lovely and I know I'll use it plenty.

I've done one of my favourite things everyday over Christmas and that is set the dining table with lovely cutlery, china and crystal glasses - I'm like a kid playing at tea parties! If the truth be told the Christmas Day dinner table was set a week before Christmas and had to be dusted!

We've had a few family members over although one nephew is spending Christmas in Australia (and will probably emigrate there in the not too distant future). I always look forward to the sister-in-law visit and her very random gifts! The builders family are a little eccentric and although I love his sister dearly we never know what to expect! She doesn't have a lot of cash and enters lots of competitions the prizes of which she is only to happy to share - this year I struck lucky with a perfume gift set by Issey Miyake, the only draw back was I had to pose for a photo receiving it!! Oh well I'll smell good for most of 2014 at least!

The gifts purchased for number 2 son were not very well thought out though, given my past descriptions can you see anything wrong with the following items which we, for some unknown reason, decided to buy him -

A Soda Stream (providing unlimited fizzy, e number additive laden drinks)

A set of darts

Some indoor fireworks

Oh well I'll have unlimited tonic for my gin at least!!

I hope you're having a great time however you choose to spend it, and if I'm not back in the next few days I'll wish you a very Happy New Year. I look forward to spending a little more time with all those "pen friends" I feel I've made over the past 12 months.

All the best

Jay

x

The school Christmas play and some unexpected players

Last week amongst other things my Dad stayed with us for the whole week which was really nice; he visited us alone which meant we had some quality time together. Of course while he was here he had to attend the Primary School Christmas production - and what a production it always is!

I mentioned last year how inspired it always is, not your usual Nativity scene for us!
We have a tiny village primary school which in the 16 and a half years I've been there with one child or another has doubled in size to approximately 50 pupils, that's the whole school!

 However they hire the village hall for their annual production, written by a superb classroom assistant, as so many extended family members and villagers wish to attend! This year they had to extend it to 2 performances - and we have a very big village hall too!

We were not allowed to know what this years production was, only to send in some khaki clothes! It's usually based loosely around a subject they've been studying and I correctly guessed it would be World War 2.

I managed to forget my camera typically, we do have the official school dvd though. I took a few on my phone but it's not a great phone and the pics are quite blurry.

However what I hadn't expected was the appearance of Doctor Who and his TARDIS (yes they had actually made a TARDIS) who transported them back to war times! They were chased by a Dalek too - possibly not authentic WWII but they'll never forget the other facts I'm sure!

(Not very clear photos taken on a not very good phone!)

Little Miss appeared in various guises, a school teacher with big Harry Potter glasses,

and also as a Land Girl.

There was a scene featuring all the women's jobs in the war from nurses to mechanics - they entered stage left with a lot of hip wiggling,  to a loud rendition of "Here Come The Girls...."

Every time they entered the TARDIS to travel somewhere else the entire cast performed the Time Warp! (I did start to wiggle along to this as I'm a huge Rocky Horror fan)

At one point they travelled back to a school during an air raid and lo and behold, for the first time in as long as I can remember our school Christmas production featured some very unexpected guests, wait for it,.... Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in the manger - that's a first!

 They had travelled back to a wartime school where the children's Nativity was interrupted by bombing! It may not be politically correct but it is a fact that it's very rare for a true nativity to feature in our school Christmas production.

In previous years Little Miss has been a Victorian maid (learning point - Victorians) and a gymnast (learning point - not quite sure!). Number 2 son was in his primary years a Huntsman (Snow White and the Huntsman) and a member of the Home Guard (2nd World War).

At the end of the production there is always a hamper raffle, it's a really good hamper too with donations from all parents (nearly all of them anyway!). I'd already bought the obligatory tickets sent home in the book bag but thought this year I would try to guarantee a win, so bought some more! Sadly my name was not drawn and another Mum staggered home carrying the enormous basket; it's possible I didn't win due to the fact Little Miss had forgotten to hand in the ticket stubs and money!!

After the raffle they decided to auction off the gingerbread house made by Little Miss and a couple of classmates - so we came home weighed down with gingerbread but also with a lot less money!!

The whole event was tinged with a little sadness as I know that, after roughly 16 years I will not be attending any more Nativity/Christmas productions; well not with my own children taking part anyway. The end of an era I think.

I am hoping to do a bit of a Christmassy post now the decorations are up and the children are off school but I also know that time is running out and I still have a lot to do!

I will say a very big Happy Christmas from me to you,

just in case I don't make it back to the keyboard.

With Love,

Jay

"That Boy" strikes again!

You may remember a previous post in the summer when I described a few of the problems we have with a very argumentative middle child. Well a week or so again he really made me laugh with his latest protestations! Well I say laugh, it was a few hours later I laughed,

 at the time I had steam coming out of my ears!

 

We were discussing Biology at the tea table, now his brother got an A at GCSE and is now in his second year of A level and I studied Biology almost to A level and do take a keen interest in the body and it's ailments (some may call me a hypochondriac but I couldn't possibly comment!)

 

We were discussing the skeleton and he mentioned the bones in the body, in particular the leg. Now this is a boy who is never ever wrong and whilst he is super intelligent the rest of us (and you too most probably) are very, very stupid!

 

He told us he had to learn the names of the bones and was already fluent in leg - the tibia and fibia are the calf bones. Now we were quick to correct this as obviously his minor error was apparent - "tibia and fibula you surely mean?" Well stand back for the explosion!

No we were wrong and we could confirm this on Wikipedia and by emailing the Biology teacher - the bones in the calf had recently been re-named and we are all wrong and he is right!!

Now I'm not sure what you would do but I'm not good at backing down so a heated argument ensued - I stopped short of emailing the teacher for fear of making myself look stupid!

 

 I asked The Builder why we have such a difficult and pig headed child who never thinks he's wrong - his response was

 "what do you expect when he has 2 parents who never think they're wrong!"

 He can't possibly mean me......

 

Anyway the second instance which happened this week really did make me giggle and I didn't argue too much! We were discussing the film Nativity 2, Danger in the Manger starring David Tennant. It was at the cinema last Christmas and Little Miss and I enjoyed a lovely afternoon once school had broken up watching this deliciously far fetched festive treat.

I mentioned that it was out on dvd and I'd love to see it again this Christmas. Now the film is called Nativity ", I'm just repeating that as the clue is in the name. Number 2 son argued that it couldn't possibly be on dvd yet as it had only been at the cinema 6 months ago -

 "No" I replied, "obviously it was out at Christmas, it's called Nativity, about the nativity,

 you know Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus?"

But apparently not, according to the oracle (aka number 2) The film NATIVITY 2 was released in June......... well what can you say to that??

What's happening in our neck of the woods.

The East Coast has taken a bit of a battering this past week, we haven't suffered here apart from a few things blown over in the garden. My boss at work had his neighbours shed picked up by a huge gust which then flew into his garden smashing the (brand new) fence and landing on the rabbit hutch - the rabbit was unhurt luckily!

The pictures on the news of the huge waves and the resulting flooding are terrifying though.

 

These are pictures taken in Cromer, the pier has almost disappeared under the waves!

 

 The resulting devastation

 

Photos from the Daily Mail website

Houses have been taken by the sea in some areas and many people were evacuated into safe schools and community buildings.

 I can't imagine how awful that must have been and how frightening.

 

But onto other things, our trip to the theatre in the last post was "interesting", quite an odd play with very little to do with cricket. Only 2 actors took on all the characters and exited the stage only to return wearing a different coat and hat to play the next part - quite confusing! We had driven a 50 mile round trip to drop all the children at their respective sleepovers (eldest was left in the city centre with a friend to get a bus to his destination -

not a great idea when you have a brain the size of a pea!).

 

After a busy week at work where the builder had worn himself to a frazzle he proceeded to nod off several times during the performance which was over 2 1/2 hours long. I nudged him frequently as I had visions of him falling over the seat in front and down onto the stage! The seating has an unusual arrangement on benches lining the barn whilst the performance is in the centre area.

 

The play itself revolved around 2 couples having affairs with each other and the resulting fallout!

 

 

However we would go again as it was a very atmospheric theatre!

 

Number 1 son appeared home the next day with tales of a broken down bus, an extortionate taxi fare, no credit on his pay-as-you-go mobile phone and no charge on his friends phone! An hours walk as they hadn't got the address of the friend they were due to visit..... a huge learning experience I feel!

 

The builder is away this weekend with friends on a music weekend - well I say music but have a feeling this will be dulled by quantities of alcohol!

I have been a Billy-no-mates and attended my works Christmas do without a plus one!

And last night I had a long awaited trip to the Theatre Royal with friends to see

 Jason Donovan in Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Oh and what a night it was, one of the best shows I've seen in a long time! We all loved it, the costumes, the music (proper sing-along) and the whole show and cast were superb. Sadly although we had booked it months ago we only managed  seats upstairs near the back so next time (and surely there will be a next time) we will be front row!

Have you seen it?

Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, it was as camp as can be, but we loved every moment.

 

All has been trimmed up at home and there is an abundance of twinkly lights every where, as the builder is away I decided I could cope with tree purchasing etc, it may be wonky and could fall down at any moment but no one better complain! We just have a few outdoor lights still to go up but as all our ladders appear to be on other jobs (never any useful tools at home! and I include the Builder in that description) - the kids declined my suggestion that we pile some chairs on boxes and they stand on each others shoulders to reach the roof.....

 

My Dad arrives tomorrow for his annual visit (he didn't make it last year so this is the 1st time in 2 years he's been here) He'll arrive mid school Christmas activities so will have to be prepared to eat on the run and attend a carol service, ballet and possibly gymnastics!

 

Oh well it'll be a busy week! Have a good one yourselves - I am reading a few blogs but as it's usually on my phone I'm struggling to comment, and if I do manage a comment the predictive text usually makes it gobbldy gook!