We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Well, the "Big Day" is only a few hours away and I think we are as ready as we can be. We have had a fairly relaxing day, the little ones stayed overnight at my sisters, so Mr P and I had a very relaxing amble around Marlow, doing a spot of last minute shopping and we enjoyed a peaceful child free lunch, which is a rare treat.

Last Thursday Cath Kidston opened her newly painted doors in Marlow. Its fab having a CK shop just five minutes down the road. Today I treated myself to some lovely new oil cloth for our table. Instead of stained and sticky flower print cloth we now have a lovely clean and bright CK strawberry cloth.

This afternoon, in keeping with our Christmas Eve tradition, we headed to our local church for the crib service. I love this service, it really gets you in the spirit of Christmas and the little ones always enjoy meeting their friends there and taking part in the service.

When we got home, Daisy made our mince pies, she did a really good job and they tasted fab. I hope Father Christmas appreciates the two that have been left for him by the fire.

Daisy also helped to ice the Christmas cake earlier in the week, she seems really into cooking and helping in the kitchen at the moment. Here is our take on a traditional Christmas cake. Daisy wanted to make some holly and berries to pop on the top. Unfortunately I didn't have any green glitter to colour the leaves, so white they are. We had red glitter for the berries and we sprinkled some over the top of the cake.

I am getting a bit fed up with all the snow that still seems to be lying around everywhere, the pavements are so icy which makes getting around rather tricky. Yesterday I had a real urge to buy some flowers, I really felt the need for a bit of Spring indoors. I treated myself to this gorgeous bouquet, lots of Christmas reds, golds and greens. It is such a treat to see some colourful flowers (can you spot the new CK tablecloth?)

The little ones are all tucked up in bed and amazingly they are fast asleep. They had rather a late night last night when they stayed at my sisters so it was a very easy bed time tonight. They have left out their little tray for the big man, removed the fire guard (to make it easier for Santa) and laid out their stockings by the fire. I hope they aren't up too early tomorrow morning, Alex suggested 7.30am which would be perfect.

So it leaves me to wish you all a very -

Have a fab time with your families and enjoy the big day.

Till next time.

Alison

x

A Proper Update

Good morning, it's amazing what a good nights sleep can do, I really couldn't be bothered last night to update my blog in the usual fashion, the thought of adding pictures was just too much. Anyway, I am feeling nicely refreshed and ready to upload a few pictures from the past two weeks.

Here is Alex out in the snow on Saturday, it was bitterly cold but it did not deter him from going out. Both the little ones wanted to go out but each time they did they only managed about ten minutes before coming in very wet and very very cold.

The back garden in all of it's snowy glory. The tropical plants are all being stored in the shed over winter, they even have their own heater to keep them warm. Can you spot the poor old tree fern. It is actually wrapped up apart from the leaves poking out the top, which apparently you can chop off in the Spring.




This was our road during the snow on Saturday.



I am planning on digging the car out this morning and trying to get to M & S to buy some party food and the last few bits needed for Christmas. I also need to do a normal weekly food shop at some point too. I think there is more snow forecast for this afternoon so I really do need to get my act together this morning. We are supposed to be going to a school friends for lunch today also, as we need to arrange Alex birthday party for January. I think he is having a shared football party with this particular school friend.

Here are some of my lovely advent swap presents from Pene.

Some lovely handmade note cards

A handful of colourful ribbons which will come in very handy.

A very sweet pewter pussy cat photo frame,

A selection of little charms.

A gorgeous handmade heart lavender bag.

A Christmas pudding tree decoration.

A little Christmas tree felt decoration. I also got some little wine glass charms which will come in very handy as I am having some mums from school over on Thursday for drinks and nibbles.

I am supposed to be going to my book club Christmas get together this evening but I do wonder if the weather will put a stop to it.

Right I'm going to get up and get on. I hope to post again before Christmas but should life get in the way of that then I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a very happy new year.

Till next time.

Alison

X

A little update.

Hello, it's been a while since my last post. Life has been very busy enjoying/organising all the pre-Christmas activities that seem to fill family life. Nativity plays have been enjoyed, Christmas parties been and gone, school finished on Friday, so now just a few more days left before the big day is here.

I am sort of ready, just need to do a food shop, finish making three more stockings, oh and ice the Christmas cake and make mince pies. No pressure or anything then!

Having escaped the snow two weeks ago, with only a very light dusting, I sort of guessed that our turn would come and it did indeed. We had a very freaky snow storm on Friday, which meant that school closed early and the end of term disco was cancelled. Saturday, as forecast, was one of the snowiest days that I can remember. It started snowing at around 9am and finally finished snowing around 3pm. We went from a light dusting left from Friday to around 8 - 10 inches. It really does look like a winter wonderland.

We wrapped up warm and went sledging this morning. We live on the top of a hill and are very fortunate to have a very hilly golf course about 5 minutes walk away (well make it 20 minutes walk in very deep snow!) We met my sister up on the slopes, she lives in the village that lies in the valley at the bottom of our hill, and enjoyed some very tiring sledging. We trekked back to her house for a warming coffee, chocolate cake and to dry out and a rest before we had the long trek back up the hill to our house. My legs were really tired when we got home, it was a really good leg work out.

I have had some wonderful advent gifts from the lovely Pene, I have so enjoyed opening her gift each morning, she really has spoilt me with her generosity.

Well I am feeling very tired tonight, so I'm afraid there aren't any pictures. I will try and post a proper post - pictures and all before Christmas.

Till next time.

Alison
x

Advent Swap Gorgeous Goodies

Good evening, I hope I find you all well this chilly Sunday evening. You will be glad to know the sickies and germs have now left the building and touch wood we are all in a reasonable state of health once again.

The week once again flew by. I tried to get some Christmas crafting done but poorly children once again made the task somewhat difficult. I did manage to make a couple of Jan Constantine - esq felt stockings to give to the little one's teachers at the end of term. I bought some little smelly sets, chocolates and a mini Christmas cake from M&S to pop in the stocking, I hope they like them! Daisy also made her teacher a little felt Christmas decoration to go in the stocking. Do you think they will be ok?

Wednesday being the 1st of December meant one thing and one thing only, the grand opening of the first parcel in the advent swap. The lovely Pene had sent me a shoe box packed full of little parcels and I was very excited on Wednesday morning when I could opening the first packet. So here they are, my first five fabulous gifts, all handmade by Pene.

Wednesday - Packet no 1

A lovely hand covered notebook with a little Daisy dog on the front. Very sweet and very handy for my handbag. I love notebooks and have to resist very hard not to buy each and every lovely one I set my eyes on, so this was right up my street.

Thursday - Packet no 2.

Inside was this cheeky little chap, a penguin tree decoration with little bell feet! Very sweet indeed.

Friday - Packet no 3.

A very lovely tissue holder and tissues. Unfortunately this was immediately taken by Daisy with a "wow, just what I need" comment and has not been seen again.



Saturday - Packet no 4


A lovely little angel, who will look great on my Christmas tree.

Sunday - Packet No 5.

A Daisy dog! Very lovely indeed. I have kept her well hidden for fear of being snatched!

Pene, you have really excelled yourself and I love all my gifts, even my AWOL covered tissues.

We did get a bit of snow here in Bucks but not nearly as much as everyone else. Being west of London we seemed to escape the worst of it. It did mean however that I wasn't able to take the car out for a couple of days. I really didn't fancy driving a new car that I have hardly driven on very snowy and icy roads, which sadly meant I had to cancel my dentist and hygienist appointments on Thursday!! I must must must remember to rebook them tomorrow.

I had the pleasure of going to our local music centre's gala concert last night at our local theatre. Daisy was performing with the preparatory and training wind bands. The kids were amazing, some of them just so talented. Daisy plays the flute and goes to the centre every Friday which she really enjoys. It's great for her as she gets a whole hour of practise on a Friday as well as her flute lesson at school. It was fabulous to see how the children progress with their music through each stage. I was astounded that the youth orchestra sounded like a proper orchestra. They also have four choirs which sounded amazing. It was a really inspiring evening which I thoroughly enjoyed. Mr P had to stay at home and look after Alex who would have fidgeted his way through the whole evening.

We also managed a trip to the cinema today to see the new Harry Potter. It wasn't bad, a bit full of teenage angst but enjoyable all the same. The plots seem so complicated now that I loose track of whats what and whose who.

I am planning on finishing my Christmas projects this week, I need to make four felt stockings, some bunting for a little girl who turns one on Tuesday and some clothes for a huge Maileg rabbit that Daisy is getting for Christmas from her Nanny. I have saved some very sweet rosebud print pyjamas that Daisy has outgrown and plan to use it for the bunny's nightdress. I haven't got a pattern so wish me luck.

Have a great week.

Alison

x