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Transition

 

I'm now in the transition period.  It's no longer Autumn but not quite Winter and it's heading towards Christmas but not even December yet.  For the past 5 years the offical changeover date is 21st November.  On the 20th November my Sam will be 6 and after that we can then go into Christmas mode. 

 

This year more than others the lines have blurred somewhat and I haven't quite been able to resist the urge to Christmas things up a bit in advance of his birthday.  The Christmas biscuits for one thing and preparations for the Christmas tree festival and just thinking so much about all the Christmas plans ahead - the cooking; the collection of the Christmas tree; the advent calendar; visiting family and friends and my ever persistent desire to dress the dog up in antlers - who will submit first? 

 

 

* Family *

 

Family love today. 

Illness has a way of making life so real.  I think most of the time we dawdle around thinking we're present but then the bubble bursts and we find we were just marking time and life becomes so real it is surreal. 

Today there was good news and a happy voice at the end of the phone.  I can hold it together until the phone goes down and then I have a weep.  Joe wondered if I was crying over how good the email from Strada was (2 mains for £10 is worth a tear of joy).

Onwards and upwards.

 

Christmas biscuits

 

Is it ever too early for Christmas biscuits?  I think not particularly when you have such a large collection of cookie cutters sitting in the cupboard waiting to act out their Christmas destiny. 

 

Well ok maybe not all of them have a Christmas theme but the tree certainly, the moose/reindeer yep, the hedgehog - well who doesn't love a little snowy hedgehog?  The chick is dressed up as a penguin, the bat a leftover from halloween and the ice creams because it's such a good cookie cutter and the topping ideas are endless. 

So this was a day well spent.  We also made salt dough but more on that later!

Remember remember

I love Bonfire night. 

 

This year we had the added pleasure of at last releasing our lanterns which have been gathering dust on top of the wardrobe for the past couple of years.  This is of course no surprise when you read the instructions which I can only imagine are to deter you from ever lighting one and warn you that if you do there will almost certainly follow some hideous amount of destruction which of course will be all your fault.  So they went on top of the wardrobe for fear that yes we did live near a road and quite a few trees and certainly there are sometimes aircraft nearby and would you believe it there is also wind, such a lot of wind. 

But it was time for the lantern to fulfil its destiny and take flight on a slightly breezy and oh so chilly starry night.

 

And it was magical.  We all stood and watched in utter awe and amazement at this balloon of light take off into the darkness.  We didn't speak a word as it went higher and higher until it just looked like another star in the sky except more golden and more twinkly. 

I am pleased to say there were no incidents to report.

 

Hey yew . . .

 

Ah. . . what lucious lanterns of Yuletide loveliness.  Yes the countdown has begun, mainly in my head but often it will spill out into the everyday world where it is greeted with groans of "don't get too excited, remember what happened last year!".  Ah yes, last year I woke at 5am with an excitement headache and in my early morning stupor took some Nurofen on an empty stomach which resulted in my having to have a lie down for an hour at about 11am.  The day itself was all a bit of a blur and the 5am start had been totally unecessary also, as after lighting the fire and doing a bit of 'tweaking' I more or less sat there for 3 hours until the children awoke. 

This year will be different.

We're going to be having a visitor for the whole of December and I'm really looking forward to him coming.  I've recently spent some time with my dearest friend who was lucky enough to receive a similar visit last December.  On hearing of her happiness which lasted the whole month long I have put in a request to the 'big man' and I can reveal that our visitor will be arriving on December 1st.  And that is all I can say about it for now.  In theory it should have the result of stringing out my excitement and being able to channel it into the whole of the season rather than having to restrain myself and end up with the inevitable messy explosion on the 25th.

 

 

Eight

Eight years ago at 7.14pm our lives were changed forever and for better by the birth of our daughter.  Every year I relive that day and never forget how when I first saw her my reaction was "it's a baby!".  Up until that point I think it was just a phrase that I would churn out - I'm having a baby, I'm having a baby, I'm buying a cot for my baby, I'm decorating the room for the baby... But then the baby arrives, and there she is and I thought ok now I get it, it is a baby.  A real life gorgeous beautiful baby that is all ours.

After the initial part of coming home and getting a routine and adapting every single thing in your life, I started to realise that I had also thought having the baby, the giving birth and looking after a baby part was all there was to it.  But then I discovered that this is only the beginning and that every day and month and year that follows, your life changes again and again all because of this new person, who isn't a baby for very long.  They grow and start to walk and talk and have their own opinions (!) and ideas about where they're going and what they want to do, and sometimes that's fine and other times it's not but it happens anyway and you just have to keep going.  And if you're very lucky you make more good decisions than bad and once a year on their birthday you take a good long look at them and think ...

... we've got a good one!

Snow good

I was not disappointed to wake up to this on Wednesday morning.  When the local radio station announced that our school was closed, we cheered and punched the air.  Then with our thermals and snowboots on we ventured out to make two snowmen (and a snow R2D2 from th'usband!) and went sledging.  What you always forget about the sledging thing is all the walking back up the hill afterwards and therefore the better the hill going down, the worse it is coming up.  That coupled with the fact that the dog in his excitement at this new activity kept trying to bite our feet off as we went down. 

So after a lot of screaming and when we were too cold and wet to continue, we sledged home and sat in our thermals watching Star Wars movies in front of an open fire.  It was a perfect day.

Fairy House

A Fairy house has appeared.  Inspired by this book which was bought as a birthday present and much looked at.  I noticed a blackbird taking an interest in it as we arrived home on this cold frosty evening.

We have had the promise of heavy snow tonight although nothing has arrived so far.  As yet we have escaped any at all.  I'm hoping it will come and we can wake up tomorrow morning to that magical light and muffled quiet that only the snow can bring.  I'm thinking snowmen and sledging, hot chocolate and open fires.  I'm not really there with the whole new year thing yet and going back to the normal routine yesterday was a huge shock to the system.  A snow day could be just what I need!

Snippets of Christmas 2009

The Cranberry Sauce ...

Making the mincemeat!

Beer for Santa!

A Christmas dog. . .

All is calm all is bright.

New Years Eve  . . .

Happy New Year! 

 

 

 

...tutu too!

Despite the stress I sometimes (often!) encounter whilst sewing, I decided I was going to make a tutu for my daughter.  She wanted to dress up as Princess Daisy from the Tiara Club books for school book week. 

When I heard this news I instantly slipped into the romantic notion I have of myself as a mother.  The one where, not unlike Michelle Pfeiffer in 'One Fine Day', I am able to create a fancy dress outfit out of thin air.  My desire and imagination far outstrips my talents in almost every area of my life! 

I was egged on by my daughter as I had already agreed to make a tutu for a friend, whose daughter was running the Race for Life.  However, with this one I had gone for the no-sew option and things went relatively smoothly producing a perfectly acceptable item at the end: :

"I'll make you a tutu too!" I said to my daughter.  This made us a little hysterical - you have to say it out loud to understand!

I cannot say how long it took to make it - or rather I won't.  But after much frustration and dismay I arrived at this: :

 But it looked much better like this: :