He's after your pudding!

Christmas

Have had a really good Christmas - lovely church services, good food & great time with friends & family.

On Christmas day it was P's Dad & us, on boxing day the four of us plus Mavis from church who would otherwise have been on her own.

Yesterday some friends came with their 2 boys and we really enjoyed having them.

Tomorrow night it's a party round Becky's again & on Saturday hopefully, weather permitting, my brother plus one daughter & my Dad are coming. Hope they can make it.

Wise Men on Their Journey

Happy Christmas

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

(Isaiah 9:6 NIV)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

5 hours of shopping

Yesterday woke up with really busy day ahead of me. P took his Dad off to doctors for flu vaccine & blood test & took J to drop him off at Becky's. I had so many cards to write & presents to wrap I was just going to get on with them, then I thought I would just sit down and spend a bit of time with God. It turned into such a peaceful time when I felt so close to Him I was so glad I hadn't decided I was so busy.
When P came back I went into town with him & spent 5 hours shopping! I actually really enjoyed it, the shops were quieter than last time & it was one of those days when everyone seemed to be helpful re the scooter. In BHS I was looking for a necklace for Becky & about 5 came off the stand all at once & got in a real tangle but the assistant was ever so sweet & sorted them out for me. I joined the queue clutching the one I'd chosen then I saw one on another stand that looked even nicer. As the queue snaked right past it I was able to grab it - & it was exactly the same as the one I was holding. Am I losing it or something?
As we drove to pick up J it started pelting snow but later it turned to rain. Today there was quite a lot of thaw but it's now frozen over. Apparently it should warm up tomorrow.

Nativity

The nativity performance on Sunday went so well, all the children did brilliantly and the little ones were so sweet. And not a crook in sight. There were quite a few children & parents from the toddler club who don't normally come to church which was really good. Afterwards we had proper party food, not just mince pies & everyone seemed to really enjoy it. In the evening we had our candle-lit carol service which was lovely & afterwards we had more food!
We sang a religious version of Jingle Bells which was very good, I was going to print it out but not sure about copyright.

Winter wonderland

Our garden in the snow.

Nativity

If you're ever organising a children's nativity play here's a tip - don't give the shepherds crooks. Crooks can be used for sword fights and for poking wise men in the ribs.

Have just returned from rehearsal, nativity involves 2 short plays, one for little children & one for older ones. J & Adam are narrators in first & wise men in second. As most of children didn't turn up last week they rehearsed first play 3 times & second twice with children who were already over-excited & fractious before they even began. Reassured organiser that it'll be alright for the performance tomorrow, but she didn't look all that convinced and went off muttering something about 'those crooks have to go'. Think I'll buy chocolates for J's Sunday school teachers, they do a tough job.

Carol service very nice in snow last night but toes cold!

J about to meet up with Tim & Adam on the common & we're going Christmas shopping. Yippee! (That's a sarcastic yippee, by the way)

Have just ordered some curtains for dining room, wonder if there's any possibility at all of getting them by Christmas.

Lots of snow!

Woke up to several inches of snow! Didn't find out school was closed until 7.40 so had to start getting ready but I was wondering if it was safe to drive or not. J was just so disappointed when he found out school was shut! He was straight out to play in snow. He's just phoned Tim but apparently junior school is open.
We're meant to be going to an outdoor carol service tonight. Brrr! Could be quite atmospheric though.

Snow

It's snowing!

Cold frosty morning

Cold & frosty here but only a few flakes of snow. Drove back way to school through country lanes, very pretty & beautiful sunrise over frosty fields but roads very icy.

Had really good time at P's housegroup social. Was billed as 'mulled wine & mince pies' which was bit of prob for me as I'm off alcohol at moment because of tablets I'm taking & I don't like mince pies but they had mulled apple juice & chocolate brownies as well. Yum. Some nice people to talk to, sadly had to leave early to pick up J from scouts Christmas party. Boys emerged with variously shaped blobs of dough from which oozed mincemeat. They described these as mince pies which they'd made themselves. They enjoyed it anyway.

Yesterday had coffee morning Christmas lunch which was very nice except the fruit crumble which was a bit stodgy. P came too which was nice.

I really have to get on with my Christmas letter now. Don't know what to write!

Christmas catching up on me

Went to brilliant concert Sat night, scouts carol concert last night, scouts party tonight, P's housegroup social also tonight, Xmas lunch tomorrow, carols Fri night, nativity rehearsal Sat am, nativity performance Sunday (J & Adam both wise men & narrators due to lack of interest from other older children) and I still haven't written a single card or finished my Christmas letter.

Help!!

Sleepy day

Today P was at junior school as a governor, mainly helping escort chuldren to & from carol concert at church. He kindly took J to school for me. I woke up with a headache so took 2 paracetamol & decided to have a bit more sleep. I woke up at 12.40! I must have needed the sleep. Actually last week was really busy, I was out every single day.

Highlights of the week were:

• going to Christmas fair at J's junior school on Friday (the children seemed tiny!)

• going to village Christmas fair on Saturday at which J & other scouts were doing car washing, this is a really nice event with beautifully decorated stalls & lots of home-made cakes & chutney & a really good book stall, I went over & chose a pile of books then P said 'I'll take the ones I bought earlier now please' & added another huge pile to my lap, people were laughing at me I was so laden

• our delayed bonfire night on Saturday evening, one of J's new friends who I'll call 'Paul' came as well as Tim & Adam, Paul seems a very nice polite & sensible sort of boy & got on well with Tim & Adam which was a relief. Sadly it did start raining a bit which didn't bother the boys but the grown-ups felt a bit wet & miserable. As usual the kids showed more interest in sparklers & glow sticks than the amazing, multi-coloured expensive rockets & fountains. What we weren't anticipating was one of them (mentioning no names) sticking hot sparklers into the glow sticks so the glow goo came oozing out. This same child then took a bag from his pocket & said 'I'm just going to light my home-made sparkler' 'You're what???' I yelled 'Someone stop him!' His home-made firework turned out to be a stick. I was really glad Becky was there to help keep them under control.
  

Then we had baked potatoes indoors & got warm & the boys played bowling on the wii.

Have to go it's dinner time.

Bedtime conversation

Conversation at bedtime:

Mum: 'I just need to straighten out your sheet.'

J: 'Be careful with the cheese under my pillow.'

Mum: 'Why have you put cheese under your pillow?'

J: 'So the flies don't get it.'

I suppose it was a stupid question.

Will J ever get the bus?

This afternoon I spent on the 'Pre Christmas Tidy-Up' & had quite got into it, kneeling on the floor with a waste paper sack, rubbish sack & cardboard box into which I was chucking stuff & then sticking on a label to say what it was (pretty organised for me!) & was just thinking I'd got 45 minutes until J came home on the bus. Then the phone rang - J!
'Now what's happened?'
'The bus driver didn't stop, he just waved at us & drove past.'
'He what?!!!'
I picked J up. He did ok in his French test apart from spelling 'Quel' as 'Kel' (words fail me). As soon as I got home I was on the phone to the bus company. After half an hour of determined waiting I got through:
'My son says the bus didn't stop outside his school!'
'I know, the driver just waved & drove past. We've been inundated with complaints & when the driver comes in he's probably going to be subject to a disciplinary procedure & we're really, really sorry.'
There wasn't really anything else I could say.

Brrr

December arrived with a vengeance this morning - it was cold & icy. I could find neither de-icer or scraper so had to attack the car windows with a credit card while J did some last-minute homework printing. We made it to school just in time. On the way back I was listening to Premier Radio & they were talking about World Aids Day & someone was describing a trip to Uganda on which she'd come across a 7 year old boy bringing up his 3 year old brother all alone. They lived in what was basically a heap of mud with a twig fire & were eating white ants. She was able to get help for them, they're now at school & the older boy wants to be a doctor. I really hope he makes it. But in Africa there are so many children like them orphaned by AIDs & so many grandparents struggling to bring up grandchildren & earn a living. It's very sobering to think about.
For the first time in ages I was able to go to the housegroup. This has changed quite a lot as several young mums now come along with a couple of babies who are very sweet but quite distracting. There was only Sophie & me there this morning from the original group. Sophie had brought mince pies & Christmas cake but I don't like mince pies & resisted the cake as I'd trying hard to lose weight & was feeling very encouraged as this morning I managed to get into my dark blue jeans! For the first time in 2 1/2 years!
Sophie had left behind her notes & was relying on mine which were sadly very brief as Sunday was the anniversary of my mum dying & I kept trying not to think about it during the service but then thinking about it anyway & also I felt the sermon went off track theologically & so did the woman next to me who's got a degree in theology ( it wasn't our usual preacher). A couple of people in the group said they found it helpful though so I don't know.

Shopping again

Yesterday afternoon I headed for town as I hadn't been shopping by myself for weeks & weeks. I got J a Fair Trade Advent Calendar & P some Fair Trade chocolate brazils as one of his Christmas presents (don't tell him). I also went a bit mad & got a brown 3/4 sleeve cardigan to go over my rust polo neck & a pink polo neck to go under the top I got for my birthday which I haven't been able to wear cos I didn't have anything to go with it. Then I saw some really cool boots (well I thought they were cool). The thing with my feet is they are long, narrow & a bit knobbly & they hurt. So it's almost like in the rare event of footwear fitting & being comfortable I buy it. And these boots were super comfy.
I carried on whizzing round the clothes shops desperately looking for something for my nieces & almost demolishing a display of jeans with my scooter then headed back to the car to meet P at which moment my mobile rang - J had missed the bus cos he was busy taking a book back to the library so off to school we went.
P went to a meeting in the evening & I tested J on French vocabulary:
'What's French for cat?'
'Chien.'
All those years of sending J to French Club have really paid off!

A lovely view

This was the view from our bedroom window a few weeks ago.

Autumn Crocus

This photo doesn't do them justice but these were some of our Autumn Crocus.

More update

P said he wanted the computer to look up insulation material to make his poor old Dad's house warmer. Not that poor old Dad wants his house made warmer, like the other males in the family he doesn't feel the cold and keeps turning down the heating.

Anyway to carry on recapping on the Sunday after the school fair there was a baptism at church & it was so moving. There was a lady who had a very difficult childhood & lost her husband a couple of years ago & had an amazing testimony about God speaking to her, then a couple who hadn't told anyone they were getting baptised. They had lost a baby daughter a few days before her first birthday & their testimony was so moving it made me cry.
Sunday evening we sent J to do his piano practice & he just slumped over the keyboard at which point we realised he wasn't well. He was off school the next day with a bit of a temperature. The next morning he woke with a slight temperature then he started coughing badly & about 11 o'clock his temperature shot up to 39 & he suddenly became really ill & drowsy at which point I totally panicked & phoned the surgery in tears. Our doctor, to whom I shall be forever grateful, came out straight away. He took one look then went to his car & came back clad in apron, mask & gloves. He did various tests for meningitis which were negative & said he was pretty sure it was swine flu. He authorised some tamiflu but sadly it made J sick, however when P went down with it he took the tamiflu & made a quick recovery unlike poor J. So the last 2 weeks was J & me at home but now he's back at school, hooray! Really there is only so much Star Wars & Dr Who I can take.