Christmas

Amazingly this was the first 'white' Christmas that we have had since returning to England eight years ago. I love to see Christmas through my children's eyes - teenage eyes, no longer big wide-eyed kiddy eyes but not yet adult I've experienced so many Christmas' eyes. They have opinions now, which gets annoying as they all want their say in which tree we choose and where exactly the tree should stand - this year arrival of  new slightly too large sofa put paid to any discussion over location of tree - there was only one suboptimal possibility.. by the front door.

Yet it is still sweet to see them get the same decorations out of the box and remember them from last Christmas and the Christmas before and in doing so remember where we lived... where they were bought...each decoration placed carefully on the tree is part of our story.

Sam (kid's cousin), India and Jade

 Milo and India

This year I decided to make home made crackers...definitely a ' lol' moment on Christmas eve when the only shop still open in my kingdom was the co-op. So apart from a box of quality street and a bicycle repair  kit purchased from said shop I rustled up all sorts of things to put inside my crackers which I made from brown paper, of which I had plenty and coloured ribbon, of which I had just enough. I have an old printing set, which must have belonged to a grocery shop, which I used to personalize each cracker...inside I wrote quotes from famous people  (with the help of google, Einstein and Marilyn Munroe) and instead of paper hats we just wore hats of all shapes and sizes.

Snow

I ventured out and took a few shots of the town just before night fell. This is a rare view of my kingdom with so much snow and so little traffic. I am looking forward to a tasty goulash tonight cooked by my sister.....I'm feeling smug as this meal was cooked with my other sister in mind but she is snow bound in her own village and so will be tucking into a bad shop bought pie....unlucky:)

Ellie Goulding 'Your Song'

Eliza Doolittle - Skinny Genes Lyrics

The Lucinda Belle Orchestra: Telephone, Lady Gaga (harp acoustic cover b...

Chair

Am sitting, sewing. Sewing through thick velvet with a weird, curved needle, which i'm not quite getting the hang of...wearing glasses that are not really helping me to see. I am finishing off reupholstering a parker knoll chair that I have been working on for the past few months..yesterday was my last class so now it's just me and the chair. Perhaps I'll add a photo later in a show and tell type way.

Lost Things

Chicken Pie

Mum with Penny

Me as a baby with Penny

Me, James and Val

Well it's Friday and I'm making a chicken pie tonight from last night's leftover roast chicken and some sausage meat balls which I have made by removing the skins from some chipolatas I bought from Colin the butcher (he's the one who knows everyone by name). I like shopping at our small local shops...it reminds me of how shopping was when I was a child....there were no large out-of-town supermarkets then.    I would walk by my mother's side, holding on to my brother's pram, one of those large cumbersome prams that have now become popular with quirky/trendy mums. We would always follow a similar route.  We would go to the top end of town first where, if it was a Friday, we would buy fish from the fishmongers...my mum would always choose plaice which she would dip in egg and breadcrumbs and cook with big fat homemade chips. I was always totally captivated if we needed to go to the haberdashery shop...they had this strangest contraption for taking your money...a lady would place your money inside a cylindrical container which she would then attach to a wire above her head and then the cylinder would whizz down the entire length of the shop as if it were on it's own mini ski lift until it reached its destination which was a gentleman sitting inside what resembled a phone box. I really cant remember what happened if you needed change but suffice to say I found it all intriguing.

Home

It's always nice to look around someone's house so I decided to post some shots of my home. There were a few obstacles in my way...fading daylight, dog refusing to move out of my field of vision and child full of cold lingering on sofa. Anyway one speedy tidy up later and 'et voila!'

It's very cold outside

It's so cold outside...unusually so for this time of year...must be global warming or global freezing. It was so cold that by the end of the walk my hair had frozen so that I looked like the white witch from Narnia who, instead of wearing amazing white dress and furs, was wearing a skanky black puffa jacket.   Small, hairy dog belongs to my sister...his name is Ike. 

Belle of the ball

Last night I went to my niece's christmas party. It was all very elegant with more than a touch of theatre to the occasion but the belle of the ball was undoubtedly Zanna who wore a pink and perfect vintage dress from her mums shop.