Christmas Day 2015

Christmas Day started at 3:30am in our buzzy household. At 3:45am I heard a rustling noise, I went into Louie's bedroom to find him wide awake surrounded by the gifts from his stocking!! Bless him, he was just too excited. We gathered up the gifts and tucked him back up into bed and he promised to go back to sleep! At about 6, I woke again and went in to him and the gifts were out again! Lego built, meccano built, books read - the little bee was incredibly excited and he couldn't contain himself! Santa even brought him a horse stable for the horses he had in his advent calendar, isn't Santa clever!

At about 7:30, we went down to do the presents. My first gift was the Hornsea pottery, genuine 1970's tea cup, which was absolutely perfect! We all had a selection of gifts but the main event was a very special present from Santa, but not from the North Pole, from somewhere in the South Pacific...

There was only one gift that Louie had asked Santa for this year, Tracy Island. And as Dan and I had both wanted it as a child and we were painfully denied (!), we both agreed that it was only fair to get one for Louie (so that we could relive our childhoods and play with it too...). We hunted down the original Matchbox Tracy Island from 1993 and the Weetabix figures to match too. Everyone was so excited!

After lunch, Nana and Grandad arrived. Louie changed into his adorable Christmas outfit and we all had some more gorgeous gifts including the Lego racing truck Louie has wanted for months (and subsequently forgotten about) and some deckchairs for the summer! Just what I had wanted! We were all very grateful :)

Then it was time for Christmas dinner.

We started with Paté, then for the main event we had roast ham with piggies and so much veg. Pudding was a little funny! As I don't like Christmas Pud, I made a Chocolate Tart for Louie and I but bought a little pud for everyone else, however I didn't look at the instructions! 2 hours to steam, oops! So we did have to make an emergency plea to our next door neighbour, they popped it in their microwave and saved the day!

By the time we had finished dinner, it was bedtime for a little bee. He was asleep in minutes (oh man, he was tired!) and then after Nana and Grandad took off home, Dan sat and played on his playstation for a little while, which is a treat for him, and I had a lovely look through my lovely gifts.

What a perfect Christmas.

Birthday Tea

 

 

Last week was Anna's birthday, so for a little birthday treat, I cooked up a sweet little afternoon tea to celebrate. Cheesey sandwiches (mini triangles of course), scones with clotted cream and my homemade damson jam and petit fours, strawberries and cream mille feulle and mini chocolate pies - all made by my fair hands!

Its safe to say I am quite proud of my creations and I hope the birthday girl enjoyed her birthday treats!

Date Day

Fridays mean finishing work early and collecting the Bee from playschool for the afternoon. Today we had a little date, just us. A trip to 'the hot chocolate shop' to watch the cars and have some cake followed by a play in the park.

The afternoon threatened us with stormy clouds with bright blue skies peeking through. Mr Bee ran upstairs playing hide and see, only Nana forgot to find him and he fell asleep...

Which left some quiet time to see if some yoga would ease my aches and pains before making a scrummy, yummy Chicken, Leek and Ham pie. Now for an evening of films and goodies ;)

Back into the Swing

After three weeks holiday over Christmas, then a week of extra at work I am so glad to be back to normal. A little peace and normality has been resumed. This morning I took Mr Bee for his annual pottery painting, making a birthday party piece for his party. This years theme is still under wraps, a big surprise for our little chap.
Then an afternoon in the kitchen (making as much mess as possible...). A home baked bloomer, a delicious Carrot and Coriander soup, a first in our kitchen, certainly not the last and a deliciously moist Chocolate Guinness Cake which I haven't made since I was a teenager.

Routine never felt so good.

Out of Doors

All day.
Breakfast al fresco, taking toys outside, talking to Ayo through the fence with goggles and ear defenders on because he was being noisy, best frock just because, bike ride to the park, roast chicken with salad al fresco again of course, chocolate fudge loaf with mascarpone, early bed.

Sunny Sunday

Sundays have become such a lazy, stay at home day. The sun shone and it was a beautiful afternoon so we spent the day playing in the garden.
Painting, paddling and picking flowers for Mummy from the garden. Thankfully, Mr Bees ankle seems to be on the mend, a day of nearly perfect walking, no nap (although he did crash out before 6!) and no sadness.
Our Sunday roast was taken outside, opting for lemon roast chicken with roast vegetable couscous and homemade potato salad and all the salady trimmings.