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.

Our Week

Another exhausting week has flown by. We have been on a delightful night time bat walk, Louie has learned how to ride his bike (all by himself!), played games at Calke Abbey and had a delicious mid week roast. Louie has been settling in to school and we have been preparing for our impending house move, brimming with excitement.

Just What We Needed

 A glorious countryside walk and a visit to the Wistow Rural Centre to make our simple picnic amazing. Olives, biscuits and yummy drinks from the Mediterranean Kitchen, a pal we have made from our Farmers Market trips. If you are local, trust us, he is amazing. Dan and Louie love the olives and I adore the fresh bread and perfect turkish delight!
We sat on our blanket eating our delish sandwiches and reading our magazines in the sunshine until it was too hot and time to get the Sunday roast on.

 On our way home, we saw an abundance of Elderflowers absolutely everywhere. Too many to go home empty handed. After the boys settled down at home, I went on a forage with some scissors and a bag and came home with enough flowers to make some home made cordial.

And then for dinner. As you will probably know, Sunday dinner is a big thing in our household. With Nana away at work, I had a free reign to do something a little different. A succulent lemon and thyme stuffed chicken, with the most perfectly cooked veg. All cooked in one huge tray. Less washing up for Pappy.
Homemade Tiramisu for after... a masterpiece if I do say so myself (as I would, as Dan and Louie's were a bit sloppy... too much coffee).

The heavens have opened and I have my feet up whilst the boys play quietly. A DVD to watch after bedtime will finish off a truly needed, relaxing day.

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.

Sunday

What a lazy weekend we have had! With Mr Bee scaring us twice this week, once with a severe coughing fit and next with an extremely high temperature, we have stayed home and watched an enormous amount of TV.

This afternoon, Papa treated us to a walk around the garden centre for a little lunch and some Christmas browsing. Mr Bee fell asleep (again) and missed out on all the fun.
I was just happy to finally bring a hat home, after weeks of searching. Papa decided I had to have a hat like his, so this little furry Joules number made its way to the till for me.

This weeks Sunday evening is all about cuddling on the sofa with the little hot bee, watching old movies and waiting for my perfected Roast Ham dinner.

Happy Sunday folks!