O Frabjous Days

I have loved this Christmas.  I recall Mark and I were not getting along that well last Christmas, and so this year, with much more effort being put in on both sides towards each others' well-being throughout the year, this festive period has felt bathed in warmth and kindness and it has made everything so much nicer.  The massive amount of pressies, alcohol and food has also helped towards the general feeling of goodwill in the Newson household ha ha.

I always get a hankering for attending Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, although I have never done so.  I am very torn between being at home and enjoying the excited anticipation which seems to naturally 'hang around'  on Christmas Eve (and have a wine or two truth be told) and making the effort to drive out into the cold night to find a) a decent church where I will merge into the crowd and be unnoticed as I cry my way through Christmas carols and b) a parking space in a not lonely and dark place where I will fear for my life upon my return in the wee hours, as I will surely be alone in my sudden urge to raise my voice to the heavens.

I didn't go this year.  Again.  I will though, one year.

I got a load of lovely stuff from Oliver - and unexpectedly, as he was not buying me anything else - a Kindle from Mark!  This was a real surprise, as we both seem a bit uncertain about the idea of a reading device vs books, but I have to say - I had a little secret squeal when I opened it.  It is soooo very cool.  It does not have, as Mark pointed out, the character of books, but boy it wins hands down on the portability front, and the ability to download free samples of books is so choice.  I know within a few paragraphs normally, if  I am going to be able to enjoy the author's style or not. so I will be able to dip into a massive variety of titles and styles.  And I can get the Internet on it.  Tedious, but hey, exciting nonetheless.  And the screen savers are so beautiful, in restful greyscale.

I bought Mark a second hand pouffe in the end.  Yes, I know.  We won't speak of it.

Oliver's favourite present has been his Nintendo 3DS.  Yep, very electronic and plastic, but he's happy, and a child of the noughties, what more can I say.  I was, however, slightly surprised at the level of interest and attention he paid to everything he opened - pleasing. 

Yeah yeah I know the TV is on - a bit much on Christmas morning, but you try opening pressies when there is just three of you in the room and all attention is pretty much focused on the child - it's a fair bit of pressure to handle so the TV on as background mutter (think it was top 50 Christmas songs) helps things along nicely.

After unexpectedly receiving money from both sets of parents, this morning I got up at Stupid O'Clock For Christmas and went into town, with the intention of buying my annual quota of 'decent' clothes in the sales.  I got there before any bloody shop was open, so sat on the wall in Cathedral Close with a latte, admiring the peace and the magnificent west front.  The weather is in stark contrast to this time last year - there was ice and snow everywhere then, today I sat on a wall for 20 mins in a jumper, no gloves, no coat. 

Then I hit Next.  And Primark.  Opposite ends of the scale, but hey - some things are good to get in Next for quality and longevity ie: boots and jeans, and some things are good to get in Primark for a two quid price tag, slobbing about in and not expecting it to last past 5 washes ie: PJ's and t shirts.  I came home after 3 very long hours, to find Mark had blown his share on the Internet.  Bloody hell.  He got up hours after me, and didn't have to leave the living room.  So unfair.

Yum.

I leave you with two of my favourite festive pictures of my all time favourite boy.

where there's music and laughter, happ-i-ness is rife - why?

...because I like life.

Tra la la. This was in one of the songs from my all time favourite musical Christmas film - Scrooge., which Oliver and I watched yesterday. Yeah, yeah, I know there are loads of versions of A Christmas Carol, but this is my personal favourite. It's all snowy, and Christmassy, and Dickensian, and full of heart-lifting songs - especially at the end when he repents and throws money and joy all around the place. And I cry at the end every year. Ahh, such happ-i-ness.

Talking of heart-lifting, I have a CD of Christmas Carols in the car this year sung by a proper choir and all, and it is so lovely to have it up loud and drive about to the melodic strains of Nowell Nowell.... I feel very uplifted and joyful and feel bathed in smiley-ness. Hosannah in excelsis indeed.

Have spent the last 5 days in the depths of the countryside (well, on the outskirts of the big smoke anyway ha ha) baby/house sitting my mother-in-law whilst Kim et famille decamped to the other side of the family in Essex. It was a nice break - a change really can be as good as a rest, and Kim has a really big kitchen and cooker, so it was very stress-free from my point of view to cook meals and 'be' in the heart of the home. This is why I want our kitchen/dining room knocked through. However, her cutlery drawer is annoyingly located at the opposite end to the kitchen sink and cooker, and this caused many an expletive and a stamp across the room, so Kim - move your spoons. Ha ha, she'll have something to say about that for sure....

Some pics of life there, hope Kim won't mind me sharing a pic of her lovely tree.....

And if I had a flag I'd hang me flag out.....

God bless us, every one.

Baby it's cold outside....

A little bit of a catch up post today.  On Tuesday, despite the inclement weather, we headed off to Babbacombe for our annual fill of fake snow and Santa.  We (well, I) thought that we would squeeze in a visit to Bygones too, as it is just around the corner from the model village car park, and I read a good review of it on Julis's blog earlier in the year. 

Bygones was lovely. I really enjoyed it - Oliver was a bit scared of the lifesize models and sound effects and clung onto my coat for the first twenty minutes, but things looked up when we reached the cafe and got to make Christmas cards and crackers for free.  Tres exciting, as you can see.

The model village was a little disappointing for me this year.  Possibly because it was bloody freezing cold, and damp, and grey, and deserted.  Possibly because I take the same photos year after year, but also possibly because I am acutely aware that my time visiting these cutesy places and seeing santa is inextricably linked to Oliver growing older, and I just want to weep with misery at the inevitable loss of childhood times.  Blimey, that's cheered me up none.  Pulling myself swiftly together, and trying to live in the now, it was a great day we had together, and that is precious enough to make me feel joy.

Then we had the annual Home Ed party, a calmer affair than in previoius years, and better for it was the general concensus of opinion. 

And yesterday saw the opening of the RAMM - it has been closed for years - around four, I think, but Oliver and I spent many hours in the museum when he was a toddler and it is great to know it is there again.  I thought it was great - a couple of  things they have done are too bloody stupid for words (like pop a cafe directly underneath a galleried landing where young ruffians and local yobbos can spit in your coffee or drop various bits onto unsuspecting punters down below), and move the iconic Gerald the Giraffe to some crappy pass-through room HE SHOULD BE WHERE HE WAS BEFORE YOU BUREAUCRATIC DIMWITS - POKING HIS HEAD UP THROUGH THE GALLERIED LANDING!!!!!!!!

One of Oliver's friends has given him a Christmas present, which consists of little things of his own which he has gathered together in a box, and giftwrapped.  I think this is both charming, and a brilliant approach to gift-giving.  Upcycling is the way to go.  Oliver has done the same to return the gift, so I hope it will be well received.

And so we roll along into the week before Christmas, and boy - am I glad we have been out and about, and done the trips we wanted to before the kids broke up from school, as I imagine it will be chaos going anywhere next week. 

Laters dudes.

I'm in pretty good shape....

...apparently.  That's what my osteopath told me yesterday in amongst poking, prodding, pulling and massaging sore bits.  Very.  Hard.  Anyhoo, this chappie was probably just about old enough to be out without parental supervision (noticing this more and more as time goes by) and it seems,  after his examination (heh heh heh), there is nothing seriously wrong - muscles overworking and tightening due to coughing mostly, I gather.  Seemingly my joints are a little 'over flexible' so the muscles are taking some of the work the ligaments should be doing.  Or something like that, I got a little confused.  Probably due to the fact I spent half the session gabbling apologies about the state of my man-legs, ie the hairy-ness of them as I can't be doing with regular leg-shaving in the winter.  Once my back started to hurt I then couldn't shave them because I couldn't stretch down that far.  Oh the vicious circles one finds oneself trapped within....
Christmas-wise, I did a bit of wrapping last night - Christmas ra-ra-ra rapping.  Ha ha.  I have nothing for Mark yet.  The difficulty in buying gifts for Mark is unspeakably - difficult.  So we won't speak of it. 

Here is my Christmas journal thus far:

The crappy A5 folder is working very well for me - think this format will do the job really well for future pic-journals.

We are supposed to be heading off to Babbacombe later today, for the Winter Wonderland experience, which we do every year, but the weather is a bit of a shocker.  It's as black as yer 'at out there, and the rain is lashing the windows as I write - but I want to go before the schoolshitskids break up on Friday, so we have the place virtually to ourselves, as in previous years.  So lucky.  This was the vista from ours earlier:

Pretty, huh?

Laters.

more baubles than you can shake a stick at and posh nosh

Sooooo, a further telephone call to the Doc on Thursday and a visit on Friday morning cleared us to take our annual Otter Nurseries Santa visit.  I love the way they make a really good grotto, and they have the Santa gift falling down the 'magic chimney' - it's brill.  They also have a fantastic range of Christmas decs and displays.  This one made me titter, I like to imagine that the star of the show has walked out in a fit of pique.  Over pay, or something.

The Santa gift this year was a good one - cuddly toys are always appreciated!

I was drawn to this candy shoppe display:

as well as the more traditional flavours:

And Saturday saw us taking a trip to Axminster (bit of a pit of a town - sorry if you live there) to have lunch at the River Cottage canteen.  This was supposed to happen last weekend, for Mark's birthday, but was postponed because Oliver was ill.  Can't say he is much better now, but gotta get on with it...

Oliver chose pheasant:

Mark, polenta with mushrooms:

I didn't photograph my dinner, I was too greedy hungry to wait any longer.  I had mussels with a side of chunky 'real' chips which were so hot I burnt my mouth.  This temporarily distracted me from the pain in my back, which I seem to have injured in some way. 

Oliver didn't eat all of his pheasant, which I think tasted weirdly chicken-like, but our dishes were good.  The puddings were very grown up - bitter chocolate and cinammon cream in a parfait jar (!!!) and vanilla cheescake with apricots.  Both great, but both very 'grown up' tasting.  Make of that what you will.

Excitement of all excitement:

I have wanted a little typewriter like this for years - for scrapbooking labelling purposes mainly.  Saw this in a recycling shop in Axminster, asked how much it was (expecting around £25, which I wouldn't have paid - would have gone to £10), and the bloke said a couple of quid!! I was saying done and reaching for my purse before the end of the word 'quid'.  Mark, who will surely sprain his eyeballs one day by rolling them so fiercely, muttered and mumbled alot about this purchase, but I am smitten.  Mwwaahh to my little SR180.  Here's to you my tippety tappity friend.

Yeahh, my back hurts.  Those who know me, will know I don't bear pain well at all.  Think I have twisted something out of place, and putting my shoes on, driving, lying down and sitting in certain positions hurt.  Annoyingly, walking around and standing in the kitchen doing mundane domestic chores don't cause pain.  Well, that's alright then.  Off to an Osteopath as soon as they open tomorrow morning.