All the food photos especially for Aunty Morag. Our first Christmas without her, I miss her so much. So grateful to have grown up in such a loving family. Enjoy the following on her behalf.
Nativity Day 22
The Kings have seen better days, they wish they’d been left in the box after all, as requested by the mistress of the house. The excitement of Christmas is clearly too much.
She’s asleep upstairs and may be coming down with something as has been unusually emotional and tired, we got a vision of the teenage years. Earlier she came on some errands with me. I’ve finally posted off Christmas cards, chances of arrival by the 24th are slim to none. I can highly recommend errands with our four year old, the cat is second to none, she was evaluating the cooking skills of Damien and I today. I am the exiting cook and he’s the boring one. the other day she announced, ‘Why don’t you know anything Mummy and Daddy knows everything’. Oh we laughed. Everyone was present for that cracker fortunately.
On said errands I popped to the supermarket to get my shoes repaired and Pere Noel was there…. She now has a real life photo of herself at Christmas to add to the Christmas wall. I’ve not printed photos off for years. Her parting comment was that every Pere Noel is ‘differenter and differenter’.
This evening we watched The Matrix with the boys, I’ve been wanting to watch this again for ages and it happened to be on the telly tonight. What film. Red pill or blue pill?
Yesterday the boys went on an adventure in the hills around the village with their friends and I was sent some small photos. Twin 1 came home soaked as he fell in the river. What a magnificent place we live in.
Nativity Day 21
Nativity Day 20
The nativity scene is looking all tidy thanks to me and a big slice of lego cake has been added. Which is as close to home baked cakes we will be getting this Christmas.
R.I.P the most annoying oven I have ever encountered. It needed a written invitation before it would finally start working and if the packet said 25 mins you needed to double the time. If only it could have made it to the January sales and Christmas dinner out of the way….. all the Christmas food in the freezer will have to wait. Chances of finding an oven and getting it delivered by Christmas are slim to none.
In other news twin 2 asked for a cuddle. He said it feels a bit strange as I feel really big.
Nativity Day 19
The nativity looks the same as yesterday so no updates there… We all had a long lie in today, I headed to church on my own to sing carols and this week I did a reading. Bought a cooked chicken from the supermarket for lunch which is open until midday on a Sunday. our oven has been broken for two weeks so was a bit of a treat. Electrician coming over tomorrow so hopefully we can work out what’s going on….. could be the electrics. Meal plans could be drastically changed for Christmas Day. The kids would juts enjoy sausage and mash anyway let’s be honest.
After lunch we headed out for a family walk and discovered new places for adventures. The children are into playing Narnia at the moment having watched the film series, we have one more to go for a movie night this week. Sunnier later in the afternoon when we went to the park where I finished my book. Next up Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford.
Nativity Day 17 & 18
Nativity scene is looking even more chaotic…. the flowers have still not bee replaces. A water bottle and face mask have been added to the scene.
Feedback from the teachers is that the the welsh cakes were delicious. Yesterday I spent around 8 hours sat on my backside tapping away at my computer to get final pieces of work finished before the holidays. I could face another minute of typing so missed a day of my blogging streak. You probably enjoyed a wee break too 😉
This morning Anya had her last dance class of the year. I was asked again if I wanted to join the class Whatsapp group, I once again declined. I’d happily see videos of my daughter every now and again, but she goes to the class to have fun and learn some new skills and get out of the village. I don’t need to witness it, I know how cute she is and I get regular shows. Giving up Whatsapp has been one of the highlights of the year in terms of mental state. I use my phone as a phone now, all the apps have been removed and when it finally dies I will be getting a Nokia.
After class we met her friend Luna to go on the carousel many, many many times. We ate a baguette on a bench by the market and the girls ran riot, got a lecture from a woman about how to take care of my kids better, to which I politely nodded and ignored. Run up those stairs and shout at pigeons my darlings! Fall over, I’ll pick you up…..
The evening has been filled with making and writing Christmas cards, which won’t arrive in time but I wanted to include the school photo in some of them. It is the last year that there will be one fo the 3 of them as the boys start college next year. It’s not a great picture…
I’m enjoying this easy Christmas read. I set myself a goal to read a book a week and have a little rule:
- A French book
- One novel
- One factual
- One easy read rom com style book
I used to love running bookclub on the wards so I’ve just set up a new therapeutic bookclub starting next year. I’m really excited about, bringing OT to the masses.
Oh Anya won a book in the photo competition on reconciliation, where she was hugging Ruby.
Nativity Day 16
Creativity was at its peak today. Woken by the youngest reminding me to put chocolate in the advent calendar, I’d be dreadful at Elf on the Shelf….. twin two pulled a sickie. He’s adamant he was ill, however had told us yesterday how much he hates the school Christmas meal. Guess what was on at school today, the Christmas meal….. The day was suitably boring and he has made a marvellous recovery. 2 hours in to the day he was bored without his brother.
Last day of school tomorrow and then two weeks of eating chocolates, watching crap tv and pulling my hair out at the youngest ones mess making skills.
Check this video out from 16th December 2017…. she’s not really changed:
nativity day 15
3rd attempt at this page and will to live gone so here we go…..
Nativity Day 14
The four year old……..”Well the angel died, she fell because the flesh went in her body. The camel and the donkey are amoureuse (in love) and the sheep is their baby…….And Jesus……. is hiding. So I teld you the story and baby Jesus he’s just died. That’s the story.”
Other than a work party, I’ve done session plans for next terms ateliers and dropped off parcels for the post. As tomorrow is Wednesday there is no school (as always, until boys start college in September next year). We will be making Christmas cards and posting them out as the school photos have arrived….. you lucky things getting a copy of this years one…… won’t lie I’m a bit disappointed as it’s the last school photograph of the 3 of them together.
a demain x
Nativity Day 13
I am learning to use my camera and need to work out how to get the photos in the house less yellow.
This morning I visited Nizas a lovely village outside of Pézenas. I took some pictures of the Christmas decorations for another project. There were many others but they would look more lovely at night.
Once home I then started the mammoth task of uploading the clothes and books we no longer want onto Vinted….. I spent 3 hours and have a few more bits to go. But with sales of 48€ by the end of the day it feels worth it.
Anya and I had a bath this evening and she planned her Birthday party, it’s going to be quite something and she was teaching me all the things I needed to say in French about the games and snacks. She said I need to speak the other language and was thankfully satisfied that I had the repertoire to serve her friends…. She wants an animal theme but is slightly worried her friend who loves cats will squeeze her too hard and rehearsed what she’d say to her so that she knew she wasn’t a real cat. The boys then came in to join in wit the chat and it was a real party. I cut their nails. We discussed the cake and the logistics of making a unicorn one, that perhaps a lion would be more doable. To be continued……
Twins In London 