Breakfast

I'll tell you who's on the naughty list. Santa himself is on the naughty list.

(Actually it is kind of fun having a guitar hero for a husband)

Elves!!

Laura is seeing Christmas anew as a 2 + 1/2 yr old! She met Santa at the Winter gardens, went to hear the brass band and choir singing Christmas carols, all the while anxious to get busy helping in wrapping and delivering pressies! Meanwhile carols and bits of paper on your socks are only minor impediments............

Sunrise, Sunset

08:48 and 15:27.

What is it where you are?

To update, Laura did finally nap, the day that I hauled every toy and shelf and chair out of her room into the hall. Am I going to have to do this every day?

And thank you to all those kind people who refrained from saying, "Haven't you been playing fiddle since 1997? Shouldn't you be in Fiddle Level 14?"

The tree is up. Now it needs lights. And decorations. And presents! Claire was wrapping her sisters' and dad's presents yesterday and insisted that I write on the tag, "From Santa from the North Pole". And Laura has progressed from mumbling "Santa's scary" to shouting, "Santa's nice!" What swayed her was Ailsa's flashing Santa hat and a drawing I did that she carries around the house. She also goes around shouting, "May-ee, Josess, donkey!" and pulling the hair/veil/cloak/saddle/beard off all the Playmobil characters.Ailsa and Heather are getting Christmas Dinner in the school today, with "turkey, and that bread thing that's shaped like a bowl" "Yorkshire pudding?" "That's it".

Poor Quality Photos, High Quality Fun

Last Sunday saw me on stage at the Lemon Tree with my band, (we call ourselves Fiddle Level 2). Heather was assigned the job of squeezing through the crowd to the front to snap some pictures. I'm in the pink and red, with a big red light on my head. You can't tell but we sounded fantastic and fast!
This is Heather the red-eyed, bespectacled elf, in the Elf Percussion Orchestra in the school Christmas concert. She can play some classy cabassa.

And this is Laura this morning looking out at our first snowfall this winter. I am taking a picture of her taking a picture of the snow. We had a lovely day playing in the snow in the morning, church, board games, back to church for a children's nativity and visit from Santa, KFC, and watching the final of Strictly Come Dancing.

postscript: although Laura looks angelic in this picture, she has not napped in 4 days and is therefore bonkers from 2pm every day. Therefore, instead of taking part in the nativity, she had to be incarcerated at Granda and Grandma's house for the afternoon.

Cool

Yesterday Heather asked me, "Mum, are you cool?"
Aww, I love it when they are trying to figure out what words mean that they have heard at school. I could have been honest and said, "No, I am plain. Katy Perry is cool". But I saw it as an opportunity to elevate myself in her estimation.
So I said, "Yes, I am cool".
She and Ailsa immediately, loudly chanted, "Constipated, overweighted old lady!

The Christmas is in the Detail

Last night John was snack hunting.
"Ooh, what are these mini mince pies up here?"
"Those are for Sunday evening, when we write all the Christmas cards"
"Cards. Boy, you are 10 Christmas steps ahead of me. If Christmas was left to me, I'd cook a nice meal and make a phone call or two".

I was crying with laughter, I nearly dropped my toast.