http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/xmas_2010
Some things to look forward to:
Ben kissing Gruffalo ass
Mel being a pyromaniac
Tons of food
My first bacon
And loads more food stuff.
The beaver is a proud and noble animal
Notes from a bemused canuck
http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/xmas_2010
Some things to look forward to:
Ben kissing Gruffalo ass
Mel being a pyromaniac
Tons of food
My first bacon
And loads more food stuff.
We’re back home after 6 days at the in-laws. Even though the house is in a bit of a state and we have no food, it’s good to be back home. It’ll take a few days for the normal routine to sink back in. We need to do a massive cleanup and sort out to fit all of the xmas schwag we got. Santa was a bit over generous, though the evil elf Visa might be grumpy for the next little while…
Overall, xmas was good. Was a bit sick on xmas day due to an over-indulgence with the good stuff, but a bit of a post-puke nap sorted that out. Have tons of pics that I want to post online. Everybody seemed to have a good time. There are so many leftovers its rather scary. We have tons of stuff we haven’t even opened yet. I might bring some stuff for the vultures at work cause otherwise were going to blow up if we eat all of the goodies we bought and brought back.
I did most of what I wanted to do in leics. We saw HP and the deathly hallows earlier I’m the week and we saw Tron Legacy last night. Very shiny shiny, a bit preachy and a good soundtrack.
Not exactly sure what the plan is for the next few days but I’m sure it’ll involve cooking and cleaning, and possibly lots of eating.
We’re slowly getting ready for the big day tomorrow. We’ve been cooking sausages wrapped in bacon, curried chicken skewers, yorkie puds, roast spuds and have done most of Tue veggie prep. That leaves only the roast to do tomorrow and reheating/parboiling stuff that’s already jade a once over so we’re hoping to keep stress at a minimum.
We took bean to see Santa today and were in a better position to take a picture. He looked suitably frightened, so our work here is done for the season. I made our family xmas card and mass emailed it out, so that too is done.
We’re going to open most of the xmas prezzies tonight because it would be a zoo trying to do that tomorrow with bean running around like a whirling dervish. We’ll keep one or two presents each so that we all have something under the tree to show that Santa’s been round though.
Other than that, we have a game plan and it allows for massive amounts of food and drink so rock on!
Hope that any of you who might be reading this have a good holiday season.
P: Katy’s birthday presents are upstairs, but I’m not sure where M has put her balloon.
K: I’m not sure I was meant to know about the balloon
P: Oh, at least I didn’t mention the cake in the box outside.
K: I’m not sure I was meant to know about that either.
I love her, but the woman can’t keep a secret to save her life :) Even M says that if you don’t want her to spill the beans on a secret, don’t tell her at all and if you really want something to be known, start it with “don’t tell anybody, but…”
Current Mood: Amused
I’m sorry. I’m going to rant a bit now (even moreso than usual). Xmas is supposed to be all pap and tack. It’s all about gaudy. It’s not supposed to be tasteful, and clinical, with everything in its place and no speck of glitter in sight. People who buy two trees are in the same league as the idiot woman who bought £50 rolls of ribbon for her presents.
The rise of the 2 Christmas tree household
Children’s badly-made decorations and gaudy flashing lights are, for many, the true essence of Christmas. But it would seem an increasing number of parents are banning garish decorations from the family tree. Instead, children are being bought a tree for their bedroom to decorate themselves, while the adults ensure the main Christmas tree is kept more tasteful.
Leading retailers have reported that they have seen customers buying more than one tree, with their research suggesting that the second, smaller one is being bought for children’s bedrooms, in another sign that the recession has failed to dent parents splashing out on their offspring at Christmas.
The phenomenon of the two-tree household is also the culmination of a long-running trend that the family Christmas tree has become a status symbol and a design feature, rather than merely the main traditional decoration during the festive period, according to one expert.
B&Q, which said it will have sold more than 250,000 real trees by the end of this weekend, calculated that a quarter of all of its customers buying a tree were also buying a second one – invariably a sparkly, fake tree. Annette Hill, assistant buyer in horticulture at B&Q said: “There appears to be a growing trend for households displaying more than one tree, giving parents and kids a chance to stamp their mark.”
Tesco, too, said that 25 per cent of small fake trees that were being sold were being bought alongside larger more tasteful versions, with the supermarket pointing out that the small versions were ending up in people’s hallways or children’s bedrooms. A spokesman for Tesco said: “It’s part of the trend to splash out on your children, regardless of the economic conditions.”
Part of the problem with allowing children to make their own baubles, angels and stars is that they while they may have charm they can ruin an otherwise tastefully-decorated sitting room, said Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, the interior designer and television presenter. The lack of sophistication of preschool glue-and-glitter efforts are compounded by being clustered on just the bottom two branches of the tree, with young children unable to reach the higher branches, leaving the top half naked, and the bottom covered in bright lights and tinsel. Mr Llewelyn Bowen said: “I think the whole two-tree phenomenon is about controlling your environment. Things have changed enormously from when I was growing up and you put up the tree and got out the box of old decorations you used every year. Now we are very keen to show off our lavish side at Christmas and have a tree that you can impress the Joneses with. You are never going to do that with it covered in Barbie glitter. As far as I am concerned buying your children a tree for their bedroom is a case of the parents indulging themselves.”
Current Mood: Aggravated
We had our very first PRIDE xmas potluck brunch last Saturday. I made a ham, JuanAn made a spanish tortilla (potato omelette) and Antonio and David (and Antonio’s mom and Eli’s grandmother) made paella*. Attilla brought some salad and Rui was in charge of puddings. It was a very fun afternoon, with waaaaaaaaay too much food.
On Sunday, Katy and I did our first xmas shop at Tesco. We bought the booze and the non-perishables. We’ll get the rest of the stuff that we need for New Year’s closer to the time.
Bean’s being a pest at the moment. The good news is that he’s walking on his cast like nothing was wrong and he’s still sleeping very well. The bad news is that when he’s awake, we just want to kill him. Otherwise, he’s a happy, normal 2 year old. I’m looking forward to dumping him with the oldies and then running away for a bit of quiet time with Katy in London.
*There was some debate to see if this could actually be called paella, because it was made with onions instead of garlic, but the end results was very nommy nonetheless.
Current Mood: Tired
Last Friday saw us going to the A&E department for the first time with Bean. He was having is pre-bedtime snack on a kitchen chair when he decided it would be a grand adventure to climb up on the back of the chair. The chair, being mean and vindictive, didn’t like that at all and decided to show its displeasure by toppling them both over. Unfortunately, his legs got muddled up in the chair back when it hit the ground and, though he stopped crying fairly quickly after a few cuddles, he wouldn’t put any weight on it so when we phoned up the emergency doctors, they told us to go to Addenbrookes.
All in all, it could have been a lot worse. It only took two hours from leaving the house to leaving Addenbrookes. In that time, Bean was a really good boy. He was sitting at a table in the waiting room and playing with toys, looking at the other kids and generally chillin’ with a box of juice. The x-rays didn’t show anything broken, but they’re treating it as a toddler fracture so for the next few weeks he’s sporting a nice purple leg cast below the knee (Katy wanted hot pink but I vetoed the idea).
I’ve always known that kids are resilient and as long as all of the pieces are in the same room they’ll eventually all fit back together. Still, even though it’s a small thing in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a nice feeling. Katy’s feeling bad because she things she should/could have done something sooner to prevent this, but I keep saying that the only way to make sure kids don’t get hurt ever is to wrap them in cotton wool and keep them sitting still all the time. That way madness lies. I will repeat that it’s still not a nice feeling though.
I’m heartened by the fact that Bean isn’t really fazed by any of this. He’s a bit grumpier than usual – mostly at the fact that he can’t run around at the moment – but he’s hobbling as best he can. Where he couldn’t put pressure on his leg on Friday night, he’s now walking – slowly – from the couch to his chair. He’s climbing on the back of the sofa and he’s standing up when I go get him from his cotbed in the morning. We had a nice weekend going to Cambridge, Tesco and Scottsdales and he was acting like he normally does. So yeah, it’ll slow him down for a bit then he’ll just get on with things, as you do.
We also found the time this weekend to get the last bits of xmas shopping done, decorate the house and put up the tree. Bean clapped when he saw it lit for the first time, which is always good for morale. He kept yelling “LIGHTS!!!”, pointing and clapping. All good :)
Current Mood: Tired
So. Bonfire night has come and gone. Bean’s birthday has passed. I should be gearing up for the holidays, right? Normally I would, but this year I’m finding it very difficult to get into a festive xmas mood. Not good. There are little glimpses of it once in a while, like when we bought the disco ball xmas ornament and the stuffed reindeer head, but still, mostly I’m feeling rather low at the moment.
Current Mood: Crappy
Bonfire night has come and gone, it now means that I can officially declare xmas and break out the xmas decorations!!!
Current Mood: Amused
owls!
We went to John Lewis, Palmers and Scottsdales and everywhere we go there are xmas owls.
Bobbles approves.
Current Mood: Amused