Getting outside on the most inside day of the year! #countrykids
This year we had our christmas lunch at a restaurant. We hadn’t ever done this before and it was an idea we had, had earlier in the year when we visited a restaurant and noticed they had a menu for christmas day. I generally work christmas day, one of the joys of being in critical care and so our day is always effected by a shift. This year i was working late on in the day and so we decided to go ahead and book for our lunch out.
The morning went by quickly and we all got dressed up to go out which made a really nice change as well. Our goal was to have lunch and then get out and have a walk on the prom which is right next to the restaurant. We had a very breezy and windswept hour after our lunch strolling along the prom and then having a play on the park..which had a couple of families doing the same thing. It certainly set us up for a bracing run back to the car, the kids as high as kites and eager to get back to their new gifts. There was a sunset trying to make its way through the clouds but not quite managing it.
The kids ran and squealed with excitement. The pent up excitement from sitting in a restaurant combined with it being christmas day meant that there was lots of running and rolling around. Funny how you can put a lovely party dress and shirt and tie on kids and they treat it just the same as their normal clothes!! eeek! fortunately there was no grass stains in their brand new threads but my daughter who got the cream, sparkly dress did get a special ‘please don’t roll down the grass banks’ directed purely at her!
For me, after our walk, it was work and a not too bad shift, with no dramas, all be it feeling pretty tired after a very early start in the morning. Christmas day is not a great day to have a sick baby in intensive care and we do try and make it a little bit easier for the parents. But ultimately bad things do happen on christmas day and in all the years i have been doing my job that has only happened once for me. When a truly tragic event happens and you know that it will define how that family view the 25th December for the rest of their lives. But this year, it was all calm. Just how we all like it.
Christmas outfit sponsored by the NHS!
Back at home it was tidying, movies, cheese on toast and then some very tired out kids falling into bed. By the time i got home everyone had gone to bed except the OH who was watching a film. I had a cuppa and sat on the sofa and eventually gave up trying to stay awake!
This is the last country kids of the year. Thanks so much to Fiona who manages to get round all the links and comment and RT, never mind run a business and be a mama to all those kids. You ROCK.
12 of my favourite christmas things #CPfamilybreaks
This christmas has passed in a blur of fairy lights and excitement. It always seems to. Such a big build up and then the days scurry by in a hurry and im left wondering what happened?! Centre parcs are continuing to run their blogger challenge and this month it is christmas and some of the things that we really love about the season. I was really struck when reading some of the advice from Centre parcs Winter wonderland expert, Nick Oot, that having fun and getting out into the open air is really important. The weather has been cold but dry and after all the excitement of present opening and food we got a good few chances to get out and enjoy the fresh air. Always makes coming back to snuggle under a blanket so lovely when you have a little bit of colour in your cheeks!
So my top 12, kind of wanting to play the top of the pops count down theme here…in reverse order..
12. Christmas movies – those old favourites that come out. Elf, Arthur Christmas and one of my favourites “nativity’ The kids sung some songs from that movie in the church christmas performance some years ago and so it always has a little special place in my heart.
11. Christmas Crackers – from the rubbish, corney jokes to the paper hats that split within seconds of making contact with a head. I love that crossed arm thing that people do to pull the crackers and the fact that they nearly always don’t ‘crack’
10. Fairy lights – we have over the years bought strings and strings of fairy lights and they all seem to stop working every year, takes me back to all those youthful christmases when we all had to sit twiddling the lights to see which ones worked or didn’t. Whatever happened to those type of lights?
9. Nativity plays – i have watched a fair few of them, having four kids who have gone through reception and nursery now. But i still love the innocence of the kids playing the parts. Im a traditionalist and like the more traditional rendition. Although one of my favourite nativities involved one of the three wise men getting out their mobile phone to see if the GPS was working!! 🙂
8. Coming off schedule – there is always an element of schedule to our christmas because I have to work and so we have to stick a little bit to it but i love the freedom of no school and no after school activities.
7. Those christmas adverts – you know the type, John Lewis have been making a name for themselves with their christmassy adverts. My favourite this year though was a sainsburys one.
6. Christmas dinner – my favourite dinner, i love roast dinners and all the trimmings that go with christmas dinners are so yummy. We even had it as our wedding breakfast!
5. Michael Buble – is it christmas without his crooning tones? I dont think so!
4. Santa and his little helpers – this year we did ‘elf on the shelf’ which the kids loved, finding him every morning became a great game for them. They loved the magic in it, we even played along on christmas eve night with footprints in the snow!!
3. Presents!! How can you have a list about christmas without mentioning presents!? I have to say my favourite part of it is all in the giving. I love giving beautiful presents. I like presentation so i tend to try and present them well as well! Maybe thats just me but im a sucker for a cute gift bag!
2. Caroles in the cathedral – this is something we do every year and as we dont go to the cathedral at any other time throughout the year it is lovely to be reminded of the just how incredible the building is..and we usually come across some friends there to! Its a lovely way to finish of christmas eve.
1. Family time – got to be the best thing about christmas time? Hanging out with family and friends who we value in our lives. 🙂
‘This is my entry to the Center Parcs and Tots 100 December challenge. If I’m chosen, I would like to visit Whinfell Forest, Cumbria’ .
From my family to yours…
Wishing you a memorable and magical christmas and all the best for 2014.
Its going to be a good one!!
🙂
xx
Its all in the dough #Ordinarymoments #magicmoments
The mad and crazy rush of christmas is upon us. It is the day before christmas eve. Or christmas Steve as we have heard our little ones say before. Heh! a day to celebrate all Steves in a christmassy way. So apartyofseven is home from school. That means a LOT of noise and a lot of people. The kids are generally happy to play together, although it isnt always harmonious. 🙂 There isnt a lot of time for quality time. We try and have some moments of quality family time and i actually think that the festivities sort of lend themselves to that happening. But it is harder to seek out time with either just one person or by yourself! Thats when it is time for a trip to the loo!!
But spending time with just one of my kids is rare but during term time i am given that opportunity…and one thing that she likes to do is play dough. I like play dough, it has a really therapeutic quality to it. Its also fairly universal and even my older kids will sidle up and have a little go at forming something out of the moulding clay. They almost can’t help themselves!
This time my daughter was deteremined to have a go at making some cake looking play dough. She likes to focus on food group! that and making endless sausage shaped play dough through the hole in the bar-b-q type thing that came in an old set ages ago. This day was one of the first that she had actually asked me to put her bobble in her hair. it didnt last long, she took it out soon after. But it was cute while it lastest!
In such a large family i think it is important to try and make small bits of quality time for each person. it can be really hard and sometimes what they want to do fills me with dread BUT i really believe that they get benefit from it. 🙂
Pretty important to get quality time for mama too!!
