Advent and Christmas photos

I know, I know. Waaay too late really. But you want to know what I was doing when I wasn't writing Advent blogs, don't you?

We had an Advent candle on the dinner table every night, and said a prayer together (which after ten days Toby could recite along with us; we were quite impressed). Also Toby had an Advent calendar. Yay, chocolate!

We paid a visit to a Christmas fair in Matlock, about 45 minutes north of here. Lots of handmade stuff to buy, and Toby got his first ride on a roundabout. He rang that train bell all the way round!

We put our Christmas lights up, and had many evening walks around the village admiring other people's. This is Findern village church looking very atmospheric.

We made and decorated a Christmas cake. I kept things simple and used coloured fondant and cookie cutters, which was dead easy and meant Toby could help. We made gingerbread cookies with the same cutters, and stuck fondant on top of those too.

We attended our first ever Christingle service at the local church on Christmas Eve. Everyone gets an orange with a candle and other things stuck in it, to symbolise Jesus as the light of the world. And then everyone prays hard that their kid isn't the one to set themselves or anyone else on fire.

We made Christmas crackers. This was one of those "fun family activities" that I thought would be really nice, and instead turned into a "it's Christmas Eve and we still haven't made those stupid crackers!" activity, where Mum and Dad were grimly assembling the things while Toby got bored and started trying to shred all the components.

We put our (rather large) presents underneath our (rather small) Christmas tree.

We ate cranberry orange muffins, ham and eggs for Christmas morning breakfast.

We opened presents, of course! This is the first year that Toby has been old enough to be excited about the whole thing, and it was great.

Hand-knitted mittens and scarf from my mother-in-law!

For some reason Graham got lots of beer.

We ate Christmas dinner. I think Toby enjoyed his Christmas pudding and custard, don't you?

And we had some friends over for Christmas tea. Next day, it was off to see Graham's parents for a few days, and back just in time for my parents to come visit. Busy but fun!

Comments

National Forest Way: The End!

The National Forest Way finishes at Beacon Hill, Leicestershire, with beautiful wide-ranging views in all directions. I'd been hoping for a sunny day, and this one certainly fit the bill. The frosty earth lay under a glorious canopy of shining blue sky. I parked at Swithland Wood, close to where we finished the previous walk. Finding the waymarker on the first gate was bittersweet - this was the last time I would be following these familiar circles. Swithland Wood had been acquired by the Rotary Club in 1931, and later passed on to Bradgate Park Trust. The lumpy terrain was due to slate quarrying. I skirted a couple of fenced-off pits. As I left the wood, I passed a lake which I assumed was another flooded quarry, but with an odd little tower next to the water. I followed a road up a steady hill towards Woodhouse Eaves. Many of the houses were surrounded by walls of the local slate. Woodhouse Eaves was a prosperous-looking village with some nice old buildings. Crossing the wide ...

Trent Valley: Nottingham

Five churches, four bridges over the Trent, three stocking fillers, two pubs, one castle, and about ten million fallen leaves. It was a packed walk today. Queens Drive Park & Ride is officially for people getting the bus into town, but there's a little bit at the back marked "Overflow Parking" which had a handful of cars in, so I parked there and snuck out through the tunnel. Bridge number one was Clifton Bridge, again , in all its multicoloured glory. The River Trent was swooshing along after the recent rain, beautifully framed by autumn leaves under a grey but thankfully dry sky. The cycle path took an abrupt left to run alongside the road for a short stretch. Then I approached bridge number two, the Wilford toll bridge, also known as Halfpenny Bridge. Sir Robert Juckes Clifton, who built it, has his statue near the old toll house. He was surrounded by grazing geese. Wilford toll bridge Sir Robert and the toll house Next there was a long sweep of grass with a line o...

Theme: Body

I didn't plan this to be a theme week, but Toby's new refrain has become, "I want to do something else " (how does he know it's the school holidays?) Something else turned into my digging out my body-themed activities and roll of cheap wallpaper. So here we go! First thing to do is draw a body, and fortunately I had a handy template. Lie down, Toby! Just ignore the face. And lack of neck. I know it's not a great likeness, but he really is that tall. How on earth did that happen? He knew pretty much all the body labels already, so I can't really claim it as a learning opportunity. Still, revision is good, right? And everyone enjoys colouring on a huge sheet of paper. Another sheet of wallpaper became a blank canvas for hand and foot painting. Fortunately it's been great weather, as outside is always the best place to do this. Even with a strategically placed tub of water for washing off in. I've gone gree...

Martha's Marvellous Munchies

Search This Blog