Alternative 12 Days of Christmas

Frank Kelly, a.k.a. Father Jack in the Father Ted series created this. It will give you a giggle for Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas Holidays start today and we are all very excited. Friends are calling, we are travelling to see my parents on Thursday into Friday, baking is almost complete, the parcels are ready for under the tree and we are nearing the end of our journey in the Advent story, The Christmas Mystery (the kids are hooked!!),. We are counting the hours and minutes until Sunday!

I hope you all have a blessed Christmas and a peaceful and healthy 2012!

Christmas questions and answer

I saw this over at LissyLou's and thought I'd give it a go....

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?

Neither!

Does Santa wrap presents or just puts them under the tree?
Santa doesn’t wrap his presents but we wrap ours. Santa leaves his presents by the fireplace and the rest are under the tree.

Coloured or white lights on tree/house?
White lights on the tree. Not that keen on lights on the house. There are very few that look tasteful!

Do you hang mistletoe?
Yes!! Any excuse!!

When do you put your decorations up?
Normally the first of December.

What is your favourite holiday dish? Full Christmas dinner!

Favourite holiday memory?
Getting up at 7am as a child, getting my brother and mum and dad and rushing to see what Santa had brought. The best year was when Tiny Tears arrived!

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
The kids open new pajamas on Christmas eve.

How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
Lots of baubles collected over the years. Some are handmade by the kids.

Snow! Love it or dread it?
Like it if I don’t have to go out in it....otherwise dread it!
Can you ice skate?
Yes but not well!!

Do you remember your favorite gift?
Tiny Tears!

What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Watching the children and sharing their excitement

What's your favourite holiday dessert?
Mince pies

What is your favourite holiday tradition?
Getting up at 7am with the kids and watching them open their stocking

What tops your tree?
An angel
Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
Giving...I love watching everyone open their parcels!
Candy canes... yuck or yum!?
Yuck!

Favourite Christmas show?
White Christmas without a doubt! You can never have too much Bing Crosby

Saddest Christmas Song?

Do They Know It’s Christmas?

Christmas Makes..

Lots of Christmas Cards...



















Some Plum Gin. Yum!A couple of pressies...

And a make of Amy's. Her Christmas angel..

Christmas cake will be iced in the next day or two and mince pies, shortbread and cookies will be baked.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Celebrating...

..the end of test hell! The AQE tests finished last week and we CELEBRATED!! The Christmas tree and the house were decorated, cake was made and consumed....

and Amy and I spent a lovely morning in Belfast, having coffee and browsing (a.k.a. shopping!) in Waterstones and finishing with lunch at the Continental market.


BLISS!

Simplicity

For years I have been fascinated by the Amish culture and way of life. I admire these people for their quiet, hardworking lives. I think they set an example of how life could be if we retained our strong sense of community and family, the belief that ALL work should be carried out with total commitment but primarily that a strong faith in God is central to all areas of life. I want to spend December focusing and reflecting on this quietly, amidst all the hustle and bustle that our not so plain and simple lives bring.

A pretentious, showy life is an empty life;

a plain and simple life is a full life.
Proverbs 13 v 7 (The Message)

AQE Tests...Blah!!!

AQE Tests (11+ in disguise!!).....horrible, horrible tests.....horrible, horrible pressure!

2 Down 1 To Go!!!

Sanity and normal life might then resume! Roll on 11am, Saturday 3rd December!

Remembering

My great uncle...

In Memory of

Private THOMAS SEMPLE

19306, 1st Bn., Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
who died age 23
on 25 October 1918
Son of William and Margaret Semple, of Killen, Castlederg, Co. Tyrone.
Remembered with honour
TYNE COT MEMORIAL

My dad's cousin...

In Memory of
Corporal TOMMY SEMPLE



549415, Royal Air Force

who died age 25

on 02 November 1944

Husband of Joyce Daisy Semple, of Blackfield, Hampshire.

Remembered with honour

SINGAPORE MEMORIAL

Those who served with my dad in the Royal Artillery 1939-1945 in both the North Africa and Italy campaigns....

For The Fallen
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Normal Service...

has resumed! I'm back in the land of the living! Last week was a funny old week...nothing wrong that I could pinpoint....just out of sorts! Back to "normal" (my normal!!) now in full Autumnal mode!

Most days were spent just tootling around home. I didn't have an actual duvet day much as it would have been VERY nice, but instead, I blocked out Wednesday morning for a "me" morning. Peter took the kids to school so that I could have a leisurely breakfast. Then I just did what the mood dictated! I cross stitched for a while (I haven't done this for a very long time), I read for a while and I started to make some family Christmas Cards.

The Cross stitch is for a little Christmas present. I have resolved this year to make more presents with the hope that they will be well received....fingers crossed! Like many, the old purse strings are having to be pulled in a little, make that a lot, this year, but it is making me think creatively and I am hoping that the thought will definitely count for something!!

A friend had spotted my crochet dishcloths when she came to visit and she has put in a request for some of those, so that is another one sorted!

An exciting event which happened last week (there was ONE!) was my meeting, for the first time, a blog and Ravelry friend, Nicky. We had discovered that we only live a few miles apart and our children have mutual friends. We met at the local coffee shop and spent a great morning chatting and knitting. I sat in AWE! I aspire to someday knit even half as well as she can!!

I was quite nervous when we were meeting up as you never really know if you'll get on as well in reality as in cyberspace but I needn't have worried. The hours whizzed by and I feel as though I have known her forever. We had another knit and natter this morning with a few other friends. It was lovely and relaxing. She also brought me a few knitting and crochet books to have a wee look through. Lovely!!

Mum and dad came to visit for a few days which I enjoyed. Mum and I pottered around a few shops, tested lots of coffee (!) and generally enjoyed catching up. Dad enjoyed the relaxation and just pottered around the house. I "delivered" them to my brother and his family on Saturday and they spent another few days there before going home yesterday.

Yesterday was a domesticated sort of day. Washing and cleaning...not so nice...and baking....very nice. "Wee buns" were made for the kids and my big kid...

and I began the preparations for my mum's Christmas cake. She herself bakes 8 or 9 Christmas cakes every year and gives them as presents, so I like to make hers. No one in this house likes Christmas cake so I don't make one for here, but I love the process of making it and I LOVE the smell of it cooking, so making one for mum gives me the best of both worlds!

This year I am using Mary Berry's Victorian Christmas cake recipe which I found in the recent issue of the BBC Good Food Magazine. The fruit is now soaking and I am so enjoying the Christmassey smell which wafts out of the bowl when it gets its daily stir!!

There are lots of other tempting recipes which I might just have to try soon. I particularly liked the section on foody Christmas presents. I had been considering making chutney for a few people and the magazine has given me a little encouragement to give it a go. It is many years since I last made it so at least there are many more exciting recipes to consider. Do you have interesting, but simple, ideas? I'd love to know!

Anyhows, that's me pretty well caught up! School runs and "mum's taxi service" are beginning to call. Have a lovely week, whatever you are doing!

Duvet Days

Oh how I wish this could be me!!!!! Tired and wanting to retreat a little! Hopefully will be back to par soon and normal blogging service will resume. Until then....

The Adventures of Barnaby Bear

Hello! May I introduce myself? I am Barnaby Bear and I am a friend of James'. My home is in the P.3 classroom in James' school. I love living there and get very excited as each weekend I am allowed to go home with one of the children and go on lots of adventures with them. This weekend I spent some fun time with James. These are the things I did with him....

Campaigners on Friday night

Watching the rugby on Saturday morning
Playing at the park
Stopping for a snack at Barista

We had so much fun playing all weekend and I had much to write about in my passport! Back to school today. I wonder where I will be off to next weekend.......

Template Dilemmas

I am easily bored and cannot leave my blog template alone for long! I need your opinion....does this one stay or go?

Busy! Busy! Busy!

It has been a busy few days here in my cosy little corner of the world. The weekend was so crammed packed that it went by in a real blur (the blur could also be attributed to late nights and early mornings!).

Friday
The evening was spent with some American friends. Aine's dad is originally from my hometown but has been living in Massachusetts for over twenty years. Now, his daughter, Aine, has returned to Northern Ireland. She came to study at University of Ulster for her Masters Degree and has now found a job and is staying on. Her mum, Anne, was here for the last two weeks for a visit. We had a lovely evening chatting, eating, laughing and generally putting the world to rights! It was late when my head hit the pillow!

Saturday
Up early and off to my favourite place in Belfast...St.George's Market. I have written and raved about it many times before and probably will again. Aine had been before but her mum had not had the pleasure so we picked them up and took them with us.

Beautiful, beautiful stalls assaulted us as we entered, laden with the most DELICIOUS food. I don't really like sweet cakes anymore but I was severely tempted when I saw this...

The kids as usual went to the lovely French man who sells the most FABULOUS crepes and acquired very chocolatey smiles! ☺

I, on the other hand, wandered around coffee in hand, and purchased some lovely fresh veg and my favourite thing of all from here...HUGE bunches of DAHLIAS.

There are also quite a few craft stalls and second-hand stalls. One such stall was selling second-hand craft books, mainly knitting (I resisted..just!), wool and used hand-made bags. I saw one hanging that caught my eye. I liked the shape and remembered I had made one that was similar. I decided to take a closer look....the material was familiar.....I looked inside and there sitting out quite nicely was a little label proudly boasting....my name!! Hee Hee! Not what I expected to see but a lovely surprise! I sold it a couple of years ago so I am glad to see it is still making the rounds!


The rest of the day was spent tidying up the house a little. My friend Liz had kindly offered to keep the kids for the night. Peter and I thought about going out (his birthday was a few days later) but felt quite lazy. Too much effort would have to be put into dressing up, deciding where to go, etc, etc...The decision was made to stay put. I cooked a meal. We took our time eating it..no children to rush us and we spent the rest of the evening, cosy, in front of the fire watching a DVD! (I do believe we are getting old!! LOL!). It was lovely!

Sunday
After a lie in to 9am (unheard of I tell you!) we collected the kids, headed to church and then back for a quick lunch before going to see Peter's parents. His dad is in a nursing home so every week we collect his mum, go and collect his dad and bring them out together. We usually end up somewhere nice having coffee and scones! It's lovely to see the joy in his dad's face when he sees Peter's mum. His memory is poor but there is no doubt what he thinks of her!

The rest of the evening was spent finishing off Amy's copious amount of homework and test preparation. Yuck!

Monday
Back to the grindstone. Catching up on all the little jobs around the house. The builders finished completely last Friday so the clearing and tidying can begin properly. It may take a while!!

I did get the chance though to finish the cardigan that I began in Scotland. In general I am happy with it as it is only my second large piece of knitting. There are a few tweaks I would make if I were to make it again, but on the whole I am pleased. You can find the details on Ravelry.



Tuesday
Errands were run and mother-in-law was brought to the dentist. Much more important though, it was Peter's birthday. Cards were made and given and presents presented. He was thrilled with his new screwdrivers (?!). The cake was baked. He is a man of simple pleasures...a Victoria Sponge with melted chocolate (no fancy icing here!!) and sprinkles was requested....what age is he anyway?!! Happy to oblige!
Now maybe the rest of the week can slow down a little...not likely though!!