day twenty-four......

oh, how quickly this time of advent zips along.....

I can't believe we are at Christmas Eve already......

this is the day when we traditionally take a family trip to the cinema.....

the choice was an easy one this year...... 

The Hobbit part 2.....

we went to see the first part of The Hobbit last 

Christmas Eve so it was a no brainer really that 

this year would be the turn of the second instalment......

{and next year?...... well you can guess what the top choice will be can't you?}

I know there are some who think this second film in the 

series is not quite as good as the first, 

but we all thoroughly enjoyed it.....

{we also enjoyed the copious amounts of crisps,

chocolate and fizzy pop which appeared from

my vast carpet bag......}

we did break with tradition a bit this year though....

we normally come home after our cinema trip and have a 

'pick'n'mix' party tea with a chocolate fondue 

however this year we had a family vote and decided 

that we would have a meal out instead......

it was absolutely lovely and a joy to spend time

with these most special of people.....

and now, to sleep, as Christmas morning is fast approaching....

day twenty-three.......

oooohhhhh, we're getting very close now

to the 'special day' and it's all go in this

neck of the woods......

my two lovely kids decided that their gifts

to family would all be edible/drinkable 

this year so they have had to wait

until 'the last minute' to get prepared

{well, not quite the last minute, but a bit

later than I would normally encourage them 

to be getting organised in their gift making efforts.....}

so here they are, in the kitchen, busy

making their gifts for the people they 

love......

no hints or clues as to what they have chosen

to make I'm afraid......

wouldn't want to spoil any surprises.....

day twenty-two........

instead of having shop bought sweets at her house

over Christmas, my sister decided a couple of years

ago that we could have a lovely selection of 

homemade 'sweets' to add to the treat table

which we could munch our way through whilst 

enjoying the holidays with each other......

my contribution this year is toffee......

creamy, chewy, caramelly toffee....

 I have made this a few times in the past

{but not for a couple years now}......

it never fails to disappoint, so I'm hoping it will be

a bit hit again this year........

oh, it is as good as I remembered it......

day twenty one.........

bet you can't guess what I will be up to this evening.......

I might need a nice big cup of 

coffee to keep me going........

but I will prevail......

day nineteen..........

Christmas movies.......

we have some favourites and tonight we watched

one that we haven't seen for a number of years......

The Muppet Christmas Carol.....

some classic muppet humour to enjoy 

whilst snuggled up with the kids

{and a lovely box of chocs.......}

day eighteen.......

another favourite Christmas book.....

this time it's

The Jolly Christmas Postman.....

we've had a copy of this book in our house

for as long as we've had kids.....

it is such a lovely book and even though

the children are both a bit older now

we still love to read it and open each 'envelope' and

see what it is the postman is delivering......

day seventeen.......

Christmas parties.......

today was the home ed Christmas party

and there were lots of games.....

lots of food.....

and lots of singing.......

with a bit of an orchestra happening.......

they're a talented bunch it has to be said.....

it sounded lovely.......

day sixteen.......

tree decorating day......

BIG tradition in our house.....

it has to be accompanied by the 

Christmas Crooners playing on the CD player

whilst I take lots of photos and get amazed 

at how much the children have grown in a year.....

now it not only looks a lot like Christmas

but it smells a lot like Christmas too....

{now the cats are going ballistic knocking decorations off the 

tree and in the process knocking lots of needles onto the  floor......

ah, the joys of a real Christmas tree........}

day fifteen.......

carols by candlelight at church.......

love this time of year when we get to sing

some absolutely cracking songs and remember the

significance of why we celebrate.....

next week, the nativity.....

complete with newborn baby ruby.....

day fourteen......

I love satsumas.....

no, seriously, I really do.....

I could eat them any old time......

but they have a special affinity with Christmas in my memory......

they just kinda go together.....

like carrots and peas.....

{though I'm not so keen on carrots it has to be said}......

and that's why they get a special mention

in my instagram advent......

day thirteen.......

when I was growing up I seem to remember that

Christmas was a time when there was lots

of fun stuff on the telly and lots of sweets

on a little table in the lounge room.....

 it was the one time of year when we were allowed

to indulge in sweeties whenever we wanted to......

{at least that's what it seemed like,

I don't know if I have remembered that with 

rose coloured glasses on though.....}

we don't have a telly these days

{however, we do make full use of the catch-up

facilities that the TV channels offer so we can still get

a good dose of 'what's on' if we want to}.....

but we do have a Christmas 'munchies' table

with tins of sweets, jars of homemade biscuits and

a {rather empty looking} jar of pistachio nuts

{a universal favourite in our house, hence it's 

constant empty-ness.....}

definitely need to go out and buy

some more of those yummy pistachios.....

day twelve.....

ah, the stockings.....

we hang them up every year in anticipation

of Father Christmas' visit....

this one never gets old.....

day eleven.......

in my humble opinion, one cannot 

have too many sparkly lights around

at Christmas.....

I do have a couple of caveats with

my sparkly lights though.....

they have to be white lights.....

{can't seem to get in the groove with the coloured ones}.....

and they have to be static lights......

{otherwise I get a headache}.....

these ones are hanging at our french doors in

the sun room and I love the way they twinkle

all night long....

of course, there are more for the tree,

but we haven't got to that joy yet......

day ten.......

fun times with friends.....

this year we actually made it to the 

outdoor ice rink and the kids both

had a fabby time skating with their

home ed buddies....

I provided the hot chocolate and shortbread biscuits

to keep their energy up....

a vital job, if I do say so myself.....

day nine......

there's usually quite a bit of homemade

gift creating happening around these parts....

and this year is no exception....

day eight......

along side candlelight,

you can't get much more cosy than

a roaring fire....

loving our dark winter nights.....

day seven.......

ah, the crocheted starry Christmas garland.....

love it.....

it brightens up any space and makes me smile....

I remember spending many evenings crocheting

this when we were living in Oz and I love that it

still lives with us now, even though we are half way 

round the world from where it was created......

day six.......

bedtime stories by candlelight.....

lovely, cozy, snuggly story times

by the light of the candles around the room....

day five......

handmade Christmas angels.....

this one was made by: my mum {the knitted dress}....

the angel herself {my super sister}....

the crown {that would be my contribution}....

I have quite a few angels that come out at Christmas

but this is one of the only handmade ones

and holds a special place in my heart......

day four......

this wall hanging was made by my lovely sister

and it makes a great accompaniment to go along with

the book I shared yesterday....

each day a story from the book is read and then a 

little symbol is placed on the wall hanging.....

so far we have the sun and moon, 

a fruit and noah's ark.....

before we had this wall hanging the children

drew their own little pictures of the story we had read

and then hung the pictures on a little Christmas tree..... 

I still have the pictures they drew when they were 4 and 6.....

they are just. so. cute.

day three......

books......

we have our favourites and at this

time of year it is a joy to revisit some of them......

this book by one of our favourite authors comes out 

every year and we read it like an advent calendar..... 

one story per day.....

day two......

I love getting the decorations out on the last day of

november and, once the children have gone to bed, 

spending time going through them and decorating

the living areas.....

lots of memories.....

lots of smiles.....

lots of traditions.....

and usually a little bit of Christmas music playing in

the background just to make it all that bit more festive.....

this is one of my favourite keepsakes.....

a fold out book

{which a friend taught me how to make}

and in it are photos and descriptions of some 

of our family Christmas traditions -

there are even two little notes in tiny envelopes to 

father christmas written by the children when they

were really small...... too cute......

so today I have opened and enjoyed 

browsing this book......

and it has made me smile to remember so many

of the things that I love about our family traditions

at this time of year.....

celebrating advent through instagram.....

I decided this morning that I wanted to

take a photo every day during december so I could

record all the different traditions and celebrations 

we love during this beautiful season......

and I decided to use instagram to do it......

not the best quality of photos I'm afraid but

a fun and easy way for me to 'take note' and

remind myself of all I love about this 

favourite holiday of mine.....

day one......

the advent calendar....

in our house we have had a few different 

advent calendars over the years.....

sticker ones, lego ones, playmobil ones, colouring in ones.....

the above one though, has been with us every year since the 

kids were very little and they both still look forward to

revealing a new character to add to the story each day.....

it was a king today......

looking lonely there by himself on the little road

but he will soon be joined by a plethora of others......

August...... the month of gadding...... part three

after returning from France and having our day messing about on the water,
 we set off again to visit the north east of England and to celebrate
Brian's parents' golden wedding anniversary.....

we met up with Brian's sister and her family at a rather unusual spot called

The Forbidden Corner - which describes itself as the 'strangest place in the world'.......

 that would actually seem quite an apt description to be honest......

 it is a place full of surprises, puzzles, jokes, statues, tunnels, 

gardens, towers, secret paths and so much more

 and provides a beautiful and fun place to spend an afternoon.......

our final stop on our visit to the Forbidden Corner was this fountain 

which plays a tune every quarter hour......

 however, it's not as innocent as it looks......

after a weekend of catching up with other members of the family

and generally enjoying jaunts out and about, the four of us wended

 our merry way to the Yorkshire Dales......

this is an area I have never visited before and I have to say that

I completely fell in love with everything about it........

the dry stone walling, the laith barns, the tiny hamlets of houses, the light,

the stunning views, the waterfalls which seemed to be around every corner.....

just everything...... it was somewhere that our two days could not do justice to

and I am determined that one day we will return and spend a couple of weeks

exploring it much more fully.......

until that time however, here are a few of the highlights........

the walling and laith barns covered much of the Dales landscape.....

I loved how it all looked and took loads of photos of just such scenes.....

we met quite a few of the locals......

just wandering around on the roads as we drove around......

we made sure we had supplies on hand for yummy outdoor lunches......

a sausage sizzle in Aysgarth at the edge of one of the waterfalls was a particular favourite.....

the draw of water, particularly for Evie, usually results in lots of

wet clothing...... and these few days were no exception......

on this occasion the jeans stayed fairly dry but the wellies

were full to the top of water by the time she had finished her paddle......

I still, invariably, forget to take along dry clothing for her to

change into...... I don't think I will ever learn that lesson.....

we had a short stop in Skipton and managed a little jaunt along the canal

before we headed off to our overnight stop.......

our second day in the Dales included a visit to the beautiful Bolton Abbey

where the children hammered pennies into an old fallen tree trunk

along with many hundreds of others......

and Evie got to climb, and absail down, one of the large trees in the forest.....

the Abbey itself was a lovely backdrop to our wandering.....

and there was even a unique way of crossing the river to get there

{if you didn't want to do it the conventional way and cross the footbridge.....}

after a lunch of bacon butties, cooked again on our trusty little gas stove

in the park at Bolton Abbey, we headed off to Gordale Scar where Evie

did a little more 'rock hopping'......

before we made our way up to the falls, which were just stunning......

there was lots of scrabbling and climbing and exploring to be done

before the sun started to get low in the sky and we headed off

to find somewhere to have dinner that evening......

I would have to say after this little jaunt, that the Dales have become one of 

my very favouritest places in England and I really am looking forward

to spending another holiday here......

I know that Brian and the children would love to do the coast-to-coast

walk one day so that will give us another great reason to spend a

good bit of time in this lovely part of the world.......

August...... the month of gadding..... part two

after our return from France but before we headed off for another

week of fun and frivolity, we spent a day with friends messing about on the water.....

we headed down to a place near Poole harbour on the south coast and

got to join them on a jaunt out on their little boat to Brownsea Island.....

Brian was enjoying himself until......

Evie took the helm and then he became a bit of a 'back seat driver' 

{in the front} and was a touch nervous about us hitting other boats and 

navigating the right way around bouys and channel markers.....

he needn't have worried though, both Isaac and Evie turned out to be

great helmsmen and got us to our destination without a mishap....

Brownsea Island was very picturesque and somewhere none of us

had visited before so it was lovely to do a little bit of exploring before it

was time to hop in the boat and head back to the mainland.....

I had a little daydream about what it would be like to be aboard a boat like this one day......

 hmmmm, that sounds like quite a nice plan.....