Cosy Christmas

Happy Boxing Day!  Oh thank heavens for a bank holiday the day after Christmas to continue the lazing and relaxing.  I hope your Christmas was lovely - ours was relaxed and cat-tacular, with lots of food and bubbles and gifts and napping.  Herewith, some pictures from our cosy celebrations.  Yay for Christmas!*

 The gameplan for cooking Christmas dinner.  I love to put on a good spread and timing is key!

 Leela is loving having both Matthew and I around so much.

 Patiently waiting to open presents.

 Poppet has learned that she can jump up on the shelves and sideboards in the dining room and look down on us.  She's vehemently pro this, and here reimagines the nativity....

 So. Much. Food!  I made turkey, yorkshire puddings, pigs-in-blankets, stuffing, roasties, sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows, mashed potatoes, sprouts, peas, sweetcorn and gravy.  Yum.

 The kitty gifts from Adam and Ems contained catnip.  Very popular with our trio!

 Our Christmas table.

 I made turkey and vegetable soup with our leftovers - it smelled amazing!  If it tastes even half as good we are in for a Boxing Day treat.

 Christmas Day breakfast - bacon baps and Bucks Fizz.

 Kitmas dinner!

 So many gifts - thank you everyone for your generosity and thoughtfulness.

 Matthew's 'stocking'.

 Christmas Eve bubbles.

 My little mancat.

 Poppet, post-dinner (she and I struck similar poses!).

Kaz and I went for our second annual Christmas Eve breakfast near Oxford Circus - aren't these lights pretty as the city moves from dawn to day!

Well, I shall post this now and get on with *something* today - pyjamas, football and leftovers surely on the agenda.  Love to all.

*364 days to go!

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The Quiet of Advent

Adventide is such a busy time of year.

But between school and friends and family and volunteering and the rush of December, I always treasure the moments of peace I have.  Time to read, to listen (I *love* Classic FM at this time of year), to think, to pray, to ponder.  As mad as the Christmas rush can be, it's lovely to take a moment in this Advent season to sit and wait and think, to remember the waiting for the gift, the pause before the triumph.  Like Lent before Easter, I find Advent one of the gentler, quieter Christian seasons, but I love it all the more because of the moments of calm.  The chance to remember those dear to us & those who need our remembrance is a precious gift indeed, and I'm always glad to plan opportunitites to pray and ponder.

As well as these moments of stillness, there is an awful lot of busy-ness right now.  I loathe the myth of busy, where we are all go-go-go, all the time...but in December I think we actually are pretty busy.  With so many lovely things to enjoy, however, it's hard to be churlish, ha!  This week has been full to the brim with good things - on Monday Matthew took me out for steak and cocktails to celebrate my birthday; Tuesday was the carol service at school (ah, the charm of little boy voices piping through the familiar melodies in a big, beautiful church!), cake and laughter with my class on my birthday proper and drinks with friends in town;  Wednesday was the last day of school, a funfilled lunch and lots of socialising with colleagues before a pleasant evening at home with Matthew; yesterday was volunteering in west London and Junior League drinks in the evening.

And today?  Well, today has been incredibly lazy - writing cards, wrapping gifts, watching TV, fussing cats....just what the doctor ordered!  And now we're getting ready for all the fun ahead - visitors and gift giving and baking and time with the families and getting the house in order and fun and games.  Such a treat to celebrate this time together.  More on everything soon, no doubt.  In the meantime, I hope your December is going well so far.  Blessings and love to all.

A few photos from our month so far....

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Blog Every Day in May: Pampering

Pampering.  Relaxing.  Taking it easy.

For all the busy-ness of London, I am a seasoned pro at chilling out.

I love to block out an hour, an evening, a day, or even a whole weekend to take some time to relax and step back.

Favourite things include:

A long hot bath, preferably while reading a trashy novel or a glossy magazine (Tatler, Grazia, Us Weekly...the bath is no place for cerebral reads!).

A steaming cup of herbal tea and a fun TV programme.

An afternoon in bed with a good book.

A PJ day, full of reading, writing, napping, and far too much Pinterest.

A good haircut.

A girly brunch - huevos rancheros at Giraffe, pancakes and decadence at The Breakfast Club, fruit and coffee chez moi.

Getting my pile of stationery and writing some cards.  I love post and mail!

A good long walk - whether in the sunshine, being whipped by the wind, or getting soaked puddle-jumping, it's always a treat!

Ah, lovely.

I must schedule all of these....soon!

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Cornwall, part 3

A last batch of photos from our adventures out west with the family.  I can't wait until the clan gets back together again!

Daniels and Suthers (my sister's dogs) enjoying some playing outside!

Daniels decided to give me a "kiss".  Ewwwwwww!

She then composed herself for a proper snap.  Such a quirky little dog!

My sister's view - a little different to mind her in East London!

As we hadn't been north for Christmas, Peter had brought my birthday and Matthew and my Christmas presents with him.  He knows how much I loathe the whole '50 shades...' phenom, so this gift made me laugh and laugh!  Good shout, bro.

What a view!  Our chalet was so nice - plenty of space, light and comfy.  The perfect base for a family holiday!

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Cornwall, part 2

A few more pictures from a lovely long weekend away.

Matthew and I set off for a couple of hours on our own, and decided to visit Port Isaac.  The route there was crazy, involving lots of winding roads, an unexpected ford and more than one pheasant attempting to 'make friends' with our rental car!

Big hand or teeny tiny pint?

While we wandered around Wadebridge we saw all kinds of cute and quirky little shops...and this utterly bizarre shop window.  Matthew spotted the parachuting baby first!

Those views....

Sian's dog Sutherland was very pleased to have some extra visitors to play with!

By our chalet there was a small pond with five funny little ducks.  Here they are, captured mid-conversation!

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Cornwall, part 1

After the rush of term and the loveliness of a weekend in Cornwall, now the very chilled part of the holiday has begun.  Today has been almost stationary - reading, writing, cleaning, ironing and playing with cats.  Just what the doctor ordered.  And giving me plenty of time to recap our adventures in Cornwall.

It was so nice to spend time with the family!  It had been years since all of us were together in the same space and place, and the chance to spend time together reconnecting was wonderful.  We played Uno, went for walks, gossiped, cooked together, and generally logged some high quality family time.  Despite the cold weather and the chilly winds, it was a heartwarming long weekend!

Mummy and Daddy (I disturbed his ironing to snap this, ha!).

My sweet mummy and I - it was so lovely to have so many chats over cups of tea with her!

Sian and I.  She and Chris (her fiancé) are getting on so well in Cornwall and it was lovely to have a good old big sister nose around her new environs!

With my hilarious little brother.  Peter and I have just the same ridiculous sense of humour and he even consented to play Monopoly with me (I adore Monopoly far too much!).  He won the Game of Ones!

Matthew off adventuring!

And some sea based glee from me :)

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Project Life Tuesday: Bruges Edition

Back aboard the PLT bus! Last week was just what the doctor ordered - one half working away while wearing PJs, one half away on holiday in Bruges.  As it stands I have lots of pictures of the latter and none of the former.  Enjoy! 

 I was amazed at how early we got up during a holiday week so I snapped the clock just before we took off!  Haha, I love Moray Firth Radio!

 Our first glimpse of Bruges.  Beautiful!

Fingal and Florence came with, of course!

Love the architecture in Bruges!

 

The Markt at night.

 

Many mini beers!

 

When I first downloaded this pic I was like "Why am I posing with ketchup?"!  Actually a very yummy cherry beer.

 

The badgers got involved, of course!

 

Matthew, enjoying the views.

 

Badgers on a boat!

 

I'm a little afraid of swans, so this part of the trip was trickier!

 

I have no idea what's going on in this shot....I think it may have been just after surving the trip up the the belfort and back.  The 366 steps weren't a problem physically, but I'm wary on stairs (I'm a clumsy clot sometimes!) so it was a wee bit of a challenge.  Worth it though - gorgeous views!

 

See?

Looking forward to catching up on everyone else's weeks!

 

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