Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

Our Christmas Party

Way back in January, I innocently popped into Sainsburys for a pint of milk, and they'd reduced their £4 Christmas craft packs to 20p.   I think a judge might consider that entrapment.  We HAD to have a Christmas party.

Easy peasy Christmas party.  Plain paper lunch bags with a gnome and a christmas stencil, filled with our bargain craft kit, some sweeties, stickers and a cracker.   Unwrap the Christmas Parcel game and Stick the Star on the tree.   Decorate the cardboard Christmas tree with acres of glue and glitter.  Christmas topper cupcakes, 2 plates of ham and cheese sandwiches.    Add 10 excited 3 year olds.  Voila!   Success.

Chritmas is coming..

We promise we've been good - well most of the time.  It's Christmas - an opportunity to relive my childhood and paint a cardboard house - Madeleine kept trying to muscle in - but I was having none of it, to make (and eat) copious batches of gingerbread, make salt dough decorations and generally have a good time.

Bonfire Night

Excited children.  Collecting wood.  Cooking sausages on the fire.  Fireworks and sparklers.

October in Provence

Moules et Frites on the habour at Toulon.  Playing in the woods in October warmth.  Sunday lunch en familie.  Vineyards.  Wood fired pizza in the garden at the Hotel du Parc.  Yes, yes, it is all very nice, but I still wish my Dad lived in Colinton.  #missmydad

Picnic

If someone offered you sole use of the Bawsinch and Duddingston Wildlife Reserve, wouldn't you go and have a picnic?  And build a den?  And make a fire (safely)? And do some painting?   Of course you would....  

Messy Play Date

Madeleine really enjoyed getting ready for the messy playdate - making the jelly, cooking the pasta, making the cloud dough, getting out the paint, and she really, really enjoyed it.  However I make no bones about this - having a messy play date in your house is a really, really BAD idea.   Someone please remind me to NEVER do this again!

The Fringe

Yes - of course we did the Fringe!   

Malta

We went to Malta and Gozo.   It was searingly hot, the beaches were horrible, some of the food was okay, there were zillions of churches and Valetta was nice.  It's a 2 day per island sort of place, but we were there for a week.  Madeleine didn't care.  She'd only recently become brave after dropping her "everything frightens me stance", and spent her holiday jumping in the pool, taunting the suits of armour and sticking her hand in the lion's mouth.