Hello!
So, if you've been following my Facebook status updates, you may have seen how excited I was last week that it finally snowed. Well, right after my last post, we got more snow, and because of the cold weather system hanging over the island, it's actually stayed on the ground. That, and the need to get out and do something, prompted Tom and I go go back to Sherwood Forest (Like we did a year and a half ago) for a walk on such a nice, sunny day.
Lots of people must have had the same idea as we did, because the park was really quite busy. There were lots of families and couples with dogs in tow out wandering along the pathways through the forest. Basically, when you arrive and park your car, you go first to a visitor's centre, and from there, there are marked pathways leading you various places. Most people just take the 20 minute circuit through to the Major Oak, but there are also paths marked with green and blue on little posts that you can do if you want a longer walk. We opted just to do the oak route, and I was happy to see that the paths were not just mud tracks, but because of the shade, were still packed down snow. I'm finally getting some use out of my winter boots!
So we meandered through the woods to the Oak, took some pictures to match the ones from last September, and got a couple to take one of us in front of it. It kinda failed, since the lady took it facing away from the tree, but that's alright. On the way back to the visitor's centre, Tom took a tonne of pictures, being "Master of the Camera"... feel free to have a look on Facebook, haha! We also went in to the little exhibition, "Robin Hode's Sherwode," pushed the button to hear the creeptastic Sheriff of Nottingham talk to us, and then I got in the stocks again. Photo op exploited...
Unfortunately, one of the highlights of the last trip was no longer there. They used to have a pay and display parking machine that had been converted to print stickers instead of tickets for 20p. You could get Maid Marian, Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet and Alan a'Dale. I was excited to get another sticker to add to my collection, but they have since removed the machine, which I must admit was a slight eyesore. Sadness.
Hopefully more adventures coming soon!
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Job Progress!
Hello All,
Well, it seems today that I've finally made some progress on the job front. I had an appointment at a temp agency here in Worksop, and after filling out about 12 different forms, I am officially on the call list! Fingers crossed that I get called soon, and often and I'll be able to feel more like a productive member of society!
In other news, it finally snowed here a few days ago. We got about 15cm in a few hours, so everyone was outside at 9pm playing in it. Tom and I had a snowball fight since the snow was perfect for it. You could literally just scoop it up into an insta-snowball and then fling it of course. Monty loves the snow as well, and Tom and I had an enjoyable 5 minutes watching him play with a snow-covered cardboard box in the back garden. He sniffed at it at first, which knocked some snow off and startled him. This prompted biting the box, then picking it up and violently shaking it back and forth. This then resulted in the box hitting him in the back, which scared him more and made him jump up and spin around to see what happened, while still shaking the box. Hilarious! Most of that snow is now melted, but there are concerns in the news that this is going to be the "coldest February since 1986" with the coldest part of the country (North Yorkshire) reaching a bone chilling -11ºC.... ha ha! Anyway, they think we're going to get some more snow over the next few days, which is exciting for me, but not so much for everyone else. The roads don't get ploughed, only salted and gritted, so the compact snow becomes that crappy kind of ice that makes little English cars with little English tires slide all over the place. There's also the potential for the trains to stop running if it snows too much or gets too cold and freezes the lines. Ahh! It's amazing what a couple of decades without much snow can do to a place.
Anyway, I think that's all for now. Not too much else happening around here, except that it's Valentine's Day and Tom's birthday next week! Exciting stuff, but I need to figure out what to make him for a birthday treat since he's not a fan of sweet baked-goods. Anyone have any ideas?
Ta ta for now!
Ash
Well, it seems today that I've finally made some progress on the job front. I had an appointment at a temp agency here in Worksop, and after filling out about 12 different forms, I am officially on the call list! Fingers crossed that I get called soon, and often and I'll be able to feel more like a productive member of society!
In other news, it finally snowed here a few days ago. We got about 15cm in a few hours, so everyone was outside at 9pm playing in it. Tom and I had a snowball fight since the snow was perfect for it. You could literally just scoop it up into an insta-snowball and then fling it of course. Monty loves the snow as well, and Tom and I had an enjoyable 5 minutes watching him play with a snow-covered cardboard box in the back garden. He sniffed at it at first, which knocked some snow off and startled him. This prompted biting the box, then picking it up and violently shaking it back and forth. This then resulted in the box hitting him in the back, which scared him more and made him jump up and spin around to see what happened, while still shaking the box. Hilarious! Most of that snow is now melted, but there are concerns in the news that this is going to be the "coldest February since 1986" with the coldest part of the country (North Yorkshire) reaching a bone chilling -11ºC.... ha ha! Anyway, they think we're going to get some more snow over the next few days, which is exciting for me, but not so much for everyone else. The roads don't get ploughed, only salted and gritted, so the compact snow becomes that crappy kind of ice that makes little English cars with little English tires slide all over the place. There's also the potential for the trains to stop running if it snows too much or gets too cold and freezes the lines. Ahh! It's amazing what a couple of decades without much snow can do to a place.
Anyway, I think that's all for now. Not too much else happening around here, except that it's Valentine's Day and Tom's birthday next week! Exciting stuff, but I need to figure out what to make him for a birthday treat since he's not a fan of sweet baked-goods. Anyone have any ideas?
Ta ta for now!
Ash
Friday, January 27, 2012
Rainy Days
Hello Folks,
It's been a while since I posted. The reason for that is simply because I haven't been up to much of note. I'm still on the job hunt, and approaching the decision to go to a temp agency as, despite applying for appx. 12-15 jobs, I have yet to receive ANY call-backs or emails. As a result, I've just been puttering around the house trying to make myself useful (I'm the ironing and dishwasher-emptying girl), reading (Game of Thrones, which is fantastic by the way, and Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which is not as fantastic), and baking! Well, actually, the baking is only a recent thing that was a response to an irresistible urge to make something delicious. Anyway, I found a really lovely recipe for vanilla-almond scones, and I made some lemon curd to go with. I absolutely love lemon curd, and it was pretty exciting to feel it thicken up as I was stirring it (I need to get out more). Here's a photo of my treats:
In other news, Tom's decided to paint his room, so we've been looking at paint chips, and got some sample pots. After applying BRIGHT green AND blue to the wall, I think I've managed to talk him out of using two ridiculously rich colours. The green will be remaining, but will be paired with a nice taupe instead. Picture upside-down Super Mario World, and you'll get what his room would have looked like.... oh dear.
Until I have some more exciting info to share, ta ta!
It's been a while since I posted. The reason for that is simply because I haven't been up to much of note. I'm still on the job hunt, and approaching the decision to go to a temp agency as, despite applying for appx. 12-15 jobs, I have yet to receive ANY call-backs or emails. As a result, I've just been puttering around the house trying to make myself useful (I'm the ironing and dishwasher-emptying girl), reading (Game of Thrones, which is fantastic by the way, and Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which is not as fantastic), and baking! Well, actually, the baking is only a recent thing that was a response to an irresistible urge to make something delicious. Anyway, I found a really lovely recipe for vanilla-almond scones, and I made some lemon curd to go with. I absolutely love lemon curd, and it was pretty exciting to feel it thicken up as I was stirring it (I need to get out more). Here's a photo of my treats:
In other news, Tom's decided to paint his room, so we've been looking at paint chips, and got some sample pots. After applying BRIGHT green AND blue to the wall, I think I've managed to talk him out of using two ridiculously rich colours. The green will be remaining, but will be paired with a nice taupe instead. Picture upside-down Super Mario World, and you'll get what his room would have looked like.... oh dear.
Until I have some more exciting info to share, ta ta!
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Fun Fact
I forgot to mention in my last posts that I was recently informed of an interesting development that may interest my fellow Canadians.
While discussing the standard of TV programming in Canada with Tom's Uncle Phil, and trying to come up with uniquely Canadian shows (Pingu and Due South were front-runners), Uncle Phil mentioned "Little Mosque on the Prairie." I was astounded that he had ever even heard of this (in my opinion, sub-par and typically Can-con CTV) show, but apparently it's a massive hit in The Netherlands. They love it there. Who knew?
While discussing the standard of TV programming in Canada with Tom's Uncle Phil, and trying to come up with uniquely Canadian shows (Pingu and Due South were front-runners), Uncle Phil mentioned "Little Mosque on the Prairie." I was astounded that he had ever even heard of this (in my opinion, sub-par and typically Can-con CTV) show, but apparently it's a massive hit in The Netherlands. They love it there. Who knew?
Friday, January 6, 2012
Graduation Sucks
Just a quick update to let you know how I'm doing on the employment and productive-member-of-society front...
So I've found a few good job options, the front runner being a 25 hour per week position as a library advisor in Mansfield. I've filled out the lengthy application form (you generally don't get to just submit a resume for jobs here: everything has an application form with the same information you would find on a resume, in addition to "equality forms" that ask for gender, religion, sexual preference, race, etc. to ensure that no one is discriminated against, and jobs are given to all kinds of people equally), and am almost ready to send it away.
The only thing I'm waiting on now is a UK National Insurance Number. It's like our SIN, but a little more complicated to apply for. While I just took Tom in to a Service Canada office and had him a SIN within 15 minutes, I had to call and request an application form, which arrived in the mail today, then fill that out and send it back with a photocopy of my passport and visa. I may also have to have an interview if they have any additional questions, or want to verify my identity. Anyway, that'll be sent off in Monday's mail, but until I receive my number, I'll have to use a temporary one on this job application. Bah!
The only real issue I've had, has been with opening a bank account. I know that everyone says opening one in the UK can be a hassle, but I didn't anticipate this much trouble. Tom and I went into town earlier this week to try our luck. First we went to the bank Tom's a customer of, Santander, and asked if it was possible for us to open a joint account like I did for him at home. We were told that it was impossible for me to open an account there, as they don't offer anything to people who aren't permanent residents of the UK. I was a little disappointed about this, but the teller recommended that we try HSBC, as they're usually more lenient (Let me mention here that Santander is a Spanish banking company, but they have no international services.... bizarre). I knew that HSBC considers itself a global bank, because they have branches all over the world, including in Canada, so I was fairly hopeful about it. We went in, and sat down with an account manager right away. He looked at my passport, and listened to my explanation of the situation ("I'm Canadian, but I'm here with a work visa, need a bank account to begin working" etc.). He then spent some time looking up the rules, and left for a few minutes to consult someone about it. The main problem was my lack of any proof of address in the UK, if I'd had this, I would have been able to open a basic account. When he came back, he gave me a pamphlet of their "Passport Account," and showed me the features. I was entitled to get this account, which is aimed at non-residents, but the catch was that it had a fee of £8 per month, and you are tied in to a 12 month contract. Obviously this was not the best option, even though I was inclined to take it just for the sake of having an account, but Tom talked me out of it.
We came home after being unsuccessful at finding a bank, and I did some research. I had read while doing visa research that some people on the Youth Mobility Scheme have just walked into a bank with their passport, and walked out with a fully-functioning account, so I tried to find out which bank that had been. I eventually found that Lloyd's TSB, which is one of the largest banks anyway, did offer a basic current account (chequing without any features) only requiring a passport as documentation to holders of certain countries, Canada included. Long story short, we went back into town this afternoon, walked into Lloyd's, where I was treated very well, sat down with an account manager who asked to see my passport and didn't need anything else, and had an account opened for me in about 10 minutes. The whole thing was quick and easy with no hassles or reasons why it was impossible to have me as a customer. Some banks require you to deposit a large amount of money upon opening your account, have salary requirements, or other restrictions, but this wasn't the case at all. Hooray!
I know where I'll be banking from now on!
So I've found a few good job options, the front runner being a 25 hour per week position as a library advisor in Mansfield. I've filled out the lengthy application form (you generally don't get to just submit a resume for jobs here: everything has an application form with the same information you would find on a resume, in addition to "equality forms" that ask for gender, religion, sexual preference, race, etc. to ensure that no one is discriminated against, and jobs are given to all kinds of people equally), and am almost ready to send it away.
The only thing I'm waiting on now is a UK National Insurance Number. It's like our SIN, but a little more complicated to apply for. While I just took Tom in to a Service Canada office and had him a SIN within 15 minutes, I had to call and request an application form, which arrived in the mail today, then fill that out and send it back with a photocopy of my passport and visa. I may also have to have an interview if they have any additional questions, or want to verify my identity. Anyway, that'll be sent off in Monday's mail, but until I receive my number, I'll have to use a temporary one on this job application. Bah!
The only real issue I've had, has been with opening a bank account. I know that everyone says opening one in the UK can be a hassle, but I didn't anticipate this much trouble. Tom and I went into town earlier this week to try our luck. First we went to the bank Tom's a customer of, Santander, and asked if it was possible for us to open a joint account like I did for him at home. We were told that it was impossible for me to open an account there, as they don't offer anything to people who aren't permanent residents of the UK. I was a little disappointed about this, but the teller recommended that we try HSBC, as they're usually more lenient (Let me mention here that Santander is a Spanish banking company, but they have no international services.... bizarre). I knew that HSBC considers itself a global bank, because they have branches all over the world, including in Canada, so I was fairly hopeful about it. We went in, and sat down with an account manager right away. He looked at my passport, and listened to my explanation of the situation ("I'm Canadian, but I'm here with a work visa, need a bank account to begin working" etc.). He then spent some time looking up the rules, and left for a few minutes to consult someone about it. The main problem was my lack of any proof of address in the UK, if I'd had this, I would have been able to open a basic account. When he came back, he gave me a pamphlet of their "Passport Account," and showed me the features. I was entitled to get this account, which is aimed at non-residents, but the catch was that it had a fee of £8 per month, and you are tied in to a 12 month contract. Obviously this was not the best option, even though I was inclined to take it just for the sake of having an account, but Tom talked me out of it.
We came home after being unsuccessful at finding a bank, and I did some research. I had read while doing visa research that some people on the Youth Mobility Scheme have just walked into a bank with their passport, and walked out with a fully-functioning account, so I tried to find out which bank that had been. I eventually found that Lloyd's TSB, which is one of the largest banks anyway, did offer a basic current account (chequing without any features) only requiring a passport as documentation to holders of certain countries, Canada included. Long story short, we went back into town this afternoon, walked into Lloyd's, where I was treated very well, sat down with an account manager who asked to see my passport and didn't need anything else, and had an account opened for me in about 10 minutes. The whole thing was quick and easy with no hassles or reasons why it was impossible to have me as a customer. Some banks require you to deposit a large amount of money upon opening your account, have salary requirements, or other restrictions, but this wasn't the case at all. Hooray!
I know where I'll be banking from now on!
Brand New Year!
Hello! And if I haven't told you yet, Happy New Year!
I must say that New Year's here was very different than any I've had at home. We had a bit of a family situation here on New Year's Eve, and ended up taking care of Nat and Ian's three kidlets for the day. We spent the afternoon playing Jenga, word games and Uncle Tom's new Mario Kart on the Wii. Tom made us all chilli (we didn't eat enough of it this summer, apparently) for supper, and then the kids went round to the shop with Grandma and Granddad for ice-creams. After tea-time, we all went outside to shoot off some fireworks Rob had set up (fireman safety) in the neighbour's garden. I love the fact that fireworks are legal year round here; it makes New Year's seem more special, especially when everyone has them. We also had some paper lanterns to launch, which are really fun. They're basically a small wire frame with a square piece of waxed card that you light underneath. If you do it right, when the square is lit, it'll fill the paper lantern above with air, and it goes up like a mini-hot air balloon. They actually go quite high and far before going out, or they're supposed to anyway. The wind caused us quite a few problems during the process, as Tom had a very difficult time getting the lighter to stay lit, let alone the wax. We got a candle, and finally managed to fill the balloon a bit, but when it was released, it promptly blew into the neighbour's tree. We watched it for a few anxious seconds to make sure it didn't set the tree on fire, which understandably would be quite embarrassing for fire safety reasons. After that excitement, Nat and Ian arrived back in time to put everyone to bed, and then it was grown-up New Year's time!
We attempted to find something good to watch on TV, but the only decent program was Jools Holland's NYE music thing. There aren't any shows like New Year's Rockin' Eve with Dick Clark (Ryan Seacrest I guess), and no balls to drop, so we just enjoyed the music and waited for midnight. There was a bit of a discussion over whether we should continue watching Jools Holland at midnight, which would ensure the playing of Auld Lang Syne, or tune into the broadcast of the fireworks in London. In the end, we decided on the fireworks, which were absolutely spectacular even on TV. They went on for a full 10 minutes, in sync with music, and using both the clocktower of the Houses of Parliament (Big Ben) and the London Eye as launch sites in addition to the barges on the river. While we watched them, everyone had the obligatory glass of champagne, hugs and kisses, but then what was happening outside became more exciting.
It seemed like everyone in the neighbourhood was setting off fireworks and lanterns, which really looked quite lovely in the night sky. Everyone was out on the street to watch, and then to our surprise, massive fireworks started exploding behind us, being lit at the pub (coincidentally called The Ashley) down the road. These ones were so big and loud that they set off in what I would estimate as about a 6 block radius. We got the rest of the paper lanterns out (pack of 5), and set off three of them rather unsuccessfully, hoping they would join all the others floating away in the sky. They burned well for a while, but then tended to blow sideways slightly, and either go out, or set the paper part on fire and fall out of view like comets. I'm sure quite a few people had charred lantern remains in their gardens in the morning!
After all the hubbub had died down, I called home to say Happy New Year to everyone, and we continued to spend time with Tom's parents and Nat and Ian until about 2am, and then it was hockey time! Tom and I stayed up til 4:30 watching the Canada-US game, and after being rewarded with the patriotic satisfaction of a win, went to sleep!
New Year's Day saw another massive and delicious Sunday dinner, complete with another massive and delicious load of my mom's stuffing, on request from Thomas. Food comas ensued, and not much else happened for the rest of the day due to our slug-like behaviour. Holidays: complete!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Green Christmas
I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas, and keeps celebrating til the New Year!
Christmas here has been wonderful, and full of new traditions. On Christmas Eve, I had quite the busy day. In the morning, I was in the kitchen, making a double batch of my mom's stuffing. Tom experienced its deliciousness at Thanksgiving, and requested that I make it for the turkey as an alternative to a boxed mix. Absolutely nothing wrong with the boxed kind, but if you're not the biggest fan of sage, then something homemade is better. Anyway, we got all the ingredients the day before, and I put it all together so that Tom's sister could come pick up her portion in the early afternoon. Stuffing for two families' Christmas dinners, no pressure! It worked out quite well if I do say so myself, and I had to slap Tom's hand away more than once! While I was cooking, we watched A Muppet Christmas Carol, which also helped put me in a Christmassy mood.
After stuffing was finished, The Royal Ballet's version of the Nutcracker was on tv, so of course I had to watch it. Tom's dad disappeared for the duration, not being the biggest fan of ballet, and Tom played games with his headphones in to block out the glorious strains of Tchaikovsky... silly. When it finished after 2 hours of amazing-ness, I got myself ready to go out to the pub for Christmas Eve drinks after dinner (we had "Festive Fajitas"). We walked to the closest pub, The Cannon, with Tom's parents, and found the place absolutely packed out with festive revellers. After about 25 minutes, we lucked out and got a table, and had ourselves a few pints of bitter... mmm. We came home for 10 so that we could watch a Christmas special about a family who goes to Lapland for the holidays, and much to my delight, Sue lit her German candle-windmill for the first time!
When the show finished, we put out goodies for Santa Claus: a mince pie, gingery-drink, and a carrot for Rudolph. Then, I called my family to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, as they were all together at Auntie Kim's for our usual Christmas Eve get-together. Then, it was time for bed before Santa made his way to England from Senegal (according to NORAD).
As usual, I didn't sleep well Christmas Eve night, and was awake checking the time approximately every hour. Finally it was 8 o'clock, and time for Christmas to start. I got very spoiled by Tom's parents, and received lovely presents of bath things, pajamas, body cream, lip gloss, and a whole case of Cherry Coke! And from the boy himself, I also got spoiled with the 25th anniversary edition of Phantom on DVD (!!), a book about strange museums, things from Lush, another really interesting book called The History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, and a "pet" (a little fluffy blue thing that looks like it's wiggling when you pull on his string, hard to explain) since I've mentioned wanting various pets (kitty, turtle, etc.) the whole year. After we opened our presents and gave Tom's parents theirs, Rob pulled a classic Christmas Story and said "there's one more present," bringing in a big box from the kitchen. Tom opened it- we got a new TV as a joint present! Lucky or what? It has a built in DVD player, can be hooked up to a computer or flash drive, and we can watch Freeview TV on it in Tom's room! Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled!
After all that excitement, we got dressed and went to Nat and Ian's. We saw all the kid's new presents, and gave and received some more. The highlight of the morning was Ian's face when he thought the TV box that contained smaller wrapped presents WAS the present, and his subsequently more disappointed face when he opened the box! We spent about an hour playing with the kids and their new toys, and then made our way to Mansfield to see Kev and Marie. We gave Olivia and Andrew their present, Pop Up Pirate, and played a few rounds (because apparently I missed out in childhood not playing it) before we headed back home to get dinner ready.
We had dinner promptly at 3 o'clock, and were joined by Tom's neighbour, Ann, who also happens to be his godmother. We pulled our luxury crackers, put on our hats and started to eat. Dinner was absolutely delicious, and the stuffing turned out great! I did my mom's recipe justice! After eating far too much, it was time for a turkey-coma induced nap for several hours before Christmas pudding and relaxed grazing until bedtime. We also fit the Doctor Who Christmas Special in there, which I must say was a slight disappointment, and didn't live up to last year's.
Boxing Day was another day of celebration, with everyone coming here to spend the day together. All five kids were very excited to play together, and had a few more presents to open- things that will stay at Grandma and Granddad's house to play with. We had the traditional Boxing Day meal at lunch time: turkey, chips, peas and a fried egg with red cabbage, and pulled more crackers. Then we played Charades (boys against girls) and the kids had a very dramatic treasure hunt for chocolate coins. Tom's grandma and her husband joined for the afternoon, and all the grownups had a lovely time chatting. We had a massive buffet of finger-foods and hors d'oeuvres for dinner time, and basically didn't stop eating the rest of the day. We all watched The Borrowers on BBC together at 7, and after Nat, Ian and the kids went home at 9, it was pretty much winding down time.
So, today is relaxation and turkey-risotto time after a busy but fantastic Christmas! New Year's next, ahh!
Love to you all, and Merry Christmas if I didn't get a chance to tell you!
Christmas here has been wonderful, and full of new traditions. On Christmas Eve, I had quite the busy day. In the morning, I was in the kitchen, making a double batch of my mom's stuffing. Tom experienced its deliciousness at Thanksgiving, and requested that I make it for the turkey as an alternative to a boxed mix. Absolutely nothing wrong with the boxed kind, but if you're not the biggest fan of sage, then something homemade is better. Anyway, we got all the ingredients the day before, and I put it all together so that Tom's sister could come pick up her portion in the early afternoon. Stuffing for two families' Christmas dinners, no pressure! It worked out quite well if I do say so myself, and I had to slap Tom's hand away more than once! While I was cooking, we watched A Muppet Christmas Carol, which also helped put me in a Christmassy mood.
After stuffing was finished, The Royal Ballet's version of the Nutcracker was on tv, so of course I had to watch it. Tom's dad disappeared for the duration, not being the biggest fan of ballet, and Tom played games with his headphones in to block out the glorious strains of Tchaikovsky... silly. When it finished after 2 hours of amazing-ness, I got myself ready to go out to the pub for Christmas Eve drinks after dinner (we had "Festive Fajitas"). We walked to the closest pub, The Cannon, with Tom's parents, and found the place absolutely packed out with festive revellers. After about 25 minutes, we lucked out and got a table, and had ourselves a few pints of bitter... mmm. We came home for 10 so that we could watch a Christmas special about a family who goes to Lapland for the holidays, and much to my delight, Sue lit her German candle-windmill for the first time!
When the show finished, we put out goodies for Santa Claus: a mince pie, gingery-drink, and a carrot for Rudolph. Then, I called my family to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, as they were all together at Auntie Kim's for our usual Christmas Eve get-together. Then, it was time for bed before Santa made his way to England from Senegal (according to NORAD).
As usual, I didn't sleep well Christmas Eve night, and was awake checking the time approximately every hour. Finally it was 8 o'clock, and time for Christmas to start. I got very spoiled by Tom's parents, and received lovely presents of bath things, pajamas, body cream, lip gloss, and a whole case of Cherry Coke! And from the boy himself, I also got spoiled with the 25th anniversary edition of Phantom on DVD (!!), a book about strange museums, things from Lush, another really interesting book called The History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, and a "pet" (a little fluffy blue thing that looks like it's wiggling when you pull on his string, hard to explain) since I've mentioned wanting various pets (kitty, turtle, etc.) the whole year. After we opened our presents and gave Tom's parents theirs, Rob pulled a classic Christmas Story and said "there's one more present," bringing in a big box from the kitchen. Tom opened it- we got a new TV as a joint present! Lucky or what? It has a built in DVD player, can be hooked up to a computer or flash drive, and we can watch Freeview TV on it in Tom's room! Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled!
After all that excitement, we got dressed and went to Nat and Ian's. We saw all the kid's new presents, and gave and received some more. The highlight of the morning was Ian's face when he thought the TV box that contained smaller wrapped presents WAS the present, and his subsequently more disappointed face when he opened the box! We spent about an hour playing with the kids and their new toys, and then made our way to Mansfield to see Kev and Marie. We gave Olivia and Andrew their present, Pop Up Pirate, and played a few rounds (because apparently I missed out in childhood not playing it) before we headed back home to get dinner ready.
We had dinner promptly at 3 o'clock, and were joined by Tom's neighbour, Ann, who also happens to be his godmother. We pulled our luxury crackers, put on our hats and started to eat. Dinner was absolutely delicious, and the stuffing turned out great! I did my mom's recipe justice! After eating far too much, it was time for a turkey-coma induced nap for several hours before Christmas pudding and relaxed grazing until bedtime. We also fit the Doctor Who Christmas Special in there, which I must say was a slight disappointment, and didn't live up to last year's.
Boxing Day was another day of celebration, with everyone coming here to spend the day together. All five kids were very excited to play together, and had a few more presents to open- things that will stay at Grandma and Granddad's house to play with. We had the traditional Boxing Day meal at lunch time: turkey, chips, peas and a fried egg with red cabbage, and pulled more crackers. Then we played Charades (boys against girls) and the kids had a very dramatic treasure hunt for chocolate coins. Tom's grandma and her husband joined for the afternoon, and all the grownups had a lovely time chatting. We had a massive buffet of finger-foods and hors d'oeuvres for dinner time, and basically didn't stop eating the rest of the day. We all watched The Borrowers on BBC together at 7, and after Nat, Ian and the kids went home at 9, it was pretty much winding down time.
So, today is relaxation and turkey-risotto time after a busy but fantastic Christmas! New Year's next, ahh!
Love to you all, and Merry Christmas if I didn't get a chance to tell you!
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