This Christmas

The run up to Christmas is upon us.  Alex and Nick  have finished college for the holidays and we are getting prepared.

On Sunday one of the Pings had a Christmas movie afternoon.  There is only one Christmas movie I’ve ever watched all the way through and that’s National Lampoons Christmas vacation.  Never fails to crack me up.  I’m just not a film fan and very rarely watch one.    About ten of us arrived at her lovely house armed with nibbles and alcohol.. a great combination.  The first film was set up.. ‘Its a wonderful life ‘….. and we all started drinking and chatting..  about 45 minutes later we realised that we hadn’t been watching any of the film !   So we turned it off and put the Christmas music channel on… much better and got us all reminiscing !  So I’ve still only seen the one Christmas  film all the way through !

Ive tried to avoid anything to do with the move this week but that’s been difficult.   It seems everything I touch I’m thinking  ‘Will I take this ? …’What will I do with this ?’  I’ve ordered large storage bags to take some Christmas decorations.  You know how it is.. some of those decorations come out every year and mean something to someone here! .. I have a lot that I’m not going to be taking..and a few that I’ll enjoy looking at again in years to come.. do you think I’m mad ?

I think I said before that I’m thinking of having a yard sale in the new year.  Bradley at the charity shop will be getting lots of things and I’ve warned him of this but some things I will not want to leave behind.  Photos are very special to me.  I have about three large plastic boxes full as I’ve always taken lots of photos and I have some passed down from my mum and also my sister.  These will always be with me.  I also have lots of photos on my PC which will be stored on a hard drive to come with me.  I think photos are so very special.. to keep and to pass down.  Not sure what will happen in the future..with snapchat and Instagram to keep our memories alive.

I’m not cooking Christmas dinner this year !  I can’t  remember the last time that happened but I think it was probably before I had the children and usually went to my parents for Christmas .  Our tradition on Christmas morning is to open our presents with plenty of coffee, pigs in blankets, toast and special chocolate biscuits.  I don’t know how or why these traditions are passed down but I know my kids will do exactly the same when they have their own families.  Usually my sister Lisa will visit around midday but  we won’t have any visitors this Christmas morning as we will all be together later for Christmas lunch.     So my last Christmas in the U.K.  will  be spent with some of my lovely family, my lovely hubby and my lovely kids…  Another  tradition we have is ever since the kids were tiny, they have sat either side of me on the couch on Christmas Eve and I read ‘The night before Christmas ‘ .  Strangely, we still follow this tradition now.  Despite Nick being over 6ft tall and Alex nearly 6ft, they still cuddle up beside me and guess the next bits of the story.  Don’t tell them I told you that 😈

I have mulled wine for our games night.  Plenty of other drink and of course lots of food but I love the smell of warming mulled wine.. in a big pan with oranges.  Now that is christmassy !  Nicks friend Harry will be joining our family and I have no doubt he will be a very good source of entertainment. You may remember that Harry has been friends with Nick since primary school and is a fantastic character.   Nick will be cringing bright red while Harry makes us laugh with his stories.  He thinks we are playing Cards Against Humanity as I told him we are…but we definitely are not !

So Christmas now begins in our house.  I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.  I would love you to join us on our amazing journey and look forward to seeing your comments, thoughts and suggestions over the coming months

Enjoy !