Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's day. A chance to show all the lovely people in my family how much I love them and use pretty china, flowers and hearts as I do it. Win Win for me!

Happy Valentine's Day!

💖

Valentine's treats for the Podlings greeted them in the morning. There may or may not also have been doughnuts for breakfast as a special treat.

I made these little Valentine's treat boxes for the Podlings. Ladybirds for the boys and roses and lace for the girls. They are filled with Love Hearts.

Presents for the dolls, the little heart shaped boxes I made were filled with Love Hearts and given to the dolls with a bouquet of paper roses.

Our Valentine's tea (the picture is very dark for some reason)

Heart-shaped fairy cakes with pink and white icing, pink glittery sugar and red and pink roses (I loved making the roses!). They couldn't be more perfect for a Valentine's day tea! 

Valentine's Day

 

 

Baskets of treats and cards made by Mummy awaited the Podlings on the morning of Valentine's Day, along with the special treat of pink iced doughnuts for breakfast. Alex was understandably thrilled to be greeted with a basket of sweets and was soon tucking in to strawberry laces! I greeted the girls from school with pink foil wrapped chocolate lollipops and they came home and started on the baking for our Valentine's tea (Tom prefers not to join in these days). Lily made the fairy cakes and they decorated them together. I had bought some pink and red fondant icing so the girls could make some decorations for the cakes. Lily really enjoyed this and made some really lovely decorations. I made the larger cake and then Lily had a free hand in decorating it. She did a lovely job. We sat down to a lovely Valentine's tea together where we all consumed far too much sugar!

 



Our Valentine's tea

Lily's very pretty Valentine's cake.

Lily, Emma and Alex had fun decorating the fairy cakes

I made this wreath last summer, but it seemed appropriate to bring it out for Valentine's Day

Little Emma received her first Valentine from a little boy in her class. So sweet!

Happy New Year!

After my parents went back home to Devon, we spent a few days with Mark's parents so we could see in the New Year with them. Tom has been awake to see the New Year in with us for the past couple of years and the girls were determined to stay awake as well this year. Alex was the only one asleep when Big Ben chimed midnight, signifying the beginning of a new year. Emma loved opening the back door to let out the old year as Nanna opened the front door to let in the new one and they loved watching the fireworks. I think it is quite probable that the grown-ups were considerably more ready for bed than the children were when the fun was over! 

Watching the fireworks through the window

A Birthday Barbecue

My Dad's birthday is three days after Christmas and since my parents were staying with us for Christmas we were able to spend it with him this year. We decided to be a little different and celebrate with a winter barbecue. With a December birthday, Dad had never had a barbecue on his birthday before, so we were pleased to be able to give him a first at the age of 62! Starting the barbecue was no mean feat as we think the coal had got a bit damp from being stored in the conservatory. Dad was determined to start it and kept at it long after we would have given up. His dedication and perseverance paid off and we eventually had a splendid fire to cook on. Mark took charge of the cooking and produced a veritable feast. We could probably have fed half the neighbours as well!

The girls made and decorated a birthday cake for their grandad, which  we were too full eat on the day! We ended the evening by roasting some giant American marshmallows that Tom had been given for Christmas and kindly shared with everyone. I think my Dad had a lovely birthday, we certainly all enjoyed it!

Yes, that is a pith helmet!

Christmas Day

This year we had our second Christmas in our own home. We have always alternated spending Christmas with Mark's parents and my parents, and now that we have four children we don't really fit in my parents' house anymore, especially with the associated paraphernalia of Christmas. This is the second time my parents have come up to spend Christmas at our house and we had a really lovely day. We had a really relaxed approach to the day, not putting any pressure on ourselves in order to ensure that everyone had a pleasant Christmas.

Lily, my early riser, having been told that if she showed up before seven she would have to go back to bed, showed up in my room at 7.02am! Having been up rather late the night before with last minute preparations, it was rather a struggle to open my eyes! The girls came in and opened their stockings and then we went downstairs where the girls sat staring wistfully at their presents piles! Once Nanny and Grandad came through they were allowed to start opening, and they didn't need to be told twice! Tom woke up a little later and Alex later still, so we had a staggered present opening, but everyone seemed very pleased with their gifts and we had four very happy Podlings on Christmas morning.

My Dad was an absolute star with Christmas dinner. He had prepared a lot of the vegetables the day before and when it came to cooking dinner, I was his assistant. It certainly took the pressure off me and we had a delicious traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. I couldn't have done it without him and I was very grateful for all his help.

I completely failed to take any photos later in the day, so there is no record of the prettily laid out table, or Emma in her lovely red needlecord smocked dress, or the other Podlings in their Christmas jumpers. I have memories though, and they are wonderful! 

Waiting to start opening their presents!

Emma asked for Sylvanian Families for Christmas. I was so excited! They were one of my favourite toys as a girl and the girls still play with the ones I had. It was a pleasure to get Emma some of her very own and I was surprised to see that the toys are even more charming than they used to be. Something that can not often be said about the toy industry!

Sleepy Alex!

You can just see Alexander's Christmas jumper here...it has snowflakes and red double decker buses on it! It is his favourite jumper now and he wears it as often as he can!

The Night Before Christmas

Taken after church on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was lovely. We like to go to Mark's parents' church on Christmas Eve as they always have a lovely nativity service for the children. Any child who wants to can dress up to help to tell the story of that first Christmas so long ago. Lily dressed as a shepherd and Emma as an angel and very sweet they looked too. After church, we went back to Mark's parents' house for tea before heading back home.

It was late by the time we got back, so I needed to get Alex in bed fairly quickly. I put him in his new pyjamas, but there was no chance to get my usual Christmas Eve pyjama photo of all of the Podlings together. Alex and Tom had matching checked pyjamas for Christmas Eve, but Tom declined to be photographed in them! The girls also matched each other in pretty floral pyjamas and were more co-operative in the photo department! After putting Alex to bed with his stocking, the girls sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn before coming inside for hot chocolate and shortbread. We put out a mince pie and some milk for Father Christmas and a carrot and a bowl of water for the reindeer before heading upstairs to bed. I read them 'The Night Before Christmas'  from the copy my sister and I had as a child and said goodnight to three very excited children. They settled down surprisingly quickly, knowing that Father Christmas won't come to fill their stockings until they are asleep.

I love Christmas Eve! There is so much magic in the familiar tradtions, the anticipation of the children and the overwhelming beauty of the story of the birth of a baby boy in a stable two thousand years ago. 

"For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given" Isaiah 9:6

Off to bed for sleepy Alex