Christmas day

Tom opening his stocking.

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My Christmas morning started at 7.30am when Emma woke up for her morning bottle, but Lily wasn't far behind. She came running into our room exclaiming 'Father Christmas gave me lots of presents!'. Tom needed a little persuading to wake up and Lily had already ripped through her stocking before Tom got out of bed! After opening the stockings, we went downstairs for their main presents. Tom and Lily were thrilled to discover that Father Christmas had brought them the bikes they had requested. Lily didn't hang about with her gifts and tore through them like a hurricane. Tom took his time opening his presents and tended to play with each new toy before opening another one. Emma had Lily to open her presents for her.

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We had a wonderful Christmas day...good company, good food and good times! The Podlings really enjoyed the day and it was so nice to have all the family together. The adults didn't open the presents until the evening, which was unfortunate as my photos would have been much better quality had I opened my present from Mark in the morning. My wonderful husband gave me a fabulous new camera! I am beyond thrilled! My old camera has been slowly dying a death and hasn't been taking very good pictures lately, but I wasn't expecting to get a new one. Mark had tried to get me to open a gift a couple of times over the day, but I said I'd wait to open with everyone else. I wish I'd given in now! Never mind, from here on in my photos should be pretty good quality...once I learn my way around my new camera. Thank you Mark, I love it!

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Tom's face says it all!
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Lily REALLY wanted a bike for Christmas. She was understandably excited to find that Father Christmas had left the much requested pink bike under the tree. Sadly the ice and snow meant that we couldn't take the Podlings outside on their new bikes, but they were quite happy to ride around the house.
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Tom loves his Topsy Turtle game and played quite happily with it for ages
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Emma enjoyed her first Christmas and looked adorable in her Christmas dress. Although she isn't old enough to know what it is all about, she really enjoyed the pretty paper, new toys and watching her brother and sister.
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Emma in her main present, a Bumbo seat. She doesn't believe the seat's tag line that the baby can't fall out of it and is working very hard to flip herself out of it backwards.

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Lily and Emma having a tea party with Emma's new Fisher Price 'Pretty Please' tea set. I am totally in love with this toy. It actually teaches manners..how cute is that!

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Lily totally rocked her new guitar, a gift from Uncle Greg and Auntie Kelly.
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Merry Christmas!

I'd like wish anyone who reads my little blog a (slightly belated) Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a wonderful day.

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Christmas eve

The best of the many pictures I took of the Podlings in their new pyjamas

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Tom and Lily were very excited on Christmas eve. They were happy to get into their new pyjamas and excitedly got the table ready for Father Christmas...milk and shortbread for Santa and carrots and water for the reindeer. We were quite late arriving round at Mark's parents, so Emma went to bed first. We then got Tom and Lily their supper and took them to bed to read 'The Night Before Christmas'. Thankfully they were both very tired and settled to sleep quickly. Quite a relief as they were sharing a room for the first time. Father Christmas did his thing and we went to bed very late after giving Emma her last feed of the night. I was at least as excited as the children!

Emma retires to bed with her stocking to await Father Christmas
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Santa's been!
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Deck the Halls - Kitchen, lounge and hallway

We bought this pretty wooden decoration at a German Christmas market a few years ago. This is the first year we have actually had it on show as we have only just changed the German plug for a British one! The other end of the window sill has a couple of candles and some more pine cones.

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This is the final installment of my festive tour. I thought I'd better post it now as I'm going to be pretty busy from here on in. We are off to Mark's parents' for Christmas, so I have ironing, packing, present wrapping and house cleaning to keep me occupied until we leave tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait for Christmas...I'm worse than the children! I particularly enjoy Christmas Eve as it is just so magical with the Podlings. I love Christmas!

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Festive touches in the kitchen include a mini Poinsettia, a basket of satsumas and some artificial greenery. My tins contain some festive goodies.
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This pretty Lilliput Lane cottage on the bookcase in the hall was a gift from Mark a few years ago. It has a light inside and glows with a warm, homely light. So cosy!
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Mark bought this small fibre optic tree on his way home from work one evening. It graces the corner of the lounge and looks lovely at night with it's soothing multicoloured glow.
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A detail of the garland on the mantelpiece in the lounge
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5 months old

The littlest Podling is now 5 months old! I haven't the faintest idea what she weighs as we haven't been to clinic for weeks, but she is quite a dainty flower as she is still wearing 0-3 month clothes. She's been feeding a lot better since we changed her formula and whilst she still isn't sleeping through the night, she takes her entire feed in about ten minutes and goes straight back to bed without really waking up. Could be worse! We have settled into a really nice routine during the day now and she goes to bed every night at 6.45pm. We then give her a feed before we go to bed and she feeds again about 3.30am.
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It was really hard to get a nice, relaxed photo for her 5 month shot, because the girl is on a mission. The second you put her in anything approaching a sitting position she now does this.... Emma wants to sit in the worst way and her desire to achieve this goal keeps her occupied for much of the day. Even when you lie her on her back, she starts doing little tummy crunches in an attempt to sit. She isn't really bothered about rolling because she is consumed with her desire to sit unaided! I'm starting to worry that she'll hurt her head as she can get it quite a way off the ground before she drops back with a thud!

The poor girl is suffering from yet another cold and has a nasty cough to boot, so she is little unsettled at the moment. Hopefully she will recover in time to enjoy her first Christmas on Friday. I can't wait to enjoy it with my little baby bear.

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There were never such devoted sisters...

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Let it snow

Tom the snowman..

One of the great things about having children is that you get to do all the things you loved doing as a child. We had a bit of snow over the weekend, so this morning Lily and I went out and made a snowman. I believe I've mentioned how much Tom hates being cold, so he opted out of this activity. He settled down in the playroom with his Lego and some cartoons, Emma napped and Lily and I went out in the garden and played in the snow.
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Work in progress

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Lily had a great time doing this and so did I for that matter! Since we used one of Tom's old hats and his scarf, we decided to name our snowman Tom, in honour of our absent playmate. The real Tom was happy just to admire our snow creation from the warmth of the house.

Lily was extremely proud of our snowman and wants to make another one tomorrow!

My work here is done!

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Weihnachtsmarkt

We took the Podlings to Birmingham yesterday to see the Christmas lights and visit the German Christmas market they hold there every year. It was snowing when we were getting ready, so we knew it would be cold and dressed accordingly. When we arrived in Birmingham, we bundled everyone up in their winter gear and set off for an afternoon of Christmas fun. The lights were lovely and the Podlings really enjoyed them. Tom didn't really get into the spirit of things to begin with because he HATES being cold, but he cheered up when we bought him a pretzel. It was almost as big as him, but he tucked into with it great enjoyment.
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Ready for the off! Tom and Lily were cosy and cute in the matching Aran cardigans my mum made for them. She's currently making one for Emma too..matching Podlings, how adorable!
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We wandered around the stalls and just enjoyed seeing the Christmas wares. We didn't buy much because everything was grossly overpriced. We have visited the Christmas markets in Germany many times and know how much things actually cost over there. We are sure to go to Germany again, so we just refused to pay the inflated prices.

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Birmingham's Frankfurt Christmas market
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Tom enjoying his pretzel

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We enjoyed a tea of German sausage and chips (I had cheese sausage...yum!) and then Mark took Lily on the merry go round. Lily was desperate to get on the ride as soon as she saw it and we had real trouble getting her to eat her tea first. I suffer from motion sickness and there was no way on Earth I was going on the merry go round, so the lot fell to Mark. It was quite funny to see their contrasting countenances as they passed us each time on the ride. Lily was beaming from ear to ear and Mark looked rather like he'd like to throw up thank you very much! That's what makes Mark such a good father. He knew he'd hate it, but he took Lily on anyway because she wanted it so much. Love that man!
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Emma really enjoyed watching the carousel

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Lily LOVED the merry go round!

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We had a lovely time, but the cold did get too much for the Podlings in the end. Tom really doesn't handle being cold well and wasn't at all happy until we got back in the warm. We did enoy ourselves in spite of the cold and came home feeling nicely festive, if tired. It's not quite the same as actually being in Germany though, so perhaps next year we'll just go there instead!.

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My Christmas fairy

Lily the Christmas fairy, snapped just before the concert

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Emma and I went to see Lily in her playgroup Christmas concert this morning. Lily looked adorable as a Christmas fairy, though wasn't initially too thrilled about putting her costume on this morning as she told me she wanted to be a pirate. I patiently explained that it was a Christmas concert and that pirates weren't very Christmassy, so she decided to go with the fairy costume after all! The children had all worked very hard to learn the songs and the concert was lovely. Lily joined in all the songs, though she told me afterwards that she didn't know all the words for all of them.

In addition to all the parents and grandparents, the reception and Year 1 classes from Tom's school were also at the concert. Lily was thrilled to see her big brother in the audience and kept waving at him and trying to get his attention. I think it is such a big thing for a three year old to perform in front of such a large audience and to sit still for so long and I'm very proud of my little Christmas fairy.

The children were all given a lollipop after the concert as a reward for taking part. Lily was lucky enough to get a much sought after red lollipop.

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Meeting the man himself

Father Christmas was a 'surprise' visitor at Lily's playgroup party this afternoon. All the children got to go up on stage and meet Santa, who gave them all a gift of chocolate buttons. Lily had a great time at the party and was dancing her socks off when I arrived. It wore her out though as she was practically begging to go to bed this evening and fell asleep without a murmur when I tucked her up. I've always adored the festive season, but I'm enjoying it all on a whole new level now that I have children. Seeing Christmas through their eyes is just magical.

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Santa baby

Emma was appropriately dressed for watching her big sister meet Father Christmas this afternoon. My mum made this outfit for Tom's second Christmas and all three Podlings have now worn it. It is a bit big for Emma at the moment, but at least it kept her warm on a very cold afternoon. We actually had some snow here today, but at least my Santa baby was warm and cosy.

All dressed up

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After getting Lily dressed up for her Christmas party, we had a quick photo shoot by the Christmas tree. I don't know what is going on with the light in these photos. I took them in the same conditions, but the lighting is all over the place. They are still sweet pictures of my sweet little girl though, so just excuse the appalling photography.
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A traditional 'butter wouldn't melt' pose

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There were several sweet pictures, but this one is probably my favourite. She looks like she's up to no good!

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Bake and take...

Lily has her playgroup Christmas party this afternoon and we were all asked to contribute some party food. I offered to make some fairy cakes, so I spent yesterday baking, icing and decorating 40 odd mini fairy cakes for Lily to take today. I made them using my mini muffin tin as I find full size fairy cakes are too big for the age group at the party. These bite size cakes are much better for 2-4 year olds. I used glace icing on the cakes and made the star decorations from fondant icing (I have blue hands today from colouring the icing!). As a finishing touch, I pushed an edible silver ball into the centre of each star. I think they look pretty edible and I hope the children at Lily's playgroup will think so too.
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Deck the Halls - The Christmas Tree

The tree looks stunning this year and the photo really doesn't do it justice. Why is it so hard to get a decent picture of a Christmas tree? Incidentally, I'm a new convert to wired ribbon on Christmas trees. I just love the way it looks!

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I thought I'd better get around to taking some pictures of the Christmas tree before it dies. The trunk of this specimen is so thick that we had to hammer our tree stand on to it, which means that there isn't even the tiniest gap in which to get water into this poor thing. Thankfully it only has to last until Christmas eve, as we will be visiting family after that. We'll be buying a new Christmas tree stand next year though as there is no way on Earth we are ever going to get it off this tree again!

I think the tree is beautiful this year, though it kills me to have coloured fairy lights on it. I much prefer the rather more tasteful white fairy lights (the yellow coloured ones, not the bright white LED ones), but we put the coloured ones on because the Podlings love them. Tom and Lily decorated the tree with a little assistance. I rearranged the ornaments slightly after they had finished, hung the ones on the higher branches and put on the ribbon, but I haven't changed it drastically from the way they decorated it. There will be time enough for white fairy lights and tastefully decorated trees when the children are grown and I will miss their childish clusterings of ornaments on the lower branches of the tree.
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Emma's first ornament. Tom and Lily both had Gisela Graham ornaments for their first Christmas, so I chose one for Emma's first ornament too. Lily's got damaged last year, so I plan to pick another one of these up for her as a replacement 'First Christmas' ornament.

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We started a tradition when Tom was a baby of buying the Podlings one Christmas ornament every year. They really enjoy hanging their special ornaments each year and when they move out and have a home of their own they will each have a collection of ornaments ready to go on their first Christmas tree. When they were babies, we chose ornaments for them, but we now let them choose their own. The outing to choose these special ornaments has become one of the family traditions that I really look forward to each Christmas. Allowing them to choose their own ornaments has resulted in some interesting selections though. Tom chose a huge monstrosity a couple of years ago that I now hide at the back of the Christmas tree every year!

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This year I treated myself to a special ornament. This tiny glass robin reminded me of the story my mum used to tell of Father Christmas's robin. Every time we saw a robin in the garden she would tell my sister and me that it was watching us and would fly and tell Father Christmas whether we were being good or naughty. Those beady black eyes kept me in check for many a year!
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I love this glass owl that Lily chose as her special ornament last year. I shall be loathe to part with it when, many years hence, Lily takes her ornaments with her to her own home.

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Bring on the clowns

Tom is in centre in the large red wig

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This morning I got to watch my little boy singing and dancing in his school Christmas concert. This is a huge thing. At the start of the school year, Tom would be taken crying from music class as he didn't like the noise of other people singing. It was a struggle to get him to stay in the room, let alone join in. A few weeks later, he is on stage in front of a room full of parents, not only singing and dancing, but clearly enjoying it. What a transformation! His teachers are fantastic and have brought him on so well. It was such a treat to see him really joining in with the other children and he looked so cute in his clown costume. I am so proud of him I could burst!
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As usual I have blanked out the faces of the other children in line with my personal policy not to post pictures of other people's children on the Internet without their parents' permission/knowledge.
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Deck the Halls - Dining room edition

Our festive dining room. Yes, I need to clean the hand prints off the wall. It will get done eventually, but I have two young children and a baby and therefore very little time...please don't judge me! On a completely unrelated subject, I officially hate the radiator on that wall and would love to get a cabinet to cover it at some point.

The dining room is looking wonderfully festive with the two beautiful quilted advent calenders that my mum made the Podlings adorning the wall. Tom is particularly keen to come down and discover his treat each morning. My mum is in the process of gathering the fabric to make an advent calender for Emma for next Christmas. They take an incredible amount of work, so she's getting a head start.

The embroidered tablecloth was a gift from Mark's parents from one of their trips to Cyprus. We also have matching napkins, but unlike the rest of the world we take the tablecloth off when we eat as I don't want the Podlings to ruin it!
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I gave up trying to get a decent picture of the light fitting, but I have decorated it with red and gold baubles and artificial candy canes. It looks great.
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In the centre of the table is a glass vase filled with red and gold baubles of various finishes. I can't claim the credit for this idea, but I can't for the life of me remember were I originally saw it. I think it's really effective though.
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A detail of the tablecloth, showing one of the cute, if slightly evil-looking Santas that decorate the edge.

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I haven't decorated the sideboard, so I haven't bothered to picture it, but I plan to get a potted poinsettia to put on it.

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So there you have our festive dining room. The photos don't really do it justice as it looks much better in real life. Incidentally, I feel the need to apologise for the quality of some of my photos lately. My camera isn't consistently giving me the picture quality I know it is capable of and I can't work out why. It's probably Podling related!

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