Letters to Father Christmas

The girls wrote their letters to Father Christmas this afternoon. I made some nice paper for Tom as well, but he told me that he wrote a letter to Santa at school and he didn't want to do another one!

 What Emma wants for Christmas is anyone's guess, but she had a great time writing her letter!

Lily's letter reads:

Dear Father Christmas,

I have been a good girl.

Art Table

Grown up scissors

Crayons

Pens

Cuddly angel toy

a biros pack

Harmonica

Cuddly toys

Love from Lily

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A festive afternoon

"When, what to my wondering eye should appear,

but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St Nick."

-From 'The Night before Christmas' by Clement C. Moore

Yesterday afternoon we took the Podlings to the Trentham Estate shopping village where we had heard you could see some real reindeer. Sure enough, there were two reindeer outside the Santa's grotto, both of whom conformed to the 'tiny reindeer' of the poem. One of them was actually still quite a baby and certainly won't be pulling any sleighs this Christmas eve! The Podlings were all thrilled to see some real reindeer and whilst we hadn't once tried to tell them that these were Father Christmas's actual reindeer, Lily's parting shot to them was "See you on Christmas Eve!".

After seeing the reindeer we wandered round the shopping village and picked up a couple of extra gifts before heading off to Sainsbury's to pick up some milk. Who should be waiting outside Sainsbury's but Father Christmas himself, courtesy of the Lions Club. Lily and Tom had a sudden attack of shyness and hid behind me when we went over to see him. I suspect Lily was shy because she had been a bit of a monkey all afternoon and didn't want to be asked if she had been a 'good girl' by the man with the naughty list! Emma, on the other hand, wasn't in the least bit shy and went right up to him. Her bravery was rewarded in the form of a lollipop, which is about all Emma wants for Christmas anyway...she loves them that much! All in all a very festive afternoon!

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Snow!!!

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A Christmas card from Lily

Tom and Lily were happily employed in writing out their Christmas cards last night when Lily suddenly asked me how to spell 'whole'. This was a bit of a change from the previous 'How do you spell (insert classmate's name here)?' refrain. Turns out she was writing out a card for all of you, so I thought I'd take a photo of it so you can enjoy it!

'To evree budee ni the whole wid wurld.

Have a wundfl crisms'.

or to put it another way...

"To everybody in the whole wide world.

Have a wonderful Christmas.'

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Let there be light

The newest edition to our festive home. Mark bought us this lovely window arch last weekend and it now takes centre stage in the bay window in the lounge. Now we don't pull the curtains until we go to bed so we can sit and enjoy it in the evenings. I love Christmas!

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Who needs toys...

when you have a large box to play in?

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Father Christmas

Waiting...
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When my parents were visiting we took the Podlings to see Father Christmas. We went to Bridgemere Garden Centre and joined the queue for the grotto. Then we queued some more and when we got bored with that we....well we queued a bit more! Suffice to say it was a long wait and Emma was getting a bit fed up by the end of it.

All their boredom was forgotten on entering into the room with the man himself! The nervousness! The excitement! I remember it all from my own childhood and I thrill to experience it all again with my children. They did things slightly differently here in that you didn't do the usual sit on Father Christmas's knee, tell him what you want for Christmas, have your photo taken and you're done thing. Here, a group of children are ushered into a room where Father Christmas was sleeping by a fireplace. The children then wake him up and he reads them a story. Then each child (or group of siblings) gets to go up and have a little private chat with him before going to choose a toy from his shelves. It was lovely as the children get to see more of him that way and the Podlings loved it.

My only complaint (aside from the exorbitant cost!) was that there was no opportunity to get a decent photo. I do like to get a nice photographic record of these things and I was rather disappointed not to get a nice photo of the Podlings with Father Christmas. My dad did get a couple that were a bit better than mine, so when I have had a chance to pinch them I'll add them to the end of this post.

 Waiting to see Father Christmas

 Still waiting...

 Are we there yet?

 And we're still waiting! As you can see, Tom has had a haircut. Doesn't he look handsome!

Emma listening to Father Christmas tell a story

The only photo I was able to get of the Podlings with Father Christmas. I even dressed them all in red ready for a good picture!

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