Christmas countdown

December 18th

Yay,  today the children break up from school and we can throw away the clock for a couple of weeks. We can have lazy pyjama mornings and take our time over naughty but nice breakfasts. We may even watch a movie in the middle of the day. This week leading up to Christmas will be full of togetherness, making and baking, talking with the inevitable sibling bickering and we'll have comfortable silences. I love the school holidays and I love Christmas. This IS my favourite time of year.  The week leading up to today has been just as busy and as fun however, even if we were still ruled by the tick tocking of the clock. 

Monday

Mamma arrived from Norway to spend the week with us. We have so much planned it was great to have a mothers hug. I'm blessed. 

Mamma and I

Tuesday

I decided to have my own 'works do' and invited witty, clever, compassionate friends for drinks, nibbles and chat.   

Drinks and nibbles

Beautiful nibbles and drink were brought by my lovely friends and I may have supplied one or two bits too ;) 

Wednesday 

The yearly outing to buy a Christmas outfit. My mother every year  takes the children out and chooses an outfit with them so they can  wear it on Christmas Eve.  It has become their tradition and a generation between they all love it. It melts my heart. 

Thursday

Meeting up with my chosen 'auntie', chosen because my parents moved to a country where they were foreigners and she and her husband became their best friends.  My chosen aunt and uncle have celebrated all the important occasions in my life and the sad ones too and we have celebrated most Christmas' together with their children and now their grandchildren, 'my niece and nephew'.  Do you also have a 'chosen' family?  Aren't they the best .  The evening saw my daughter dressing with extra care and asked me to help her with her make up; the occasion, her first 6th form ball.  She looked wonderful.  My son, took the opportunity to invite some friends over for pizza, whilst my husband was on his 'works do' and mamma and I made one of Norway's oldest cookie recipes.  A great evening for all. 

Preening for the ball

Everything matched

Friday

Today after school finishes at lunchtime we will choose our Christmas tree.  This is early for us but as a family we collectively decided to change the game plan this year.  Mamma leaves this weekend to return back to Norway and we all wished to decorate the tree with her, after all this is a family activity.  I am so looking forward to it and we will have an 'eclectic' mix of food for the evening beginning with homemade sausage rolls, no doubt copious amounts of the red stuff followed by a Friday night takeaway curry whilst trimming the tree.  Sheer bliss, except for the out of tune Christmas singing that is also somehow compulsory...

 

 

 

Joining in with  Amy  today sharing my five week day moments with you. 

Pop over to see what everyone else is up to. 

 

 

I was given a new 'Nisse' this week from an old Norwegian friend who is an extraordinarily good knitter.  AS most Norwegian knitters she too makes many knitted cork Nisse and handed this one over saying, see, look I can knit an English version too now!  Genius, can you see from the photograph below, why the Nisse on the left is English and the one on the right  is Norwegian?  Send me a comment, what do you think?  Will reveal all in the next post...

Spot the difference between an English Father Christmas cork and the Nisse