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Tags: 365, Christmas, The Boy, The Last One
As a final acknowledgement to the festivities, the theme for ShowOff ShowCase this week is:
The One About Christmas
Link up your posts, new or old, about your festivities or preparations and share the blog love.
Don't forget to add the badge to the bottom of the post so people can revisit the linky easily, and please take the time to visit some of the blogs linked (or it doesn't really work very well!)
Tags: Christmas, ShowOff ShowCase
It occurred to me that I haven't blogged about our Christmas Day yet. It's not going to be of interest to many, but is to me.
Normally, Mr. TheBoyandMe gets up first with The Boy and gives him breakfast as this is part of his time with him. However, Christmas Day is special so while The Boy and I played with the iPod and books in our bedroom, Mr. TBAm showered and dressed. Then he took him downstairs for yoghurt while I showered and dressed. I pegged it downstairs and we sat and ate yummy pastries while opening our stockings, all three of them from Father Christmas. The Boy was fascinated that the big man himself had indeed eaten most of the mince pie, but there was disapproval in his voice when he discovered that not all the milk had gone!
Traditional presents in his stocking
Following this, and having had the titbits to keep us going until our proper cooked breakfast, we went into the dining room and his face was a complete picture when he saw the tree and all the presents!
After opening the presents from Father Christmas, we settled down to eat a hearty breakfast. I'd even been to the butchers' and bought proper sausages and bacon for Mr. TheBoyandMe. We wolfed it down, and then all finished opening our presents from each other. I was rather chuffed to discover Mr. TBAM has bought me a voucher from Photobox so I can make a 365 photobook! He also generously gave me a digital photoframe (as I've wanted one for years) and, this is the best bit, a waffle-maker! (I'd harped on two months ago about one but he seriously vetoed it, little did I know what he was planning!). I bought him an electric razor, the usual Private Eye annual, lots of other bits and pieces and a new digital camera (his had broken a few months ago). We normally set a £50 limit, but I suspect we both blew it quite seriously!
The Boy had great fun opening the rest of his toys and hasn't stopped playing with them ever since!
We had a rather scrummy lunch of: deep fried brie for starters; four-bird roast/asparagus & craberry risotto filo parcel, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, mashed swede and sweet potato, brussel sprouts, roasted carrots and parsnips, creamed spinach; followed by christmas pudding two hours later.
Presents from Nana and Grandad followed, a little kip for The Boy, the Queen's Speech, a kip for Grandad, dishwasher loaded, cheese and biscuits on table, groaning bellies, bed for The Boy, more washing up, television, playing with 'toys' and finally bed.
The look on our little boy's face at every moment throughout the day was magical. It has been, without a shadow of a doubt, the best Christmas ever!
Tags: Christmas, Silent Sunday
It's Christmas Eve and we've settled down for our 'new' tradition. A few years ago, someone said in front of me that you can't make a tradition, they just happen. I disagree! Somewhere along the line a thought occurs that this would be a nice thing to do each year, and so this is where they can start.
And so we have started one.
The Boy and I made our Christmas cupcakes.
During his nap, I made our gingerbread house and decorated it. In the future, he will help me.
We've been tracking Father Christmas on the Norad website all day.
We've finished some last minute decorations.
Now, we've settled down in the living room with a picnic on our laps, to watch the best children's Christmas film of them all! Polar Express is a must see at this time of year, and I defy anyone not to be filled with the Christmas spirit watching it. It's been digitally remastered (and in 3D no less) and is a modern classic!
Once this has finished, we'll be hanging our stocking on the mantelpiece for Father Christmas to fill and leaving him a mince pie, glass of milk and a carrot (for Rudolph) on the fire-guard.
Once The Boy has gone to bed, then I will be wrapping his presents, filling his Christmas sack and placing it under the Christmas tree. While I'm doing this I'll be watching 'The Most Wonderful Time of The Year' and consuming a sneaky glass of Baileys or two. I'd normally be watching 'Love, Actually' but I did that last Saturday.
What's your Christmas Eve tradition?
Tags: Christmas, Polar Express, traditions
We haven't done any cooking together in a few weeks, and as I had some pretty cupcake cases and stencils that I wanted to try, we dutifully washed our hands, donned our aprons and got down to business this morning!
Adapting a basic fairy cake mix, I added nutmeg, cocoa powder and raisins to make it taste a little more Christmassy, along with a splosh of oil to keep it moist and a little espresso coffee powder to give tang against the sweetness.
The Boy loves mixing everything together and is getting very good at creaming the butter and sugar, then adding the eggs, a little flour, whisking and then adding the oil. It got a little stiff with the flour so I had to give him a hand. Bung in the raisins, cocoa etc and Bob's your mother's brother!
Then while they are cooking for 12 minutes at 200°C, of course what better excuse for a little bit of water play than doing the washing up?
I iced the cakes with white chocolate buttercream and then we used some nifty Christmas stencils from Asda and chocolate poweder to decorate them. Scrummilicious!
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I'm linking this up to the following fabulous linkies:
You can never predict how posts are going to be received by readers. You can spend hours slaving over a post and it receives one reader and no comments, or you can spend five minutes typing on up while sat up at 3am nursing your poorly baby and then the little line on the site statistics chart explodes stellar-ward! While it might have caused a chuckle typing it up using a smartphone application in the middle of the night sat in an uncomfortable Ikea bucket chair, surely it wasn't that funny?
This all got me thinking about posts. Which are the most popular? Which died a death? Which shouldn't have been written? I want to know your posts, and so I bring you ShowOff ShowCase.
Due to the fact that tomorrow is Christmas Day (really? You don't say?!), the theme this week is:
The One About Christmas
Link up your posts, new or old, about your festivities or preparations and share the blog love.
Don't forget to add the badge to the bottom of the post so people can revisit the linky easily, and please take the time to visit some of the blogs linked (or it doesn't really work very well!)
Tags: Christmas, ShowOff ShowCase
I haven't taken part in the Listography for far too long and I feel ashamed of abandoning one of my favourite linkies. A few weeks ago, Kate provided us with the theme of 'Top Five Christmas Songs', which I really wanted to do. And then life and other post commitments cropped up and yet again, I missed the flipping linky! At around the same time, @HimUpNorth tagged me in a meme called the 'Ultimate Christmas Song' Meme.
So I've decided to join the two together and give you my top Christmas songs and split them into categories: Carols, Classics, Children's Songs, Modern Classics and Personal Favourite. Bear with me, it's worth it!
Favourite Carol
When I was a young teenager, mum and I would go and see my (elder) sister perform in the schools' concert in St. David's Hall, Cardiff. If I remember correctly, it was a collection of brass bands, wind bands, youth orchestras, choirs, jazz ensembles, etc. and it was one of the things the signalled Christmas to me. My sister played the clarinet and so was in the windband. I always used to feel an enormous sense of pride and love watching her playing on the stage, when she left the group (with age), mum and I continued to go for a few years until I moved away. This was one of the carols that would be sung by the choir but that the audience were asked to join in with, and mum and I used to love belting this one out. One year my best mate sang in our school choir and was one of the lead vocalists for the twiddly bits (technical term? harmony?) that they sing in the final verse. It sounded magnificent! Every time I think of this song, I'm transported instantly back there.
Christmas Classic
It's got to be this one hasn't it? Everyone knows the words and no-one sings it better than Bing.
Children's Christmas Song
This one gets me every Christmas in school! I love listening to the younger children singing it so earnestly, their little voices straining to reach the high notes, and every time I get a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye. I can't wait to hear The Boy sing this in his own nativity in the future. (No idea which school this video is of, only one I could find!)
Modern Classics
It's not Christmas without hearing Mariah belting this out at least eleventy billion times in the shops, pubs, restaurants, car stereos and music channels. And, depending upon where I am, I either join in in my head or out loud. It also reminds me of 'Love, Actually' which is my favourite Christmas film. However, I have banned Mr. TheBoyandMe from singing it, it's a girls' song!
Personal Favourite
'nuff said.
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And now I need to pass the baton on of naming your Ultimate Christmas Song (just the one, unlike you're like me and can't settle on just one) and I tag:
