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Christmas 2015

Phew, sneeze and it's all over, all but the final few days of 2015 that is. Izzy and I had a lovely time in Lapland, despite agreeing it probably wasn't our thing. The reality is that we are not a Christmassy family, and so Santa hunting isn't going to cut it, and we prefer a more balanced holiday than this. The cold weather meant that you are either out doing something organised, or inside eating or vegging. Given we weren't doing enough of the first to deserve the second, it didn't feel like the best use of time for me, but we did enjoy the proper snow, we loved the big wide expanses of snow covered forests and the Reindeer racing was great fun. I'm still stunned but how quickly you can knock up a proper snowman when you have proper snow, and it was great to have one on one time, albeit for Izzy this meant watching reruns on Animal Planet mostly. It's also a long way, and eye wateringly expensive. I'm glad we went, it didn't make me wish I'd brought the whole family - Glenn and Abi would have been bored stiff, difficult and we'd be bankrupt!

The best thing about being away was of course, coming home. By the time we got back here neither of us could wait to see Glenn and Abi and they felt the same. It was a happy reunion, at least until the girls started their normal bicker / laughter / bicker routine (took at least 12 hours!) - home sweet home is definitely the truth for us.

Having arrived home on the vending of the 22nd there wasn't much time to get ready for our normal quiet Christmas. Glenn had invited a few of the neighbours round for 'a quick drink and mince pie' on Christmas Eve, which inevitably turned into a 7 hour drinking session! Not like us these days, but very pleasant (until I sat down after everyone had left to realise I couldn't see straight...) we even had to send one of the neighbours out for emergency glasses and a plate of extra sandwiches for the kids - bad hosts that we weren't quite prepared for how many people came and stayed.

Christmas Day has been our normal family only, with this year a lovely windy walk on Greenham common. It was great to go back there - I've hardly been since we moved away 2 years ago. We saw the horses, the dogs and kids got filthy - it's so wet and muddy everywhere still - and then home to turkey and trimmings, just a perfect Christmas Day for us.

Now we are back to normal. Izzy was very generously given a sewing machine from Lesley and Bash for her present so today we went to get some material and she (helped by Glenn - his domestic God-ness never fails to amaze me!) sewed her first little pocket bag. The smile on her face was just a picture - Fifi, expect to be giving lessons soon!

In amongst all the festivities poor Bertie has been suffering. His tummy and digestive system, never the strongest, is playing up again and he's gone completely off the (vet recommended) food we'd just bought in bulk thinking he liked it. After decorating the floor a few times and driving Glenn mad, I went out today with the girls (a very upset Abi due to him not eating and being told off for messing in the house) and we bought some (more) new food. This time we are trying a raw food mix, although we are going for the easy option initially of the dried version. As far as I can,tell it's a bit like a (bloody expensive) pot noodle - just add warm water to dry lumpy powder, wait 10 mins and lo and behold, 'raw' food! The funniest thing was Bertie who having not eaten properly for a few days was very interested in the nice smelling new stuff in his bowl. He couldn't understand why we didn't just give it to him straight away and so sat looking very attentive near the work surface waiting for this delicacy to be delivered. He would have wolfed it down but it's quite sticky, so it was a slightly slower affair but looked like a thumbs up. Fingers crossed for a mess free night, only dog lovers will understand why we accept this and keep trying for a successful solution. 

 So just a few days and it will be 2016 - will have to start thinking about New Years resolutions!

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