Spoilt

Front and back of a tree ornament from Will

Perfect 1st Christmas gift.

 All our boys on one ornament

 Irish Merry Christmas

 The best drinking chocolate, ever!

We are back home after 6 days away, We drove to Somerset, to stay with my brother for one night and a final catch up with my family before Christmas. The next morning it was off to Bristol airport and a flight to Dublin, hubbies oldest son lives on the edge of the city.
We had 5 days in Dublin, it was bitterly cold, but dry, none of the expected snow, Richard took Friday  and Monday off work and had planned some wonderful trips, photo's will be in the next post.
I love to get tree ornaments on our travels, I have said before our tree is our family history, it is very popular to get the decorations on which names can be added, so we got a large family one with all our grand sons on. Plus I thought it would be nice to have the Irish Christmas greeting on our tree.
The top ornament was unexpected, daughter Su had 4 made for grandparents and their tree, a perfect item for Will's first Christmas. We all have had them early so we can get a few extra days viewing before we pack Christmas away.
In Dublin, on almost every corner there is a Butlers cafe, they make the most wonderful hot chocolate drinks, we had one each day as a special treat, and I brought some home for next week as visitors arrive.
We have no snow here, we almost always miss the snow falls, but as with everywhere else it is very cold, I have to pop out this afternoon, but before that I have Will for a couple of hours.

Play day

This hat has been used by all our grandsons

It did get a bit too much

Our tree survived 

Bargain

Festive drinks

Cake finished

We had Will all day, he has been away at Grandma's and Grandpa's house, so it's the first time is over  a week. He looks so much taller, plus he now has four teeth, not that mummy and daddy realised the top two were coming through. He loved my Christmas hat, purchased at Disney Land Paris, many, many years ago, I have a photo of Josh wearing it on his 1st Christmas, Josh is now 12.
Will loved the two new toys and played on the floor most of the day, our singing Santa on the motorbike went down well, I had to play the video from my phone to him as he went wild for the model.
Our tree survived, in fact once he had crawled past it a couple of times to get to the window to the garden, he was very good, he also loved the wobbly Santa we have, which he could play with.
I have a new table decoration (well new to me), our local community center had their Christmas Fare on Saturday, so we popped along, the pot with lights was just £6 and perfect for our table. Hubby also won a bottle of wine, the tickets cost us £1 each, we both had a go, but I was unlucky.
I have started drinking my spice berry cordial, I love the taste, it's like mulled wine, without the wine, very festive.
I put a notice on our local facebook page asking for anyone who makes cake toppers, had a few recommendations for one lady, the snowmen were a good price and a perfect finish for my cake.
PS I've got my Christmas header again this month.

Books

This came yesterday

 Along with book 7

 Pure pleasure

When you import as a photo, the video does not play

My neighbour across the road, Chris has hearing problems, she is very good at lip reading and unless you are told you would not notice. For the past year she has been learning to sign, something I would love to do, so I got this book, with the hope of joining her class in the new year. If I can't get into the classes I will teach myself.
My blog book for 2016 came, the task of importing by hand was not as bad as I feared, once I had established a system, it all became much quicker. Purchased on Black Friday with a 50% discount, with postage I paid just under £40.00,  I can still use better quality pages and finishes and pay much less.
Our friends came over yesterday after school with their children, Jack 2 and Maddie 5, they came to see our decorations, poor mum could not relax, as most of the decorations on our tree are glass, so I ensure both children checked everything on our tree, their faces were full of wonder, it was a lovely moment. Santa on the motorbike was a huge hit, as was another Santa I have who sings and wobbles about.
Later we went to our village for the switching on of the lights, local schools sang for us, it was very cold but really enjoyable. Our main street is only small (we are close to Cities,
Portsmouth and Southampton), and the locals have to raise the monies themselves for any festive.

It's Christmas time...

These have been part of our Christmas for years

 Putting some of my Santa's together

 My huge Christmas tree

                                   New this year                                      

Pagan displays

I managed to get all the decorations up, it took much longer than normal, but I enjoyed sorting what I have and placing things differently this year. It is nice to have the time, I found a couple of Christmas albums and sang along merrily. I have two new tree decorations hubby chose from Spain, and the white pot above, in which I put one of my artificial candles which lights the whole pot.

Each year I forget just how wide the tree is, but we do not use this entrance to the garden in the cooler months, so it sits well in this spot.
I am very pagan with my decorations, I love to see holly, Ivy, Berries and loads of Christmas flowers around the room, all are silk, which again I have owned for ages, plus loads of candles. This year I have put silk holly around my three big picture frames in the sitting room. I just have to find somewhere for my home made bunting.
I will leave you with our favorite display, he comes out each year, can't wait for Will to see him.