Here's Hoping You Had a Good Christmas

Thanks for the lovely comments on my last post. We had a lovely chilled out Christmas day, and I hope if you're reading this you did as well. 

The children enjoyed opening their gifts, our boy loved giving the gift he'd made to his mother (more on that in a later post). 

The day was spent with the children playing with their toys, mainly putting their Lego sets together. The youngest got a guitar, he's been having lessons like Middlest.

Still Some Christmas Spirit

 The children (and wife) finally broke up from school yesterday! 

Seems like such a late start to the Christmas break and I really haven't felt Christmassy at all until today having them all back. 

We went for "breakfast with Father Christmas" this morning. Where you get a fry up and then get to meet the big man himself. Knowing our children well my wife booked adult breakfasts for them all and there was only a few beans left on the plate when we were all finished. 

There is no hiding they're getting older but there's still a bit of unspoken magic there, maybe not as much as when they were younger though. But it still has a spark, the youngest has been making something for his mum in the workshop and the effort he's put in is incredible, I'm looking forward to sharing that with you all!  

It was good grub and a good father Christmas, we then went for a walk around the woods where it was located. A lovely morning. 

Friday wasn't so great! I spent the whole day, and I mean THE WHOLE DAY, deep cleaning the kitchen ready for Christmas day. Everything off the windowsills, my temporary office off the worktop, windows cleaned, I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed the whole kitchen floor and the kitchen plinths. 

I felt very beaten by it by the end, but when I came back in the room it hadn't felt that clean and free from clutter (our main problem) since I finished building it! My wife thought we'd been burgled when she walked in from work that evening. Luckily my day got better as we went for a big Christmas meal with friends that evening which has become an annual tradition - 12 adults and 17 children in total! 

Tomorrow I need to go collect the turkeys from a farm near my fathers (I miss timed our meat chickens this year), one for Christmas day and one for an Alviti meet up later next week, I have a few gifts to wrap but very suddenly it's going to be Christmas! 

I hope wherever you are you are ready for the big day! 

My Christmas Presents!

I know it's very crass to talk about what gifts you got, but I thought I'd share how perfect some of these were!  

Lots of seeds and lots for microgreens which I can grow now! 

Making A Special Visit...

I got a email the other day from the children's old nursery.  It's been a few years since the youngest left, but we were always close with them (and tried to help when I could). The email was asking for the help of a man, a rather large man with a white beard...

After I got over the fact that I was potentially big and old enough to fill his shoes, I agreed! 

It was only a quick visit, long enough to sit down in nursery and give out some presents. A lovely moment though. I came back afterwards into the nursery, without the costume, and had a good catch up with them all as well as they tidied away after their Christmas party. It was always such a good nursery which put play and happiness first rather than making it a mini school (the reason we liked it). Part of me really misses the kids being that age, shame my wife won't let me have any more! 

Anyone else dressed as the "big man" lately?

Merry Christmas!

 Such a busy few days! It has been lovely and with the utter magic of Christmas with children. 

Today was spent looking at roof with a friend, then tidying the house before going round to the same friends house for a wonder Christmas eve tradition that seems to have started of fish and chips together. 

The children have hung their stockings, laid out a mince pie and a carrot, I've read them The Night Before Christmas and they're trying ever so hard to close their eyes tight and fall asleep.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas tomorrow! 

Homemade Mask

One of my favourite presents this year was from my eldest (8) daughter. 

She's still mad on sewing (in fact on making anything really!) so I think she enjoyed making this with her mum! 

 She knew I'd like the material she had chosen (I'm forever the biggest geek you'll ever meet)! 

I can't believe she's going to be 9 in a few weeks, it's gone so fast! Trying to decide what to get her for her birthday is so tricky so close after Christmas as she never asks for much. I'm tempted to make a tool box for her as I think she'd like that. 

Merry Christmas!

 Sorry I've been terrible with keeping up with the blog lately! It's been a busy time despite not being able to travel around, I've been trying to keep up with Etsy orders, making a few Christmas presents and trying to make sure we comply with the Poultry lock down! 

We had a lovely Christmas day and the children feel at a perfect age for it, with them now being 4, 7 & 8, the magic is certainly there. They were super all day and my wife cooked an amazing Christmas lunch (using one of our ducks and one of our Indian Game Cockerels) which I then had to try to sleep off in the afternoon! 

This is just a quick note to say thank you for still reading my blog and that it means a great deal to me to still have people commenting, it sometimes feels that blogs have died off lately so nice that I still can write things here and have them read by like minded people. 

This next week I'll show you what I've made for presents (and my daughter made me) as well as my new design for a simple folding duck coop and an article I wrote for a preserving magazine. 

Merry Christmas everyone! Although I know it's not been a normal Christmas I hope it's been an enjoyable one!  

Letters To Father Christmas

I've loved the children's letters to father Christmas every time they've sent them, and this year is no exception. 

Our eldest has asked for a sewing machine, she is sewing obsessed at the moment.

Our middle child has asked for a toy robot and a pirate map.

And the youngest has asked for two toy whales (to go with the one he has) and a bubble gum dinosaur (a weird toy for about a pound he saw in a shop a while ago).

To have such simple wants in life is lovely.

Merry Christmas!

A little late but I'd love to wish everyone who reads and follows this blog a merry Christmas!

 I love being able to share what we get up to here and reading all your comments, emails and interaction on social media.

Thank you! Hope you all had a great day and a nice break up to the new year.

Christmas Dinner prep

I managed to get a bit of our Christmas dinner sorted on Thursday.

I picked out the biggest meat bird we have and processed him ready for the table.

Merry Christmas!

I'm writing this the night before.

There's a mince pie, a rather stumpy carrot and a glass of milk on the side and upstairs there's three children that are really looking forward to the morning! 

I thought they were going to be far more excited than they were, but they were as good as gold at bedtime, snuggled up for me to read "The night before Christmas" just as my father did for me. 

In the kitchen one of our larger chickens, which we're having instead of a turkey, is defrosting on the side.

I've just spent the last hour preparing all the veg from the garden: brussel sprouts (although these could be a new breed of miniature sprouts!), winter squash (cut up a quarter of one and it was still too much!), carrots (These are supposed to be for seed saving but I couldn't resist), beetroots and leeks. I've also peeled the potatoes that we buy from a local farm.

The sausage meat, sausages and bacon that we buy from Rick, the village butcher, are all ready and waiting to be cooked. My wife has also made a Christmas pudding earlier in the month which is always amazing! Dinner should be incredible! The children have even made crackers for us all as well and have been trying so hard not to tell us what is in each one!

I'm really looking forward to this day and I have so much love for my wife who puts so much effort into it.

It's going to be lovely on Christmas morning watching the children enjoy the magic of it all, it's lovely as they still don't ask for much, all the girls have asked for is some lego men and a shared alarm clock that plays music! We'll have to see if Father Christmas brings them that or some coal!

I hope each and everyone one of you has a very Merry Christmas and it's everything you want it to be spent with the ones you love.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

A Great Christmas

We had a truly magical Christmas day. 

The children loved their presents, each having a favourite - the girls loved their princess dresses and bikes whilst the boy loved a big box that a seat came in and was laughing so hard at going in and out of it that it was hilarious! 

Lunch was incredible, we had a locally sourced Cockerell instead of a turkey which was beautiful and tender, as well as lots of veg out of the garden. It was four o'clock before we had enough room to eat my wife homemade Christmas pudding that she'd made with friends a month ago (one of the nicest I've ever eaten if I get the recipe I'll post it on here!).

We then watched some films, read some books and tried not to eat anything else!

A lovely relaxing day spent with my wife and children, what more could I ask for?

How was your Christmas day? Hope you had a good one!

T'was The night Before Christmas...

High levels of excitement in the house tonight. 

I've just read the children "The night before Christmas" like my dad used to read my brother, sister and I on Christmas Eve when we were young.

They've asked for so little it's truly lovely. They just love the magic of it all.

Can't wait to see their faces tomorrow morning. 

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Busy Time Of Year (Kids)!

I'm pretty much a full time taxi in my life these days, just running children around! 

Don't get me wrong, I love it but everyday seems quite full especially with my eldest going to school now, there's always something to remember, a non uniform day, a pyjama party, a wool jumper day, cake sale - you get the idea! 

The plus side is you can't help to feel Christmassy even if you're a humbug like me. 

In the last week or so I've watched my eldest in her nativity play (so lovely), been to the Christmas fair at school (my Chelsea buns went down well!), had friends round for lunch, been to a playgroup party and sat on Santa's knee (think I nearly crushed him) and coming up I've got my younger daughters play on Friday as well as the girls having parties to attend to on different days!

I'm useless at remembering things but having three kids in different places is certainly keeping me on my toes! I've also got some seriously tired children to deal with each night! Role on the end of term!

Recovering From Christmas Excess

Starting to feel normal again after Christmas now. My stomach can't take another chocolate and I've put the rest of the turkey in the freezer to make curries with another day. We've got one Christmasey day left then its back to normal, working Tuesday to hopefully burn off some excess. 

I had a bit of time today organising my workshop and van ready for a busy start to next year, the baby could come at any time so keeping organised is key at the moment. 

 Today I had a walk out round the fields and it's so wet! The sheep are currently on vacation at my fathers farm and it's a good job as I think they'd sink. I left muddy foot prints across fresh grass, ditches are running like streams and the brook is almost across the road. Still we're much luckier than many across the country. 

I need to start putting some thought into where I'm going to lamb as the ewes have been tupped and are due in April sometime! 

I got some great presents over Christmas but who can tell me what these are:

And it you've already seen this question on facebook please don't answer! 

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! 

I hope you've had a magical morning like we have!

Our two princesses
(just don't look at the mess of the garden in the background!)

I used to think being a child at Christmas was the most magical thing ever, but being a parent with young children tops it I think! 

Hope everyone has a great day and eats lots of turkey! 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! 

Sorry I've been off the blogs for the last week or so - I've been very busy in the workshop finishing presents - there's been some late night but it was all worth it when I saw their faces! They seemed pretty pleased with their new house! 

Yesterday was a mad day of putting it all up. I even sheeted all the windows on the one side of the house so they wouldn't see it. I managed to get it all finished before it got dark so we could put the children to bed together and leave out a can of beer and mince pies for father Christmas - it's magical at their age.

The windows sheeted up! Wonder what the neighbours thought!

Some of Christmas dinner fresh out of the ground.

Today has been a much more laid back affair, opening presents, watching kids films on TV, enjoying a beautiful Christmas dinner cooked by my gorgeous wife with six veg, five grown here, and then trying to stay awake on the sofa all afternoon! 

Hope everyone had the day they wanted and are surrounded by the ones they love.

Merry Christmas to you all!

What Do You Want For Christmas?

I've finally started to make some Christmas presents today, the girls should be pleased with what I'm making them.

I haven't left it as late to start as I did for the kitchen I made them last year! Although I'm not saying that I'm not going to be finishing it Christmas eve again, as this years present is a much bigger project!

The kitchen I made them last year - its been a big success.

They are at a wonderful age though. 

Whenever we ask our eldest what she wants she just says "A dinosaur". No long list of toys or other wants - I know it won't last! 

As we get into adulthood we generally want less, I now struggle to think what I want for Christmas when I'm asked and I'm pretty happy if I get a good book or two, so long as the kids are happy.

What does everyone else want for Christmas? (no wishing for world peace please!)