Our Lapland adventure...

Yes, many of you guessed it... our surprise was a visit to Lapland to meet the big man, Father Christmas himself. We managed to keep it a complete secret from the children until we were queuing at the airport. I don't know how we kept it a secret for so long and it was quite a relief to finally tell them. Thank you everyone who wished us luck getting there... we were delayed at Manchester for quite some time due to ...snow of course! But we did eventually take off and arrive safely in the land of more snow... and boy was it cold!

When we finally arrived at Father Christmas's hideaway it was very dark even though it was only late afternoon. Thankfully we were well wrapped up as it was minus 29 degrees Celsius - no wonder Santa has been working the wool and fur look for so long, if it keeps him warm then stick with it I say!

This was the home of one of his helpers...

These guys didn't seem bothered by the cold, they were just building up there strength for Friday night!

We stopped for a refuel and warm up before heading to see you know who...

 Bionic and Freerangenan got thawed out...

 this Freeranger didn't stop smiling all day, it took her brother a while longer...I think he's had enough snow for now!

Even the Elves and Helpers had there outfits hanging up to warm up!

But finally we made it...we really met him...

he read our letters and amazed the kids when he knew their names. I confess that I am right next to the littlest Freeranger in this picture and according to my family looked as though I might leap on his knee at any second!

He did promise he would come on see us very soon as long as we left him a mince pie and some thing to warm him up - I'm not surprised he gets through all those drinks on Christmas eve, he needs something to see him through another year in the snow!

We eventually got back to Yorkshire, driving through more snow, with very tired children, grandparents and grown ups - to find even more snow ( I think we brought it back on the plane!), so its only fitting that this is our Dec of the day...

because after all, home is where the heart is...

Surprise, surprise!!!

This is what surprise looks like...










and you'd look like that too if you'd just realised your mum hadn't got you up at the crack of dawn to go shopping... But you were in fact going to meet someone very special..




As long as this takes off...



fingers crossed we'll be in Lapland for breakfast. Keep you posted...Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The waiting game...

I want to tell you, I'm dying to tell you. But right now I'm in Manchester watching the snow fall wondering if I'll have anything to tell you... Fingers crossed and keeping you posted...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Goodbye Prada...

I planned to write a Christmas deco blog tonight getting ready for our weekend surprise, but real life got in the way today, as is its want. Our crazy old cat had to be put down today and were all still taking it in really.  We got Prada when we bought our first house, she was the kitten that ran up the tree, the girly cat that stayed on my knee purring contentedly during my pregnancies and the family cat that my children wrapped in bandages and tried to sneak into bed with them. She was also the crazy old lady cat who snored so loudly under our bed that I thought it was BH, the hair shedding machine and the culprit who left unpleasant parcels on the landing!

Prada Cat had got very frail recently but nothing suggested that she was terminal when I left the house for work. Today my was busiest day of the busiest week of the year, the day of my big meeting and to get a phone call from BH 30 minutes before going in to the meeting telling me that shed been taken to the vet and it wasn't good...well I certainly wasn't expecting it.
The vet offered to keep her going until I could get there but my meeting ran from 1 till 5, so I said that I would rather she didn't suffer, but pulling myself together to lead our review meeting was something I'd rather not repeat. The meeting ran, it all went very well, all the hard work has been worth it, but all I could feel was sad. Poor Pradacat...her blanket is still on the box at the bottom of the stairs, i don't think I can move it yet. Poor BH had to bring her home and bury her in the rain before the snow set in and the ground got too hard.

Animals huh? Who'd have them....


As for our Christmas Surprise - no baby Jesuses are to be appearing soon but I can tell you it involves some serious thermal underwear...no thats it, no more clues!

The yuletide moose...

Decoration of the day...

Today's decoration is a Festive shout out to our friends on the other side of the pond! Mr Moose was carried back from Wolfboro, New Hampshire where good friends of ours live and where great holidays have been had. Although we've only been there in the sunny months Ive seen the photos of their seasonal snow drop and I always feel a little pathetic moaning about the snow we have when I see how much they get! Their beautiful house is only a stones throw from the woods, where they assure me Moose are to be found. I haven't seen one yet, but I keep hoping!

Not long to go now, tonight I'm busy preparing for Saturdays surprise - you wont believe it!

Sticky finger festive fudge...

I've been frantically wrapping parcels of Festive Fudge to send back to Leeds with my sister. We used the Recipe from Nigella Express, which is a kind of cheats fudge. Basically its a tin on condensed milk, 350g of chocolate, 30g of butter, a pinch of salt and whatever you choose to flavour them with. Nigella uses pistachios but we were feeling a bit more festive tipped some whisky and maraschino cherries into the mix...how I love a maraschino cherry! You heat, stir and then tip into a foil lined to tray to refrigerate. They never quite set and are best kept in the freezer when they ready. They stay pretty gooey then and can be eaten straight from the deep freeze. I wanted to photograph some of the ones I saved for us, but found they didn't last long enough to get the camera out. The sticky finger marks around the kitchen were the only evidence to be found!

Decoration of the day... in the spirit of all things scarlet, i love these cranberry glass decorations, they totally transport me back to being a little girl and looking up at the lights in the tree glistening through the baubles!

Not long now till the 17th...oooh I cant wait!

The first angel...

My decoration of the day...

the first decoration BH and I ever bought, before we had a Christmas tree! I think when we first bought her she was hung on a twig in our first flat together. Most of our furniture at the time was improvised by covering BHs tool boxes in throws and sheets, so Christmas trees were not the highest priority...2 houses, 2 children, 2 dogs a cat and several chickens later - shes still with us and still looking as surprised as ever!

I cant believe its only 6 sleeps until the 17th  - when I can reveal our christmas secret...i'm absoloutely bursting to tell you!!!

Saving a seat...

The cold snap has left BH at a loose end of late. To take his mind of the building work waiting to be done and to give him a brief respite from swaddling condensing pipes to stop them freezing I asked if he could have a go at reupholstering the chairs we use in our kitchen. I acquired them many years ago and I've been loathe to part with them despite only having three and the fabric being worn out.

This is how they appeared when I went to work...

 and this is what I found when I got home...

A perfect fit, and it means I get to keep them for many more years! What BH doesn't realise is that now he's revealed this hidden talent I'm already compiling a list of future upholstering projects!

Decoration of the day

At last, a calorie free pudding!!!



Going snowhere...

 Why is it that even when it comes at the same time every year, the shops are full of it, the songs are on the radio, I still wake up in a panic and think ' i cant believe its almost Christmas!' Our readiness for festivities has definitely been put out of sync by the weather. Everything has been on hold for the past week, apart from igloo building that is...

 
We can make igloos that you can go in and come out of, but we draw the line at lids on top! Oh well, its nice to have a room with a view!

At some point we must thaw out and start wrapping some presents!

We did put the tree up this weekend and at last we started to feel the festive fuzziness, I'm going to post a favourite decoration everyday to keep my yuletide spirit topped up! Right now I think I'm most pleased with my Christmas kitchen, whether that's because we decorated the dresser or just because we decluttered it I'm not sure...but either way the end result makes me feel like digging out the cranberries!

Whats are your favourite decorations, Id love to know...is it the hand painted crystal Faberge set or the cotton wool covered toilet roll holder carried back lovingly from nursery school ( I know which mine is, it gets unfluffier every year but he's coming out for many to come!)

p.s. Ive got a secret I'm dying to share about a coming blog - I'm sworn to secrecy until the 17th but I don't know if I'll make it that long!

Our morning walk

We went exploring this morning to see just how snowed in we are...



The snow clouds gathering didn't bode well, but it didn't bother Arthur...


True to form the clouds burst before we got home. Very pretty but pretty cold too!



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Chilly chicken...

The chucks have taken to freeranging during the day. The idea was to give their diet a bit of variety , but I think they're planning a go on the swing!

Deborah and Jessica spent the morning trying to work out the slide!

But Nancy and Diana were having none of it - far too haughty for their own good if you ask me!

In the end the girls regrouped for a debrief before being ushered back to the homestead. Its one thing being a Freeranger with a chaperone, but its another story entirely when you're on your own with a hungry fox on the prowl - as the recently deceased Rhoda our Rhode Island Red found out when she wandering too far from home.

Oh well - tomorrow we may try the trampoline!