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Published: December 29th 2008
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Ready for the pudding party!
My festive excitement for Hannah and Marc's pudding party. Hey everybody! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! The past 10 days have gone so quickly but I've had a great time.
Friday last week I went to Hampton Court Palace near Hampstead to go skating with Marc, Emma, Asha, Rachel and Richard (USA), Megan and Matty. Marc is Hannah's flatmate and he invited me along. Emma is Hannah's sister, Asha is her daughter and the other two M's go to the same church. The ice skating was fun but really slippery with quite a bit of water to wade through, no use of a zamboni. Just a couple guys using shovels to scrape off some of the water between sessions! It was funny to watch until someone got out there and hit the ice face first with some damage to his face, yikes. Anyhow, it was a pretty late night with a 2 hour drive each way but fun.
Saturday I woke up and practically ran out the door to get a train to Welwyn Garden City. I had thought my aupair friends had all left for Christmas breaks with their families but Begona was still around and I haven't seen her in ages so it was
Candy Land!
After the flopped gingerbread, we came up with this beauty! definately time to catch up. We had a nice time together looking around shops and enjoying all the Christmas decorations. I had a nice lunch with her at an indian restaurant, really enjoying biryani dishes these days! MMM. So, I had a nice time visiting her and came home to have a phone date with my mom. I also had some serious baking to do because I was going to Hannah and Marc's for a pudding party (BYO dessert). So, I made fruit balls and banana chocolate chip muffins. It turned out that everyone brought a lot and I think only two of the desserts were completely finished by the end of the night. Anyhow, it was cool hanging out with everybody, getting to know Hannah's family, etc. It was another late night and I arrived home close to 1am. Who would have thought eh?
Sunday was a home day, I was feeling a bit under the weather and just had a lazy day at home doing next to nothing. Shocking but I needed it.
Monday was the first day the kids were out of school and I had a gingerbread house planned. Well, A went to his
Christmas day
My aupair family. friend's house so R and I walked to one of the shops to get the ingredients we needed. After the purchases and walk home, we got cracking and made the pieces but I hadn't thought too much about how the pieces would connect other than the icing. So, after everything was done and it was time to get the house together, it became evident that my great plan had failed. The pieces were breaking and repairs were difficult so after some decision making with the kids, we decided to make a candy land the next day and do another batch of gingerbread in order to make people for the candyland. They really enjoyed decorating the little guys and gals! It was sweet, literally with all the yummies too. In the evening, i went to the gym and enjoyed the steam room as I was still feeling quite sick. After a bit of time there, I went to a belly dancing class which was fun. more fun than a crazy workout but my body just couldn't do much. The class brought me back to the good old days of classes with Cheryl.
Tuesday went by and I can't remember what I did! Mostly drank oj and pumped vitamins. Oh, we completed the candyland and wrapping gifts.
Wednesday was Christmas eve, Dave's sister, her partner and their son were coming as well as Dave's mom, Anne. So, we got the house ready for their visit but Lynne was quite ill so she was between the doctor's and hospital while Dave shopped for last minute gifts. I stayed at home with Rhiannon and we hung out watching movies and doing some crafts. The plan was we were all going to the Christmas eve service at my church but L was soo sick and nobody else had arrived so it was a miss for them. I went off to the service by myself and later managed to find someone I knew so that was good. It was a beautiful service called the Christingle service. A Christingle is an orange with a red stripe (represents Jesus' blood), 4 sticks of candy (4 seasons in which God blesses us) and a candle in the middle which represents Jesus, light of the world. We had a few carols sung with the lit Christingles and it was beautiful! Afterwards, I enjoyed a nice mincepie, something I have learned to really like! When I got home, Anne had arrived so we had a little visit and before long, the house was full. Dave prepared Beef Wellington and some other great fixings so we had a nice EVE meal.
Thursday was an early start. The kids got me up at 4:40 or thereabouts for present opening at 5am. I was very excited and managed a shower before coming down and I was still one of the first ones ready! Anyhow, with the time difference at home, I called my mom and had a chat with Reg and Richard too. So, I then opened up my presents from home and from the family including both grandma's (touching) and I was truly blessed! Wow, I got a lot of really nice things and useful things too so I felt very loved between the gifts and phone calls. I think I talked to my mom at least 4 times and Richard maybe even 6! I had enough of the phone by the afternoon! Anyhow, it was a nice day and Lynne and the kids came with me to the Christmas day service which was also quite good. After church we came home and had a nice brunch prepared by Dave, we were starving as we'd survived on Croissants since 5! After eating, I had a rest as I was totally wiped out! The rest of the day was pretty easy going and then we had a nice Christmas dinner with Turkey, vegetables galore, etc. Nobody really had room for the Christmas pudding and that ended up being put off until last night!
Friday was a day where I played PS2 with the kids and tidied the house because it was a disaster with the company and general pileup! The fam went to Lynne's family bash and invited me to go but said it wasn't mandatory so I stayed home and watched a Christmas movie and a bit of Titantic. I got started on a cross-stitch that I've been planning to do for years so I was stoked to get working on that more. For a few hours, it was nice and quiet - Chloe time. Whoo hoo. I was feeling better with not soo much of the sick feeling so that was good too. Guess I just needed to be easier on myself for a couple days!
Well, there are other stories but I should run and you prbably need a break from reading. Have a happy new year! Hugs and love, Chloe
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