Its been a while since I joined in Little Loves, I have been reading everyone’s contributions but time seemed pretty scarce in the run up to Christmas, this was mainly work related and something I need to address.

Sometimes its difficult to find examples to meet the categories of Little Loves, but Christmas week is always bursting with activities, it seems that this past week seems so much longer than any other week in the year.  We started the week in Lanzarote on a sunshine break which was fantastic and then on Sunday returned home to continue our Christmas celebrations.

READ

One of the luxuries of the holidays is time and I use any spare time to read.  The children loved the children’s club on holiday and I found myself with some time in the mornings on a sun lounger and my Kindle for company.  I read Freya North’s The Turning Point, the story of a long distance love affair, it had such a plot twist in it, I was genuinely shocked, I hadn’t seen it coming.  The book was perfect holiday reading.  I have also read No Run Intended by Hannah E Phillips, a great read for runners and those wishing to run, its autobiographically written as Hannah learns to love running.  It is witty, poignant and very easy to read.  I’m also enjoying Marian Keyes’ Making it Up as I Go Along.  I love Marian Keyes, she is brilliant and her Twitter feed is pure joy.  I was beside myself when she liked one of my Strictly tweets.  This book does not disappoint, it is a selection of her articles, musings and writing and is fantastic.

WATCHED

In Christmas week there will always be moments that will be remembered over a lifetime.  On Christmas eve, we watched Santa arrive at our hotel on a camel, it was surreal and so funny, the children loved it.

As we have been away I have watched little television.  My highlight was Ethel and Ernest, adapted from Raymond Brigg’s book about his parents.  It was beautiful, evocative and the tears flowed as it ended.  A delightful story showcasing our social history entwined with a  love story all in animation.

HEARD

At the beginning of the week, I loved listening to carols in Spanish.  One evening there was a live band in the town centre playing the carols and it all seemed rather jolly.

On Christmas day, we arrived home around 7pm, to be greeted by shouts of excitement from the children as they peered through the windows that ‘Santa’s been, he’s been’  Thanks to our amazing neighbours we were able to keep up the magic of Christmas as they set up the living room, fake snow, footprints, half eaten carrots and mince pie crumbs and put all the presents around the tree.  It was magical and I was so grateful to our fantastic neighbours.

WORE

At the start of this week, it was sunglasses and flip flops, as the saying goes, life is better in flip flops.

I have also worn Christmas hats and a jumper.  We had a photo taken at the hotel on Christmas eve and we are all posing in our hats by a tree.  Its rare we have a photo taken together and I try to get one every Christmas.  I got us all dressed in our Christmas jumpers for the flight home too, it was a very happy flight and many were also wearing Christmas jumpers, even the crew.

MADE

We were away for most of Christmas day and my Christmas dinner was a bowl of Heinz tomato soup and a roll when we got home, simple but delicious.  I made Christmas dinner and all the trimmings on Boxing day, it was Christmas dinner number 3 this year but as a vegetarian my mains have all been slightly different.  I made a jalousie with a vegetable and goats cheese filling which was really good.

I haven’t made any Lego sets this week but Mr S and the children have been very busy making up their Lego City and Lego Star Wars kits.  The children love Lego and are so creative and imaginative with their Lego games.

AND FINALLY …

So this has been the final Little Loves of the year and I intend to write more regularly in 2017.  I am currently reflecting on how to simplify and enjoy life more next year.  I’m not normally one to make resolutions but may try to put together a few ideas together in the next few days.  Happy new year and I hope your year is full of sparkle, good health and happy family times.

Thank you to the lovely Morgana at http://www.coffeeworksleeprepeat.com for hosting this linky, its my favourite!