A Christmas Day out ..

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Last year we went to the illuminated Christmas tree festival with my parents and enjoyed it so much we returned this year and decided to make it a festive day out. We started by meeting for a Mexican lunch complete with Santa hats , then pottering around the Christmas markets before dusk fell and finally exploring the Winter Wonderland. The trees are beautiful and really give you the festive feels.

This year we added something different to our trip and after exploring the trees we went on the Ferris wheel to see the display from up high. I love a Ferris wheel as does my dad and it added a little something special to our day, the lights twinkling below us.

Christmas Sparkles December 21st 2019

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This is my favourite time of Christmas. With the exception of fresh food my shopping is done, cards have been posted, presents wrapped and delivered and we have finished for the Christmas break. Its been a week of Christmas concerts and parties in schools, a much needed night of adult company in a cosy pub and a week of long days and late nights.

Little Man had his Christmas concert on Wednesday morning and his class sang Sparkle and Shine from Nativity with lots of actions and all wearing sunglasses. It was a delight! The concert was at a local church and it was an exceptionally good concert, setting the right tone with a nice variety of carols and songs, mixing modern and traditional, some for the children to perform and others for all to sing. I felt that lovely Christmas magic as I left. Fortunately this continued as I returned to my school (all teachers get time off for Christmas concerts) and we had our Christmas dinner. I was also out with my friends in the evening so it was a lovely day, if not a little tiring.

I do love the special Christmas moments at my school at this time of year. It means a lot of variety and extra work in my role, Co director of our concert, party planner, waitress, lighting rigger, it’s a mad, crazy week and of course one of my favourite weeks. The photos above show our Christmas card design for this year and the wreath made by one of our enterprise groups now sitting proudly on our front gate.

This week I would like to mention our Christmas book for 2019, The Christmas Journey. It was a recommendation on Twitter and has been our perfect read in December. It’s a very clever book, blending the Christmas story of a pilgrimage with a tale backwards through time and a magical advent calendar linking to modern times. It’s much simpler to read than to describe and we are hooked and can’t wait to read how it ends. I love to have a Christmas book and read a chapter aloud to the children each evening in December, it’s a moment of peace and togetherness.

Now all the jobs are done, I like to spend the last few evenings before Christmas by watching some seasonal shows or films. Inspired by Little Man’s class song I watched Nativity for the first time, what a gem of a Christmas movie. Although The Muppet Christmas Carol still is my number 1 Christmas movie. I feel Nativity is a contender for my top 5!

My week of Sparkles ✨

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After all the lovely Christmas feels last weekend, this was quite a different week with a General election. Whatever your politics, an election isn’t a festive addition to December. However despite the week we had a special day today which really was full of sparkles.

Whilst we love to do things as a family, we also take time to take the children out individually on a trip of their choice for some special 1:1 time. Today was a SAM (Son and mummy) day and Little Man had chosen to visit the aviation museum by the regional airport. This was a hidden gem of a museum, entry of £3 manned by the most gorgeous and friendly volunteers and a brilliant experience. It’s mainly outdoor and you can explore and sit in the cockpits of a huge variety of aircraft. It was just the most amazing playground for Little Man. We waved as the planes in the airport landed and took off on the runway next to us, listened in to the air traffic communications, tried to land a plane via a simulator, dressed up as pilots and just had the best time. We’ll definitely be returning in the summer with a picnic for more fun.

After the museum, we drove into the nearby town for lunch and to potter around.

One of the features of the town is it’s beautiful priory church and I wanted to pop in to light a candle and take a few minutes to think of someone very special and loved. By a beautiful coincidence a choir was practicing for their concert this evening and the church was filled with the sound of Handel’s Messiah. It was a special moment and gave me an unexpected feeing of peace whilst reflecting.

After our visit to the church we picked up a few Christmas presents and came home to a family curry night. With the Strictly final our viewing tonight, it’s been a really sparkly day.

Christmas windows

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Early on Sunday morning I did my Christmas shop window run (it’s a thing for me!) I run through town and appreciate every Christmas window. It’s a slow but a special run. Our high street is full of independent traders and their windows help create the festive atmosphere in town. There is a little bit of magic as you look into every window.

Sometimes it’s the little things which make the memories. I remember when the children were little, waiting for the dark, wrapping up warm and walking into town with a push chair and a toddler, peering into windows and delighting in the lights and decorations.

General Election 2019 hi

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This was the my view as I left to vote today, is the rainbow a symbol of the election?

Since I have started this blog, I have written a post on election evening with a little prediction. It’s been a strange old election, there’s not so much weariness with politics but anger and I feel as a society we’re divided. There is an edge and nastiness to campaigning. We live in a very safe conservative seat in a small rural town but even here we experienced some political hate. One afternoon on the school run, a parent thought it was acceptable to shout Labour scum to canvassers politely handing out leaflets by the school and in front of children. Politics should be respectful and we should all accept that whilst we may have different opinions we are all united in many ways.

For the first election in years, I was unable to attend our local hustings which is always an interesting and entertaining evening. It never has any bearing on the way I vote but I like the discussion. I voted after school today as I think it’s important to take the children and for them to understand the importance of voting. Little Man posted my ballot paper and was delighted to get a sweet from the teller too. Sadly there were no #dogsatpollingstations for us.

I’m finding it hard to predict the result, this morning in conversation with a friend I predicted it could go either way, a big conservative majority or a hung parliament. I think we’re approaching a period of change in our political systems, it appears the young have voted in significant numbers today and there is desire for change.

I normally stay up all night but have a pretty full on 10 days and think the all nighter could wipe me out when I need to be on top form. I’ll watch the exit polls at 10, try to sleep until around 2am and then listen on headphones in bed drifting in and out of sleep depending how exciting it is. There are rumours of big names being ousted in this election, even the PM’s seat is not safe!

I’ll edit this post tomorrow to see how accurate my predictions were.

A weekend of Christmas sparkles ✨

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Some of the wonderful crafts I bought at the market.

This weekend is one of my favourite of the year. There are a lot of local events which take place over the weekend, the Christmas tree festival which we visited on Thursday after school, the Christmas market and then the Scouting and Guiding candlelit carol service on Sunday evening. It’s a weekend focusing on community and leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling.

Little Miss and I were up early on Saturday morning to help set up my school’s market stall. We were selling our eco themed goods which the students have been busy making in our enterprise hub. We are a special needs school but every single student contributes in some way to the product and we are really proud of their work. The public agreed and we had a very successful day. It was fun being a market trader, to be honest our goods sold themselves but many people were interested in our project and it was nice to talk about our school. The market is great for meeting up with friends and neighbours and lots visited our stall. The Christmas market is one of those community events where everyone does make a real effort to pop down and with it being a mild day there were lots at the market. With delicious festive food and drinks, live music throughout the day and lovely craft stalls the Christmas market really is a highlight of the season.

Whilst I stayed on the school stall, for the first time Little Miss was allowed to go off on her own with two friends to do their Christmas shopping. They were so happy and came back with their top secret shopping bags and feeling very grown up! Mr S and Little Man explored the market too and Little Man spent his pocket money after much consideration on fudge!

Another highlight this weekend was the candle lit carol service for the town’s guiding and scouting groups. It’s set in a beautiful church and with so many candles lighting the service, no other lights are needed. There’s a good mix of well loved carols played by musicians and appropriate readings and fun for the children. I was very proud that Little Man was the flag bearer for the cubs. The service is very well attended and again is a time for the community to come together and celebrate. After the service the children serve tea and warm mince pies to the congregation, providing another opportunity to relax and chat to friends and acquaintances. This is what this weekend is all about, community events for us all to meet and celebrate Christmas in a relaxed and warm atmosphere.

The Christmas Tree Festival

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One of my favourite Christmas activities is to go and visit the annual Christmas tree festival at a local church. This year there are 45 trees to view and be inspired.

Our school is exhibiting again and we’ve gone for an eco theme, there is no plastic on our tree, except for the lights and our decorations are made from cones picked in the local forest, paper from the recycling basket, wooden discs crafted from old branches and holly from our school gardens.

The trees in the festival are all amazing and so creative. There are knitted characters from the knitting group, gingerbread baked by school children, glass decorations by a local artist, shuttlecock characters from the badminton club etc .. Every tree has something special and unique.

The trees create a special atmosphere in the church and it is a time to be inspired and simply reflect on the coming season.