Seaside Sparkles

I love this time of the year, its a period of preparation, anticipation and excitement and I have all the festive feels.  As we are breaking up early (really who thought Dec 15 to Jan 2nd for the school Christmas holidays was a good idea!!) lots of things are a little earlier this year to fit in with the school term. Its been a busy Christmas week, Friday saw the school’s Christmas fair, Saturday, a visit to Santa’s grotto, on Sunday, we put up our tree, Monday saw parents invited to share a mince pie and have a festive singalong with the Brownies and Thursday was the fantastic Christmas tree festival.  With trying to balance a job and just everyday life I am incredibly organised at this time of year, it is my way of keeping sane.

Even whilst things are busy I’m still trying to keep a few minutes each day to relax.  The easiest way to relax is to enjoy a book and I am loving The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan, it is beautifully written and a pleasure to read each night.

This week we have been very busy practising our songs for our Christmas concert at work.  Its not just singing as signing is very important to us too and all staff are expected to be fluent in the Makaton signs for the concert.  I have been watching Singing Hands’ A Christmas Cracker DVD a lot this week and I love these women for what they do, their songs are signed making them a fantastic resource to teach from and they are just so cheerful and fun too.  I really enjoy signing, its a big part of my job and a very useful skill.  However singing and signing takes some practice, especially on the faster songs.

I also got to watch the reaction of my children to the 40+ stunning Christmas trees at the town’s Christmas tree festival.  I love this idea, businesses sponsor a tree and local schools and groups decorate the trees.  I was so proud of my school’s tree this year, we had worked hard on our decorations and it looked amazing.  The local secondary school did a superb job on theirs with an under the sea theme, whilst the badminton club who are always creative, transformed a shuttlecock, always featured on their trees, in to a robin. Visiting the tree festival is one of my favourite festive activities with the children, especially to watch their faces as they enter the room and see the lights and trees it really is magical.

Other things I’ve enjoyed watching this week are the A word, seriously that soundtrack is amazing and I have been dipping in and out of I’m a Celeb.

Not many makes this week, soppy as it is but at this time of year I’m making happy memories.  On Saturday when the children visited Santa and his elf workshop, they got to make decorations, reindeer food, ice a biscuit and a write letter to Santa.  I have no photos to publish in this post as they all have the children in them but it was a lovely little visit and as my two are 8 and 9 now, possibly the last year I can convince them of Santa’s magic, there are already questions being asked….

I’ve been wearing Christmas jumpers quite a lot this week, I like to look festive for the special events. I have two I’m alternating, the robin is from Primark and its gorgeous, I’m really pleased with it.  The reindeer was from Tescos last year and is warm and cosy.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed the Brownies sign a long on Monday.  It was one of those evenings which was so simple, but everyone was just in such good humour that the evening flowed with a warmth and Christmas glow. The girls’ singing was beautiful and it was a pleasure to listen to them.

On Monday night I was in the kitchen wrapping a pile of books for the PTA (is it just me or do working mums try too hard to pretend we can do it all?) and listening to Jo Whiley on the radio on which Tom Chaplin was doing a Christmas session.  I’ve downloaded his album, 12 Tales of Christmas as a result of the session.  Its an album of new and covers of Christmas songs, it is really chilled and relaxing for when you want something a little Christmassy without the jingle bells et al.

So we’ve made it to the final week of term and probably my craziest week of the year.  I am working full time (ish) next week as its just easier to be in school than not.  So far on our family calendar we have the Christmas market , 2 carols by candlelight services, one for school, one for beavers, same children, different uniforms, different nights!, Christmas dinner, parties and two nights out for me with friends.  Fortunately the week before Christmas is much quieter so we can all chill out and relax.

I’m looking forward to reading about everyone’s festive #littleloves and thanks to Morgana for our inspiring linkie.

I don’t know if its because the children and I are breaking up early for Christmas this year ( December 15th) and the schools and clubs are doing special events earlier because of this but the I’ve been feeling unusually Christmassy this week when we’re still in November.  Its been hard keeping to my December 1st date to start my Christmas season but I did and I am now very ready and enthusiastic for Christmas.

I have started December with a lovely festive day today, if not a bit busy! I went to big town for a Christmas shopping trip and as its an hour’s drive each way, I got to listen and sing along to all my favourite Christmas music on the journey.  The town looked so pretty with all its decorations, lights and alpine market huts, the shops were full of festive delights and I ticked off plenty on my lists too, so a very successful trip.  In addition to my Christmas shopping trip, I’ve also had the children’s school fair this evening and as I was helping on the tombola, I felt inspired to wear a Christmas jumper.

After reading a couple of inspiring autobiographies recently I wanted to read some fiction this week that I could just dip in and out of.  I saw that the follow up to Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O’Porter was on offer on Kindle, so I downloaded Goose, which is aimed at the Young Adult market.  Its exactly what I needed and I’m enjoying the continuing tale of the two teenage girls.

Last Saturday we went to our county town to watch Paddington 2.  We all loved it and the film had all the feels, I may even have cried a little at the end.  I think its my favourite film of the year (with Breathe.) Hugh Grant as the villain steals every scene but the themes of the film make you leave the cinema a little more inspired to be kind, polite and to always think of others.  Paddington is definitely my favourite little bear.

This year I decided to try something different with our Christmas cards and went online to design a card on OptimalPrint (not an ad) I’m not a fan of having a picture of our little family on the cards (although for those closest to us, we add the new school photo in the card) so I created a list of things that we like to do at Christmastime.  I hope the cards will be appreciated in the spirit they were designed.

Its not a wear from me this week, although today’s Christmas jumper might count, but from Little Miss.  As Paddington is set in London, Little Miss wore my favourite Boden print pinafore to the cinema, yes I really coordinated her outfit with a film! I love this print and it will be an outfit I will keep for the happy memories.

Today it was all about the Christmas songs, I love them and have so many memories from all different songs,  Jim Reeves Silver Bells reminds me of my Dad and putting the Christmas tree up as a child, Band Aid was the first single I ever bought, Mariah Carey is Christmas eves in nightclubs.  Christmas songs are simply magical.

We had a lovely surprise at the Christmas fair tonight when in the raffle, we won the VIP pass to visit Santa and work in his elf workshop, we are going to be doing this tomorrow and are all very excited.  We’re also going to be putting up our tree this weekend, this is a little contentious in our house, I would prefer to wait at least another weekend but I am outnumbered. Putting up the tree will always be one of my favourite parts of Christmas.

Thanks to Morgana and all her contributors, I’m loving the festive feel to all the posts at present.

I’m a little late in writing this week’s #littleloves as all our lovely plans got scuppered through illness last weekend and I’ve been doing some very serious ‘adulting’ at work.  It can be quite scary when you’re involved in a very serious matter and think sh**, I’ve 20+ years experience, relevant training and I really am that grown up person needed in this situation. The combination of both;  sickness and work demands made the first part of the week not quite the background for #littlelove entries.  However, I am now over the sickness bug and I managed to make the most of my day off on Friday so I feel that I have a little more to write on now.

I really enjoy Nigel Slater’s books, I have The Kitchen Diaries 3 and like not only his recipes but the prose which accompanies the recipes, observations on nature, seasonality, ingredients etc..  I managed to get his new book ‘The Christmas Chronicles’ in Sainsbury’s for half price and have been busy reading it since.  It is superb, again similar reflections as above but with added customs and Christmas thoughts.  A perfect read at this time of year and I have many recipes already marked to try.  I think this could be become our family’s Christmas cookbook and am planning in on pencilling a few thoughts as we try the recipes.

I’ve watched far more television that I normally do this week, I think that I was so exhausted from the sickness bug and the intensity of work that TV was an ideal distraction.  I enjoyed The Boy With the Top Knot on BBC2 on Monday, a powerful drama about family secrets, mental health and cultural differences.  I also enjoyed the A word, although I was a bit eagle eyed about the special needs school in it this week, I can’t escape work!  We watched the Apprentice but its not a series I’m enjoying as much as previous ones, there’s too much arguing, bitching and rubbish ideas, I’ve not yet found someone who wows me.  Following my listen below, I watched Kay Mellor’s new drama about registrars which was just right for a Thursday evening. I do like the lead, Ashley Jensen and think this series could develop nicely each week.  Finally I watched some of Children In Need on Friday and found it very emotional and humbling.  I sobbed my way up to bed last night!

I made my daughter very happy this week by helping her get ready for the Children In Need disco at her school.  She and her friends were all very excited as it was an evening disco, well a 6.15 pm start and I allowed her to colour her hair with coloured hair spray and to have painted nails (my brand new Essie varnish) She had a brilliant time and was so happy it was just gorgeous to see.  We were so busy doing the hair, it had to be perfect that I didn’t have time to take a photo as I had to dash out and pick up Little Man from another party, it was one of those nights in our house! The pink and blue looked beautiful in her blonde hair.

Today I have worn ice skates, as Little Man and I went ice skating as part of our mummy and son day out.  His sister is out on a Brownie day and Mr S had a few appointments so the two of us went through to big town for some time together.  I am so wobbly on the ice but was very proud I didn’t fall over today.  Its somewhat ironic that I used to work at an ice rink (my part time student jobs were all great) yet I never learnt to skate.  Little Man had a great time, he started holding onto the polar bear but managed a few circuits on his own too.

As I was getting recovering from my bug, I caught up on some Desert Island podcasts.  Kay Mellor’s session is a brilliant listen, an amazing story of how she went from 16, married and pregnant to the writer she is today, inspirational.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09bxmyb

I also listened to Prof Phil Scraton who was heavily involved in the Hillsborough campaign and its a superb episode too.  I do love DID for sharing some stories which we might not have heard before with added music too.

Even with parties, discos, Brownie days out and ice skating this weekend isn’t done yet as we have a christening to look forward to tomorrow.  I am having a slight panic over what to wear for a Sunday afternoon service, smart but warm and how to keep my son amused in the church.  However there’s a party after so there may be room for a little negotiation  bribery.

Thanks to Morgana and all the #littleloves crew

So my big #littIelove of this week has been fireworks! I do like the tradition of Bonfire Night although after watching a bit of Gunpowder, it’s a lot more gruesome than I realised. We had a lovely night out for fireworks, but as our town does fireworks during the summer we had to travel a little further for the display on Saturday night. Fireworks were definitely the highlight of the week, which has seen a quiet return to work and minor surgery. However there are always sparkles in our week for #littleloves

I have loved my book this week, it’s made me laugh and cry and try to remember how we got through a similar journey too. The book is Emma Sutton’s ‘And then there were four’ and is about her and her husband’s adoption journey. Her glossary and description of terms is just brilliant and if you ever want to know what happens in adoption then this is a superb and honest book. Fortunately it’s funny too!

On Saturday we got to watch fireworks at the rugby club in our county town. It was a great display and the evening was lovely, big crowds, lots of tasty treats to eat and drink, sparkler area and stalls and rides to enjoy. The weather was remarkably mild, although that could have been my layers of clothes! The whole evening was wonderful and it made me smile for the whole Britishness of it, everyone wrapped up in scarves and hats, wearing wellies in a muddy field, oohing and aahhing at the colours in the sky.

A little bit of a tenuous link for makes, but I made a trip to hospital this week for minor surgery. Fortunately I got an appointment in our town’s hospital which is a hop, skip and jump from home and the service was unbelievable. I arrived early, was seen immediately and had the loveliest 3 ladies looking after me. I’ve had a little discomfort this week and am awaiting some results but I really was super impressed by our NHS and our amazing cottage hospital. I did return to work the next day but made sure it was a quiet week both at home and work.

My winter clothes are creeping in to my wardrobe now, woolly jumpers and polo necks. I think I may need to inject a little more colour in my jumpers, they all seem to be black or navy, practical but a splash of colour just adds a little bit of zest to an outfit.

I do like to make a mix tape and now I have Spotify it is so much easier to create something for every occasion. Whilst everyone was busy on Saturday afternoon, I had a little play to create a playlist for our car journey to the fireworks. It had the obvious Firework by Katy Perry but the theme just lent itself to some fun choices, My Guy, November rain, She Bangs, True Colours etc.. I started the playlist with Bjork’s Its oh so quiet which is a little favourite of mine. I really enjoyed making the list and then playing it in the car for us all to enjoy.

We’ll be welcoming my parents this weekend for a visit, I have a few possible trips out pencilled in but we’ll wait to see how the weather is before we finalise the plans. On Sunday, we’ll walk down to the Remembrance parade in town and pay our respects. The diary looks quite quiet next week so I may do a little Christmas planning in the evenings. I hope everyone has a week full of sparkles and #littleloves.

I’m joining in with Morgana for #littleloves