Merry Christmas 2011

 

The turkey with two stuffings was prepped and ready to go. 

A Christmas breakfast of snacks was in order (after the Bumble B'eers had eaten their chocolate coins and biscuits from Santa that is).

There has to be a bit of smoked salmon at Christmas.

The table was set; Mr Bee ironed the table cloth for me. It is his regular Christmas job :)

The branches on the table are real which was lovely as it smelt like Christmas. I love our fake tree but it does lack that special bit of Christmas pine-i-ness.

I opted for a silver table this year, keeping the traditional Christmas red to the lounge room.

Halfway through the frenzy of cooking.

I always try to be organised, it reduces stress. 

The all important cranberry sauce.



Ta da! The turkey is done. I have cooked a goose every year for Christmas since we moved to Guernsey and although the turkey was tasty I think I will swap back to goose next year - live and learn.

Merry Christmas, especially to all our family and friends in Australia.

We miss you and love you.

xxxxxxxxxxx

A Christmas Tradition is Born

Mr Bee has been very concerned about there not being enough food on Christmas Day so he wanted me to cook a turkey and a roasted gammon. When I pointed out to him that the actual weight of our turkey was 6kgs he calmed down a little.

I offered to cook the gammon for Christmas Eve dinner to make it special as my Dad was here. I cooked a Honey and English Mustard Gammon with Cheesy Potato Bake, Honey and Cumin Carrots and Broccoli with Bacon.....Mr Bee announced that we will have a roast gammon every Christmas Eve from now on!

Christmas traditions.....got to love them :)

(The containers in the background are full of ham stock from boiling the gammon - waste not want not).

St Peter Port Christmas Lights

Each year we take the children into St Peter Port on one of the three late night shopping nights (the only late night shopping for the entire year!) to see the Christmas Lights. This is the view up Mill Street.

Down near the Town Church.

For the full length of the High Street there are candles and stars at regular intervals. I didn't get to take a photo of Smith Street but it looks like a blue ceiling of bright twinkling stars have descended especially for Christmas.

My Dad is staying with us for Christmas so he came in as well. It was a lovely night.

The Twelve Cocktails of Christmas

On the first cocktail of Christmas my true love said to me, ‘Can I have one without the umbrella because it’s a bit gay!’ (No, here have one with a blue umbrella if it helps you feel more masculine.)

On the second cocktail of Christmas my true love said to me, ‘My second Pina Colada, is there much alcohol in these?’ No, just think of it as a health filled juice break

 

On the third cocktail of Christmas my true love said to me, ‘You said we would be having the weaker ones first and you could run a car on this Margarita.’ (To which I answered, ‘Suck it up or go home.’ So they did, suck it up, not go home)

On the fourth cocktail of Christmas my true love said to me, ‘What is in a Long Island Iced Tea?’ (30mls of Vodka, 30mls of Tequila, 30mls of Bacardi, 15mls of Cointreau, 15mls of lemon juice, 15mls of sugar syrup, 30mls of coke, a cherry and orange slice on the side and ice as far as the eye can see!)

 

On the fifth cocktail of Christmas my true love said to me, ‘Gill we are ready for the next cocktail, oh good it’s a pink one, how many have I had now?’

On the sixth cocktail of Christmas my true love said to me, ‘Is there more food coming, I need to line my stomach?’

 

On the seventh cocktail of Christmas my true love said to me, ‘I threw up on your plants, I am really sorry.’

On the eighth cocktail of Christmas my true love said to me, ‘Why is the drunkest person here washing the dishes?’

 

On the ninth cocktail of Christmas my true love said to me, ‘What else is there to try? B52s or White Russians but please don’t take your shirt off!’

On the tenth cocktail of Christmas my true love said to me, ‘Someone peed in the sink in the bathroom!’ (which was just a random drunken rumour as I found no evidence of this.)

 

On the eleventh cocktail of Christmas my true love said to me, ‘Perhaps you should stop now or you will be driving the porcelain bus all night.’

On the twelfth cocktail of Christmas my true love said to me, ‘Here take some Nurofen Plus for the road and goodbye until early next year when we have all forgotten the horror the morning will bring and people start to ask for another cocktail party.’

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

T'was the Night Before Christmas

The Christmas foyer was a triumph this year!

You can't see in the photos but all the houses have lights on in the windows.

It was just beautiful and B1 and B2 were so proud of helping make it.

The staff at our little primary school go to so much trouble to make Christmas special for all the children.

You can see a silvery Santa and his reindeer off to deliver presents.

My favourite tree is the one made up of all the hand prints of the children in that class. Each class contributes a different aspect of the whole display.

Congratulations of a foyer full of the spirit of Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all the staff and children.

Angel Party

This year B2 asked for an Angel Party in blue, pink and white.

The cake topper was a gift from her Tran and Pop in Australia. They didn't know about the angel theme and just sent it to her by chance. B2 wanted a two tiered cake with the bottom tier being a chocolate cake and the top tier being a vanilla cake (for B3, as she is allergic to cocoa). I thought this was very thoughtful of her, to think of her little sister :)

Here is a glimpse of our brand spanking new blackboard. This is the first message written on it.

B2 asked for a craft party, so as it is close to Christmas we made it a Christmas Craft Party, which tied in nicely with the Angel theme.

As it is a craft party I allowed FIVE HOURS (I know I am insane!) so that the children would have enough time to eat and finish the three activities I had planned. B2 was allowed to invite four friends, so we could fit everyone around the table comfortably. One friend was unable to come, which worked out for the best as there was more room for everyone.

I love this photo of her Angel Cake :)

The first craft we did was to make Christmas Wreaths from cut out hand prints. I bought several different types of green card and some red glittery berries. You can see their masterpieces on the table. In the fluster of organising six children for a craft activity I forgot to take more photos.

The next activity we did was to make Angels out of paper plates. They all did such lovely work.

The final activity was Christmas Card making which they did in between playing 'Just Dance' on the Wii and bouncing on the trampoline. All in all it was a very successful party.

Happy Birthday Honey.

XXXXXXX

More Flowers from Australia

These flowers arrived today for B2 from her Aunty Sam and family.

The delivery man was amazed that a little girl was receiving flowers and said she was spoilt. I think it is lovely to receive flowers no matter what age you are and when your family are so far away on your birthday it is even more so. Maybe no-one ever sent the delivery man flowers on his birthday and he was miffed ;p

Thankyou Aunty Sam, Uncle William, T and A for making B2's day so special.

We love you and miss you so much.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Flowers from the PTA

I have run the school's Parent and Teachers Association at the B1 and B2's school for the past four and a half years.

There are over thirty people on the PTA now; there were only eight when I first started. I don't mind doing the work but the management of all those personalities gets me down after a while. I think people tend to forget that there is only one of me and thirty plus of them and they all have ideas about how things should be done and what we should be doing. Over the years I have learnt to take the attitude of 'This is how we are going to do it because after all I am the one doing the work so I will do it my way, if you want to do it a different way then you can do the work!' It may sound exceedingly bossy but it kept me sane - you can't please everyone, so I stopped trying.

For the past two years I have been trying to resign but I always get talked into staying. This year I did manage to downsize the job to an organisational role plus running the BBQ - which was a HUGE relief.

This arrived on my doorstep the week after the PTA AGM; it is from the PTA to say thankyou for staying on and keeping them on the straight and narrow. Thankyou PTA for the beautiful flowers and thankyou to all the people who volunteered to take on some of the workload. I think we can look forward to a fabulous fundraising year!

Flowers from Australia

These arrived today for B2 for her birthday.

They are from her Nan in Australia.

Thankyou Nan, B2 was so thrilled to get a bunch of flowers all of her own :)

XXXXXXXXX

The Big Number Nine

B2 chose a vanilla cake with strawberry jam icing this year for her family birthday dinner this year. We tried out a new type of icing which involves cooking and whisking egg whites in double boiler and then adding the other ingredients. It was a very, very tasty icing but I think I need a bit more practice to get the consistency right.

Work the Camera Baby!

You look beautiful darling....

....so fluffy. Have you changed hairdressers?

Just turn a little to the right.....

.....a bit more....

....a bit more....perfect!

Wonderful, just the right amount of disdain.

That's a wrap.

This is what happens when I leave the camera where small hands can reach it. They photograph their favourite thing - Tilly :)

(Please ignore the spilt cat food and pen in the background; they are added for gritty realism)