We had quite a relaxed Christmas as Steve used the remainder of his holiday entitlement to take off the entire time from the Monday before Christmas until after new year. I'm not sure how relaxing he found it as he spent the first few days finishing decorating the spare room ready for our visitors!
We started celebrations on Christmas Eve with our main Christmas lunch. Both sets of grandparents were there along with Auntie Jane. It was a surprisingly unstressful event though I'm not sure whether that was due to the abundance of booze in the vicinity or the lovely company (I'll go with the latter!).
Christmas Day was lovely and I'm pretty sure I can say that the kids loved all their presents though for Toby his favourite was the spy gear of a room alarm for his door and for Beth it was her Lego (seen here being put together with Auntie Jane).Toby's alarm can just be seen behind his shoulder in this picture. The outfit was also a present - he has always loved dressing up smartly so although Toby is usually a 'typical man' when he receives clothes (tears open the wrapping to exclaim "urgh, clothes"), he was very happy with these!
The rest of us got a good stash of pressies, I had a couple of favourites; from Steve a Garmin watch for keeping track of my runs and from mum a beautiful rainbow blanket (knitted by hand, right up to Christmas, without my knowledge) and already bagsied by each family member every time we sit down for a bit of tv!
We had a repeat of last year and walked over to the pub in the next village after opening our presents. We were the first through the door, but not for long. A few friends joined us for a celebratory Christmas pint and I think word got out that your first round was on the house as it became bunged! Despite not being able to move, it was a lovely atmosphere and a very pleasant place to spend a while chatting and generally enjoying the day.
On the evening of Boxing Day it started to snow so the next day we ventured out with the sledge and had some fun! I think it's probably the first year with snow that Toby has been big enough to enjoy it and be moving enough not to get cold really quickly.
He wasn't quite as adventurous as Beth on the sledge (as you can see from the sitting vs. lying down) but despite the serious face I think he was laughing inside!
Things quietened down after Boxing Day but Auntie Jane stayed for a few more days and we had a mixture of lounging in front of the fire overindulging and trips out. One of the trips we did was to Climbing Works over in Sheffield. This is a climbing place dedicated to bouldering (climbing without ropes) and they have a separate building specially designed for children.
Beth has been climbing with Jane before for her birthday but this was Toby's first time and I think I can safely say he enjoyed it (though scarily he is rather competitive). In the picture you can see Toby on the right, Beth on the left and Jane in the middle. Steve and I had a go but did nothing that warranted a photo taken!For New Year's Eve we debated options - the kids are just about getting to the age that they can last out till midnight (though the fallout from lack of sleep the next day is off-putting!). When one of our friends invited us to celebrate with them we jumped at the chance as they're great company, the kids had friends to play with and it was just round the corner so easy to stumble back to after the gong.
Beth ended up staying over - you can probably tell by the pj's in the photo - much to Toby's annoyance as he's desperate for his first friend sleepover. Unfortunately most of his friends are rather 'tied to the apron strings' (not so in Toby's case) and not at all ready for this step. We did have a lovely evening and managed to stretch the celebrations well into the New Year. The only downside is that the bar is now set for future New Year's Eve celebrations . . .
In the few days after New Year before we all went back to school and work we managed to fit in a couple of other outings. We manned up to the challenge of ice skating. Beth has been asking to go for months but the thought of it was a bit much! However, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as feared and I can report that everyone enjoyed themselves - Beth especially and Toby only after he accepted the fact that he couldn't skate like a pro on his first go! Beth now would like to have lessons; a good idea if it wasn't a 35 minute drive to the nearest ice rink!
Finally we went on our annual trip to the pantomime in Retford. This year it was Jack and the Beanstalk. The kids had a great time and hugely enjoyed it though Steve and I were a little weary as the jokes were identical to last year despite it being a different story. I think we might try a different theatre next year - don't suppose the jokes will be any better but perhaps slightly different!Anyway, Happy New Year to you all, I hope you have a wonderful 2015 - I'll leave you with a photo of the kids taken just before Christmas.
