The most wonderful time of the year

Well, at last, we are finally here-Christmas proper. There are only a few minutes of Christmas Eve left. It's a magical time of giddy anticipation, and a strange kind of peace. What is in the house is all we need, stockings are filled, there is a snack ready for Father Christmas and his reindeer, and so, I can do no more.

I haven't felt very festive this year at all. Not really sure why. Something has gone missing from my idea of what christmas is and feels like. In a bid to jumpstart my sugarplum visions tonight, here is a short list of my failsafe festive favourites guaranteed to make me smile. Merry Christmas!

The Nutcracker
Christmas telly isn't complete without a showing of this ballet. The music is wonderful. I love watching a really traditional sugary production of this. But my absolute vourite rendition is Matthew Bourne's.

Stollen
Thick slice, with butter. Cup of tea too if you're making one.

Wreaths on the front door
They look so beautiful and welcoming. They make a house look happy and loved.This year ours has pine cones, moss, greenery and some wonderful multicoloured berries in it.

Tree Ornaments
I love my collection of tree baubles. In fact, I am probably a bit precious about them. I have spent years collecting them, picking a couple of special new ones each christmas. Christmas almost begins for me the moment I find the first new ornament for that year. When the tree goes up, getting the baubles out of the decorations box is my favourite part. It is like seeing a long lost friend again. I smile myself silly at catching up with them again. I love them all, but my favourite favourite is a painted wooden ornament of a snow maiden that I got in Prague.

Troika
To me, this is what christmas sounds like. It is a part from a piece called Lieutenant Kije by Prokofiev. Joyous!

Stockings
A well filled, carefully thought out stocking is a true delight. Every little treat in there is a hug and kiss in present form. They say 'these goodies are especially for you because I want to see you smile'. I think a stocking is as important, if not more, than a big present.

White Christmas

I love this movie. I bought it on dvd to ensure I get to see it every year. It's a big ol' cheesy schmaltz-fest with some gorgeous costumes and lots of great tunes. My best bits are  the Danny Kaye number "The best things happen when you're dancing" ( swooningly romantic *sigh* ), the colour of Rosemary Clooney's hair, and that Vera-Ellen has the figure of a wasp!

Folky Christmas Traditions

I wish I was German, or Italian or Scandinavian. These countries/cultures have some wonderful folk traditions throughout the holiday season. My fasvourite, food aside, is the Krampus. Companion to Saint Nicholas, the Krampus is a christmas 'devil' who does St. Nick's dirty work and  punishes the naughty children. www.krampus.com 

Favourite Words

Minutia posts have been a little thin on the ground recently. Busy, busy, busy! Doing what I cannot even remember! This is one of my back up posts, an idea that I have had brewing for a while. It is a list of my favourite words.

I am very picky about the words I use. I like to mean exactly what I say. I can get into a bit of a tizz if I can't think of the correct word to use. This has become particularly important since I've has children. My brain has turned to mush, and there are days that I struggle horribly for coherence. On occasion I have even made up words! These strange hybrids are little mixtures of two words that describe what I want to say. They are my word mutants- they LIVE!!!! My favourite is made up word is one I used to describe how splendid my fabulous (honorary) big sister looked one day. My brain couldn't decide between glamorous and lovely, so I said she looked 'glamly', I still use it :) Enjoy this selection of my favourite words.

 

 

cannula

 

dreadnought

 

steadfast

 

polyp

 

impediment

 

adamant

 

flimflam

 

ungulate

 

wretched

 

dewlap

 

nincompoop

 

libation

 

berserk

 

hearth

 

wrasse

 

ruminant

 

smut

 

falafel

 

ocelot

 

concur

 

efficacy

 

dulcet

 



 

 

Forest Holiday

The summer holidays are nearly over. Thank heavens!!! Goodness, I never knew six weeks could feel like so long! It hasn't been all squabbling and whinging though. A few weeks ago we went to Center Parcs in Longleat Forest for a few days. It was lovely. Being surrounded by all those trees is wonderfully calming. We got to swim every day too! Smiley days in the forest.

 

Greenness

 

Swimming every day

 

Watching Esther's delight as she splashed around

 

Seeing a deer in the 'back garden'



 

Muntjak Deer in the forest, spotted by Ruby!

Eating at the table together

Treehouses

Late night sewing



Embroidered hand of Fatima.
 
The Jurassic Park feeling you get when you first drive into Longleat Safari Park

Feeding the deer at Longleat

Giant Anteaters

Meerkats at my feet

 

Car parts on the road in the monkey enclosure

The incredibly satisfying feeling of schadenfreude on seeing an idiot driving a Jag and watching the monkeys rip it to pieces.

 

 

Playing in the treetop playground with my girls

Ruby and Esther pretending to play Guitar Hero

 

 

 



aquarium

We had a family day out to Plymouth Aquarium the other day. It is such a great place to visit. I find aquariums so relaxing. The peace is delicious. Well, apart from the squealing children..... 

We found Nemo!

The thing that really grabbed me on this visit were the names of the fish. In the vein of the previous 'minutia' wild flower post, I submit this for your smiling pleasure! 

Schoolmaster Snapper

Bermuda Chub

French Grunt

Great Pompano

Sergeant Major

Scrawled Filefish

Moon Jelly

Horse Eye Jack

Smallmouth Grunt

Rooster Hogfish

Dusky Damselfish

Lunar Wrasse

Lipstick Tang

Bignose Unicornfish

Longhorned Cowfish

Epaulette Shark

Polka Dot Grouper

Oriental Sweet Tip

 Sailor's Grunt

(my absolute favourite!)

rainy days

The english summer time is so romantic and heady, filled with long light evenings, elderflower cordial, the bewitching scents and sounds at dusk, plump sun warmed strawberries. I have a theory that we are solar powered beings. Tell me you don't feel better when on first waking you see the glow from outside sneaking around the edge of the curtain. The feeling of the warmth of sun on your face is almost like a kiss. . ..... insert here the sound of a needle being hastily taken off a record.

There lies the problem - no sun. Holy moly this rain seems endless! I can't ever remember feeling so soggy for so long. Even in Winter. Ughh, grey drizzly mornings, the relentless damp cling of my rain coat, as it is summer my stubborn determination to remain in flip-flops, and the imminent arrival of trenchfoot because of my stubborn determination.

Anyway, Jetstream schmetstream! Though the days have been slightly less cheerful and sunblessed than usual, there have been some bright spots :D 

Drawing dinosaurs on steamed up bus windows.

Watching the conker pods get fatter.

Tea and chocolate fingers with Willow.

Veronica Spicata - these flowers are related to the humble Speedwell, but look like they have come from the moon! I got an enormous bunch of them from the flower man. They look like they have mermaids tails.

veronica spicata

New episodes of "Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom".

Finding a lovely pair of vintage dark turquoise day gloves in my size.

Making a new friend who already feels like I have known her for ages.

Tiny spots of blue sky, the colour of which Monet would have approved of.

The transcendental power of music to turn ordinary, every day chores into shimmering adventures. Thank you Goldfrapp for turning preparing veg into a daydream wonderland where I was transformed into a glamorous spring-heeled, sleek haired, glittering goddess.

birthday days

I have just celebrated my hmmphy humppphth birthday. Happy birthday Me! I love the fact that for one day a year, you are *special*. It's better than christmas. Because for one day, it is all about YOU. In our house the person whose birthday it is choses the breakfast - whatever they want! I forgot to chose something this year, so we had some of my birthday cake. Win win!

I am of the opinion though that a birthday should last a couple of days. The feeling I get when I first wake up the day after my birthday is horribly sad. The feeling that I'm not special any more is awful. Luckily I am blessed with exceptional family and friends and my birthdays last for more than 24 hours :D These are the things that made me smile this birthday weekend.

being woken at 6am by two small girls whose excitement about my birthday was tangible!

Esther yelling "happy birthday mama" at the top of her voice all day

sitting at Jo's table colouring in and eating cherry bakewells

rooftop cafe lunch

family pizza

a trip to the cinema with my boy

a spectacular assortment of presents

hand feeding a lamb, a llama and a deer

painted gipsy caravans and traction engines

 

favourite things a la ruby

Ruby has been asking me a lot recently about what my favourite things are. It's quite a lot of fun as you never know what is going to come after "Mama, what is your favourite...........?" Sometimes I really have to think and it feels good to stretch my mind in this way. Although even if you ask me over and over what my favourite underwater animal is, the answer will remain the same. Thinking about favourite things is such an enjoyable thing to do, it really makes me happy building up a little mental store of bright lights to see me through whatever and whenever winter comes. The one thing I have problem with is colour. I can usually only prescribe a favourite colour to a thing. One favourite colour would not suffice! I am incredibly greedy when it comes to colour :D This list is a mixture of some of Ruby's questions, and some suggestions from my beloved friends. (See if you can pick out Ruby's )

favourite underwater animal : octopus.

favourite fairytale : snow white and rose red.

favourite feel good food : cream tea

favourite aisle in the super market : the one with all the interesting world foods

favourite chocolate biscuit : M&S extremely chocolatey rings

favourite childhood memory : spending summers at tregantle beach

favourite song to belt out in the car : "the trolley song" by judy garland or anything from the darkness' debut album

favourite song to dance to : "jump in the line (shake senora)" by harry belafonte

favourite thing to draw : lucky lulu designs
favourite nocturnal animal : bat
favourite superhero : batman
favourite flower : for looks ; peony and magnolia, for smell ; lily of the valley and honeysuckle, allrounder ; lilacs.
favourite smell :  fresh basil
favourite band seen live : faith no more, rocket from the crypt and les negresses verte
favourite spider : golden orb spider
favourite cocktail : margarita
favourite film : the women (1939)
favourite director : tim burton
favourite cartoon character : samurai jack and barbamama
favourite toast topping : peanut butter
favourite saying : little and often makes much
favourite shoes : black with 3d red roses from shelley's
favourite fictional character : sherezade

anniversary weekend

Our wedding cake toppers made by Mr S.

This weekend Mr S and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Wow! Where did that go? We got married on the 9th of June at Exeter Registry Office surrounded by excellent family and friends. It was a glorious day, hot and sunny and everyone looked wonderful. So, here we are five years on. Our two beautiful daughters went off to Grandma's for the weekend leaving us with well deserved and much needed time to ourselves. We must have packed a years worth of 'living' into the weekend! It was so good to be just the two of us. I only felt guilty for not missing the children for a few minutes! Lots to enjoy, so it was smiles all over :D

Holding hands.

Going to the cinema, twice!

Seeing my first 3D movie (Thor through magic specs, I say!)

 Aloo Matar for dinner at the Gandhi.

Late night grocery shopping.

Buying a brand new paperback novel for the first time in an age.

Going out for breakfast.

My AMAZING anniversary present.

The delicious visuals of Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows". I especially loved the title sequence of the Amtrak speeding up through the glorious autumn forests of Maine to the sound of  The Moody Blues, Helena Bonham-Carter's look, Collinswood House, Eva Green's red dress, and a lovely little nod to Edward Gorey's "Gashlycrumb Tinies'.

Afternoon delight.

Marnie Scarlet's "Gold Dust" routine at Kinky & Quirky's event.

Seeing and dancing with friends at K&Q.

Sunday morning drive.

Hearing the joy in my babies' voices calling 'Mama! and feeling their sweet soft arms around my neck.

small summery things

Strictly speaking it is still Spring (my favourite season) but with the weather as it has been over the last week, it has felt like Summer. Spring has moved on from the early, damp dark days of spiky new shoots and marvellous earthy smells. The landscape is filled with every colour of green there ever was, and the hedgerows are bursting with flowers. I would fill the house with jugs full of cow parsley in a heartbeat! There is a special magic about the english summer. To me, it's an intoxicatingly heady brew *sigh*

Stonehenge and Golden Cap on Mid summer's day

fetes

elderflower cordial

the big fat velvety bottoms of bumble bees

the dawn chorus

bluebells

Dreadzone

the sound of leather on willow and the polite applause of the village cricket match (even though the actual game itself  is Satan's work.....)

being able to wear flip-flops and no coat every day

blissfully long, light evenings

eating sun-warmed strawberries

beach huts

hearing the sound of the swallows as they swoop and loop in the sky

feeling a breeze on your skin

my babies in their sunhats splashing about in our backyard riviera paddling pool

PIMMS!!!! 

girl friends

I have the most spectacular group of female friends. Between them, the intelligence and talent is incredible. They are all wonderfully generous, kind and thoughtful. I love each of them infinitely. They are magnificent women. This post is about some of the special little things I especially adore about them as individuals. These little personal endearments make me smile.

When we say goodbye, she signs off with 'Turrah!'

Her delicious accent, which she tells me is the posh one from where she comes from.

Her presents to me and my family are so carefully thought out, and are more often than not made by her.

The fact that I have known her for longer than I haven't, and that she is prepared to be as silly as I am.

She is the big sister I never had and is a dead ringer for Liza Minelli.

Can make me laugh at myself when I am being an idiot.

Gave me calm, patient advice that allowed me to succeed at something I had such a wretched time at first time round.

She finds our biscuit crumbs hilarious.

She has an excellent laugh.

Gives lovely hugs, has great perspective on life, and will not take any bullshit.


LADIES, I SALUTE YOU!

saturday afternoon

Dancing with Ruby in the kitchen to ' Stand down Margaret' by The Beat

Horrible Histories

The graphics on  the newly pimped Tesco value range

Potting lupin, delphinium, geranium, rhodedendron and fuschia in the garden

Large pot of earl grey and one of my favourite cups

Baking millionaire's shortbread whilst listening to possibly the best sunny day album ever

wild flowers

I have a wonderful nature book called 'Collins Complete British Wildlife Photoguide'. I look at it all the time, and not just when I want to identify a bird or butterfly or flower I've found outside. The girls love the book too. Some of the names are spectacular! They sound like names in a Dickens book, or a sinister medical condition, or some kind of medieval insult. They make me smile. This is a list of my favourite wildflower names.

bastard balm

bloody cranesbill

blue fleabane

bog asphodel

butterbur

bog pimpernel

cloudberry

columbine

common cleavers

common fumitory

creeping cinquefoil

creeping jenny

devil's-bit scabious

enchanter's nightshade

eyebright

fairy flax

fat hen

feverfew

good king henry

hairy tare

hogweed

hounds tongue

ivy leaved toadflax

kidney vetch

lady's bedstraw

lady's mantle

lords-and-ladies

lousewort

maiden pink

melancholy thistle

navelwort

pignut

sea rocket

selfheal

shepherd's purse

slender hare's-ear

smooth cat's-ear

snakeshead fritilary

sneezewort

starry saxifrage

sticky mouse-ear

stinking hellebore

sun spurge

thrift

tormentil

viper's bugloss