Christmas Day

6:30 am Christmas Morning .... told you Aimee was excited!!!

Aimee asked for a blue DSi here she is opening it!!!



This was her main present, she got lots of beautiful gifts from family too!! She got Christmas money from Granny and Grandad, which she is saving to get a Build a bear!!! I would like to thank all our family for these wonderful gifts!





Chloe opening her laptop, she was thrilled with it! She also got some beautiful gifts from family, including money from Granny and Grandad which she spent on a top, make-up and some ugg boots! Again I would like to thank all our family for these wonderful gifts!



Skye wasn't forgotten!



Aimee reminded me that we needed to put baby Jesus into the manager! This was even before she played with any of her presents!



Aimee was at Georgia's party a few weeks ago, and played on Disney's Sing it on the Wii, and asked if she could get it!!!



This was going on and off all day!! If I didn't know the words to The Hoedown and The Climb I know them now!!!!

I got a Wii fit plus, I am sure they are trying to tell me something, lol!!!!

I will leave you to enjoy your Christmas Day with ...

We're wishing you a Christmas
Full of laughter, love and light,
With delicious holiday foods
To excite your appetite.We're hoping you receive
Delightful gifts to make you smile,
With family and friends
To love you all the while.We wish you a Merry Christmas;
May your Christmas dreams come true,
And when Christmas is over,
Happy New Year, too!

'Twas the night before Christmas ......

some Christmas Eve photos to share with you!

I usually make my own Reindeer food, but saw this packet for just £1 and it goes to the British Heart Foundation!



I just love the look of excitement on Aimee's face, she is super excited this year, oh how I love it!



Some of the children at my school brought in these Santa key's. They are for Santa to use to get into houses! So Aimee hung it up outside!



She hung it on a ventilation pipe, which when I looked at the photo didn't look too pretty, so I edited it a little, that's why it looks wonky!!!



As is my tradition, photos of the girls in their new pj's before the Christmas tree!







And before the mantelpiece ....







And a photo of "Santa's" delivery, before I went to bed!



Notice that Santa's treats have disappeared, lol!!! This year Chloe helped Santa drink the milk, Steve helped with the mince pie, Skye helped with the carrot (she loves raw carrot ????) and I helped with the apple!!!! as per requested by Santa!



A very happy and safe Christmas Eve to all!





TFL
xxxx

Toot! Toot! All aboard ......

the Santa Train!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW, this was an experience! Our local Steam Train puts on a special Christmas train, I heard about this at work! So I decided to book Aimee and myself on it! I was a bit worried that it was going to be cancelled due to all the snow and ice, but no the train was running on time! Our departure time 3:00 pm! To be honest I wasn't expecting too much, just thought this would be different and a nice treat for Aimee!!! We really enjoyed the whole experience and when I asked Aimee if she would like to do this again next year!!! Oh yes please was her answer!!! So I didn't have to worry that she enjoyed it! For £8.00 each we had a lovely time and a lot better experience than going to one of the shops Santa's! Anyways on to the photos!

Aimee and myself were the only fools ... oh I mean passengers in the open carriage!! We were frozen but I think this all helped with the experience and I defiantly wouldn't of got some of the photos that I have!!!!

These carriages were so small that even I had to duck my head down when entering!



Like royalty, lol!!!! She even had the wave down to a tee, lol!!!



A nice profile shot that I got of Aimee as she was taking it all in!!!



Some of the very pretty scenery shots that I managed to capture!





A tradition that I started off once Aimee could write for herself was for Aimee to personally give a letter to Santa! So we had one all ready to give to Santa, when we got to our arrival area, the first thing we noticed was how WARM it was, lol!!! The elves sure took a lot of trouble to decorate the area, d'oh to me I forgot to take a photo of the inside of the warehouse all decked out!!! Each table had a beautiful Santa tea light holder, not lighting, and a Santa table number holder! A Christmas plate holding mince pies, cake and biscuits! We were also provided with hot drinks! There was a little pot holding crayons and some colouring sheets, even a sheet of paper to write your letter to Santa!

Aimee set off to write another letter!!! Fingers crossed she still asks for the same things, phew she did!!!



Time for a quick drink of Hot Chocolate, I am sure Aimee thought this was just for her, she LOVES her hot chocolate!



She coloured in the picture of Rudolph and decided to decorate her letter too!



Her letter!


I had taken photos of Aimee writing her original letter, but I love the atmosphere of these photos, so these shall be the ones I am going to use on my DDA book and a layout!

Aimee decided that she would post her original letter to Santa (just in case) and hand him the one she just wrote!



Sitting in the waiting room for Santa, I think she is a little excited, lol!



Finally meeting Santa!!! Of course I have lots of photos of this meeting, but this is the photo I like the most! They had a nice long chat, which included Santa telling Aimee to leave an apple for Rudolph as all the carrots make his tummy sore!!! mmh I think Santa should not be breaking traditions!!!!!



I love her expression in this photo "Awwwh mum do you have to" lol



Back on the train home, Aimee didn't want to open her present, she wanted to keep it for Christmas day! But when she got home she asked " DO you really think its okay for me to open it, Santa said I could, didn't he?" I reassured her that indeed Santa said she could, as she had been a very good girl and this was just a little present for her! When she opened it, WOW her eyes popped as she had seen other girls open theirs and get this very pretty Forever Friends musical box, she was thrilled! The musical box is such a fab gift, usually the gifts are pretty naff, this was so pretty, it is pink, of course, and when you open it, it has a little forever friend bear twirling around, it even has a mirror and a little drawer!!! She also got a colouring book, crayons, a chocolate Santa pop, an apple and an orange!!!!



We arrived back to the train station at 4:50 pm!!!

I shall finish off by saying I am so glad I brought my little girl on this trip!!!!

If you made is this far, then you need a special gift from Santa too!!
TFL
xxxx


Reminder to me!!!!
For my DDA book, steam on the way home!!!!

Another step to prefection ....

Chloe finally got her train tracks put in today!!!

Look how dainty they are, when I had mine the minute I opened my mouth all you could see was metal, enough to nearly set the metal detectors off at airports, lol!!!!

Still look really pretty to me Chlo!!!!

Mum
xxxx

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who could of believed it, snow this early!!!! It started snowing while I was at school on Friday 18th December, so I quickly snuck out and got this shot!!!

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Then on Saturday it snowed some more, and the roads got dangerous! A few weeks ago, while it was icy, my car skidded on the ice, no damage and nothing done at all! But losing control of the car like that gave me a scare! So I didn't drive the car at all, so I missed out on some last minute shopping!



Again on Sunday more snow and the roads are even worse!!!

Got these lovely shots of Aimee! and a scenery shot! Again no shopping :(
Fingers crossed that it will be better in the next few days!!!!

TFL
xxxx

Christmas cards

I have been missing off my blog for the last while, due to making Christmas gifts, that I can't share until after Christmas and making Christmas cards! We went to our nieces Christening last Sunday, fantastic day and Charlotte looked like a little cherub, beautiful little girl! So I have known for weeks that this was coming and what do I do, leave it until the last minute to make cards for the family, d'oh, so here are the cards that I handed out! I had 3 cards already made which I I have shown before! There was also a birthday card for our nephew but I forgot to photograph that!!! These cards are for nieces and nephews, brother-in-law and wife and sisters-in-laws and husbands and father-in-law and his wife!
















Thanks to Nicki for letting me stamp the Santa image and thanks to Tracey for letting me borrow her Fluffy stuff, it's fantastic for the collars and cuffs of Santa's suit!

I used one of my newly won Elizabeth Bell Designs for SCACD - Special Edition Ornament Collection for one card - Partridge in a pear tree!
A Whiff of Joy, Inkadinkado and Magnolia stamps!

And all my stash has been bought at Running with Scissors!

TFL
xxxx

Oh Christmas tree ....

On Monday night we put up the tree, all bailed out of it this year except Aimee and me! I strung the lights and decorated the higher branches, Aimee decorated the rest and a mighty fine job she did of it too!



This year I asked the girls to pick a new decoration each to place on the tree, with strict guidelines that it has to be either clear, red or gold. I am very traditional in decorating my tree, and love all the warm colours!




Chloe managed to come out of her room to put up her decoration ... just!



Aimee took it all seriously!



Got Steve to hoist Aimee up to place the angel on the tree!



At my school we got a budget to buy some new Christmas decorations! So it was out with the old and in with the new, they were going to throw these decorations away!!! I rescued them, as I love the vintage style of these, you can see some of the bell decorations in the following photos!



And the most important part of Christmas, and Aimee will also tell you it's not about the food, decorations, presents, etc It's all about the birth of Jesus!!! So proud of my little girl!!! Aimee will be placing Jesus into to the crib on Christmas day, as is our tradition.

I hate when I see Xmas (this will be the only time I will write Christmas this way) wrote down, as you can see by placing the X in it you are deleting the Christ part! This has always annoyed me!! Why do we celebrate Christmas??? It's the birth of Jesus Christ, so we go to Church (Catholics call it Mass, which I am) to celebrate his birthday! Christmas! Get it????? I will get off my soap box now, lol!!!

And Tracey I have not forgotten about the DDA book, just being too busy, we break up on the 18th, once I have finished all the rest of the preparations for Christmas, I shall be sitting down to finish off my book, I have been taking notes and photos for the book though! And I think this year I will add in my little gripe above in it!

xxxx