It is Mark' s birthday. It has started off with pressies (well received, I think - he is very difficult to buy for) and now he has taken himself off to the osteopath. Not as a result of the presents, I might add.


Oliver is off a-Pokemon-ing for the day, so I am left to my own devices. heh heh heh. Here are my intentions:


1. Get out all the gifts from the wardrobe thus far purchased for Oliver and make a list of what we have


2. Make mince pies (somethng I almost never do as they seem cheaper and easier and nicer than mine, but saw a recipe using ground almonds in the pastry, and think this will make all the difference. (yes Kim, I know you always do this....no one likes a smarty pants ;) )


3. Make cherry & almond flapjacks


4. Douse, sorry, feed my Christmas cakes with the last half of a bottle of brandy (the first half of the bottle already being in the cakes)


5. Squeeze in some exercise. I am uncomfortably aware of the tightening of my waistband and too-snug fit of jeans around my inner thighs. Problem is, for the first time I ever remember, I really just don't want to exercise. sigh.


6. Finish my second beaded bauble whilst watching Foyle's War. I love Michael Kitchen.


7. Ignore no 5.


8. Feel guilty for not doing no 5.


9. The usual drudgery: washing, washing up, changing the bedclothes......


10. Dye my hair. Well, cover the greying, darkening roots really. I have a box of 'natural baby blonde' waiting for me. How the word 'natural' can be incorporated into a box of hair dye positively bulging with artificial chemicals is beyond me...


This years tree:




Fabulouso.

'Tis the season....

and we're off. Yesterday was officially the start of the festive season, but due to the general business of Wednesdays, the erecting of the tree has had to be delayed. Much to Oliver's utter disgust and distress. When we were kids and had a real tree (miss the smell but not the clearing up) it didn't go up until a week before the big day. The goodies didn't go out until Christmas Eve. Last year I put the goodies out at the same time as tree went up and everything got scoffed by the end of the first week, earning me a bollocking from Mark. This year I'm planning a more staggered assault on the cellulite and general indigestion (the real meaning of Christmas obviously not being lost on me then) by putting out carefully selected and limited treats. (boring)

Yesterday's efforts:



The Advent Box




The Nativity scene


Today we have awoken to snow! Quelle delight. So the putting up of the Christmas Tree will take place on a snowy cold December day - a la Dickens, so I am forgiven by Oliver.


The morning dog walk


Although it looks as if I walked him at around 4am, this is not the case. I am just crap with the camera, and have the uncanny knack of managing to make a photo look as if it was taken in a completely different time zone than we are actually in.


see?



Also, I am now snapping photos of every aspect of our daily life in order to capture for posterity our December doings for my journal. Bit of a drag that I can't print them up, and since I need them at a smaller size than the norm, I have to get Photobox to send me my prints every few days (or it becomes hideously expensive).



And I beaded this




Hasta Manana dudes.