hassock of the week
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December 2007 Archives
happy new year's eve
this is me even after nearly three months without any chocolate (the cravings continue)
i really don't like New Year's eve. i find it highly depressing - which for someone who's generally fairly jolly is a bit of a disappointment. i think it's related to having to stay up to midnight, whilst knowing i need to start getting back in to the routine of getting up before 5am in a few days time, and fearful of carbon-free self induced jet lag. or perhaps it's just fear of progress.
whatever, i find it a bit sad. which is in itself a bit sad. so sorry to our visitors who will be staying with us for a couple of days.
but anyway, thanks for another fantastic year in blog land. i've enjoyed doing this immensely. see you on the other side !
bakewell tart
ether and kezia's godparents invited us round for lunch yesterday which was fantastic. we lived in the Sheffield at the same time before moving south. ruth made this fantastic bakewell tart. my piece had a big thumb print in.
andrew and steve
seen through a christmas cracker kaleidoscope. could you imagine if real life looked like this.
kate conducts, lynda plays
here is kate conducting the singers at church yesterday morning to keep them in time with the organ at the other end of the church. she's using a flashing fairy wand. make of that what you will.
carolyn admires the lights
ian and carolyn came over for dinner yesterday which was very lovely. here is carolyn admiring our lights.
glove and poo bin
do you ever wonder how i manage to get some amazing photos (i'm attempted to be funny by the way) ? you can see how it's done with this fantastic shot that tony took of me in action. it's all about the dress sense.
decorated dalek
decorated dalek
a walk - without geocaching !
we actually managed to go for a walk yesterday which wasn't centred around a geocache !
a selection of pictures of tony
here's tony looking pleased with the trophy which we give each other every celebration day
and here's how tony greated us when we arrived. his first words were "don't talk" as he was in a particularly difficult part of a plumber based wii game
and here's how tony greated us when we arrived. his first words were "don't talk" as he was in a particularly difficult part of a plumber based wii game
and finally, here's tony taking a picture
katie and the christmas angel
this is the sister of the angel that appears on our christmas card (and the christmas vouchers) this year. the actual angel was on the tree. this one is on a stick which katie (in the background) was holding. special thanks to katie's family for letting me use their angelic tree icon this year.
the running jacket
olivia on the move
ooh. more geocaching. who would have thought
here's esther with a giant geocache with katie and olivia
and here they are with chloe in the afternoon (taken with my compact camera which i seem to have lost the ability to use properly!)
trees
here are some trees in gerrards cross. the one above is quite spooky.
and these two have walls built in to them.
christmas debris
perhaps we overdid the wrapping paper this year.
skating
these skates were a christmas present for kezia last year. kezia reminded herself of them this christmas and i spent a couple of hours dragging her around yesterday morning in the chilly coldness. i didn't take my camera (as i had my hands busy dragging her about). whilst we were out 8 red kites were out enjoying the wind and sweeping low over out heads dramatically.
my mum and the girls
here's my mum and the raclette machine
balloon modeling
the girls got some modelling balloons for christmas and much of christmas day was spent pumping and knotting. and modeling.
bizarre periscope
esther got this periscope from a christmas cracker - bizarrely it looks like you can see her eye down the stick though which is quite eery.
kezia and the squirty cream
there's few things more terrifying that a 5 year old with a loaded can of squirty cream.
modern grandma
my mum loved listening to esther playing christmas carols on her (esther's) violin.
so much so that she phoned her parents (my grandma/pa and esther's great grandma/pa) and put them on speaker phone so they could hear. esther's first live performance 'down the wire'.
boxing day geocaching
muddy trip to a couple of geocaching. my mum came along for her first geocaching outing and slipped over in the mud. ooops.
wearing christmas presents
as you know, it's obligatory to wear christmas presents which are capable of being worn on the day you receive them. i got this brilliant photographers access-all areas tabard (just put it on and no one asks you any questions - ideal for invisible photography work in busy places)
my mum got the girls lovely dresses which they were happy to show off
and kezia's new dressing grown made her look like santa doing a repeat visit to the tree
christmas
tired adults, lively children
the fantastic cake
jane's dad caused laughing mayhem by saying the christmas cake had icing and christmas 'knickerations'. he probably didn't actually say that, but jane repeated it and tears of laughter ensured.
when we finally saw it, we were very impressed by the kickerations, although there was some tree subsidance
kezia reset them like some cosmic anti-lumberjack
it did look (and taste very good)
so that's the story of the christmas cake and knickerations.
jane's fantastic christmas dinner
a pile of tasty traditions
kezia and esther were first to the table
my plate (not featuring parsnips (or the other sort of stuffing which i forgot to add)
happy christmas !!!
a day that warrants three exclamation marks in the title !
and seeing as everyone else on the planet has done this, so have we we've deliberately used dreadful photos of ourselves just in case you are worried !
treat vouchers - the perfect last minute christmas present ?
We've made some 'treat vouchers' for our girls for christmas, and it struck me these are a brilliant last minute or additional christmas present for a friend or family member. Best of all, they are individual and needn't cost you any real money if you don't want !
essentially you print off the voucher, cut them out and staple to produce a cheque book of lovely treats, such as:
- A trip to the fun park
- A day out with just mummy or daddy (your choice)
- A free room tidy
- Stay up 30 minutes late
- Use mummy's nail varnish
- Trip to feed the ducks
- Free bag of sweets from the supermarket
- Cook dinner for a week
There are 5 on a sheet - we've made cheque books of 10 vouchers, so that's 2 pages (for those who are mathematically challenged)
Let me know how you get on and the kinds of things you put on the treat vouchers.
UPDATE: just to let you know, jane says it was her bestest friend julie who gave her the idea of the vouchers, so credit to her excellent self is due. And the vouchers themselves went down a treat and esther says they are amongst her best present ! huzzah.
lots of church
there's been lots of church services recently. that happens around christmas. we're halfway through the last 4 though, and it's great to meet together around christmas. the church looks a bit empty in this picture as all the kids and the kids teachers had left for their groups.
jesus in a bin bag
poignant thoughts for christmas day. it's a jesus statue in an old bin bag. no room at the inn.
strange belgian nativity
did mary really wear this much make-up ?
pouty shepherd
pouty shepherd
there were a couple of real sheep wandering around in this life-sized nativity in Belgium's grande place. generally quite bizarre.
visit by exiles
some good friends we haven't seen for a few years popped by with their reshaped accents and ex-pat stories yesterday.
it's a shame they live so far away in the modern era, although when they didn't live quite as far, we still didn't see them. shame on us really.
We last saw them on the 11th May 2003 and here's the evidence from the funkypancake archives (which are still a bit broken, so here's the picture instead of a link. I started doing funkypancake in April 2003 so these were early days pictures.
the annual christmas tree chopping
yesterday was the first day the girls and i had a chance to go and chop down our christmas treet
off we went boldly in to the 'forest' to select our tree
can you see kezia in this picture ?
once we'd chosen our tree we then got to work chopping it down
unfortunately the one we chose was half dead - but we only discovered once we'd dragged it home which was a big disappointment (20 pounds worth of disappointment to be exact). i chopped the dead bits off and now it's a christmas stick. oh well - something to watch out for next year.
the story of the unloved vacuum cleaner
this would make a good xmas story about a vacuum cleaner who nobody loves left to wander the streets at christmas time.
it probably has a happy ending or something.
or perhaps it doesn't
a wall
a wall near london wall in london
a very small man
this was a half accidental optical illusion. i was actually trying to take a picture down a gap in the footway to the right, but missed.
tactile
a bit touchy wheely perhaps
hotel full
hotel flup at xmas. whatever next.
triple celebrity spot
three celebrity spots in order of seeing them.
here's the very excellent carl barat sitting outside a pub off marylebone high street. he kindly let me take this attractive photo.
here's the skinny one from trinny and suzanne whizzing by in a taxi. i've caught the movement i think.
here's the very excellent carl barat sitting outside a pub off marylebone high street. he kindly let me take this attractive photo.
here's the skinny one from trinny and suzanne whizzing by in a taxi. i've caught the movement i think.
and here's matt albright off the telly in a photo. oh, i didn't get a photo. there was definately a decline in photo ability as the day when on and my cold grew worse.
mannequin fly hybrid
mannequin or insect ? you decide
