They're both as bad as each other

Christmas.... Such a mixture of joy and stress 

My pre Christmas preparations saw me pre-cook:

3 chocolate Yule logs,

2 trays of rocky road,

Carrot and ginger soup for 20 people,

Chilli con carnie for 16 people, 

2 loaf tins of stuffing,

90 sweet and spicy cocktail sausages, 

And 36 orange and cranberry muffins. 

That mixed in with the considerable amount of food I hoarded and the massive shopping trip I did a couple of days prior to Christmas saw us have more food then we needed. (Despite hosting hubby's mum for 3 days and then having between 14 and 15 People for the next 3 days.)

It got to the point where I was desperate for people to eat lunch out for fear that I would never be able to get all the food consumed! 

Even with this full we had two plastic boxes of food and drinks outside! 

I think overall Christmas went really well from a hosting point of view, though I found myself so focused on what needed to be done that by the time everyone left I felt that I had missed Christmas! I guess I'm at a stage of life where Christmas is 'all about the children!'

So here are some of the Christmasy things we did:

Mince pie, carrots and ribena (Nemo's choice!) for Santa and Rudolph. Nemo of course was not too happy that we gave Santa a mince pie and he didn't get one! 

Talcum powder Santa foot prints 

The children asleep with their stockings :) 

The children loved opening all their presents, naturally! 

Nemo of course had lots of cars from Santa

The flying helicopter was also a big hit with the children and big child :) 

Christmas dinner also went down well with the children! 

We did some really lovely things with my extended family in the post Christmas phase. We had sausages and bacon sandwiches in St Cuthburts cave and also visited holy island. 

Had to laugh the children were so layered up they look like marshmallows when they walked!

Poppy was hopeful for some sausages however they all got eaten by the 14 people there!! 

Probably the best family photo we've had in ages...! (Look Nemo is even smiling, even if pebbles fingers are in!) 

Pebble was knackered after the walk. (It's getting hard to sling her now as baby pip doesn't appreciate the bump being squashed and my hips are going!) 

We really are so lucky to live in such a beautiful area. 

Loved having a fire this year, it saw a lot of use and Poppy was a particular fan! 

So Christmas is over, even if I haven't got around to taking down the decorations yet! 

Its always feels a bit empty after Christmas, particularly this year where I had spent so much time preparing.

With the exit of family giving Nemo and Pebble lots of attention the house has now become a battle ground over toys. You will find toys in high surfaces all over the house as the "if you fight over it Mummy will take it off both of you" rule has reached epidemic porportions. Nemo wants to be able to enjoy Pebble's toys whilst not sharing his own, I feel a new empathy with how the EU must feel trying to explain to the UK it can't have the advantages of being in without the potential negatives. Pebble is just as bad, she wants to be doing whatever Nemo does. She frequently takes a toy and runs away to get him to chase her! 

Yesterday I reached a new parenting milestone of dealing with the children without even looking at them, from the kitchen I heard Nemo say "hey!" Then I heard the quick patter of Pebble's footsteps from the living room towards me. I was able to tell Pebble to give the toy back to her brother this resolving the situation without even turning around. 

I also have a new technique which involves exactly separating a toys parts and separating the children to enable them to try and play with the same thing without killing each other. 

Here you can see the plastic plates separating their prospective piles. However of course the next step was for them each to take turns push the plates towards each other into the other's 'space' with them both getting angry at their space being invaded!

Even Poppy has been being naughty! Here is the remaining 8-12 Christmas muffins that were left on the kitchen side 

This started a resurgence of food taking behaviour which led to all the rocky road also being taken and the beautiful cake stand they were on being broken as well as a loaf of bread. 

However the delclaration of war between Nemo and Pebble over the toys seems to be being recinded as the novelty of the new toys wear off a little. Nemo has now returned to pre school and the return to routine seems to be settling everyone down! 

There are also as always so many funny and lovely moments with the children 

Sleeping children are the most sweet things in the world!

Little foot prints in the house 

The children do at times play so nicely! (/ and messily!) 

Pebble being adorable

Now I have to leave you with this story. 

Had to take Pebble to the GP's as a couple of weeks ago Nemo got conjunctivitis so of course Pebble had to get it too!! (And don't even get me starting on how me and Hubby had to pin Nemo down to get drops in his eyes 4 times a day despite extensive negotiations). Anyway in the chemist afterwards Nemo looks at the above poster and asks "what's that?" Whilst pointing at the cancer tumour. Me '

Ermmmm ermmm...... Well what the poster is saying in that there are some bad drinks that can make you ill'. This triggers a whole conversation into 'good' and 'bad' drinks, at which point Nemo asks "mummy what is the bad drink called" me "Erm beer...". At this point I see the lady sat next to us overhearing this conversation trying very hard not to laugh. Nemo then goes round asking me whether everything is good or bad moving onto another poster about drinking and driving "mummy are those good keys or bad keys" "mummy is that a good car or bad car". I then find myself teaching a 3 year old about it not being as simple as good and bad and bad things sometimes being OK in moderation etc etc you can imagine. 

Conversations like that make these boring trips so much more interesting!