Christmas Day

Every December I gather all of the Christmas themed stories that I/we possess and each night in the run up to the "big day" we read one before bedtime. Obviously we end with the traditional rendition of 'Night Before Christmas' poem by Clement Moore. Jasper and Maya are fans of one particular book called 'Jingle Bells' by Nick Butterworth which starts, "Christmas Eve. A happy time, or so it should be. Why then, on this Christmas Eve, did two small mice look so unhappy?".  Well, we felt a bit like this last night knowing that our usual Christmas Day with family and friends wouldn't be happening today. I was a little apprehensive as we wanted to make it special for the children but obviously it's been a watered down affair compared to last year when we spent all day opening gifts and sat down to our lunch rather late in the afternoon!

I don't know what I was so worried about! Today we have had a lovely day (which started at a very respectable time - 8.20am!) and it has been ALL about family and friends! Ed's Mother Mary rang first, then we had a FaceTime call from his brother Adrian and wife Liz, plus our lovely nieces Harriet and Daisy so that was very thoughtful and exciting too. We haven't seen them for ages now! Shortly after that my sister Lesley rang, and then I spoke to my Mum and Dad before they went off to spend time with family for Christmas lunch. Whilst it has been very hard not seeing these dear people for so long, we do think about them often and I dare say we have thought more about them this year than last. Absence does makes the heart grow fonder!

All day long we have had texts, emails, and messages on Facebook wishing us all a Happy Christmas. And honestly it has been! We have had thoughtful gifts and presents galore (thankyou family!), and our lovely children have hand made a gift each for Ed and I. Maya has completed a lovely painting of our home in Somerset, and Jasper had carved from a plank of wood a wooden souvenir of the Pont D'Avignon, something we had in fact seen in miniature in the gift shop when we went there in October. For Ed, each of them had been working on a series of drawings/colourings of all the famous monuments we have seen so far, and Jasper had stuck his together in some sort of order. It was a bit of a guessing game at first, but Ed soon got the gist of what was what and loved the Monaco montage!

My gift from my lovely husband Ed was an expensive bottle of bubble bath from L'Occitane. We visited the museum and factory in Provence in November. He must be going mad to pay that much for a bottle of bubble bath!!! What a treat! So tonight, I'm going to enjoy a bath, with MY very special bubble bath! And a glass of wine from St Emilion. Happy days!

Clare 

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Ps My gift to Ed was a load of hand drawn home made vouchers for special treats, such as a theatre trip, dinner out, visit to a Motorsport event, and even ... A HAIRCUT!!!