Merry Christmas Everyone!
I hope eveyone has been enjoying a happy and peaceful Christmas.
It's been a busy but good Christmas Day. My parents have been staying for the last few days and have been a great help getting ready and looking after the kids, but even so the presents for today weren't finished until 2am this morning and there are still more to do for people we are seeing later. prince_eldarion got to sleep late last night, because of a nap in the car rather than pre Christmas nerves, but this did mean he was only up around 8.15 this morning. We had time for a present each before heading off to church. Because of the absence of the usual organist, the backup organist, and the usual guitar player I ended up leading the carols using a friend's acoustic / electric guitar plugged into the sound system. This was a first for me, but my dad provided moral support and sang christmassy songs as people were arriving and leaving. All in all it went OK thanks to plenty of last minute practice and the excellent borrowed guitar but two notes to self (1) if you turn your guitar's volume control right down between songs to avoid random noises, remember to turn it up again before starting to play, and (2) keep the number of bars between verses consistent or the congregation will come in at a different time to you. Thankfully I did manage to learn from these mistakes as I went along!
My dad and I also teamed up to cook Christmas dinner which went off fine. Our turkey popper outer thing that is supposed to tell you when the turkey is cooked didn't pop out, but we ate it anyway, (the turkey, not the popper) and are all still alive so far. prince_eldarion didn't eat any turkey of course, as he is too fussy, and concentrated on a Christmas dinner treat of Yorkshire puddings spread with honey.
Present opening was sporadic as prince_eldarion wanted to play with his after he had opened them. We still haven't got to the end of the presents and will go in for another round tomorrow. Highlights include a jungle floor jigsaw for El, which he 'transforms' into a monkey to enter, and a big frame full of family photos for Polly and me.
Another Christmas treat was that frodo_lad learned a new trick - he's been flipping from his back to his front for some weeks now, but has then been stuck on his front (sort of like a beetle, but upside down. No, back to front. No, vice versa. Anyway, you know what I mean). But this evening he learned to windmill one arm to help flip him back and forth and was doing this enthusiastically for about twenty minutes - he was delighted with himself.
My parents head home tomorrow to be replaced by Polly's who are staying for a few days, and phina_v and Pel should be round on Saturday giving a perfect excuse for another Christmas dinner! Mmmmmm....
All the best for the rest of the festive season & the New Year!
It's been a busy but good Christmas Day. My parents have been staying for the last few days and have been a great help getting ready and looking after the kids, but even so the presents for today weren't finished until 2am this morning and there are still more to do for people we are seeing later. prince_eldarion got to sleep late last night, because of a nap in the car rather than pre Christmas nerves, but this did mean he was only up around 8.15 this morning. We had time for a present each before heading off to church. Because of the absence of the usual organist, the backup organist, and the usual guitar player I ended up leading the carols using a friend's acoustic / electric guitar plugged into the sound system. This was a first for me, but my dad provided moral support and sang christmassy songs as people were arriving and leaving. All in all it went OK thanks to plenty of last minute practice and the excellent borrowed guitar but two notes to self (1) if you turn your guitar's volume control right down between songs to avoid random noises, remember to turn it up again before starting to play, and (2) keep the number of bars between verses consistent or the congregation will come in at a different time to you. Thankfully I did manage to learn from these mistakes as I went along!
My dad and I also teamed up to cook Christmas dinner which went off fine. Our turkey popper outer thing that is supposed to tell you when the turkey is cooked didn't pop out, but we ate it anyway, (the turkey, not the popper) and are all still alive so far. prince_eldarion didn't eat any turkey of course, as he is too fussy, and concentrated on a Christmas dinner treat of Yorkshire puddings spread with honey.
Present opening was sporadic as prince_eldarion wanted to play with his after he had opened them. We still haven't got to the end of the presents and will go in for another round tomorrow. Highlights include a jungle floor jigsaw for El, which he 'transforms' into a monkey to enter, and a big frame full of family photos for Polly and me.
Another Christmas treat was that frodo_lad learned a new trick - he's been flipping from his back to his front for some weeks now, but has then been stuck on his front (sort of like a beetle, but upside down. No, back to front. No, vice versa. Anyway, you know what I mean). But this evening he learned to windmill one arm to help flip him back and forth and was doing this enthusiastically for about twenty minutes - he was delighted with himself.
My parents head home tomorrow to be replaced by Polly's who are staying for a few days, and phina_v and Pel should be round on Saturday giving a perfect excuse for another Christmas dinner! Mmmmmm....
All the best for the rest of the festive season & the New Year!