Tilly Tatas: Christmas

Not an awful lot has been happening around here aside from the general hubub of life with small children (though as I'm typing this Mr Earplugs is discovering that stale bread makes good tinder as he's set his cheese toastie on fire under the grill!). I don't seem able to get any computer time lately and when I do have a spare moment someone else has usually commandeered the laptop. I did attempt to do some knitting but it ended up getting frogged - I'll save that for another post sometime. Such is life!

I've had a touch of the baby blues but thankfully I'm feeling much perkier now. It's difficult to say whether it was post-natal depression or simply hormones and tiredness but either way life felt a bit of a trial for a while.

I've been sorting out our photo's and realised that we had a few successes in the garden this summer. Entirely down to Mother Nature, though I did plant the Lavender. Our Damson tree did really well:

and Mr Earplugs made jam - yum!

We had some lovely Hollyhocks. Last year we just had the red ones but this year had a pale pink and a dark pink too. These are growing in a crack in the tarmac at the bottom of the drive:

My Lavender border did very well though I haven't trimmed it yet so it may look a mess next year!

Lovely apples too:

And speaking of things that have grown well - Tiddler has gone from this:

to this:

Doesn't time fly!

And since I'm unlikely to be blogging again before next year I'll wish everyone a very Happy Christmas!

Thank you to everyone who left such lovely messages about the swap and also your 'Happy Christmas' wishes. I'm so sorry that I haven't been to see everyone recently but for the last 9 days I've been struck down with gastric flu. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy (not that I have one - lol!). Today was the first day that I managed to eat properly. You'd think I might have lost weight, but no, only 2lbs, so there hasn't even been an 'upside'. I'm finally feeling vaguely human again but still have a really bad chest. At least my tummy is over the worst now though! If I don't get to catch up with everyone then please all have a super Christmas and I'll be along to visit soon, xx

I was tagged by Linda (Remote Treechanger - see under 'Followers') for a little Christmas fun and I had this in draft so can now do a post while I have a bit of energy:

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?

I quite like both though since I'm pregnant it'll have to be hot chocolate. I'm apt to overdue it though by putting huge amounts of 'shushy' cream on top. ('Shushy' cream is that mock cream which comes in an aerosol can and makes a 'shushy' sound when you squeeze the dispenser. Gross really but yummy on hot chocolate.)

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?

Oh they have to be wrapped and with ribbon and a bow on too preferably. If it's not wrapped then it's not a proper present!

3. Colored lights on house/tree or white?

I don't mind really. Our lights are coloured and they twinkle .

4. Do you hang mistletoe?

No

5. When do you put your decorations up?

Usually the weekend before Christmas Day.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?

Hmm, not sure. I'm not that much of a foodie really. Mr Earplugs has to have a mountain of 'pigs-in-blankets' and I quite like them. I like the 'peripherals' really, the bread sauce and the stuffing. And I love roast potatoes.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?

I used to like watching (and sometimes being in) the school Christmas play. Also, there was a very steep hill opposite our school and we used to going sledging down it, usually in half a plastic water barrel. You could get about 3 kids in one and they were very fast (and probably quite dangerous as there was a barbed wire fence at the bottom of the hill and you had to swerve at the last minute in order to miss it!)

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?

I don't know. I don't remember believing or not believing.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

No, that's cheating!

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?

The lights go on first, followed by tinsel and those chains of little balls, then the ornaments, the chocolates, and lastly the angel on the top (though I've forgotten to get chocolates this year).

11. Snow. Love it or dread it?

Now that's a difficult one. Where I grew up we used to get snow which was several feet deep. Great for playing in for a while but not much fun when you were trying to walk to school in it or when they canceled public transport and you couldn't get anywhere. Where I live now it's quite rare to get more than a sprinkling of snow so I guess now it has novelty value.

12. Can you ice skate?

Yes, though I can't do anything fancy.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?

As a kid I was given a game called 'Tug a Bug'. You had a large plastic bug in a large plastic cage. The cage had a hole on each side which was big enough to get the bug through. Each player had a long stick with a hook on the end and you had to catch the bug and get it out of your side of the cage. It was great fun and there was lots of tugging – hence 'Tug a Bug'.

14. What is the most important thing about the holidays for you?

Time with hubby and the kids. To be honest the perfect Christmas Day for me would be a lovely day with hubby and the kids, opening presents, playing some games and watching a good film etc, and just having some quiet family time. I know that most people see Christmas as a time for seeing all the family, but whenever this happens I find that I have a very stressful day, don't get time to do presents properly as everything ends up in a big rush, and I don't get to relax at all. I much prefer to 'do' Christmas with family slightly after Christmas but this doesn't go down well at all. I guess I'm being a bit 'bah humbug!'

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?

Mr Earplugs loves Christmas pudding but I've only recently developed a taste for it. I'm not very keen on dried fruit but we found a pudding recently which contained lots of cherries and nuts and it was really yummy. Otherwise I love to make Delia Smith's Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding which is scrumptious and very easy to do.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?

I've been thinking of this recently and we don't really have any. As a kid I used to like leaving milk and mince pies for Father Christmas which my Dad would obligingly eat. But as we got older he didn't eat them anymore and I found that quite sad. I do like decorating the tree with the kids and having candles in the fireplace.

17. What tops your Christmas tree?

A cardboard angel with a bit of tinsel and half a paper doily stuck on it which was made by Miss Muffett when she was at Nursery.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?

I love seeing the kid's faces when they open their presents. I have to say the 'giving' has become a bit of a stress in recent years. I always end up doing Mr Earplug's Christmas shopping (even though I say I'm not going to do it anymore). He never knows what to get for anyone and it gets left to the last minute. I tried to solve this by asking for wish lists. This usually results in responses of 'I don't know', or everybody being told the same item so a person ends up with the same thing 3 times over!

19. What is your favorite Christmas song?

'Santa Baby'. Kylie has done a version of this song but my favourite is the version by Suzanne Courtney who is a co-presenter on the Andrew Peach Breakfast Show on our local BBC radio station.

20. Candy Canes. Yum or Yuck?

Look lovely on the tree but to eat - yuk.

21. What do you want for Christmas?

I'm a very low maintenance person. I don't do expensive perfumes, designer gear or fancy jewelery. There's usually a cd or book that I quite fancy. I'm a real cheap date! I do like getting chocolates of some sort at Christmastime. I use an old and rather unstable laptop which is on it's 3^rd hard drive so I think Mr Earplug's is getting me a memory stick so I can backup my stuff regularly (can't get this laptop to burn cd's properly!).

22. Do you attend an annual Christmas party.

If this means an adult party then no. We have had a party at nursery and a party at the toddler group.

23. Do you dress up for Christmas Eve or wear PJ’s?

Not sure I get what the question means – is there a tradition where you dress up on Christmas Eve? I very rarely dress up for anything so the answer would be no.

24. Do you own a Santa hat?

There's one in the house somewhere – I think it's at the bottom of the toy tub.

25. Who do you normally spend Christmas with?

It changes from year to year. If Miss Muffett is with us (rather than being with her Dad) then there are the 4 of us, plus my Mum and Dad who come to stay for a few days (as they live a long way away it's not possible to just come for Christmas dinner). On the 'alternate' years we either visit my in-laws or they visit us.

I won't tag anyone as I know this is a busy time of year. But if any of you do your own version of this then let me know as I'd love to see your answers.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! xx