New Voyage

We had an awesome Christmas! It was just really relaxed and cosy and we ticked off pretty much all the seasonal 'it's not Christmas until we-' things on our list... we even saw A Muppets Christmas Carol on the big screen this year as the Cinema was showing it in the week leading up to Christmas, so that was nice. We're yet to clear the decorations. We always leave them up till Epiphany as that's when my family come round. That's this Saturday. This week Papacrow is back to work and Roo is back to college but otherwise nothing else - school, ballet, football and the like- starts till next week.

Well, I say that. Fluff's football starts tomorrow but I'm working so can't take him, Karate starts on Saturday but as I said my family is coming round so I don't know if we'll fit it in and we went to our Home Ed meet in a wood today. It would be easier to say 'Forest School' but it really isn't a forest school so I'm trying to get out of the habit! It was a nice meet, small but we had fun. A bit wet and drippy in the woods so we utilized the (heated!) hut and played Dungeons & Dragons. I was a halfling thief called Jasmine, Dot was an elven archer called Rose and Fluff was a elven ranger called Gareth. (I do love his character names, they always seem to make me giggle somehow!)

Also did a whole lot of tidying out and sorting today, I'm tackling the attic this week (eeek!) and Wig has a partial CT scan for his teeth on Wednesday. Missing our lazy days of no-one waking until till nine or ten and staying in fluffy pajamas all day already...

The wind's like a whetted knife

Finally succumbing and occasionally putting the heating on.

Sometimes, like tonight, it's still perfectly livable downstairs. We've already dug out blankets and fleecy pajamas, purchased new slippers and super-soft throws, but the upstairs is always at least a degree colder because of the flat roofed dormer extension and with Dot and Hoof both sleeping upstairs now I'm wary of letting it get too cold up there, so on the heating goes for an hour or two, at least in their room.

We've also dug out coats and hats and scarves, my salopettes have been pressed back into action and gloves have been carefully stashed away in coat pockets. Winter is upon us, basically! Sometimes we get a warmer, wet day, sometimes it's clear and sunny but rather 'fresh' and more often we've had a lazy wind... one that can't be bothered to go round you so goes through you instead. We're still keeping up forest school, the heated hut is a great refuge and we all have good, waterproof wellies and plenty of socks which  makes such a difference.

Other changes have been more soups and stews. I've carved up one of the pumpkins a friend gave us from their allotment and got two batches of soups and three pies from it. Have a far larger one still to use, so that's good. Miraculously everyone liked the pumpkin pie!

Dot has had her birthday. This year, rather than a huge party she just had a couple of friends over for a slumber party- well, one slept over, the other went home around eight (as planned) and we had lots of fun. So now our thoughts turn to Christmas. Names have been drawn from a hat for sibling gifts and we've also been writing Christmas lists. Really, there's hardly any year left!