20/20 vision - December

  

Smooth Christmas has been our soundtrack lately.  Especially cheery on a rainy, grey morning.

 

Hot chocolate in Christmas-y cups.  Perfect choice for breakfast today.

 

I've said headaches are a theme of my 20/20 days - actually maybe just a theme for every day.

 

The children have had years of use out of that ladybird - well worth the money.

 

We're on a light work load for Mouse, as we slip into the holiday mood.  Spelling and handwriting today.  He will learn to spell.  He really will.  One day.

 

 Such a funny face from my Kitten. 

 

 Mouse hard at work, making thank you cards - determined to get them written this year: usually I give up and send texts myself.

 

Annual vision checks for the kids - and out of nowhere, Miss Kitten needs spegchickles to correct long-sightedness - she picked the frames all by herself: she knows what she likes.
 

Tortellini and salad  for lunch.  Hit the spot.

 

 

We couldn't really face another outing in the rain and cold after our walk to the opticians, but little Miss Coco needed a stroll so we took her up to the building society.

 



My bank statement was like a punch in the face. Came home, panicked, made lists, had text message  battle of wills with my husband.  Decided all I can do is one step at a time, with a smile on my face.

While I whipped up the cake, the children did some art based on the Redwall book we are reading - Mouse drew himself as a mouse, and Kitten drew Mother Mellus' death scene: "I don't want to upset you," she said, "but the red stuff is blood." And then she painted the whole page red.  I should have taken a photo of that.

 

 We made angels.  That one in the front is me, if I were an angel, according to Kitten.  I will treasure it for ever.
 

I've been eating mincemeat straight from the jar.  It's not a nice habit but it is a tasty one.

 

Thank you cards under way.  Thank you, Mouse!

 

Three candles lit but no greenery.  I suppose emblematic of my usual troubled relationship with advent and Christmas.

 

Ancient bolognese sauce from the depths of the freezer and the last of the cous cous for supper.

 

Christmas cake "singing" quietly as it cools.  Oh so yummy.  I can't remember where the recipe comes from but it is a last minute recipe - the first cake I baked this year fell apart - but it was so tasty we ate the crumbs anyway.

My pretty girl.  I so hope her eyes are more comfortable with her glasses.

Of course, a Redwall book before bed: "The Bellmaker".  And then long conversations with Mouse as I tuck him in about how terrified he is of murderers and corpses and wars - all blamed by him on watching a couple of Miss Marple episodes.  I asked if tales of slaughter and adventure just before sleep might be part of the cause, and he emphatically rejected the notion.

 

  This is a photo #21.  Guess why?  It's been a lovely 20th of the month and I am assuring myself that there are plenty more to come - but being by nature a "run for the mountains screaming about the end of the world kind of person"  I am needing lots of soothing self talk to cope tonight.  Good old Rumpole on the iplayer and my wooly darling on my lap will distract me!