Another blessing I forgot.....

My Faith, Quite a big one to forget but these things happen. My faith underpins my life and influences my decisions more than I realise. It is special times of the year like this that make my faith real to me. This evening I went to the local Parish Church here in Aylesbury for Midnight Mass. It was lovely with choir singing, bells and smells, communion and a real feeling of togetherness. I am not used to worshipping in such a big church, our All Saints would fit in the chancel!

The sermon preached by Fr David was very good, speaking about the choice we had all made to come to Church to be together in our faith on that cold night and that we can all give our hearts this Christmas Time.

Anyway, I am off to bed now, K will no doubt be up early in the morning, she may be a grown up 11 but at heart she is still a little girl and all excited.

So Here It Is

Merry Christmas….

After all the waiting, planning and excitement the big day is just one day away.  It is this time of year when we look around us and count our blessings.  I have decided to do that so here are mine.

K, she is the absolute joy of my life, she drives me to distraction sometimes, infuriates me to the point of explosion and leaves me looking at her open mouthed in wonder.  She inspires me every day to want to be a better mum, she makes me proud to the point of bursting and when she sang the first verse of Once in Royal David's City solo at our church Carol Service she once again reduced me to tears.  I never knew that I could love one person as completely as I do her and it grows stronger day by day.

Al, he loves me and completes me.  With him I can be my neurotic, crazy, scared self and he just takes it in his stride.  I know I drive him mad sometimes and I try so hard not to nag, but without him I don’t even want to think what life would be like.  He makes me happy just by being here and I can’t wait to wake up Christmas Morning with him.

Em, she is my sister and my best friend.  She is always there for me no matter what and I know that if I asked she would drop everything to help me.  She was with me when K was born and has been by my side for the last 32 years and I love her for it.  We have had a fantastic year with Guiding and I know that we will have many many more.

My Family, both my close and extended.  I have the best parents in the world and I count them as some of my best friends, I had the most wonderful childhood and if I do half as good a job with K as they did with Em and I then she will be just fine.  My brother-in-law G is like the big brother I never had I love him dearly.  My fabulous nephews D and C show me how magical life is through the eyes of young children, everything is wonderful to them and they are the most loving little boys you will ever meet.  My network of cousins, aunts and uncles as ever make our family complete.  We are very close and I pray we will always be so.

My Home, This year I finally moved into my own home, it is a wonderful feeling to close that door when I get in and know that this little domain is mine.  I could not have done it without the support and help of all those mentioned above and as I sit here looking at our own Christmas Tree in our own living room I have such a feeling of happiness you would not believe.

Thank you all who read my blog and for the lovely comments I have received this year.  I will continue after Christmas so until then have fun and stay safe

Nicky

Preparations

The Christmas party was brilliant, the food was a bit rubbish but the party, venue and atmosphere was fantastic. I left about 11.30 with my friend; we didn’t make it to the night club which I am quite glad about really. The people who did go did not get in until gone 4 in the morning and that is far too late for a 35 year old!

I am really enjoying the preparations for Christmas this year, being in my own home is making so much of a difference. It is going to be very very strange though because for the first time in my life I will not be with Mum and Dad this Christmas morning. We are all going over in the afternoon for Christmas Dinner, but I have always opened my presents with them and I am sure I will miss them.

In the meantime Al, K and I are creating our own little Christmas traditions. We have decided that we will have a big fry up brunch to keep us going until dinner and we will pull the sofa out so we can get to the tree properly. I am so looking forward to waking up with Al this Christmas morning, usually he comes over in the evening but this year he will be with us as his mum is going to his brothers.

It is our carol service on Sunday, K will be singing in the choir and I am doing a reading. My reading is from Micah Ch5 V2 so I have to say Ephrathah! I know I will muck it up so keep your fingers crossed. Instead of going out to All Saints this year for Midnight Mass I will be going to the big parish church in Aylesbury. I am looking forward to saying hello to a fellow blogger who is the vicar there; his blog is really good and I have enjoyed reading it. As I have mentioned before, Midnight Mass is one of my favourite services of the year, there is something about welcoming Christ’s birth with Communion that makes me feel renewed, hopeful and ready to face the world!

Party time!

It is our Christmas Party tonight and for the first time ever I have organised it. We are going to a 40’s themed night so some of us will be dressing up. I personally have a ‘tea dress’ and some of my fronds have 1940’s outfits or uniforms to wear. It should be a really good night; however it is a complete departure from what we normally do. We usually go for a nice meal with a disco afterwards. This has a live swing band and all sorts. I am all excited but very nervous at the same time. If it all goes wrong then I am going to feel awful!

Afterwards some friends at work have convinced me to join them in going on to a night club, now I have not been to a club for about 10 years! I will feel very old I think but at least it should be a laugh! I am sure I will feel very delicate tomorrow, but hopefully it will all be worth it!

Smelling lovely!

I finally have got the hang of the oven in my flat.  yes I know I have been here 5 months, but I rarely use the oven, all I have done so far is the Christmas cake, and you can;t muck that up as it is cooked long and slow.

Anyway, the last couple of days I have been growing in confidence, on Sunday I did a proper roast with chicken, roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding.

Last night I had a go at mince pies and today I have made jam tarts, marmalade tarts and cupcakes.  Sadly my cupcakes look nothing like the glorious creations that Working Mum makes but they look okay.  I am taking them to work tomorrow instead of Christmas Cards for everyone.

With all the baking I have done tonight my flat smells gorgeous and I know that it will linger into tomorrow.

Hello Wall, Meet my head

I love being a parent, I really do, but please, will someone tell me what happened to my articulate, careful ten year old?  Can someone please explain to me how I have been saddled with this eleven year old child with hormones, attitude and absolutely no common sense at all.

A good example  of this is tonight.  As all parents who have children who have to wear a white shirt to school know; no matter how much you scrub your child the colours and cuffs get filthy.  K has worn a white shirt every day since she was four and a half and I have tried everything to get them clean and the best product on the market is probably the oldest, it is green fairy household soap.  Anyway, it is K’s job to rub the soap into her shirt before I wash it.  Tonight she could not find the soap.  I asked her through gritted teeth how she had managed to lose the soap as she is the only one who uses it.  She then blanched and said ‘When I rubbed the soap in Tuesday, I wrapped the soap up in my shirt so I didn’t forget to put it away” she went on “ I left the shirt in the sink so it didn’t drip everywhere”.  How thoughtful you might think, what a good girl, she will put it away and all will be fine.

Nothing of the sort.

She went off into K’s world, doing K’s thing and forgot about it.  2 hours later when I am collecting up the whites from our laundry bins and putting the washing on, I scoop up said shirt and bung it in with the rest.  You guessed it, I have washed the flipping soap and it is all gone!

Head –> Wall –> bang repeatedly!

Fun from across the sea!

I mentioned back in July that I had started postcrossing. This a lovely hobby, you register on the website and send a postcard to someone across the world and then you start to received them back. K and I have now received 33 postcards from everywhere from Taiwan to America and Lithuania to Finland. K's face lights up when we have a card, they are so pretty and the stamps are fascinating too.

I am going to stop there because I am heading into the realm of nerdiness. Here are a few of our postcards below.

Germany

Los Angeles

Russia

Lithuania

Finland

My girl loves the winter!

K seems to thrive whatever season it is, in the summer she goes brown at the slightest hint of sun, her hair goes all highlighted and she just looks so healthy and happy.

This morning as she was getting ready for school, I offered her a lift as it was snowing and she didn't want it. She wrapped herself up in her gloves scarf and hat, stuck her walking boots on and off she went. I stood at the window to wave her goodbye as I do most mornings and she looked back at me with a pink nose and bright eyes looking fabulous!

We are finally having a night in tonight. With her rehearsing for Bugsy Malone, Guides, Dentist appointments and meetings about the parish profile for the new vicar, we have not stopped this week. My meeting ran on last night but luckily G bought K home so she was in bed on time. It was very interesting though, seeing what the different parishes need and want from their new priest. I personally would like someone who can take our small village church forward, we have a strong family feel and if we can build on that it will be brilliant. I can't see them wanting someone too progressive though, I don't think our little rural middle England parishes are quite ready for 'happy clappy' services. Some people find it difficult when we share the peace!

I think some people who do not go to church very often feel a bit uncomfortable with how inclusive and friendly it is now. Fellowship and friendship is just as important as the act of worship and for those who are 'hatch, match and dispatch' church goers I suppose it can be a bit overwhelming. I have seen this happening gradually since I was a child and I think it is great, little things like being offered a cup of coffee after the service can make a world of difference to someone who is unsure of themselves. I know it did to me! I was offered coffee when I first attended the small church I go to now, within 6 weeks I was on the coffee rota and within 6 months I was treasurer and now I am helping to write the Parish Profile to recruit a new vicar. I have never felt more at home at a church than I do at All Saints, so go on, if you are curious give it a try a warm welcome will no doubt await you.