The Christmas Party...

Another day, another couple of blogs (hopefully I can get everything up-to-date today).

This weekend past was another madly busy one and I'm feeling pretty exhausted this week. Thankfully, work's not too busy, so I'm getting a chance to sort out a few other things (like my blog).

Friday night we spent at the outlaws for my father-in-law's (Hubert) 60th birthday celebrations. My mother-in-law (Karen) had planned a pasta evening for about 40 close friends and family members. I found it an emotional and pretty exhausting evening. The last big birthday was Hubert's 50th and Jacques' 21st, which the celebrated with a joint bash (Jacques' birthday was 10 November, Hubert's the 28th). The speeches on Friday night were especially emotional for us all. Josette (my sister-in-law) wrote a speech, which she intended for us (the kids) to read out, but, chicken that I am, I just couldn't face it and pulled out at the last minute, though I did stand with the rest of the family for the speeches. Every time Jacques' name was mentioned, Jake would look at me saying "that's my daddy" or "that's you and my daddy" - it was heartbreaking. I held him through most of the speeches and he was really so sweet. He showered me with kisses and did his best to distract me, sweet little thing. We did have a few funny moments in the kitchen during the evening, that provided us all with good distraction - First, Karen tipped over a pot with chilli sauce in it. It landed just about everywhere in their brand new kitchen. We all helped with the clean up and had a good laugh - it looked exactly like vomit. Next there was the bolegnaise sauce forgotten on the gas burner outside... Anyway, it was a successful evening and everyone had a great time! Plus, I didn't really drink much, so I felt good on Saturday morning. We got home at about 11:30.

Saturday was a crazy day. First, we had Jake's Christmas party at school. He's been doing a count down for weeks and was so excited about it when he got up. It was a fabulous morning and it's always fun to see how the kids interact with one another.

The school party was followed by a bit of clean up time at home. We've got mice that have moved into our garage. It's disgusting, I know, but we live with a large field/nature reserve behind our house and I guess it's one of the "perks". All my furniture is in storage in the garage, so it's a bit of a nightmare. We have to clean out everything, before we can do some proper fumigating. I've got boxes and boxes of things and it's another job that's been quite emotional. I've been finding things I'd completely forgotten about, it's like opening presents. There's also a lot of junk that I'll never use again, so I've been throwing out and passing on a lot too. I found a box of old cards and letters (still perfectly intact and not mouse eaten) that I'd sent Jacques and a couple of cards he'd written to me... I'm really glad to have these and they're in a safe place now.

Saturday afternoon, Jake had 2 parties (we just popped in at each) and then it was out to dinner with the family (more in my next post). Jake slept over at Karen & Hubert.

Anyway, here are the photos of the Christmas party. Sorry, there are a lot...

These are the biscuits Jake & I made for the party...

Jake decided that each tree needed some gifts underneath them. Some were decorated for naughty girls (the bottom one) and some for good kids. The one at the top left was for him (note how many presents he gets). He went on to tell me what was inside each gift. And when we got to the party, he was sure to grab this biscuit before anyone else could get their paws on it...

He also made himself a special biscuit. It's supposed to be a face, the white jobs are ears and the stripy bits are hair. Not sure about the jelly tots in the middle... The teachers went to a lot of effort for the kids too. They hired a jumping castle and baked a tree cake... The kids had some serious fun on the jumping castle. This is Jake with Dano and Nathan... Jake got kicked in the face by Dano just before this happened. He was mid-crying, when he heard a bell ringing and jumped up shouting "the ice-cream man's here". Needless to say, he got quite a surprise when he got to the fence only to find Father Christmas. This is Jake's "I'm so excited, I don't know what to do with myself" face... Then they all ran to the gate to let Father Christmas in. Poor guy must've been melting in that suit... There's that silly, over-excited face again. This time, complete with a shuffle... Somehow, as I get older, Father Christmas seems to get younger. Last year at Uncle Paul's party, he was actually quite hot... Shame, my poor boy has such a sad face in all these photos after the tears from the kicking incident. This is inside on the mat, listening to Father Christmas. When the big guy asked them who'd been good this year, only 2 kids put their hands up. Mine wasn't included in the 2. He put his hand up when asked who'd been naughty... Some inhouse entertainment for Father Christmas... Singing is serious stuff, especially Christmas songs. Here, they're singing 'Oh Christma Tree'... I can't remember what song this was, but just look at the concentration... This one was about the sleeping baby - I think it was 'Away in a Manger'... Jake's name gets called up to go get his gift from Father Christmas... Getting a cuddle. He's obviously growing up - last year he wouldn't hardly look at Father Christmas, let alone give the man a hug... A Batman DVD & Lucky Packet! Happiness is. The fat man is a hero... I found this hanging on the classroom wall. He wants a Ben 10 Watch (never mind that he's never seen Ben 10 in his life); he wants a venus fly trap and a big Christmas tree (we got a new one last year). I didn't tell you the story about the venus fly trap, did I?? I took Jake to Superplants (again) the other day and was showing him the V.F.T.s they had there. I told him how they work and he was really impressed. The next morning, he called my mom through to the bedroom, 'Nini, you know what they've got at Superplants? A PENIS fly trap. They catch the flies, then they eat them and burp them out!'. He's since been corrected, but still, I'm glad he didn't ask his teacher to put that up on his list... Jake & Dano... Check out the gorgeous day we had!! Absolutely stunning...

More to follow... xxx