this year again in Coalbrookdale Youth Hostel. We have gone to home ed camps since 2005, when we attended the muddlepuddle winter camp in feb at Melrose. That was our first ever home ed camp, and I was pretty nervous. It worked out well though, and so we attended the summer camp – Kessingland, and then all the Melrose camps until the hostel closed as going up for sale, and the summer camps until the atrocious kessingland weather one year put us off doing it again – which was a real shame! Before these things quite happened, another camp had come on the scene, NicCamp – a group of friends who holiday together, rather than an open home ed camp. This turned into christmas camp, organised and run by Nic until she decamped off to Rum! This is the second year since then, and the number of friends has reduced as the number of children going to school has gone up. I am hoping that this wasn’t the final year! But it was decided to definately make it a ‘last hurrah’ and then see whether we can have a phoenix next year 
We had a great time. We recreated the iconic photo of all the children on the stairs
with a new one, and then by popular demand, one of the parents!
we adults did a lot of chatting and crotcheting and some crafting – i managed to crochet and ammonite and felt 2 marbles 
, and was inordinately proud of both 
I got some kids to do a craft with me – acrylic painting [please remember to iron before you wash!] . the teens on the whole did theirs later!
I played some board games [not quite enough] and did some cooking [enough, tho v happy to do so and with some lovely co chefs to chat with]
there was quite a lot of cake
BB spent a lot of time racing around in a group of 5 being a spy and other such games. She had a fab time and didn’t miss minecraft/computers at all. SHe loved it. I chatted to loads of lovely friends that I have known for years. We both felt v v lucky. DH was also v lucky, in that having elected to miss the beginning to try and do some more bathroom, one of our lovely friends came down to join him, also missing some of camp. Thankyou x x x x
And we did go to a museum! we had a great time at enginuity [and I am borrowing tbird pics] where the kids mixed in all age flexible groups and shew what a wonderful group we are part of.
And there was christmas day. fab friends, [nearly are family now], fab food, afterdinner entertainment and then wonderful christmas secret santa before a carol singalong and BB breaking my heart. SO very lucky thankyou very much everyone.
