christmas camp 2012

hard to know where to start. fab location, fab friends, fab food and fab time the fab four indeed

this year in escape to…coalbrookedale . great hostel, nearest thing to melrose without a 9 hour journey! hostel had ensuite for most rooms [reducing risk of camp gut rot which has happened surprisingly few times, but antibac is our friend ] a big games room with tv that the kids loved and a smaller ‘teachers room’ which was the only place with any signal, a few comfy chairs and our cake stash home for the families with little babies. other adults moved from teachers room to the next door dining room freely. also had a big kitchen which connected through larger servery to dining room and a separate potwash room. this realy worked as the communal cooking was fun, communal and many hands made light work, and not separated off like the prev year at castleton. the dining room could have done with being a bit bigger, as could teachers room, but, you know I think as close as perfect and also some ground floor access bedrooms for some friends of ours, for which this was very useful.

52 attendees, of which 3 effectively babe in arms from 14 families stayed, and we had 2 families visit us whilst there. SO lots of friends most that I have known now since BB was born from our ‘imaginary’ online home ed friends, who over the years, no small thanks to muddle puddle camps. A great group of friends and kids. I enjoyed [in random order] chatting and eating cake, chatting and crafting, chatting and cooking/chopping, chatting and playing games, making music – carols, our ‘mini orchestra, and most definately our quartet and trio for the talent show. the quartet was SB, E and em on recorders and me on electric keyboard [yes, piano better but not so transportable!] playing gluck and the trio SB on clarinet, BB on cello and me on keyboard playing hark the herald. I am particularly greatful for my friends [including kids in this] for going and sitting back down when it became clear BB had meant us to play carols in the talent show and not the mini orch, thus muddling everything else up without any problems. thankyou

on crafting… DH has started to knit thankyou for the very patient jsotp and merry, and anyone else . also parent1 appears to be a secretly fab crafter. enjoyed felting and sewing myself. wouldlike to learn to crochet still… next time!

christmas – carols – lovely our mini orch gets better each year, and i will do some more carols simples parts based on that website at somepoint so we have lots more to choose from and include a piano part! talent show – v v funny . loved all the comedy the kids put in, the great musicality of so many of them, and the sheer exuberance and fun of the mass gangnam style I love all our kids Play – well done, you did perhaps need to know the plot, but to condense midsummers nights dream is no mean feat – thankyou Big. christmas dinner courtesy of the male chain gang and katy. the blokes and kids did a great job of the vegetarian option, and katy of coordinating the whole shebang with huge aplomb [including lemon meringue pie in the slow cookers!] Last but not least, the secret santas. looking round at a room full of people where loads of effort had been made to personalise and create great secret santas, and everyone really happy . as a family we were v v happy that all the recipients of our secret santas were happy. the 3 games [BB's idea, she made fox and geese with wooden board, SB made 13 mens morris with embroidered board, and I made quarto with a fabric board - see below] were all played with and the recipients happy, and I believe DH’s spicy and sweet roasted nuts and chickpeas are v tasty . BB was utterly and more utterly ecstatic with hers – she says the best secret santa ever of an adapted fleece hoody and pants into a dino outfit, and also a frog. SHe couldn’t be parted from either until unfortunately the frog lost an eye. this was a disaster of immense sadness, but hopefully [having found eye] we can fix at home. the rest of us also v happy.

DH escaped the hostel 2ce, first time to walk to ironbridge – i was a bit too migrainy so stayed behind with SB and did crafty things. the second time i had planned to go, but there was dillying and dallying, so i needed to be chopping in the kitchen, so dh took 3 girls to assorted crystal, gift and twee shoppage he really really enjoyed that Both girls had a great time. SB had hennaed her hair before we went, and it looked beautiful. SHe definately had some teen moments of being to small/too big which i think she made harder than required and difficult to settle, but overall had a great time. we have now talked coping strategies again… BB had a fab time with her buds J and X playihg spies and walkie talkie hide and seek etc, and let josie join them – even better so a great foursome.

hmm, written a lot and yet haven’t captured the essence of the security, comfort and family feel of this camp with great friends thankyou all, and Babs for organising.