Petits Haricots

and feeling lurgified. today was brought to you by a diet of diet coke and ibrupofen! the girls woke up early, and i was somewhat more tardy. however, when i heard the brass band play on the triangle, i hopped out of bed, and got the girls dressed so that we could go out and hear them. nothing like hearing christmas carols by a brass band outside! the girls both enjoyed listening too.

we came back in, looked at the house, and decided that we couldn’t make it look much worse! so we did some wrapping up in the front room, and finishing off cards for the muddlepuddle list, which we sent out. we then did some christmas crafting – ‘glass’ painting plastic christmas themed keyrings and decorations for the tree. I am always amazed at how careful BB is. i think i forget she is 4 now!

Whilst the girls did this, i read them the Mary’s Story up to the point that they leave bethlehem, and also the hannukah section in While the Bear Sleeps: Winter Tales and Traditions . both lovely books! we also read one of our Camille ne veut pas dormir camille books from little linguist books. i have to say that at the moment I think this way of learning french is suiting us. I enjoy doing it, the girls appear to be picking up vocab. goodness knows what we will do when i start running out of vocab! – lots of dictionary work and ? rosetta stone??

obviously we then had lunch! chris , meanwhile was trying to put up the curtain my mum made when she was last here, but obviously fates were against us! we didn’t have the right hooks mum arrives tomorrow. kinda magically hoping that a tidying up christmas angel takes pity on us overnight as well.

After lunch we made chocolate brazils for grandad. SB was entirely self contained for this, she uses the microwave safely to melt the chocolate and all i have to do is carry the bowl to the table [nor repeating katy's mistake!] bB also fiddled with the microwave and i carried, and she also did some lovely choc brazils [well i did QA one of them!] M dad always puts the emphasis on brazils when they are choc brazils [his fav xmas pressie of all time] on the bra, so i think BB thinks thats how they are pronounced now, as when we are making them, that is what I say too!!

leaving them to cool we return to the front room [we all can't bear to look at the playroom yet] as we fancy listening too and watching carols on youtube, so i flick around allsorts. SB particularly wants tbirds fav ickle donkeeeey! we then dec curry takeaway boxes [we only have the takeaway for the boxes you understand!] with fake jewels to put dad’s choc brazzuls in. BB then plays a happy game being Jesus in my tummy, and SB rather faithfully reenacts the angel gabriel telling me the good news. however when i ask angel gabriel whether my baby will have a long and happy life, she scarpers! When she returns as SB, she explains that she thought telling me whilst i was pregnant that my baby would be crucified at easter might have upset me! luckilly BB is being baby Jesus to distract me, and then somehow morphs into a puppy. [after she has 'hatched' 2 or 3 times - childbirth may come as a shock to her!]. SB did a quick bit of piano. We read Katie and the Sunflowers
. Then the girls start making christmas crackers – actually SB also completes. I fear BB might be following me as an abject failure as completer finisher. I think only Marcus ,that I know, has scored worse.

Whilst I remember, here is a link to the Matisse, King of Colour (Anholts Artists) book, that didn’t come in the book people set. BB has it in her xmas book pile, but i read and enjoyed it!

chris’s parents came round for some extra bedding for their guests over christmas and a chat. they also brought some curtain hooks, but they didn’t fit into the ring things, never mind.

Eventually we had tea and sent the girls packing to bed. i have made the veggie filling for the lasagne, and having panicked that there wasn’t enough initially, there may now be too much. i have also made the veggie sausage and chilli bean hotpot and sag paneer. i think that is enough! trying to have enough energy after I have written this [after midnight] to do some more wrapping, or line the curtains, or tidy the front room or flickr [all jobs i had hoped to do before going to bed] i think the ones that allow me to stay collapsed on sofa are more likely to be winners here. [wrapping and starting to sort photos won the day]

Anyway, just have to say SB was a star of wonder today, helpful, happy, lovely. bB has obviously missed me… But i enjoyed lots of cuddles with both. Cuddles with SB are – during the daytime anyway – becoming rarer, so something to particularly cherish.

on the agenda for tomorrow: make up the lasagne; pour and mould soaps to make; christmas muffins; stollen; more glass painted decs? ; in eve, camp curry, dahl and ? leek and potato soup.