Tis the most wonderful time of the year

Lots going on

This blog was supposed to be on The magic of Santa; the letters, videos, and plans we have to bring him alive, but today haven't gone to plan... I am beginning to think we should just STOP planning.

Hospitals:
The day started off pretty chaotic. We had to take Theia to the hospital this morning after a nasty night of coughing. It was horrible. I hate seeing her so ill. Especially when all I can really do is hug her. She is now on steroids once a day for three days to try and lift the chest infection.... She is only 8 months old.... Poor baby... She does seem to be doing better this evening thank Goodness, but she is still not right.

We just have to get through taking Guy to hospital tomorrow and then we should be all ok... Hopefully... No more doctors... YAY!!

My Mother-in-Law:
There are only ten days until my mother-in-law arrives in the UK for four weeks, and there is a ton of stuff that needs to happen around the house - of the cleaning variety. I HATE PEOPLE STAYING AT MY HOUSE WHEN IT IS MESSY.

She has never experienced Christmas in the UK; its only ever been Australia or Saudi, so its going to be very different for her. I wish I could say I'm looking forward to it, I mean I am, but also not so much. Its just a whole added heap of stress and adds family politics into the equation. I HATE FAMILY POLITICS ALMOST AS MUCH AS A MESSY HOUSE.

I have started on her stocking presents. So far I have a lip balm and a Christmas scented soap bar. I'm limited to things that she can either use here or that will fit in her suitcase. Guy, of course, is absolutely NO HELP. I wanted to get her a clock with Theia's hand prints on in and a Christmas bauble with her footprint - "MistleTOES" but I need to book an afternoon off work for that. I'm going to get my mother the same.

Presents for the family:
The presents for the rest of the family have also been on my mind. We are know down to one wages as my maternity pay has officially finished, so we are limited on what we can buy everyone. I have about £40 of Boots (shop that does shampoos, shower gels and make up etc...) points that I'm hoping to use, and about £15 points at another shop. Hopefully that will be enough to get some presents for them. They aren't really the type to like homemade gifts.... Which is annoying, but they would also freak if I didn't get them anything...

Homemade week:
I have been thinking of what to make in homemade week - I'm am definitely doing mulled wine & spiced cider, mince pies, and shortbread biscuits, but I'm also thinking about spiced rum clotted cream chocolate truffle, maybe even a cassis favour to. Orange, lime and cinnamon garlands are also on the cards, and maybe some salt scrub shower wash, or sugar scrub lip balm. I'll just be giving those to my friends though. I gave my first homemade present today - my mince meat. Hopefully it will taste nice. ...watch this space...

My to do list for this week:
          place the Christmas Day food order - turkey, lamb and gammon....
          book timeslot with Santa.
          arrange a letter from Santa.
          get list of addresses for cards.
          write said cards and post them.

The final touches around the house.
We recently bought two cute cushions to go in our lounge - they are winter themed: white with a print of a bear on one and a stag on the other. This made us look around the house at other potential fishing touches.

We are going to do some temporary Christmas art for the lounge. We have four photo frames that don't currently have photos in them that are hanging on the wall (it's a theme in our house at the moment as we haven't got round to picking out pictures), so we are going to do snow art scenes on them using some homemade stencils, all backed off on some black card to make it pop.

We now need to go shopping for MORE baubles as Guy broke one of the individually monogramed "Buon Natale" baubles that used to hang under the lounge room mantle shelf.... I WAS NOT AMUSED. Unfortunately we aren't going to be able to get an exact replacement so I'm going to have to get a few of a similar design to work in....

I was also thinking of making tiny, fake presents for the stocking that are hanging on the stairs in the dinning room... and maybe adding a few Candy Canes... At the moment half the dinning room like Christmassy and the other looks plain... I don't like it... but I will resolve this little pickle of a problem.