Saturday 11 December 2010

Preparing For Christmas

Photos Copyright: Maggie May

This week in particular, I have not had much time for blogging as I have suddenly realised just how far behind I am with Christmas preparations.
As well as Christmas things, we have had two very important Birthdays recently. Millie, who I have already talked about in my last post and my sister in law, Mrs Bluelights. You can get to my brother Eddie's blog here.
Mr and Mrs Bluelights invited us to a wonderful feast last night to celebrate my sister in law's 60th birthday, in a really lovely country pub.
However, we left the instructions on the table and managed to get lost, turning off the Bath Road before we should have and ending up in a country lane that got narrower and narrower as the time went on. Just as well that the snow and ice had completely thawed, else we might have missed the family gathering altogether.
Two phone calls later and eventually getting on the right path, we managed to get there just in time!
It is always lovely to meet up with a large family group and to catch up on all the latest news while sharing a meal together.


As well as family things and trying to get the Christmas decorations sorted out, there have been grandchildren's school activities to go to and these are always wonderful occasions. This year Millie had to have a santa outfit (which was bought from a charity shop) and Amber had to be dressed as a Russian peasant girl. This was all put together by foraging amongst old clothes and shawls and things that I hadn't thrown out and that sometimes come in really useful. There is still one more full week of things before the school breaks up.

Some of you might be wondering what happened to Lily, my sex starved rabbit. Did I have her spayed or not?
Well no....... not yet. Things seemed to calm down and Lily has accepted Ash as a brother again. Well that is how the land lies at the moment but as everyone knows, things can change pretty quickly with animals and children and I always say, *Always expect the unexpected*!
For the time being, it looks like Lily will not be spayed until the New Year or possibly later.
Thank you all those people who commented about the subject with useful advice. It has all been logged down and noted.

Well, Harry is tapping his feet and looking at his watch every few minutes because we have to be somewhere else very soon. Everything is such a rush.
Must go.






20 comments:

Akelamalu said...

Such a busy time of the year, not made any easier with the bad weather we've had. Thankfully we have a respite from it.

Don't forget to take time for yourself Maggie.

The highlight of my week was going to see two of my grandchildren performing in a Nativity at school - pure magic! :)

Sueann said...

How delightful that you got to celebrate her birthday with family all gathered together! That is terrific!!
There is always so much going on this time of year...we need to remember to breath!! Ha!!
Hugs
SueAnn

Irene said...

I think for the grandchildren Christmas is the most important thing and I can see you putting all efforts into it for the sake of them. The rest is icing on the cake and great if it works out, but if it doesn't, then that's too bad.

Don't forget to take a breather for yourself every now and then. That's important too.

XOX

Happy Frog and I said...

I think almost everyone is behind this year with Christmas. I'm just having a look through some blogs and then I am getting back into the Christmas bustle! I still haven't got my tree or decorations up yet, but hopefully will today.

Glad the birthday party was so lovely, I have got mine tonight (can't wait!).

Thanks for the update on your rabbits, I was hoping everything had calmed down a bit. :-)

secret agent woman said...

Thanksgiving is like that for me since both my boys have birthdays that week. And this is a busy time just with Christmas. Still, I love it.

Ayak said...

Glad you managed to find your way in the end and had a good time with your family.

Christmas in the UK is such hard work isn't it?

Rosaria Williams said...

Life can get hectic on a dime! Yet, all these activities make it all worthwhile.

CiCi said...

My computer has been at the repair shop so I missed some of your posts. I did not hear about little miss Lily. Sounds like a great family gathering for Eddie's wife's birthday. This is a busy time of year for lots of people. Take care of yourself and hope your holiday events are wonderful.

Bernie said...

It is that time of year isn't it, and what should be an enjoyable time can sometimes cause stress with so much going on and so much to be done. I do hope you are taking care of yourself Maggie, but I know you will enjoy the grandchildren.......big hugs:-)

Suburbia said...

I always love your up dates Maggie
You are right, everything is such a rush this time of year.
Wish school was already finished!
Hope you catch up with yourself by 25th!
S x

Mimi said...

Hey, good to see you back!
I'm glad that Lily decided to behave herself, as I was worried after leaving my comment that all wouldn't work out as well as it did for us, and you'd blame me (only joking, Maggie, i know you wouldn't do that!).
Christmas is a busy time, isn't it? I'm way behind too, in spite of the snow-time-off-school!
Take it easy, and enjoy yourself, this day 2 weeks it'll all be over!

Rose said...

It is a very busy time of year, and I know I haven't spent as much time as usual blogging either. I seem to be "piddling" about everything--I need to get busy this week with a few more decorations and the rest of the Christmas shopping or I'll be frantic next week! Enjoy the holidays, Maggie!

Expat mum said...

She was probably in heat, but I would imagine with rabbits that comes around fairly frequently so watch out!
Have a lovely Xmas.
x

Hilary said...

Busy, busy you. I'm glad you're enjoying the season, Maggie. Blogging can wait.. real life is where it's at. :)

The word verification is making me laugh.. and sounds like something a Brit might say... "cobjocki!"

Gail Is This Mutton? said...

Good that you made the celebration just in time! Hope the run-up to the big day continues to provide fun and joy.

Dimple said...

It is a very busy time of year. I like family gatherings and good food, though, so the busy-ness is worth it.
I'm glad Lily has calmed down!

Jeni said...

I've been pretty remiss too lately about both posting and reading blogs. Have to break myself of the procrastination habit one of these days! (Yeah, right! If I haven't done that in over 60 years, I doubt anything will change in that department, huh?) Anyway, I do have most of my shopping done, which is a bonus because my funds have gone down really fast this year! Mandy did get the tree up and trimmed plus, she wrapped garland around every available spot between the living room and the kitchen so we're all very festive inside the house. And, a dear friend of ours made us a beautiful wreath -complete with multi-color lights that my son put up on the front of the house. This past week, between trying to regain some energy that really got sapped out of me last week and part of this past week (from the chemo stuff) I had a big church affair and pot luck dinner tonight that I had to cook some stuff for that. I'm still playing with the craft stuff too -even finished a 5x7 counted cross stitch picture to give to one of Maya's aides for a little Christmas gift and today, I spent any free time crocheting dish cloths! Love to play with that stuff every now and again for a bit of a change-up. This week -got to dig in and do the one chore I hate -addressing Christmas cards -and then, will have to get busy and bake some cookies too-eventually! It will all settle down and be back to normal though in about 12 more days, won't it?

Suldog said...

Lovely photos, Maggie. Hard to say Christmas any more loudly and clearly than they do. Nice.

Anonymous said...

You made me laugh, rabbit will be rabbits, they have such a wicked reputation!! Gorgeous fluffy creatures with a libido to drink any horny folk under the table...!!

I love your tree; Amy has a white one in her bedroom which she chose herself.

CJ xx

RNSANE said...

I am a bit of a Scrooge this year - no decorations or anything as I have to much with which to deal - an impending move ( to where I do not know ) the end of February. I'm busy trying to donate to Goodwill and to sell things on Craig's list. I may even be living in my Dodge Caravan for awhile. I am penniless, really but we shall see what happens!