This was our room that was set up for the festivities.
After school I went to get my new registration card for my car and then popped into the grocery store to buy enough ingredients to make my team and Stuart’s team a dozen no bake cookies as their holiday gift. Once I was home I decided to mix up some and dollop them on the parchment paper. From quadrupling the recipe I made 8 dozen, huge cookies. We left for our committee meeting at around 5:30 pm. We decided to get a babysitter for the kids as they really needed an early evening. Stuart and I drove together but he ended up catching a ride from Sean home while I went and finished off Christmas shopping. Can I tell you how badly I hate going to the mall after dark?
I got all the shopping done, the dogs the food they needed for while we were away and Tina was staying with them, and I got a few more gifts for people I had forgotten. Once I was home, I knew I had books to mark, but since it was nearly 11pm I decided against it. I had a bite to eat and then watched a bit of television.
I had difficulty getting a good night’s sleep because my team leader had told me my written reports needed to be altered. Hello! I’m a writer! I know how to write reports for goodness sake! It turns out he was wrong. I do believe he is intimidated by me. He’s not much of a leader so I have difficulty following him as a leader. It’s been a bit challenging working with three men this year. As people, they are such nice guys, but not quite what I’m used to working with. So I was up very early on Monday morning to go into school and sort out the reports. When I read them, I knew he was just trying to find something wrong with them and needed to tell me I needed to revise them. I changed a pronoun in each report to the child’s name. That’s changing them, right?
I was at school so early that I actually got my Math books marked. I started on my English but didn’t quite finish. I still had other books at home waiting for marking. I assumed I would get those done in the evening. After school I headed to another school for our Under 11s basketball game. Millie had a benchball game at the same school but I wasn’t able to watch it because I was coaching. My little team won both of their games. They have made so much progress since the beginning of the year. I was so proud of them. After the game, Millie and I headed home. She showered, I made another 8 dozen no bake cookies, and then we headed off to the dentist. I’m ashamed to say that we are just now getting around to having a dentist look at the tooth she broke over the summer and is obviously decaying. She hasn’t complained about it, so I assume it’s dead. Mother of the Year is waiting for me....AGAIN! In the end, the dentist said there was no reason to fill the tooth as it was essentially dead. She said that if she pulled it there might be complications as it would leave a space and since her teeth are lacking space anyway, it might cause the teeth to shift unnecessarily. Millie was thrilled. She also said there were no cavities, which thrilled me! So I am not the worst mother that has ever walked. We got home after the dentist and Lara came over for a stress reliever as Brian was admitted to the hospital because he was having heart palpitations. She needed to unwind.
Tuesday we had a school trip. We went to a park and were to go up Jabel Hafeet but the buses couldn’t go up the mountain. We were gone most of the day. My favorite story of the day was when we first arrived, one of my pupils said to me, ‘Mrs Telford, I need to go to the toilet.’ As I looked around, I said, ‘I’m not sure where the toilets are.’ He then Saif, ‘Oh, I can just go behind that tree.’ To which I responded, ‘Well, if you were camping with your family the I would say yes you can, but you are with your classmates so I’m thinking that’s probably not terribly appropriate.’ He just said, ‘Oh, okay,’ and then we went to find the proper toilets.
After school, we went to the car dealer district to drop my car off for a service. Once we were back from dropping off my car we left to make gingerbread houses at the club. The kids argued over who was doing what, which made the whole experience a good ole Griswold family Christmas.
I was a bit bitter about helping, but they couldn’t get the sides to stand up.
After the house was completed, Jack had his final touch match of the season. Unfortunately they lost, but they gave it all they had. Just after Jack’s match, his contact coach collapsed and had a heart attack. It was a bit nerve racking. He’s fine, thank goodness, but he had a few stunts put in that evening at the hospital.
They seem to be having fun! Everyone can fake it for a picture.
The final product.
Wednesday we had parent’s day at school. After school we headed to the Ford shop to collect my car. We took Cathy with us because she needed to pick up her car that was having the airbag light fixed. I collected my car from its service, then came home and made apple sauce as not to waste the apples we had in the fridge. I also got ingredients out for a pumpkin coffee cake. Both of these things would go to our staff breakfast on Thursday morning.
We went back to school at 6:30 pm for Millie’s winter concert. it was really sweet. She gives so much emotion when she sings. It made me cry.
Millie and her bestie, Alice.
When we got home, the kids had already showered, so they were to go straight to bed. But we decided to call Grandma and the bedtime was delayed a bit. Thursday was only a half day so I wasn’t terribly fussed.
We were up and out of the house with our breakfast items in tow. I had all but 4 children at school for the last day of the term. It amazed me. We had an assembly and then just basically partied the rest of the day. At noon all children went home and we did as well. Once we were home we started finishing up laundry we needed to pack. I stripped Millie’s bed and watched it. Tuna, our house cleaner, was coming to stay with the dogs for the three weeks and she said she would wash beds. However, she didn’t want to climb on Millie’s bunk bed as she thought it might collapse. I have to say, that is always my fear as well.
We sat around just waiting to leave. Since our flight wasn’t until 2:15 am on Friday morning, we had a lot of time on our hands. We finally all showered and headed to collect Cathy just before 6 pm as she was taking us to the airport. We had decided to go a bit early and have dinner at a mall near the airport. We ate at a seafood restaurant which was quite nice. After dinner, we walked around a bit. Millie went into the American Doll store and cried when I told her we were not buying an American Doll. Well, turns out their half price sale was only on for another week. So I told her she could spend her own money if she wanted to do so. I also told her that the doll would have to go back to the house with Cathy and couldn’t come with us on our holiday. She was fine with that. She does love her dolls. She picked one that looks just like her. She also picked out an outfit and then Cathy bought her a jammie set for her new doll. She was pleased, and VERY tired.
By the time we left the mall it was 10 pm. The airport was only 10 minutes away. We couldn’t check our bags until 11:15 pm, but we didn’t want Cathy to drive back so late. In the end we were able to check in around 10:30 pm so the wait wasn’t that bad. Once we were through security we decided to try to go to one of the lounges. Stuart and I could get in free with our bank cards, but the kids would have cost $32 a piece. In the end we decided to go have a drink in an Indian restaurant. This is where Millie and Jack had a bit of a nap.
Our little unicorn!
Our giant!
We woke Jack up so he could walk to the gate. Stuart carried Millie so she could keep sleeping. We got right onto the plane and proceeded to sleep. I slept for about 3 hours as did Stuart. Jack slept for nearly 5 hours, and Millie slept for the entire 7 hour flight. Millie is the one of us who suffers the most if she doesn’t get her sleep, so we were thrilled she was able to sleep the entire time. Our connection in Zurich was very tight. We got off the plane and walked straight to the gate, after a short train journey, and went through the gate. We got on a bus and were taken to the plane, all while it snowed. Neither Jack or Millie remember seeing snow. Jack would have been 4 and Millie would have been a year and a half old the last time we were in snow. They were excited.
The flight to London City airport was a short one. When we arrived and collected our bags, we discovered that not all Of our bags caught the flight from Zurich. Fortunately, the one we had packed for our two days with the Richardson’s was not the one left behind. Stuart sorted out getting the bag delivered to his mum’s house and we would have one less bag with us until we arrived down south.
We walked to the hire car counters, which were outside of the airport in some portable buildings. We ended up getting upgraded to a 7 seater because the car we had originally hired wasn’t there. That was fine by us, considering having 7 seats was very convenient to transport others. Once the car was sorted we headed to Scott and Clare’s. When we arrived, Scott was grouting the back splash in the kitchen. Their house has been under renovation since May. I can imagine they are tired of it all, but it looks amazing.
Clare got home around 1:30, as did the kids because Scott picked them up early from school. We had a bit of lunch and the kids started doing whatever kids do. They played games, watched movies and just hung out together. I was exhausted and fell asleep on the sofa around 5 pm. I got up around 11 pm, having missed dinner all together. I took a shower and went to an actual bed. Because I had gone to sleep at 5 pm, I was wide awake at 3 am. I had forgotten to place Elfvis, our Elf on the Shelf, so I took him downstairs and set him up with the putty I had bought all the kids. I then managed to go back to sleep, kind of, and finally got up and went downstairs for good at 6 am.
Everyone was awake by about 7, breakfast was served to the kids and we got dressed. We took a trip to the supermarket so May and I could bake some no bake cookies. May and I used to bake together from time to time when she lived in the UAE. When we got back to the house the baking commenced. We had cookies spread out all over the counter.
We really just sat around the house all day. It was freezing, to me at least, and confirmed that I was not built to live in a cold climate. Scott took the kids to the park, but they didn’t last long. When they returned with Biscuit, the dessert dog, Millie decided she wanted to go back to the park, so Scott took her, bless him.
This is what cold looks like in December in the UK.
May had a swim meet in the afternoon and Clare had to work in the afternoon. Clare teaches babies to swim so her hours don’t line up with regular working hours.
Stuart started cooking around 3 pm and when Clare and May returned it was nearly time to eat dinner. We had a lovely Christmas dinner with them. It was a Saturday evening roast, just like we used to do when they lived in the UAE.
The boys sat at the bar.
And the rest of us sat at the table in the new extension.
Clare and Scott cleaned your after dinner. The kids had already showered before dinner, so just played upstairs and in the television room. The adults never left the great room. I do miss our great room in Arizona.
The evening ended with the finale of Strictly Come Dancing. I had no idea who the participants were, but it was a good ending. Sleepy time for all.
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