Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  Can you believe it, 2013 is here!  I must admit, I've had a pretty quiet holiday and didn't really get into the party spirit that much.  Hubby & I went out on Christmas Eve for a couple of drinks and ended up getting a bit sloshes, meaning that Christmas morning was spent nursing a hangover!  Thankfully, the boys didn't get us up too early, but the eldest wasn't too happy at being woken up at 7am! (If I was up, so was everyone else that morning! lol).
Other than the hangover, Christmas Day was near enough perfect.  We opened our pressies in the morning and the boys were so excited.  They loved everything that we had got them, including the eldest, so we definitely did something right this year!  My mum and youngest sister came over for an hour or so in the morning and there was another flurry of excitement.  I was really pleased with my pressies this year as well, hubby did a good job!  I got the new J.K. Rowling book - The Casual Vacancy, some Ministry of Sound headphones and a couple of Take That picture books.  My mum then gave us a joint pressie of home-made place-mats and coasters, both of which are gorgeous and my sister gave me a Baylis & Harding foot pampering set which included some slippers, foot cream and foot soak.
Christmas dinner was ok.  Hubby cooked the dinner, as he is the better chef. ;-)  In his hungover state, he did forget some of the essentials though, including the roast potatoes, roast parsnips and stuffing!  We had a three bird roast and roast lamb.  I must admit, I wasn't too keen on the three bird roast, but the lamb was gorgeous.  
During the afternoon my stepdad popped in with his 'friend'.  (He and my mum split up a few years ago).  He had with him a large bottle of pink bubbly, so we popped that open and had a couple of glasses.  That was the only alcoholic drink I had for the whole of Christmas Day!
Boxing Day we had family over for a buffet tea.  My other sister, her husband and step-son, Brandon came over along with my mum and sister.  We talked about our days and exchanged some more gifts.  I think my over-excited boys kind of scared Brandon a little! lol.  I was given a lovely long cardigan from my sister.
The 27th was another family day as we had family over from South Africa.  My Aunty Joan came over for a couple of days before joining her husband in Italy for her holiday and my cousin is also over for a couple of weeks.  We had another buffet tea and more pressies. :-)  This time I was given a South Africa beach bag, a vial of sand and seashells, which were handpicked by my cousin from her holiday home and a tea for one teapot set (which I did get rather excited by as I LOVE teapots!!).
On the 29th all of us girls (me, my mum, both sisters, aunty and cousin) went into London, where we had booked a tour of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.  Other than a mild panic attack on the tube (I hate crowded and enclosed spaces), it was a fantastic day.  The guided tour was fascinating and I would love to watch a live play at the theatre.  It was gorgeous.  After a spot of lunch, we then headed off to Portabella Market for a shopping spree.  We then topped off our evening with an Ann Summers party.  Watching my family doing a relay to put on 4 pairs of knickers (over their trousers) and then take them off starting with the bottom pair was such a funny sight!
New Years Eve was a very quiet one.  We watched 'The Hunger Games' and waited up to watch the bongs of midnight on the BBC.  I watched the fireworks on tv, which were amazing as always, and then went off to bed.
So, how was your Christmas and New Years?  Were you a party animal, or did you have a nice quiet family one as well?
Jackie. x

Reasons to be Cheerful (#R2BC)

This week R2BC is being hosted by the lovely Kat over at KatAPillar while Michelle is in Belarus helping out with Operation Christmas Child.  Please pop by and say hello to her!

It seems every time I do a R2BC post recently, it's on the back of a bad one!  As you may have seen from my last post, it's been a bit of a bad week with Aled, resulting in one of my neighbours knocking on my door due to his tantrum!

I also haven't heard back from the job interview I attended on Wednesday, although my mum things that I am being a little impatient on that! lol.

My reasons for being cheerful this week are:

• I should be getting my Ann Summers kit this week.  I am quite excited about this, although I've not yet got any parties booked in!
• We made a couple of sales today at a Christmas Fair with my other business Craft EE's.  It was a very quiet event today, so we're glad we managed to get a couple of sales from it. 
• I know this should really be kept until next weeks R2BC, but I am really excited about my Christmas meal with some 'mummy' friends of mine.  One thing I really missed with being a SAHM last year was having a Christmas do, so I was really pleased to be invited to this one.
• Christmas is only 2 weeks away! :-)  The tree has been up a week already and I have been having fun making paper decorations from my Usborne Christmas Decorations Book. 
• This little guy that I made this week.  How can he not make you cheerful!!

Jackie. x

Reasons to be Cheerful #R2BC

Two posts in one day, aren't you lucky! lol.  As you can probably tell from my last post, things have been a bit crap round here recently.  Along with everything going on with PJ, my car broke on our way home on Tuesday and it's going to cost me £170 to fix.  I also managed to burn my lip while cooking the dinner last night (don't ask!!!), so I need to remind myself of the good things that are going on!

Here are my reasons for this week:

• I have had my hair cut (lots), coloured and my unibrow and moustache waxed over the course of this week.  I have let myself go somewhat for the last few months and have decided to try to find 'me' again.  This little bit of grooming has made me feel loads better.
• We have taken the first step to getting PJ the help he needs to get better. 
• It's almost December, so the Christmas tree and decorations will be going up this weekend.  Always a magical time I think.
• We are going to a Family Quiz Night tomorrow, run by our local Scout Group.  PJ will also be collecting his Chief Scout Gold Award on the night...proud mummy alert. :-)
• Next week both Aled and Noah will be doing their Christmas concerts.  Aled has been showing us his dance moves and it looks like there will be some Gangham style moves!!
• I have a job interview next Wednesday.  I've had so many knock backs jobwise recently that I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much, but keep your fingers crossed for me!
• It was payday yesterday....always a good reason to be cheerful! 

Jackie. x