General Chat

I've finally finished in the kitchen. Sandra and I started with making all the cakes, we have one large sponge and 28 small chocolate fairy cakes, then Sandra sat down and watched Dr Dolittle, she loves that film, while I carried on and made 80 sausage rolls, a pile of small quiches, a few small pizza's for Sandra, she loves those, I also cooked some cocktail sausages as I like to put them on cocktail sticks with some cheese and onions and I cooked one of Sandra's mince pies. I asked her if she'd like me to cook more, but after looking at all the food, she decided one would be enough for now.....Oh and I cooked 14 sticky chicken pieces on sticks. I've still got a dip to make, but will probably do that tomorrow.

I'm just having 5 minutes then I need to go through all the Christmas presents and put Sandra's to one side ready to put them under the Christmas tree. There isn't enough room under there for all our presents so OH's and mine will be kept to one side for us to open tomorrow morning.

I hope you didn't mix up the toothbrushes Ann, it doesn't bare thinking about. Good idea to use a new one instead.

How awful for the laptop to go missing Mel, do you think there's much chance of her getting it back? The chutney sounds nice that Shelia made for you. How is Alexa, is it playing nicely now?

Oh, how naughty of Benjy Jane,, does he do that often? So Thomas is back to his old tricks again?

It sounds like you've been busy in the kitchen too Mandy. I think you're right the little ones won't go to sleep any earlier with all the excitement, but at least the fresh air will do them good.

So you're back for the New Year then Frank? It's all go at the moment from what you've said. There's going to be quite a few of you tomorrow by the sounds of it. Have a great day.

Sandra says thank you for all the Christmas eve wishes, I'm not sure if she's going to have much sleep tonight though as she is so excited, bless her <3

Mel how on earth could her laptop go missing on that belt!!!! I watch everything of mine when it goes on there through the scanner. It is the same as putting your shopping on the moving belt in a Supermarket.You put your things in the basket it goes on the rolling belt you walk through the body scanner ,the baskets go through a scanner and you just pick it up at the end after it has gone through the scanner.I just dont understand how it could have gone missing like that !!!

James is busy in the kitchen :-D So nice to have someone else cooking. :-D Once everything is cleared up I will get the Potatoes and veg done for tomorrow and get the table set. I must remember to put a Mince Pie , Carrot and a drink out for Santa and the Reindeer :-D :-D

Jane because she had her bag in her hand and had'nt put that in the basket she had to go back and put that in another basket and then go through the scanner again so by that time her other basket had gone through and someone helped themselves to her lap top while she was being scanned again.

I got the cake marzipaned but it said to let it dry before putting the icing on so I got sidetracked and made marzipan fruits with the bit that was left over. I have never bought the ready rolled paste and icing before just the packs you roll yourself.

Oh has gone off to bed so I may do it now and then dress the table for tomorrow.

I have a ghost story on BBC 4.

Oh I see what you mean Mel .That is despicable :-S :-S :-S

Well Thomas is being difficult and not coming in. I have had to come ot bed as my hip was giving me grief.I just hope that he is in before James and Jess go to bed. He wont get any presents if he stays out.

We had a chinese lantern land and burn in our tree in the driveway tonight :-S It burned for quite a long time too.Another passed overhead towards the horses field
across the road.

So it is goodnight from me now and I wish everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS <3
I expect I will be on here sometime later tomorrow. Sleep tight everyone otherwise Santa won't be calling :-D I rememer well lying awake listening out for sleigh bells LOL

:-) :-D :-) :-D MERRY CHRISTMAS :-) :-D :-) :-D
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

<3 <3 <3 Happy Christmas everyone <3 <3 <3

Must get on have a lovely day hope to look in later <3

Morning all and a very happy Christmas to you all.

Finished my cake last night and not sure if I like it now. I had nothing planned for it but just made it up as I went along.

We hav'nt opened anything yet as I just have to do all the chickens and then I can settle into doing the dinner.

Love the picture of Thomas and Benji.

I have at last received some pics of my cousin Hilary and the rugs she makes. They are amazing and oh thinks so too.

See you later...... :-D <3 <3

Morning all

<3 <3 <3 MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE <3 <3 <3

We had to wake Sandra up this morning, we thought she'd be the first one up, but with all the excitement these last few days she must of worn herself out.

She said thank you Mel for the lovely presents you sent her. She loves the real snow <3 <3

Must get on, I'll try and get back on here later. Hope everyone has a lovely day and Santa was kind to you all.

Good Morning and

<3 <3 :-D :-DMERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE :-D :-D :-) :-)

Turkey's cooking nicely, but don't think I will bother with one of those foil tins again! How are you supposed to support it underneath when getting it in and out of the oven with a heavy Turkey in it! :-0 :-0

Fancy Sandra not waking early!! lol. She must have been so tired. :-D

MERRY CRIMBO :-D :-D

Ann I just that trouble with the foil tray.. Hold it on the side and not the bottom and they are ok. Just need ot be gentle with them LOL I have got my Roast Potatoes in one and Carrots and Parsnips in another. I cooked the Turkey in one too :-D
So I am having a little breather now so thought I would pop in quickly.

Thank you Mel for your present. We have decided it will be good somewhere outside the back door so we can see Thomas coming in at night :-D
Talking about him,Jess got him in about 1.30 am !!!! and then he was up to high jinx chasing Benjy. I let him out at 5am and havent seen him since !!!!

Fancy Gill sleeping in Gill LOL I bet she is up wide awake by now :-D. I hope she has a great Christmas Dayxx

We have all had lovely presents. One of Chris and mine is tickets to an Agatha Christie Court case at the London County Court on the South Bank. That is right up my street :-D :-D. It is for April .

I dont think we will be eating until about 3. Its having to cook things in stages that takes the time.I just would love one of those huge ovens at this time of year. The Turkey is good and nice and moist ,Pigs are done as it the Terrine Stuffing thing. I have cheated with the Sprouts and they are in a microwave dish :-D Just need to do some Brocolli and Green Beans. Gravy is going in a white Teapot that I dug out of a cupboard. Gino DiCampo (the chef ) suggested that on tv the other day as it will stay hot :-D

That Chinese Lantern that landed in our big Ash Tree last night and carried on burning is now in tatters .The wind picked up in the night and the flapping noise woke us up :-S

Time to turn the Potaoes

<3 <3 <3 <3HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY <3 <3 <3 <.<3
,

Just finished eating and enjoying another glass of wine. The meal went down a treat but so full up we didn't want any Christmas pudding

Sandra must have been tired not waking up early she must have needed her rest.

That was a sweet picture of Thomas and Benjy Jane,.Peace reigns

Jane don't think that will be much good for seeing Thomas at night. Have another look in the box.

We managed our dinners plus a bit of pud and that must be the first year for a long while.

Gill I am pleased she liked her little bits.

Well we're both still full from lunch , i had two lots of trifle :-D

Family went off about half three to see DIL's mum and dad the little ones were so excited ,i think son said they woke about six thirty so not to early .

We've had some lovely presents ,the one from my sister was a tin of cookies ,it was the picture on the tin that brought back the child hood memory as it was of a little girl with Geese following her ,just like the geese we had at home that use to follow me and pull at my hair.

OMG Mel .... You must think I am a right dipstick LOLOL . Its a Kaleidoscope :-D :-D :-D :-D. It is lovely !!!!! I have to say I thought a Solar light was a bit of an odd pressie LOL I hadnt actually looked in the box.
I love the colours in the patterns and what a great Childhood memory too. Thank you so much <3

We are all stuffed to the brim still after lunch. I am not sure if we will eat anything more tonight. Although James and Jess might have a root through the fridge.I said to have anything he fancies there is so much .We are just lying about like slobs now. Home Alone is on :-S.. I have seen that so many times. Hannah and I are trying ot stay up for Eastenders.Not sure if I will make it.Hopefully I will get a second wind :-)

Mandy I remember that picture of the Geese following the girl (did she have a bonnet ? ) I could be thinking of little Bo Peep lol

This room is A TIP ! One thing that can be put away though is the Puzzle that Hannah and James have finished today. They did well in just 3 days.It was quite a difficult one.

Thomas gave Benjy a right belting earlier !!!! He smacked his face really hard it made Benjy yelp. But he did deserve it.He was just being a right pain .All Thomas wanted was to settle on his bed(considering he had been out of the house since 5am) All is calm at the moment :-D This is 5 days now and Benjy doesn't go until Thursday !!! I feel sorry for Thomas :-(

MEL, JAMES HAS ALEXA !!!!!!!!!!!. I am quite impressed. I kept asking it to play The Who (no-one was impressed with that as Christmas Carols were playing :-D) I can see this is going to cause trouble :-D :-D ;-)

I am pleased you like the kaleidoscope. That was the only box I could find to put it in and thats why I covered it in paper. I thought you could keep it in the box. Did you take the paper off the box?


I have had a new Alexa now from oh and it shows my pictures and I can have phone calls on it and if the other person has one you can see each other on the screen. She's just turned the heating on for me. Now I feel sorry for the other Alexa but oh will have her in the study or the bedroom. I did buy her for him for his birthday.

I took all the paper off Mel LOL .It was wrapping paper :-D :-D

Off to bed now. That was quite an ending in Eastenders . Thomas is asleep in the studyThe safest place for him as Benjy has no idea where he is :-D :-D

Night Night xx I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas Day

Thought I would pop in to say Good Morning, before we go for a walk.

We were up at 5.30 yesterday morning. Jo had been stopping Ella from getting up since 1.00 am. As you can imagine there were wrapping scattered all over the lounge.

We had smoked salmon and CAVIER for breakfast on toast. and dinner about 3.00 pm/ I think it's the first year ever that missed the Queens speech. The rest of the day was spent round the T.V. and playing games. I was in bed by 10.00 and the rest soon after.

At 3.00 am I wanted the toilet. As I got out of bed I slipped and ended in a pile on the floor. I knocked everything on the little table trying to grip something.Banged my head on the door frame amdreally hurt the small of my back. It took Ros and I over half hour to get me back on my feet..

This morning we are all going for a walk along the front.. I hope I will eellike it or I will stay at home with Ros, as there is no way she can do a walk like that.

We are at Jo's tomorrow, and a bit of a party here on Thursday for Alexander, when he comes here to open his Christmas Presents.

I am most uncomfortable trying to use he laptop on the bed/knee. So I will say Bye for now, and hope you all enjoy your day. xxx

Morning Frank and all,

So sorry to hear you had a nasty fall in the night Frank. I hope you feel better later on. How on earth did you manage to slip? was it on a mat and did you have your slippers on? Whats the weather like there?

Today we have wtery sunshine now and then but mostly light grey sky at the moment.

Oh let me lie in again this morning as I had a busy day yesterday with the dinner. At least the winds dropped off today.

I dreamt about the chickens getting out last night and someone hearded most of them into a spare room outside and they stayed there all night. It was the bantams and the big girls together and they would'nt stand still so I could count them. Then when I went to go to them the next day the road along the side of the river was very swollen and someone had built the road up by the side of it. I had to drive like hell for leather down this road but had to turn around quickly as a wall of mud and water was coming down the river which would have covered the car. The car had never driven so fast in all its life and then I woke up!"

We still have presents under the tree to open today.

Afternoon all

We have sun here today, but it's very cold.

Sorry to hear you've had a fall Frank, hope you are okay now and managed the walk with the others.

That was a strange dream Mel, I bet you were glad when you woke up. Enjoy opening more presents today.

So Benjy can't find Thomas then Jane. Smart cat finding somewhere quiet to hide. Yes, Eastenders had a shock ending, normally Sandra knows what's going to happen as she reads it in the paper, but she hadn't read that story line. She wants to know what's going to happen next now.

She is making some jewellery at the moment out of the jewellery making kit we got her for Christmas, she's having a great time. She spent all afternoon yesterday making a snowman picture from glitter scratching card we bought her. I drew the picture for her and she scratched over it to show the blue glitter bit, I added snowflakes and she scraped all around them to make a blue glittery sky. When she had finished (which took her around 6 hours) I stuck some blue ribbon on the back and hung it in her room, it looks really good. She wants to make some smaller ones for her Christmas tree. There are different colour glitter cards so she might use the gold and silver ones next. Not sure what designs she'll do on those yet, when she's decided she'll probably ask me to draw it on the card again for her. I draw it faintly in pencil so she can follow the lines to reveal the glitter underneath.

We also bought her 10 books about real life animal recues from the RSPCA, some of the money goes to them to help with animals in need. She said she started reading the kitten one in bed last night but fell asleep, so no doubt she'll read it again when she's finished with everything else she's doing. She's having great fun, bless her.

Afternoon to you all,

NO WALK TODAY. Just as we were thinking of going the heavens opened, it rained on and off most of the day.

Conrad woke with a thumping headache and didn't appear downstairs until this afternoon. He's feeling much better now.

We are expecting Jan's SIL around 5,00 pm for a Roast Pork dinner. Not that I eellike eating. I didn't have breakfast, and only a mince pie with a coffee at lunchtime.

Ella went to the cinema with a friend, I think hey are back here by he racket they are kicking up, Am I getting old or WHAT. ??? I am in the bedroom out of the way for a few minutes having a quiet moment. LOL LOL

I hope you all have had a nice Christmas, and are now relaxing on Boxing Day.
Well I had better show my face. ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)