Daily Photo Challenge - Brit Mums

For this post, I've chosen a photo not traditionally thought of as showing an angel, but one which shows my little angel.

#Day8
#Angel

He's full on, fiesty, energetic, cheeky, he drives me mad with his constant questioning "why?" on a constant basis, but he's mine and he's wonderful and I adore him. This photo was taken after a particularly challenging morning with temper tantrums, tears, a breakdown in the supermarket and throwing lunch all over the place and an argument getting him back into his carseat. We got home, I set him up in the front room with a drink and something to eat while I unpacked the shopping, and when I walked into the front room again I found him asleep. I watched him for some time and it helped to soothe my frazzled nerves to stand and watch my angel in his peaceful slumber. 

Daily Photo Challenge - Brit Mums

I found an interesting fact the other day which fits in nicely with this theme.

#Day7
#ChristmasAnimals

According to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, but the male reindeer loose theirs in late November-mid December, while the females retain theirs until after they give birth in the spring.

With this in mind, as far as every historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer is concerned, every single one of them had to be female.

Reindeer are one of my favourite animals. They're majestic, beautiful, somehow magical because of their connection to Father Christmas and for me they represent Christmas. 

Daily Photo Challenge - Brit Mums

For this post I knew exactly what image I'd use.

#Day6
#Peace

As the mum of a 3yr old who is like a Tasmanian devil of activity, mischief, curiosity and energy, I don't get much peace. What never fails to amaze me with J is that he's like an Energizer bunny with the batteries removed when he finally does go to sleep - he goes from chattering away and fidgeting like mad to snoring softly, normally cuddled up with a soft toy or two, in thirty seconds flat.

On this particular evening he'd chosen Rupert Bear to cuddle with and go to sleep, as you can see from the image Rupert is nearly as big as J! A gift received for my baby when I was pregnant from one of the ladies I work with, J never paid Rupert that much attention until very recently, and now he and the other bear the same lady gave me (the same size, a black bear with a red ribbon) have become firm favourites for snuggling with at bedtime. 

I took this photo as J looked so peaceful and innocent and it made my heart melt. There are times he drives me completely bonkers, but when he's all cute and asleep and looking as beautiful as this there is no way I could imagine life without him. 

Daily Photo Challenge - Brit Mums

Well this one caused me a great deal of head scratching.

#Day5
#Fireplace

I don't have a fireplace at my house - well, not a nice one anyway, we have a grotty old gas fire that we've never used in six years of living here. Most of the time it doesn't bother me - I don't miss not having a fire - but at this time of year I'm always envious of people who do have a proper fireplace, an open fire, to cosy in front of. There's something so warm and comforting and festive about the thought of decorating the mantle with candles and pine cones, enjoying a festive glass of Baileys in front of the flames while the wind howls and the snow falls outside and you're all curled up in a comfy armchair enjoying the crackle of the flames.

This image shows exactly what I dream of having in my front room every Christmas - and I'm sure J would love it, too. Though the cleaning it out and sorting out the wood each time wouldn't be my favourite task, I think it would be worth it just for a few weeks of the year when I'd want to use it! When Daddy P and I were on honeymoon in November 2006 our cottage had a beautiful fireplace and every night we'd curl up in front of it to watch films and as our bedroom was directly above, it was always lovely and warm in there by bedtime. At home, it's J's room right above the fire, so if it was a proper open fireplace it would make his room nice and cosy which would be lovely as it can get rather chilly in there, particularly first thing in the morning.

Daily Photo Challenge - Brit Mums

The final post for this today and I'm all caught up for the Brit Mums Daily Photo Challenge, though tomorrows photo has me puzzled so far!

#Day 4
#Baking

Baking is one of our favourite things to do. I'm not an expert when it comes to baking, but we do those packet fairy cake mixes (like today) and J loves to try different food colouring in the icing. We do (calorific) Smarties cookies and at the weekend we'll be making mince pies and jam tarts with my mum. Not all the cakes made it as far as being iced since J couldn't help himself and ate two while D was mixing in the food colouring to the icing! It was a lovely way to spend a relaxed rainy afternoon.

Daily Photo Challenge - Brit Mums

I'm nearly all caught up to date with the Daily Photo Challenge from Brit Mums after a delayed start! Here's the Day 3 entry!

#Day 3
#Dancing

J is a very keen dancer. He takes very little persuasion to start busting a move! It seemed very appropriate that the Day 3 post - subject Dancing - featured my groovy dude!

Daily Photo Challenge - Brit Mums

Cracking on with this rapidly in order to catch up, this is my post for the Daily Photo Challenge for Brit Mums Day 2!

#Day 2
#Shopping

Well as you can see from my chosen photo, although the official theme is shopping/crowds for Day 2, my image shows the local town centre as the least crowded high street ever!

This photo was taken at 6pm on Friday evening, and I was in town to get a bit of Christmas shopping (yes, some of the shops are open, but not all) and stopped at the chippy to pick up dinner for the family on the way home. As I waited at the chippy I wandered outside to admire the Christmas lights in the high street and this was the view I found. It was so eerily quiet you could imagine it was the middle of the night!

Daily Photo Challenge - Brit Mums

I'm a little bit behind as it's already 4th December, but I've just found this and wanted to participate!

Join the #SnapHappyBritMums Daily Photo Challenge for December!

#Day 1
#Advent

The theme being advent I thought I would share a photo of J's lovely advent calender. This incredible Christmas tree with 24 individual pockets containing chocolates and topped with an angel / fairy was hand made by Grandma P, who knitted it. Isn't she talented? We've hung it at the bottom of the stairs so first thing in the morning J comes downstairs and finds his chocolate treat! 

So, this is Christmas!

It’s only December 1st but already J has met Father Christmas! There was a local village bazaar on that we went to at lunchtime today. He went very shy and was attached to me but in a way it was a good thing as too often recently he’s been trying desperately to run off and I’ve been exasperated with him for doing so! For a £2 donation he got a photo with Father Christmas and a lovely gift of books and some giant size monster playing cards. It was quite a small affair but it was wonderfully Christmassy and reminiscent of the types of events I attended as a child with my family. Amongst the stalls were home-made cakes, knitted jumpers, hats, scarves and gloves, scented candles, painted glass ornaments, silk scarves, jewellery, Christmas ornaments, hand crafted wooden toys and puzzles as well as a café area serving drinks and snacks including mulled wine and mince pies. We only spent a few minutes there as it didn’t take long to walk round, spend our money and do a full circuit and end up back at the door again, but we had a good nose around and we’re getting into the Christmas spirit! This afternoon Daddy P is getting the decorations down from the loft and we’ll be listening to Christmas music and putting up the decorations! Mince pies and peach schnapps for Daddy P and myself, jam tart and fruit juice for J! I love this time of year, even more so since becoming a mum! It’s so much more fun with kids!

Happy Xmas