Ridgeway Cottage anyhow

It's only natural for a parent to feel pride when it comes to their child's achievements and for me, Josie has always been rather brilliant at drawing. I love her pictures and the way she interprets the world, the inspiration of reality with a large spoonful of imagination and Josie's rather adorable twist on how she would like the world to be. She does really like to get involved in whatever doing too and was quite keen to do a bit of lino printing. The cutting  part is a little dangerous and by the time I had finished that Josie was fast asleep so I also did the printing myself but the design is completely Josie and she did it directly onto the lino. Then with the frame we brought today, it has become a fabulous Christmas present for Nanny. I liked it so much that I have also done a framed copy for us and we have used it for some Christmas cards. I imagine that Josie and I will be doing some more lino printing in the future.

Today when Charlie and I were having one of our little chats, I asked him what his favourite thing about Christmas is... "Snowball fights," he said with conviction "and presents" he added. He truly believes that Christmas means snow. He can't really remember any other Christmases and is picking up most of his information from books, cards and TV. For Charlie, snow is as much a part of Christmas as reindeer, baubles and the nativity. I'm with Charlie on this one, I think that it should really be snowing. If it's going to be Christmas next week, it really needs to start snowing and not the gruesome sleet of this morning. I would much rather huge, gigantic snowflakes that fall gently from the sky and settle in a matter of minutes. Charlie and I also would like the right sort of snow for making snowballs and snowmen.  "Let it snow" is also one of my favourite Christmas songs, I never tire of it and although I love Dean Martin's version, Fra...

Charlie has been researching items for his Christmas list all year. There hasn't been a day where firstly he hasn't watched adverts and secondly hasn't shouted, "I want that for Christmas". This week both the children have written their letters to Father Christmas and sent them off to the North Pole. Thanks to The PortableNorthPole they have received a video message back from Santa confirming their present requests and their current position on the 'nice' list. All this wishing and believing has made me think what I would ask Santa for if he had enough room on his sleigh for presents for mummies. No. 1 A vintage Cuckoo Clock No. 2 Vintage Stratton Powder Compact No. 3 Top Shop Green Fake Fur Coat No. 4 The perfect fair isle cardigan I wonder if I'm on the 'nice' list....

Every teacher will know that dragging feeling at the end of the Autumn term. It's dark, it's cold and September seems like a life time away. At college, I'm getting students coming in to see me a stack of assignments they need to get finished, Access students are stressing about the personal statements for the UCAS forms and they are all ready sharing their germs around. Today I felt rubbish, my head hurt, my throat was sore, my ears ached and I really would have much preferred to have been in watching Christmas movies, crocheting Christmas gifts. However it was not all bad, as I do finish at 1pm on Wednesdays and waiting at home was a hearty soup, about 1 hour of a Christmas movie and a comfy blanket. The perfect pick me up before the school run. Recipe for Allotment Soup Chopped onion or leek or both Chopped celery Grated carrot 1/2 packet of broth mix (either pre-soak or ready to cook- both are delicious) Mushrooms, roughly chopped  Kale (freshly picked f...

Now that Charlie can write his name, he wants to write in his own Christmas cards to all his little friends which is quite a task for someone so new to writing. He was also very keen to write a letter to Santa so that the elves could get to work on the presents he wants. We ended up compromising and I wrote his friends' names and he signed the cards and also put a kiss on the front of the envelopes. As ever we disagreed on where to address his letter to Santa, he is convinced it is the South Pole but I am still trying to persuade him that it's the North Pole.

I know it's a little optimistic as the year is yet to reach it's shortest day but nevertheless the shoots of spring bulbs are poking through the soil in several corners of the garden. They are such brave little troopers, defiant in the face of  the several frosts they still have to weather. Undaunted by the wind and the rain and any amount of deep snow, they hold their ground no matter what, pushing shoots upwards and onwards. They eagerly await the warmer spring sunshine as much as I do and brighten the dark December days with their promise of vibrant cheerful colours. And on the same morning as the shoots were happily nestling in a frost free pocket of the garden, I also took this photo of ice patterns on the car. I am so glad I have taken most of my geraniums in and mustn't forget to get the rest of them under cover before it gets truly icy.

I am quite envious of Kirsty Allsop, she has her own craft tv series, her own craft books and even better, she gets to make Christmas crafts as part of her job. That really would be ideal for me. Josie and I watch the Kirsty's Homemade Christmas last night and wanted to make everything, so today we started making the some fimo (oven dry clay) present tags and I also made a few for my decanters filled with dried goods.   We rolled and cut with fancy edged scissors and then stamped using my metal alphabet stamps before baking in the oven. They came out looking rather like biscuits and are now ready to be decorated tomorrow.