Christmas and New Year

What a lot has occurred since the last time I sat down to update this blog. We still have no men back working (as I begin this) but I wanted to get up to date anyway as we've had an awesome time over Christmas and New Year.

What do you see in this picture?

Rosie beating the eggs for the stuffing

Concentrating hard while drawing

Rosie loves "working"

Ringing in Christmas in the right way

I'll not cover every day individually however Christmas Eve deserves a batch of pictures. It was a frosty start and there was a shape frozen into the window of Angela's car; can you comment below what you think it is. Rosie was super helpful during the day as she helped Angela with some processes for the stuffing (the most important part of Christmas Day) but she was also playing nicely on her own with a drawing pad and Angela's computer. We wrapped the day up in our traditional way by watching Die Hard (Rosie saw the first little bit until before the shooting started and she seemed to enjoy it very much). Then it was time for her to go to bed and we put out some final presents before bailing ourselves.

Before the sun came up

Rosie asked Santa for a "wooden toy"

Mummy and Rosie time

Daddy and Rosie time

Dr Rosie with Bella (from Nanny Pam)

Bouncing on the trampoline with Bella

A lovely visit to the neighbours

Thelma and Louise with their Christmas Chews

Apple Tree Farm's Fire Engine

Probably for the last year for a few we were up well before Rosie and so could watch the sun rise and get a brew before she got out of bed on her own. The first thing to do was to go upstairs so we could turn on the lights and Rosie could get her presents from Santa, one of which was a lovely wooden dolls house. We spent a fair amount of time upstairs during the day, and this year didn't have time for our walk which was a shame, but it was such a lovely day full of calls to family, epic gifts and beautiful family moments. Rosie was having a great time and I got such an awesome load of thoughtful and amazing gifts. Just the best day. The puppies were very happy with their gifts (and were getting involved opening ours as well!)

Settling in for an AMAZING Christmas dinner

Rosie with her Gingerbread Dragon

Trampolining with the neighbours

Rosie with all her gifts

I love my new jumper

Family together. Yes, matching PJs

Of course Christmas Dinner is the main event on Christmas Day and this year was no exception as Angela created a wonderful tasty feast of Roast Goat leg with all the trimmings. At the end of the meal I gave Rosie the Gingerbread Dragon that I had been painting up for her and she loved it; it is now on her special shelf in her bedroom. Later on the neighbours came over and the grandson bounced on the trampoline with Rosie for a while and that was lovely. We really did have the best day and we were all very tired by the end of the day. Wonderful.

Sunrise on Boxing Day

Bubble & Squeak for Breakfast, Boxing Day

Christmas Pudding with whipped cream

Thelma and Louise with goat bone

Not able to get these fires working

Rosie's little play mates

Fish tank in the dark

Rosie running with Bella in the pram

Having fun on the balcony with daddy

And so to the week between Christmas and New Year. Boxing Day was a beautiful sunrise followed by an outstanding breakfast of Bubble and Squeak. We actually got two breakfast's out of our leftovers this year. We hadn't felt like having Christmas Pudding on Christmas Day so ended up having that on Boxing Day. The bones were stripped and given to the puppies and Angela made an outstanding Goat Curry for the 27th and also on that day Bekir and Halil came past to try and get the two gas heaters I'd bought to warm the balcony to stay lit. Neither of them work correctly! We didn't manage it. On 28th we had two friends over for Rosie to play with and this was such a lovely time. They had great fun and played really well together. Here's to many more play dates. I also got to spend some lovely time with Rosie (making the most of my holidays) and we sat watching the fish, did lots of running around and just chilling together. I also broke my middle toe by catching it on the wall on the balcony while playing Catch You with Rosie. It hurt a lot at the time and is still hurting now, but I can walk OK again now at least.

The sun rises on New Year's Eve

Rosie helping to bake cakes

Sat with the neighbour

Tree climbing time

All together in the front room

New Years Eve was another bright start and another beautiful day as the unseasonal warmth continues. Rosie helped Angela to make some lovely cakes which we would take to the party next door later and then it was play time with me as well. We had a lot of fun in the garden and the neighbour's grandson came over to play for a while as well which was lovely. He pushed Rosie in her swing and then ran around with her, sat with her, and even climbed a tree with her (OK, I lifted them both up but still). Soon enough it was evening and we headed to the neighbours for a lovely evening of food and friendship. Rosie spent most of the evening running with the two grandchildren while we ate lovely food and watched terrible Turkish TV as is traditional. We actually headed home about 11pm as Rosie was getting tired but The Other Brother set some fireworks off early for Rosie to watch (she LOVED them) and at midnight I was in bed but got up to film the valley fireworks from the balcony. Amazing.

Rosie helps build the model with toothpick

Rosie with her glow in the dark stickers

Angela with little Xena

New Year's Day was a lovely day all round. Angela had picked up a couple of little gifts for Rosie for the day and while Angela did some art I got to spend a lot of time with Rosie and enjoy her receiving them. The first gift was a cardboard model of a train and we sat at the dining table and started to put it together; Rosie really got involved and she was in charge of the toothpick pushing out tabs, and also helped a lot in taking the parts out of the sprue. We got about half way before we moved to another project and that was sticking the glow in the dark stickers onto her playroom wall. It was fun. The other huge thing that happened on New Year's Day is we now have a new member of our family. This is Xena. She is a tiny puppy that Angela found hiding near our wood store outside. We tried to return her to the dog we think is the mother but Xena was chased off and it was very clear she was unwanted. So we have looked after her while continuing to try to track down the owners with no luck. This Saturday we'll get her registered but she's already been to the vet and apparently she's 6 weeks old and in very good health.

Rosie with her completed model

Xena in Sassy's old cage

Rosie driving with her feet

Fun with a sparkler

Rosie holding both leads on our walk

Play time with her truck, and Bella

Sat watching a beautiful sunset reflection

Taking Xena for a walk

Alive and well still

And so to the rest of the time. We finished up the cardboard train together on the 2nd, and Rosie was even more helpful this time, so much so that Angela has picked up more of these little kits for us to make. Xena has settled in loads (Rosie actually picked the name) and is now slowly but surely being accepted by Thelma and Louise. Thelma is particularly upset about this change but Louise is being better. It'll take time. On Sunday we went to the restaurant as always and had some play time for Rosie and then after we got home she did some sparklers. On Monday (the last day of my holiday) I went for a walk up to the Echo Pipe with Rosie, Thelma and Louise while Angela took Xena to the vet and we had a lovely time. It was so nice we stayed outside and played with the truck and even had lunch sat on the patio. Amazing. Rosie has been loving playing with Xena though we're having to be strong to warn her about playing too roughly. She's used to Thelma and Louise and they are so solid they can't be squeezed but Xena is tiny. While we were playing on the balcony we saw that the preying mantis is still alive and growing all the time.

Rosie holding Xena before school

Xena hiding from the wind

Sat with Rosie having her banana

And so that's that. It has been a busy time, and even more so now that we have another puppy, but it's so good for Rosie to learn more about animals and care and she is doing very well mostly. Being back to work has been a shock to the system but that's how all this is paid for so I'd better keep at it; I sat outside after work yesterday waiting for Rosie to get home from school with Xena and it was so cold with the wind that she scrambled onto my shoulder and hid her nose in my beard. We stayed out briefly for a banana once Rosie got back but it really was too cold so went in and warmed by the fire.

What an epic update and this morning just before I finished this and published the workmen returned so there'll be another update later today. Thanks for reading and Happy New Year to you all.