We Wish You All A Very Merry Christmas

With All Our Love & Hugs

Susie, DH, Eldest, Youngest, Fiancé, Girlfriend & Treacle

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It’s Christmas Eve!

New addition to the decorations, it kind of looks Treacle-ish!!!!

Family presents around the tree, sort of!!!

Christmas Mice, new additions this year.

Family Christmas cards.

The Book Shelves.

Our Christmas Cake

The Infamous Chocolate Log – Treacle ate one very like this a few years ago and amazingly she was not ill!!!!

Here we are on the Eve of the Big Day and all the plans, hard work and worrying are done now!!!  Just got to make sure Christmas Dinner is cooked and on the table hot and it is a success.  I hope you have all got to today without too much worry and strife and have the most wonderful of Christmas times.

Hugs, Susie & Crew xx

Happy Christmas Eve, Eve!!!!

Hugs, Susie xx

Merry Christmas!

We can say that now as we are only four days away from the Big Day!!!

At this time of year I always love to read books about Christmas or set around Christmas and this one definitely ticks the box.  This has been re-published having first been published in 1933 and the British Library are now re-publishing these classic murder mysteries.

Adrian Gray who was born in 1862 and lives a lonely life in his large house, Kings Poplars and although he has six grown children none of them are fond of him.  However he always invites them to spend Christmas with him at home.  They all arrive at Christmas in 1931 and although several of them wish he would drop dead they are all surprised when he is actually found dead on Christmas morning.  The story unravels to find out what actually happened on Christmas Eve and what the Murderer does next.

This is very much in the style of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, who are two of my favourite murder mystery writers.  I have only just started it but I am already engrossed in the story by page 20!!!

I found this book and a couple of others on Wednesday when I took Eldest Christmas shopping to Nottingham!  We got there for when the shops opened and he shopped and I helped, although he went to each floor in the Bookshop, Waterstones, I stayed put in one of their very convenient chairs in the Crime fiction department picking books.  It was a lovely hour and in fact I could have stayed there all day!!!!!

We left at lunchtime as it was starting to get busy so we did a good job getting there for opening time.  His shoulder is still sore where it was out and he has been resting it as much as possible.  It is great having him at home to look after and spoil!!!!!

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Tonight is Presentation Night for the Swimming Club and party night so DH is busy settng up this afternoon.  Tomorrow I have errands to run in the morning and then in the evening we are having our annual Christmas Party, although we have had a few people drop out through ill health!!!  Sunday we will be tidying up after and I will be doing all the washing and ironing so it will all be done before next week.  I have already ordered the grocery shopping for next week and we are collecting the meat on Monday and then it is all ready for the Big Day!! Youngest and Girlfriend are off to “The Horse of the Year Show” in London on Sunday and wish I was going but have run out of time!!!

I find that I am not quite as stressed as last year as I have planned things out for each week beforehand and it has worked, even with added stress of Eldest at the hospital!!!! 

I hope whatever you are up to, the last weekend before Christmas, you will have a great time and stay safe whatever you lovely lot are up to.  Will be posting some pictures over the next few days of Christmas things. 

Christmas Hugs & Love, Susie xx

The weeks seem to be flying by quicker than ever, or that I am trying to fit so much more into each day as well as all the normal things as well!!!!! 🙂

We finally got our Home decorated for Christmas on Sunday last, a week later than normal.  I always love decorating for Christmas and not a lot changes year on year, just the odd tweak here and there but here are some pictures.

Our tree, which smells wonderful.  I will try and get some pictures in the evening when you can see the lights.

Molly’s Mom sent me a wonderful Christmas gift last year, some of her wonderful Mom’s hand painted ornaments for our tree.  These pictures are of them.

Sorry they are a little blury I forgot to take them before they went on the tree and it is a little difficult to get them where they are hanging!!!

Snoopy, my favourite.

The other side of our sitting room, the bookcases with the lights on the top.  We did this last year and it really lifted the room. 

Our sitting room with the tree.

Our dining room, more lights!!!

The stair lights. 

I have seen a few of these on Pinterest, a Hot Chocolate Station.  Our lot love hot chocolate so I thought it was a great idea.

One half of my Kitchen, lights!!!

Our Den where Treacle and I spend our days working!!!

My kitchen pine dresser.

The breakfast bar with my perpetual calendar and Scottish plate which is where mail for DH and the Boys goes and anything else!!!

I will give you three guesses what the weather is doing today, with this picture of Treacle?  I bet you got it right – raining yet again!!!!  It is now midday as I write this and it is so dark all the lights are on!!!  I really hate rain especially after this year!

I have!  Goodness knows what the results will be but I hope that the people I voted for get in, because if not and the other party get in we, as a small business, will be paying a lot more tax than we do now!  End of political view!!!!

Tuesday I had coffee and breakfast with my very good friend Jayne which was a lovely couple of hours out of all the hectic!  DH and I finished the last of the Christmas shopping last night present wise and only have the food to sort now for the Big Day and it is all done, although I am getting to the point of if we haven’t got it then they will go without!!!!  I have ordered all the meat we require, sorted out the veg to go with it and have ordered the food required for the days we are at home, so just need to collect it all. 

Once I have done this I do not set foot in a shop until at least after New Year.  I think the people that go shopping on Boxing Day and every day after that are mad!!!  I remember when I was a little girl the shops closed at 3.00pm on Christmas Eve and did not open again until at least December 28th and it was so much better.  As a family between Christmas and New Year we go on long walks and, if there is anything on, go to the Cinema, play board games in the evening or, of course, read.  Shopping is the furthest thing from my mind!!!!

I have worked all morning and this afternoon it is Home jobs.  DH is out tonight doing a disco for a friend who has been let down by their disco at the last minute (!) so I will be doing the ironing whilst watching films and tomorrow I have lots of errands to run and in the evening we are having dinner out with friends who we won’t be seeing over Christmas.  I do so love this time of year!!!

Happy Thursday everyone.

Hugs, Susie xx

#TBT to 2010 and the last Big Snow we had!  Eldest was Fifteen and Youngest was Eleven.  You can just see Treacle hiding behind the tree!!!

Treacle is in today as, yet again, it is raining here!!! This morning started out cold and sunny but has now clouded over and heavy rain.  Last night was high winds and lots of rain so I think we are in for that again.

DH and I on Saturday evening went into Nottingham to visit the Nottingham Winter Wonderland in the Square after our lunch on the train.  It was lovely to walk round and see all the stalls and see people ice skating.  Picture heavy post again!!!

This is down the side of the Nottingham Council House with the helter skelter and wooden cabins with food and goods for sale.

The lights on the poles above the cabins.

The cabins look very festive even if it is fake snow!!

The Council House in the background and the very large Christmas tree at the head of the ice rink.

The Ice Bar, above.

A close up of the tree.

Around the Council House they have these very Victorian looking lamps.

The Galloping Horses.

Another street lamp.

The view of the street from the other end.

A lovely little cottage all lit up, selling food underneath.  This is my friend Jayne’s favourite stall.

We had a lovely walk round and then headed back to the car as it was getting late.

More pictures tomorrow of Christmas!!!

Hugs, Susie xx

Well after a few days of cold but sunny weather we are now back to the rain!!!  It is so dark at lunch that all the lights are on!!!  Anyway so many of you loved the Chatsworth pictures and it really was a lovely evening.  Saturday DH and I took a trip down memory lane and went to have Lunch on the Steam Train at Great Central Railway.  We always took the Boys there to see Santa at this time of year and also, as they got older, for lunch on the train. Here are the pictures from the day.  Warning picture heavy post again!!!

The entrance hall which is all wood.

The old fashioned post box in the entrance hall.

The picture above and below is of the small ticket office where the staion master would take the tickets.

The Santa Steam Train on Platform 1.

Waiting to go.

Our Train was waiting on Platform 2.

The Steam Train pulling our train.

The Porters Office.

The other Santa Special coming in.

Platform 2 dressed for Christmas.

Timetable from Nottingham Victoria Station which sadly is no longer there.

After a lovely lunch we walked to the end of the train and there was a veranda at the end of this carriage.

Starting to drop dark.  This is the water tower.

This is the Guards house at the end of the track.

It was lovely to be back there as we have spent many happy days there with the Boys. Tomorrow I will show you what we did on Saturday evening.

Happy Tuesday Everyone.

Hugs, Susie xx

DH and I had a great Christmas Weekend.  On Friday evening we went to Chatsworth House for the Twilight Visit around the rooms dressed for Christmas.  Each year they have a different theme and this year is “Around the World in Eighty Days”.  Warning this is a picture heavy post!!!!

This is one of the two trees in the official Dining Room.

I always love this room.

The Dining Table with the Delft china on.

The Blue decorations on the tree echoing the blue Delft.

My most favourite rooms of all the Anti-Library and Libray at Chatsworth.

The tree in the Library was all golden.

I would be quite happy to live in this room all the time!!!

One of the Bedrooms decked out from China.

Above – this could be Norbert from Harry Potter!!

A very wintery painting in the anti-room of one of the bedrooms.

These rooms were dressed for Japan

This tree and the room dressed for India.

This is an Indian bed spread made of silk and beading.

The Oak Room decorated with a country theme.

The private Chapel with the Nativity and floating candles, again very Harry Potter!!!

The Hallway dressed with views from Canada.

The entrance with the “Around the World in Eighty Days” theme.

Unfortunately we did not get any pictures of the house outside as it was pouring with rain yet again!!!!  We got a drink and mince pie when we were in the Great Hall and there was a string trio playing Christmas carols.  It was a lovely evening and all the real fires were lit in the different rooms adding to the visit.

Tomorrow I will show you where we went on Saturday.

Happy Monday everyone.

Hugs, Susie xx