"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...everywhere you go!"

And I'm starting to feel Christmassy!

William 'wrote' his letter to Father Christmas yesterday (with a bit of help...) and drew him a lovely picture. Well... he covered a piece of paper with a LOT of felt-tip pen, anyway! Today we took it to the Post Office to send it to his workshop at the North Pole (well, local branch situated at Nanna's house...). I can't wait to see William when he gets his reply!

It was even more exciting when, just afterwards, we were going down the escalators, only to see Mr C coming up the other way! I thought William's eyes were going to pop out of his head!!! (Apologies to my OWZAT friend, Oscar, who was also travelling up the escalators and whom I nearly ignored in all the excitement!)

What Wills doesn't know is that he's going to see Father Christmas tomorrow at Paulton's Park! Every year Heals' work organises discount tickets to the park and Christmas Wonderland. It's always really freezing cold (open parkland) and we have to queue for the Wonderland bit for ages, but the children get a great visit with a 'proper' Father Christmas who magically knows their name as soon as they go in ;-) and a very decent, quality gift appropriate to their age. We grown-ups get mincepies and mulled wine :-) Last year I was recovering from the dreaded Norovirus (if you've never had it I don't recommend it) so I was chilled to the bone and the very smell of the mulled wine was making me feel really sick. This year I will be making up for all that! The tickets also include a full day at the park itself, including all the rides and attractions. I am determined that, as my Mum used to say 'we will all enjoy ourselves if it kills me'. I myself will be armed with 4 layers of clothing, including tights AND kneehigh socks under my jeans. I know, most unsexy, but the only man I need to impress is Healey and he's seen worse!
(The recent bad weather is set to continue and according to the MET office it will almost certainly bucket down, but that's what wellies are for!)

Going back to today; I managed to get quite a bit of Christmas pressie shopping done and bought all our charity Christmas cards. Whether they'll actually be written and sent in time is another matter..! A few of the local residents have already switched on their lights... I think this is a good thing..?!

BTW; you may have noticed that I refer to Mr Claus as Father Christmas rather than Santa. It's not that I have anything against 'Santa', it's just that he was always Father Christmas when I was growing up and I'm a sentimental (old) fool!

Bye for now;
Em ♥