Story Telling Sunday: Our Christmas Tree

Not quite Sunday but a story nevertheless!

We have lived in our house for just over 18 years and to celebrate our first Christmas here we bought ourselves an artificial tree from B&Q.   It was the year before we got married, so money was fairly tight but we decided to splash out - I think we paid nearly £100 - which back in 1994 seemed like a fortune.  However I'm happy to report it was money well spent as it is still the same Christmas tree we bring out each year and it looks as good now as it did back then.

Christmas 2005 - waiting patiently to open their presents

Obviously over the years, decorations have changed and the children have grown up, but one thing that is constant in the back of many photos is "Our Christmas Tree".

Getting ready for Santa 2007

Last year we did have some debate about getting a new, taller tree which comes pre-lit but somehow I don't think we will  be able to give up our old favourite.

Christmas 2011

If you havn't already done so please pop over to Sian's to read some more stories.

Story Telling Sunday - A Jubilee tale.

Arriving fashionably late to the party, I bring you a tale from a previous Jubilee celebration.  Back in 1977 when the Queen celebrated her Silver Jubilee I was 7.  My school celebrated with a summer fete that was Jubilee themed, including a children's fancy dress competition.  I don't remember who came up with the idea but it was decided that I would go as a Jubilee bag!  I suspect it may have been to do with the fact that my Dad worked in a factory that produced cardboard boxes so had access to large quantities of paper and card.

Apparently I came 2nd!  I don't recall much but do remember it was quite difficult to walk in. 

My younger brother also entered but he refused to play along with the Jubilee theme and so went as Robin (side-kick of Batman)

Dad created the card from a large cardboard box, built around my brothers trike!

This story was bought to you as part of Sian's story telling Sunday.  Do pop over to check out some other great tales.

I hope you have all had a relaxing Sunday and to those of you enjoying an extra long weekend, have a jubileetastic time!

Time for Tea on Sunday Telling Story

Time one again to join with Sian in telling our stories.

Every year we take a camping trip with a large group of friends during the first weekend in August.  This year saw our largest party with eight families joining in the fun - 12 adults and 17 children!  As you may imagine catering for such a crowd is like a military operation, but it is all part of the fun and we all muck in together.  The ages of the children range from 6 - 10 and so if we can we do like to spend our days on the beach, as it keeps them all entertained at relatively low cost. 

This year was no exception and although the weather wasn't brilliant we manged two days.  One of the most important elements of our day trip are regular cups of tea!  With the thirst of 12 adults to quench, a couple of flasks will not suffice so now we take a portable gas burner in order to brew up.  Obviously there are the inevitable arguments discussions who's turn is it to make the tea, but eventually someone volunteers.  There is nothing quite like a cup of tea on the beach!

Funnily enough my inspiration for this page comes from Miss Smith who is a great tea drinker.  In the March addition Scrap 365 she had a page published.  You can read about it here.   The article was encouraging you to use paint on your layout, which I did by dipping the edge of a credit card into white paint and making the grid.  I really enjoyed doing this and I think it may be one of my current favourite layouts!

I hope you enjoyed by tale - do hop over to Sian's blog where you will find all manner of stories to entertain you this Sunday.

Shed Life

When my girls are asked "where do your Granny and Grandad live?", they are quite likely to reply " in a shed at the bottom of the garden".  Now before you start phoning social services, the photo shows that it is a mighty fine shed.

A log cabin to be precise.  Inside you will find a small living area with kitchenette, a tiny office come craft room and a bedroom with en suite facilities.  Mum and Dad also have a two bed-roomed apartment in Spain - 10 minutes from Alicante airport.  They divide their time between here and Spain.   They moved to be with us in 2007.  It was my other halfs idea as they either seemed to be in Spain or with us, so their seemed little sense in keeping a property here that they hardly used.  I can't say it is always easy but in the advantages far outweigh the dis-advantages.  My girls absolutely love it and they help out with the holidays when I'm working.  One of the nicest things is that in the evening we all eat together, sharing our stories from the day. Slowly overtime they have built up a life here, making new friends and its hard to imagine a time when they were not with us.  It is also good to know that as they get older, they are near and hopefully will be able to stay independant for as long as they want.

This story was bought to you as part of Sians story telling Sunday.  Do pop over to her blog to read her story and read the other stories being told today.  A great way to spend a chilly and snowy Sunday.

Game On!

After enjoying a lovely Sunday lunch at Simon and Fred's (my brother in law and partner), Louisa decided we should play checkers. However rather than use a traditional game board, she decided that bigger was better.  Much more fun to use the checked rug for the board and cocktail umbrellas for the pieces! (you gotta love her style) It was Daddy against Louisa but we all gathered round to watch and give advice when needed.  Good old fashioned Sunday afternoon fun!

This story was bought to you as part of "Story Telling Sunday".  Click here to enjoy some more stories.


Have a lovely Sunday!

Carnival Days

Back in the day when brown wall paper was fashionable and "Sindy" was the only doll to have, my family became involved in the summer carnival in the town where I spent my childhood.  It started when our next door neighbour persuaded my Mum to let me enter the "Carnival Princess" competition.  This mainly involved wearing your best frock, smiling nicely and walking up and down in front of the judges in a straight line.  Although I wasn't picked to be the Princess, I did get to be crown bearer - that's me in the photo below carrying the cushion.  What the picture does not show is that the Princess had a whole entourage of attendants which all had to be dressed in pretty dresses and accompanied the Princess on her carnival float at the front of the procession.  And that's where our involvement started - Mum volunteered to help out getting all the little girls ready and so began our long association from the carnival.  For many years we helped decorate the float - a mammoth task that happened the evening before the parade and sometimes went late into the night.  Whilst I was little I made many appearances on the float, in many different costumes.  As time went on, Mum actually became part of the committee which organised the whole event and I even joined during my sixth form years.  As far as I know the carnival still happens and mum and I often talk about our "carnival days".

This memory was bought to you as part of Sian's "Story Telling Story".  You can find more great stories here.

I was a recording star!

At the last Christmas party at work, we were asked to think of a random, little know fact about ourselves.  These were all collated and then over the meal we all had to match the fact to the person.  As I work with my brother in law, thinking of something was quite difficult, as I knew I would have to go back over twenty years, prior to knowing him.  Then it came to me - I once was a recording star! 

Yes when I was about seven or eight my primary school made a record and I sang in the lower junior choir.  I don't remember much about the day, apart from that it was during summer as it was a hot day.  We recorded it at a school - but not my school - it was one of the villages near by.  I can even remember the first few bars of the song we sang!  I think we actually sang two, but only one made the cut. As to why we made it, I have no idea but can only imagine that a parent must have had connections with the industry, as I think it was quite unique for a school to do such a thing back in the mid 1970's.  Sadly as we do not own a record player (does anyone!), I cannot play it for my family's enjoyment.


Anyway, no-one at work worked out that I was the recording star and I think many of my work mates didn't believe me.  However whilst searching through some boxes in the loft for something else this week, I found the record!  It will now be taken to work as proof, as my name is on the back of the sleeve along with all my fellow songsters!


I hope you enjoyed my story and if you want to read some more, pop over to Sians blog and find out who else has a story to tell.