Hello lovely people, some of you have been in touch to say that you’re going to miss my blog if I don’t publish over Christmas which is very, very kind of you so I’ve been thinking about how I might keep in touch. I’m going to post sporadic Christmas diaries when I get a chance so here’s a quick recap of the last few days:

Last weekend the school that the oldest and youngest go to held their ‘Nine Lessons and Carols’ service in true Kings’ College style. It was beautifully traditional, there’s something so lovely about the music that comes from an all boys school – not just the choir but the general congregation as the voices range from high to squeaky to deep. The nine lessons were each read by a boy from each year and they gradually increased in size from first year to Upper Sixth –  it was like watching a real life ‘evolution of man’ as they grew gradually bigger and hairier as the years progressed in front of our eyes! Here are some pictures I took before it began to give you a feel for the setting which is more than 1000 years old:

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And this is what I was wearing:

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  • Coat: Hobbs (past season)
  • Roll neck: Boden (past season)
  • Trousers: Whistles (past season)
  • Shoes: Clarks Estate Copper
  • Bag: Mulberry (past season)

On Sunday we went to a local farm where you can choose and then cut down your own tree, I was preaching ‘girl power’ with the hacksaw:

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During the week my Boden sale order arrived. Luckily for me (because I really shouldn’t have bought anything) most of it didn’t work out. I can’t make my mind up about these metallic super skinny jeans (by the way, there were loads of bistro crops in our local TK Maxx today for £16, the first time I’ve ever seen Boden in TK).

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The youngest has been down with a virus for most of the week so I’ve been in day and night ‘nurse’ mode. You forget how horrendous interrupted nights are don’t you. Any woman who has a baby in her forties has my utter admiration. Oh and I had a bad bump in the car on Wednesday night when someone cut me up on a roundabout. I’m ok but the car isn’t – just what we need to have to sort out at this time of year!

I’ve also been rehearsing madly with the village choir for our carol concert which was last night. We aren’t very good. Many members are quite elderly and very deaf which doesn’t help with ‘pitch’ however it does mean that choir practices are endlessly entertaining and we make up for our lack of musicality with our enthusiasm. Anyway it all seemed to go down very well, especially as it was fuelled with endless mince pies and mulled wine. We ended up in the pub afterwards and my lovely friend and I have developed a little tradition between us over the years of having a whisky mac to kick off Christmas. Here we are:

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Bad photo for outfits but you can see that I added my silver Zara scarf to my dark choir attire for a touch of sparkle.

Today has been the final frenzy before the boys broke up at lunchtime ‘assisted’ by the youngest who is still recovering. On top of Christmas we have the eldest’s 18th birthday on Sunday so I have been starting to bake a very complicated fox cake which will probably go horribly wrong:

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(wearing Next snowflake jumper, Boden Cambridge skirt)

wrapping his presents:

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and whizzing into town to buy balloons:

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(wearing M&S coat, Boden snood, Boden knee high boots)

So that’s us up to date, we’re now doing what we do every year on the day the boys break up and rushing off to Zeffirelli’s, a lovely little cinema in Ambleside for pizza followed by the Hobbit. I’ll keep posting snippets like this over the next few days so we can stay in touch. I hope you’re all having a fabulous build up to the big day and like us, are letting the festivities commence. Must dash – sorry if there are typos etc…Keep in touch! x