The tree is up and Eric.

A week has passed and no posts from me! Mainly,  I’ve been chasing my tail. Some Christmas presents have been bought, non-family Christmas cards have been posted, some family cards have been made, all in between normal chores.

I made Oatie biscuits dipped in chocolate to take to the Blue Cross on Friday. This was the first time I had made them and although they spread a bit on the baking trays, making for some unusual shapes, they tasted fine. I will make them again, but perhaps tweak the recipe slightly.

It was a chilly afternoon at Exeter City on Saturday, but we got the result we wanted. All was fine until I got to my car, to find someone had clipped my wing mirror. The cracked mirror was placed under my car. I may be able to reconnect the electrics from the casing (which thankfully was unscathed) to the mirror and clip mirror into place for the time being. I haven’t really got time to take it into the garage before Christmas and don’t want the expense either.

Sunday, we all went to Greendale farm shop and met up with hubby’s dad and his other half for breakfast. It is his birthday next week and as he’s jetting off to warmer climbs, we gave him his pressies early. After breakfast, we chose our Christmas tree, quite quickly this year too! My son and I illuminated and decorated the tree with glass baubles and a few other personalised decorations. Unfortunately, it’s an oasis of calm amongst bags of presents waiting to be wrapped and delivered........

Hubby saw to the mantelpiece garland and hung the stockings that I made when our daughter and son were born.....

There’s a big thing about Elf on the Shelf these days. There’s a huge pressure on parents to think of ‘capers’ for the elf to get up to. When my two were little, we had Eric. He is a 1950/60s elf and quite scary, if you ask me! Anyway, he used to pop up in different parts of the house and listen. He had to just listen because his eyes were closed, haha! As far as our children were concerned, he was reporting to Father Christmas on how they were behaving. Eric still lives with us, but he’s retired these days and still sitting there apparently snoozing....

Tonight I’m feeling a bit sore after being worked on by my chiropractor. I’ve a bad neck at the moment which is squeezing a nerve. So I’m sitting quietly, making some more Christmas cards for family, whilst watching Midsomer Murders. Tomorrow I’ll be getting to grips with wrapping the presents I’ve got and making a list of the remaining ones to get. Hubby and I are going to the Christmas market on Wednesday, which I’m really looking forward to. It’s on the Cathedral green and has loads of independent local stalls. Let’s hope the weather is good for us!

Enjoy the rest of the evening, cheerio for now, Ann x