And another weekend draws to a close!  They rush past so quickly – can’t quite believe it’s work again tomorrow!

It’s been a fun, festive weekend.  I’m loving the build up to Christmas this year – such fun with Alex.  We started our Saturday morning with a trip to our local garden centre to choose a Christmas tree.  We’d been mulling being sensible, and getting a small tree to sit on a table, out of Sophie’s reach!  But when it came to it,  I couldn’t resist a massive one.

The children were both very excited when it arrive in our sitting room – and got stuck into helping me decorate it (or rather, I attempted to decorate it whilst the children demolished the tinsel and baubles!).  I’ll probably live to regret not going for the sensible option, but it looks so festive – and Alex and Sophie’s faces light up every time they see it and we switch on the bright lights.  It’s worth the mess!

Our second festive trip on Saturday was to the East Dulwich Christmas Cracker – an extension of the regular Saturday market there. We stocked up on brownies (it is, apparently, National Brownie Day this weekend) and bread, and Alex took part in the craft stalls – painting a shooting star and making a glittery reindeer.  He freaked out in terror at seeing a man in a yeti costume walking past (it was actually really rather big) – but perked up when the South London Samba band started playing!  An unusual choice for a Christmas fair, but absolutely brilliant.  Alex loved the drumming, and Matt and I reminisced about spending Christmas in Rio back in 2005!

We continued our festive theme with a quick trip up to London to Trafalgar Square to see the big Christmas tree there.  The square looked stunning in the dark, with Alex particularly loving the changing colours of the fountains!  And of course, he wanted to climb on the lions:

It was really moving to see the growing tributes on the square to Nelson Mandela, and hear the singing from outside the South African Embassy.

On Sunday morning, after the excitment of Alex completing his teeth-cleaning sticker chart and receiving “Annie & Clarabel” carriages for his Thomas the Tank Engine, we loaded up the car and headed to Crowthorne to visit Dick and Michele.  It was a gorgeous, sunny day and we spent most of the time either exploring the garden and checking out the fish in the pond, or sitting in the bright conservatory enjoying the garden view! Heavenly.

Alex was presented with a brilliant meccano tractor set, and immediately made Daddy and Nanny Michele make it for him.  He had lots of fun with Nanny Michele playing with his trains and the meccano wheels!

Sophie was in seventh heaven with two dogs there to dote on – I didn’t manage to get a photo of her doing it, but she kept resting her head on them as if giving them little cuddles.  So cute. She looks a bit of a scruff in these pics, but she really did love them both!

After a family lunch and multiple desserts, we drove back into London for a quiet evening at home to get ready for another week of work.

Before I close, I must share these snaps of my tomboy daughter, normally seen in jeans and not much pink at all, wearing a beautiful dress given to her by Michele for her birthday!  She looked so lovely, but after about 5 minutes, she discovered it was a bit tough to climb in it and she kept pulling at the skirts – so we had to take it off!  Oh well.