We’ve had yet another very local weekend – there’s just so much to organise before the Christmas break that we haven’t managed to fit in a proper day trip for ages. Oh well. We’ll make up for that when we get to the hols. I’m not complaining though – it’s been really lovely over the past few days.

We’ve had loads of admin to do – we got a new super king sized bed (had enough of trying to share our double bed with two wriggly children on weekend mornings and sneaky little ones climbing in at night!) which meant a lot of furniture to move around the house.  Sophie tried hard to help us, gathering and counting all the screws as we dismantled and moved various beds!

We’ve also been carrying on with Christmas shopping, making the most of the excellent local shops for as many things as possible.  On Friday after school, Alex and I headed down to Herne Hill for a pre-Christmas haircut.  He had a new hairdresser who freaked me out immediately by getting the clippers out and dispatching most of his hair very quickly, and who then made me laugh when he started using gel to style Alex’s hair.  Quite why he thought it was a good idea to style a five-year-old’s hair I don’t know, but Alex didn’t look hilarious when he was done!  Alex said he looked like a rock star, and I think he was right!  As he was looking so cool, he and I went on a little dinner date together which was such a pleasure!  He’s such nice company now!

Yesterday, we popped over to the velodrome for their Saturday kids’ track cycling session, and then had a go on the little off-road track afterwards.  Alex is getting so confident on the steep slopes!  Sophie just enjoyed watching and eating gingerbread!

Since we had the camera out, we posed for some comedy family shots (needed some for our annual photo album!) – we looked a bit daft in Brockwell Park running around with the photo timer ticking down!

Last night, I had my choir Christmas concert – it’s been a crazy term learning lots of new repertoire and trying to find time to get some of it off by heart.  It all came together and the concert was fabulous – some gorgeous music, lovely Christmassy atmosphere and a packed out venue.  I was so pleased when Matt decided to come and watch the first half with the kids.  I was a bit nervous as the first half was filled with more serious music, but the kids behaved brilliantly – even though it meant staying up way past bedtime!  I think they enjoyed it (although suspect they preferred the mince pie and baby-chino stop on the way home!).

Today, we’ve been busy writing letters to Santa and getting in the Christmas spirit.  Check out Alex’s letter which we wrote all by himself!  For those of you who can’t decipher a 5 year old’s very loopy cursive writing, he’s asked for Tracy Island, Lego, Big Hero Six, toy car and chocolate coins!

Nicely in the mood, we headed over to Myatts Fields for their Christmas carol concert and market.  It was dry and mild and had such a lovely atmosphere.  We met friends and gathered around the bandstand for a sing:

The children all made Christingles and were (mostly) well behaved with the candles – they ate the sweets they used to decorate them almost immediately!

Here’s Alex with his friend Sam (in a minion mask) lighting their candles – I love the looks of concentration!

Can’t believe it’s just a week left till we head down to Cornwall for Christmas!  We’ve got Alex’s nativity play and Sophie’s nursery carol concert to look forward to this week!  I’m sure I’ll share lots of photos of that!