John Lewis Christmas Preview, A Mothers Ramblings Style!

When I was asked the other week if I would like to go to the John Lewis Christmas preview show in July I was really really excited and of course said yes; Anything to do with Christmas will get me excited and have me answering Yes (read in to that what you will!). When Top Ender found out that it was going to be Christmas in July she asked if she could come too which is why Top Ender, Baby Boy and I all went to London for the day.

We managed to keep some commuters amused in the morning with Top Enders excitement;

"Will Santa be there?" she asked
"No I don't think so, he is probably rather busy at the North Pole right now" I answered
"Maybe he is on holiday in London" she answered more knowingly than me

We knew we were in the right place when we saw a snow machine outside of the building and a Christmas tree just inside the door.

Even though we were really early we were welcomed in and then I was handed a Flip camera.

Yeah. I know.

I assumed at the time (and lots of other people told me they thought the same too) that the camera was to give the team at John Lewis our view of the day, but no it was for us to keep. Top Ender had a field day and was filming EVERYTHING. Anyway eventually I got to see round all the lovely fab stuff that John Lewis will be getting in after Clearance and during late August, early September.

So Top Ender and Baby Boy got to watch 3D TV whilst sitting on a sofa that was the so comfy that I did think about stealing it out of the front door whilst getting some other Bloggers to create a diversion. The other Bloggers were up for it, but I just could face taking the sofa on the Tube.

I got to see round all the new ranges that are coming in, I remembered that Diesel is bringing new Denim into John Lewis and that Russian Military is going to be big this winter, and if anybody needs an Evening Gown there are going to be some great choices in John Lewis this year! There was a nightie that I did think was an Evening Gown, (honestly though if I did the school run in that people would be asking me when I won the Lottery!) and there were Doc Martin Boots that will be on my Christmas list (I would like the ones with the sheep fleece lining please!). There were some fantastic Men's PJ's and some great slippers in really vibrant colours and some really nice suits, one of which convinced me that Doctor Who shops in John Lewis.

There were some beautiful bedspreads and furniture (did you know that John Lewis have items that can be customised for you? Yup, Good old John Lewis does bespoke furniture!) that was making me think about starting to play the lottery in order to get a bigger house to keep it all in! There were several more chairs that I fell in love with and cushions galore. If you want to update your rooms this year, but want to do it on a small scale change the cushions, find some in John Lewis as there are a lot to choose from!

I was able to see lots of the Christmas decorations range where there is something for everyone! There are a lot of vibrant jewel colours and a lot of Scandinavian inspired type decorations and the cutest wooden cut words (Peace, Joy and Noel) in a light wood which will be on sale between £12 and £15 and will be something I invest in this year.

The best part of course was upstairs (where I had deposited Baby Boy and Top Ender with some friendly staff) where there were Children's clothes and Toys. Top Ender and Baby Boy thought it fabulous and had made cupcakes, cards, played with Play-Doh and Top Ender had even made a headband and had her face painted by the time I got back to them!

The train journey home was spent by Top Ender and I talking about the amazing time we had spent with John Lewis and Cohn And Wolfe (Baby Boy was crashed out in his buggy) and what we wanted for Christmas much to the amusement of the other commuters again!

So I know that I talk about Christmas all year round, but if you want to get a jump on this years Christmas Shopping, get to a John Lewis Store at the end of the Summer!

How to buy gifts for tricky people

On Christmas Day my Mother In Law had popped round to see us and to swap gifts. Whilst she was here Daddy had to quickly use the Carpet Sweeper (or the hodduhuduhduh as it is known in our house thanks to Eddie Izzard) and she made a comment about how she didn't have one and would like one.

"Brilliant!" I thought

I made a mental note for a future gift for Mothers Day or Birthday or one of the other million reasons there are per year to show apprecation for those around us and carried on enduring enjoying her visit.

It was decided between Daddy and I later that day, that because she has been having a bad time of it of late, that we would purchase one and take it round on New Years Day, a clean start to the New Year sort of thing.

So we took it round on New Years Day and discovered that she had already brought one...

It was the Digital Camera debacle all over again, but that is a story for another day.

It was with thanks to my MIL that I made sure that I wrote down my unofficial rules that I try to follow when buying gifts as I do through out the year and they are;

1) Will this add clutter to someones home or will they use it?
2) Is it something they would like?
3) Is it something they might have already?
4) Is it something they have asked for?
5) Is it something they would buy for themselves?

And I also want to remind everyone to start thinking about the Christmas Club, which will start on the 25th of January!

Top Ender Giggles - The only reason to feel sad after Christmas

Whilst I was talking to my Mum on the phone she mentioned that she had taken down her Christmas tree as she was feeling sad. Top Ender overheard this and asked

"Why is Granny feeling sad?"
"Why do you think Top Ender?" I asked

Top Ender thought for a second and answered

"Was it because she didn't get lots and lots of Christmas gifts from Santa?" she questioned
"No, it wasn't that Top Ender!" I answered

Santa caught on Webcam!

We have several webcams in our house and Top Ender decided that this year she would like to try and catch Santa on them, when he came to deliver gifts to our house. I thought this was an excellent idea as we wouldn't be breaking any rules as we would still be asleep in our beds and so we arranged for the webcams to record during the night.

Santa has an easy job here as he only brings the gifts that are left in our Stockings and so other than eating the snacks we leave out for him, taking the carrot for one of his reindeer (Think about it if every house in the land left out multiple carrots for the Santa's reindeer it would mean fat reindeers who are then to heavy to fly and the end of Christmas) and reading the note we leave he doesn't have to stay long, but even I was surprised that he got our house done in 96 seconds!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Top Enders Christmas Speech

Welcome to Top Enders Christmas Speech... short and sweet!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Wordless Wednesday - O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum! Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!

The School Nativity

Sitting with Daddy at Top Enders School Nativity (see pictures of Top Ender here) it occurred to us that there are always types of children that you can find in any School Nativity in the UK. In fact you could probably take this worldwide and go back and forwards in time and still find the same types of children.

So here is my brief description of some of the children that were present at Top Enders School Nativity. If you want to take this time to regress back to when you were at school and in the School Nativity and you are sure that none of your fellow classmates was *one* of the following particular types then it was probably you....

How many of the following types can you spot in this photo?

The Nose Picker

As the category type suggests they are the one with one finger digging away inside their nose. For some reason they are always in the front row of the Nativity and so you can't help but seem them. You can't help but be impressed with the depth they can get a finger into their little nostril, before finally it emerges with its treasure, which is either wiped on the child sitting next to them or eaten...

The Shy Child

This is the one that if you aren't there parent you might miss as they are so busy trying to blend into the background, or into the Skirt of the nearest female teacher. Their parents insist that they aren't like it at home, and yet you get a good view of the top of their head dress for the entire nativity as they keep their eyes on the ground.

The Noisy Kid/Shout instead of Sing Child

You can't see them but you can hear them. They will sing all the songs at the top of their voice and sometimes even shout the lines of their classmates if they felt it wasn't said loudly enough the first time. You know this kids name because the teacher keeps hissing it at them. The child sometimes starts singing a different song to the rest of the class.

The Crying/Overwhelmed Child

Not to be confused with the Shy child. This Child has been excited for the Nativity for as long as it has known there was going to be one. They are all ready to sing and to say their carefully practiced lines until they get up on the stage. They either cry or stand there looking like they are about to cry. The teacher is sometimes needed to hold their hand on stage to get them pass this point so they can either sing or say their line.

The I should of been... Child

This Child will be in the back row and will have the most powerful stare you have seen since Damien in The Omen. The stare will be directed at Mary or Joseph, or possibly the Donkey or the Lead Angel because that part should of been theirs! Careful not to look to long at this child because we all know what happen to the grown ups in The Omen.

The needs a wee Kid

At first you think this Child is just a normal fidget, but it is only as the Nativity goes on that you realise this Child needs a wee and needs it now. If the teachers are paying attention there won't be need for therapy in later years for this Child when the needs a wee Child becomes a need a cloth and new costume Child.

The Future Star

Normally an angel, this Child will have a costume that a parent has painstakingly spent hours, nay weeks making. There will be the usual tinsel around the neck of the dress, the Tinsel halo and huge painted cardboard wings and a smile that could light up the world if it was given at the right time. Jazz hands are optional.

The waving to Mummy Child

This Child might normally be quite shy and so Mummy and Daddy have invited everyone the Child knows to come to give them a confidence boost. The Child will beam at their Mummy or Daddy or Granny or Grandad or Auntie or Uncle or Next Door Neighbour or parent of their best friend or... yeah they wave to everyone in the audience who they have ever known. Greer Garson was this kid, and if you don't know why she is in the Guinness Book of Records go look her up.

The Chatter box

Some children just have to express every thought that pops into their head. This child will chat the entire time to those around them, and the Teacher will keep looking at them with that Teacher "Stop Doing that" stare or will have told the other Children in rehearsal to ignore the Chatter box. It is because of this that they are easy to find, they are normally the Child sitting in the middle of a circle of children facing away from them.

The won't open my mouth Child

Front row centre this is the Child who isn't shy or overwhelmed, but has for some undisclosed reason decided that it is not going to sing or say any of its lines. If you are lucky you might get a begrudged sigh from them when their least favourite song is started to be sung.

The I know everybody lines Child

The class know it all. They may be some kind of child prodigy and instantly memorise anything that is said in front of them (just like all Children are when you swear by accident in front of them) or they might be the one Child who wants any part other than the one they have and so has learnt all the script just in case someone gets struck down by The Measles or really does break a leg and they can save the day.

The Class Clown

The Teachers know that this child is going to be trouble from the start and so normally make them an Inn Keeper, as everybody knows the Inn Keeper gets the best laughs.In some productions they might announce there is room at the Inn, but normally they will be quite happy pulling faces and doing funny little actions to the amusement of those around them.

And of course then there is your child, who is just a perfect little Treasure and wouldn't do any of the above...but what I am interested in is which child were you?!

Wordless Wednesday - The Nativity

Cinderella at Milton Keynes Theatre

On Monday night Daddy, Top Ender, Baby Boy and I went to The Milton Kenyes Theatre to review Cinderella as part of The Great Panto Review at Have a Lovely time. I was really excited to be given the opportunity as Cinderella was being played by Lousie Dearman. Now most of you probably have no idea who this blonde Temptress of the West End is but I do because I went to school with her and she was the first friend I made when my family moved to a new town when I was seven years old. In fact as a side note, her first professional engagement was as part of the Children's choir in The West End production of Joseph and The Technicolour Dreamcoat... which was also my first (and last) professional engagement in the West End!



Anyway, the story followed the traditional panto version of Cinderella, there were the mean deluded and ugly stepsisters "Bootylicious" Britney and "Willowy" Whitney (the wonderful Chris Dennis and equally wonderful David Langham), Buttons suffering from unrequited love for Cinderella(*The* Bobby Davro), a fairy Godmother (Anthea "I-did-a-conga-with-'Daddy'-during-GMTV's-Get-up-and-Give-week-in-1995" Turner), A Prince Charming (Anthony "I can make you feel good" Kavana, who is blooming sexy btw!), Man servant Dandini (the perfect Chris Nelson) and of course Cinderella's Dad Baron Hardup who had just returned with the ugly stepsisters from America and had a rather strong American accent... but then that could of been because he was being played by Mickey Rooney!



Another little side note, when I took my Spanish GCSE, one of the questions we had to prepare an answer for was who did we respect. My still memorised answer was;
"Me gusta el actor estadounidense Mickey Rooney, que jugó Mi Taylor en "National Velvet". Creo que es un actor maravilloso."
Which translates as;
"I like the American actor Mickey Rooney, who played Mi Taylor in "National Velvet". I think he is a wonderful actor."
I like to think that the reason I scored low on my GCSE Spanish oral exam was because my Teacher had no clue as to who I was talking about, and not because my Spanish accent was/is terrible.

Top Ender sat transfixed for the entire first act and could only be dragged away from her seat in the interval to visit the toilet on the condition that she could have an ice-cream when she returned, and that she wouldn't miss the second act! She found the whole spectacle to be an amazing experience and was delighted with the inclusion of the last song of the night High School Musicals "We're all in this Together". She thought the costumes to be divine (they were), the sets to be amazing (they were) and the jokes that didn't fly over her head (which I am so happy did the last thing I need is a repeat of the Sausage incident) to be laugh out loud funny.

Baby Boy stood for most of the first act, dancing along to the music, shouting at the appropriate times and chatting up the lady who was sat in front of him. If the lady who was sat in front of him is reading this, you made his night by chatting back before the show started and I really am sorry if you found popcorn in your hair when you went home. The majority of the second act was missed by Baby Boy as he went to sleep on my knee just before the Interval... only to awake in the Second act to shout "Boo, hiss" as we had rehearsed earlier in the day. The lady sitting next to me thought this was marvellous, especially as he snuggled back down and went to sleep again after.

Daddy was impressed that the writer Eric Potts (You know Diggory Compton the baker in Coronation Street) had written 14 of the Pantos being shown around the UK this year and found Bobby Davro's topical jokes (the ones that were luckily flying over Top Enders head) to be very amusing as well as finding out that Bobby Davro, beloved entertainer has a fantastic singing voice. We have both been doing impressions of him since we left the Theatre!



I found the whole production to be laugh out loud funny, and even the good natured heckles didn't phase the actors who just rolled them into the dialogue and giggled along with us at the slip of the tongues and odd mess up of lines. Two local cast members (who won a MK Got Talent style contest) made me proud to be from MK and the sponsorship by Robinsons (Remember Top Enders review of the Put on a Panto site?) caused a good giggle from the Adult Audience members when mentioned by The Ugly Sisters in an attempt to get the sponsorship projections turned off in the second act! There is no doubt that The Ugly Sisters and Bobby Davro were the Show stealers (and the ones involved in talking most to the Audience) although Louise Dearman's impression of Stacey from this years X Factor was hilarious!



As is usual there was a fair amount of audience participation and The Ugly Step-Sisters "picked" upon one female audience member who turned out to be a family friend (her two eldest daughters were two of my bridesmaids!) and she and her family ranging from 70 something to 7(ish) all enjoyed the show too, even though they were "picked" upon the whole evening and I have to mention because I know she reads this blog that we knew the female 70 year old something had a nice "Ooh and Aah" but its official now because Bobby Davro said so!

Cinderella is on at Milton Keynes Theatre Now until Daddy's Birthday, (otherwise known as The 17th January 2010) Tickets range between £17 and £29 depending on where you sit and of course when you go. So go and buy tickets now and tell them I sent you and that we are incredibly grateful for our tickets and we are looking forward to Jack and The Bean Stalk next year!

Of course the whole point of The Great Panto Review series and all the hard work being put into helping bloggers get the tickets for them and their families was to help children with cancer through the charity NACCPO. There is a target of £1,000 and we are asking those who can to support this by visiting the JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/Havealovelytime


And the last thought of the night came from Daddy who commented;

"Well honey, you might of gone to school with Louise Dearman, but you haven't got a signed photo of Anthea Turner now have you?"

He has me there, a signed photo of Anthea Turner is something I don't have... now where did I put that signed photo of Louise Dearman?

Christmas Celebrations Kick Off!

This weekend is going to be a busy one for us, as it really kicks off our Christmas celebrations.

Daddy is at work, but Top Ender, Baby Boy and I will be going to Top Enders Christmas fair this afternoon (its seems to be a tradition that Daddy is at work the day of the fair!) and then Top Ender is going to stay at Granny's for the night as she hasn't had a sleep over for some time!

Whilst Top Ender is at Granny's St Nicholas should come and leave sweets unless she has been naughty of course, in which case a tree branch is all that she will get. Of course if Baby Boy, Daddy and I have been good enough he will stop here too!

Sunday morning Top Ender is coming back over with Granny, Auntie, Cousin and Baby Cousin as we are all going to the Dobbies Christmas Breakfast with Santa. We went to the Easter breakfast with the Easter Bunny earlier this year and enjoyed ourselves so much we thought we should go to see Santa too.

After we have spent the morning with Santa we are going to come home for Hot Chocolate (with Whipped cream and marshmallows!) and some lunch before we head off to our Drive-Thru movie in the afternoon. I have brought a new Christmas CD to listen to in the car on our way to the Drive-Thru, and so there will be a lot of Carol Singing and classic Christmas songs!

We are going to have sandwiches, popcorn and chocolate and other snacks instead of a "proper" dinner whilst we are at the movies. I shall make up a big picnic for us all and make sure that I include lots of Christmas type foods and drinks. We are also going to set up a little playpen in the boot of the car for Baby Boy to play in, as we can fold one of the seats down so if he gets bored of the film he can have a play in the boot!

If we are then very lucky we should be going for a drive through London to see the Christmas Lights, but as it will be late we won't be going to the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park... we need to save something for another day!

So I wish everyone here a good weekend and hope you have as much fun as we plan to!

The Xmas Factor 2009

As I mentioned in my Let There be Lights post I did something silly at the turning on of the Towns Christmas lights. On the spur of the moment I entered The Xmas Factor, which was a little fun that was being had and included mostly children singing Christmas songs such as Jingle Bells and We Wish you a Merry Christmas.

I did say that if I could get the video I would post it for you all to watch/listen to and so I am posting this as quickly as I have been able to get it so that I don't lose my bottle and hide it away. I have tagged myself in it on Facebook, so if you are reading this as a note on Facebook, you can go hunt it down too.

And if you think I look distracted remember that I hadn't sung solo in public since 1998 and I keep waving to Baby Boy who is the baby you can hear crying.

Oh, and Top Ender is the little girl you can hear at the start who comments

"My Mum is definitely going to win the adults!"

She must be psychic!

Wordless Wednesday - Having Fun taking the photo for the Christmas card

Wordless Wednesday - My very own Cindy Lou Who

Frugal Christmas Food

Food at Christmas is a huge thing, it is all part of the celebration that we feel we need to have nuts and other snacks as well as the traditional Turkey and trimmings and that is just on Christmas day! On top of Christmas Day and New Years Eve there are the snacks at parties, during special seasonal events, when friends or relatives drop round and if you are like Daddy and me in the run up to Christmas too!

One way that I like to try to keep the cost down is by making most of my treats. Over the last few weeks I have been making biscuit and cookie dough and freezing them uncooked either in sausage shapes or in special cut shapes. All I need to do is to defrost the sausage shaped ones in the fridge over night and cut and cook the next day. The cut shapes I just cook from frozen!

I also like to make my own mince pies, you can keep them in the freezer until needed and either defrost them in the oven or microwave as you are about to eat them or again freeze them uncooked. The added benefit of mince pies is that you get a really lovely smell in you home as they cook or you defrost them too!

You don't need to buy everything fresh, despite what people say. Frozen Vegetables, frozen Turkey, frozen puddings are all acceptable if that is what you want. I have used a mix of frozen and fresh vegetables over the last eight years and I have never had a fresh Turkey, but have always brought a frozen one!



The benefit of frozen food for me is that I can buy food in advance of a big event that I know that we will want or will use when I see it reduced or on special offer. I can then put this item into the freezer and everything is fine when I then get it out for the meal and it cost less than I was budgeting for.



Christmas cakes aren't that expensive anymore, you can easily buy a good quality decorated cake (or if you prefer an undecorated cake that you can then decorate yourself). When you take into consideration the cost of the ingredients of making a cake from scratch it does normally work out a lot cheaper... unfortunatley with Daddy being a celiac and me not touching food with alcohol in it buying a Christmas cake suitable for us both is very expensive even with my thrifty searching the cheapest I have found is £15! This is why I am making a Christmas cake using value ingredients. I will also make a second small sponge cake for Top Ender as she isn't one for fruit cake. If your family is the same a sponge cake works out a lot cheaper than a fruit cake and you can still ice it in the same way!

Of course if you don't like Christmas Cake you can always make a mincemeat cake;

Grease and line an 8in round cake tin. Preheat oven to160 C.

Mix together 8oz self raising flour, 12oz sweet mincemeat, 3oz dried fruit mix, 3 eggs, 5oz soft margarine and 5oz soft brown sugar. Beat until well blended. Spoon into tin and sprinkle some brown sugar on top.

Bake for 1hr 15 minutes until well risen and firm to touch. Cool in tin for 5 minutes and then turn out on to rack.

Then you can ice it as you would a Christmas cake or just leave it. It tastes lovely and as you can use up the last of your mincemeat from the Mince pies it is being frugal too!

A shopping list of everything food wise that you need over the Christmas period, will save you a fortune. If you can make a meal plan of the food that you are going to eat you will know what you need to buy, and won't be worried that the shops are closed for a whole 24 hours and you don't have enough food. It also means that you can buy one or two items a week in the run up to Christmas and spread the cost.

I like to make a menu for Christmas Day with several choices for breakfast, starters and puddings. Then a week before Christmas I start to ask what everyone would like from the choices I have given. I can then add the missed choices into my menu plan for the rest of the Christmas Week. It means that I can make things work in my favour even if everyone does want a different breakfast on Christmas Morning!

The other benefit of a menu plan is you can pre-think what you are going to do with your leftovers. You might have bubble and squeak for tea on Christmas Day (or breakfast the next day!), you might have turkey and stuffing sandwiches for lunch on Boxing day or Turkey Curry on the 27th, but what ever you decide you can make sure you use up all that you have brought!



A lot of people I know have a traditional take away on Christmas Eve, we try to have one on New Years Eve. One thing that hardly anyone ever does is to ask for a discount on this, or at any time of the year to be honest! A lot of places offer a discount if you pick up your own meal or if you order over a certain amount of money... be cheeky and ask you'll never know until you ask!

The last thing I want to mention is not to be afraid to go into so called discount stores, or the Value Brands. Aldi, Lidl, Farmfoods, Netto and Poundland are all stores that I have been into buy food from and Tescos, Morrisons, Asda and Sainsburys all have good quality value ranges! Not one of them has ever failed me and this year Good House Keeping guide has done the hard work for you and have come up with a shopping list using value products for a full Christmas meal.



Well that is all that I can think of at the moment so I wish you a frugal Christmas and if you missed my previous frugal posts go take a look at my Christmas Gifts and the idea of being frugal post and whilst you are at it why not take a look at my Frugal Christmas Entertainment post whilst I wish you a frugal Christmas!

Frugal Christmas Entertainment

I don't know about you but when I was younger I always felt a little out of my friends conversations around Christmas time. It seemed to me that my friends parents spent hundreds of pounds more on my friends Christmas entertainment than my parents did on mine, they went to Pantos, to Lapland and other things that must of cost a fortune.

I often felt that my friends were being short changed however, because even though they had the most desirable places to go to I was always given what I wanted or needed I was given my parents time. I will have to ask my Mum, because looking back everything is slightly rose tinted and I know that it wasn't all Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows, but it certainly felt that way!

We did a lot of things over the Christmas period that cost next to nothing and to me is part of a frugal Christmas. So if you are time rich and money poor, I hope some of my ideas and traditions for Frugal Christmas Entertainment may become yours!

When I was little we use to go for Christmas Drives, hunting down the Rotary Club Santa. It was always printed in the paper, which area he would be in on which night, but my Sister and I didn't know that. As far as we knew we really were hunting for Santa. Top Ender has done this over the last few years and she adores looking for him, catching a glimpse and having to try to find him again. It is a good way to spend some time together, as long as you don't mind spending some petrol money or as long as you can all walk fast!

Starting in the first week of December we go on Christmas light hunts. We know of three or four areas, where the decorations outside the homes in the area are fantastic and so we love to drive around them and hunt for new ones!

Then of course there is our annual trip to see the Christmas Lights in London. We are lucky that we now have a Picasso with a giant sun roof, so that we can just look up and see the beautiful displays. This also works for us in our local town, as I think every town puts up some form of Holiday lighting these days!


For the last three years, Top Ender and I have gone to see the lights being turned on the Christmas tree in our local town square. It is really lovely and we enjoy the countdown before the lights are turned on. Our town council has made an effort to make it more enjoyable, with a small funfair and a light parade first.

Something we love to do is to turn the main lights off in our living room once our decorations are up, and either to just have the Christmas lights on or to light a few candles. Top Ender, Daddy and I have snuggled on the sofa just watching the twinkling lights for ages, Baby Boy tended to fall asleep, but then he was only seven months old!


Watching films is something that Top Ender and I do every week, we have a huge range to chose from and often watch one that I have recorded in the week on one of the kids TV Channels. Doing this with popcorn or some Christmas snacks (and with the lights off and just the Christmas lights on!) will just add the Christmas excitement!

One of my best memories was when Daddy and I were wrapping Christmas gifts listening to Christmas radio on the Internet and we heard a unique song that neither of us had heard before. I recommend that you don't listen to this if there are children around...

Lets just say that Daddy and I enjoyed that Christmas song and the wrapping of the gifts went a lot quicker that year...

Learning Christmas Carols as a family is great. Top Ender got the giggles a few years back when ever we sang "In the Bleak Mid-Winter". It took us ages to find out that she thought the line "Snow had fallen snow on snow" was the funniest thing she had heard! Even now when we sing it she will give us a knowing look at that line!

Christmas stories are plentiful and they might be classics ("Twas the Night before Christmas" anyone?) or new but they always bring a smile to someones face... especially if you are like Daddy and me and still think that Randy the Reindeer is a life choice rather than a name!

And of course you can always use the Great Robinson's website as reviewed by Top Ender here and put on a Panto!

Those are all that I can think of at the moment so I wish you a frugal Christmas and if you missed my post on Frugal Gift Ideas, go take a look here at my Christmas Gifts and the idea of being frugal post or at my Frugal Christmas Food post!