Saturday 28 November 2015

Charity, birthdays and a performance

See this heavenly festive jug?


This splendid Father Christmas is a 1950's vintage Bird's Eye custard jug. My parents have an identical one passed down from my sadly departed grandparents, which ONLY comes out at Christmas.
And guess what?! I have picked up an identical one from the Scope charity shop for £1.50. I can't tell you how excited I was when I unearthed it. I have always loved this little Toby jug since I was a young child.

He was, I believe, a limited edition Toby jug and my father can remember going shopping with his mother and buying the jug in Woolworths at a very young age. I have seen copious amounts of custard poured from the top of his jolly head. Cream for our mince pies and Christmas pudding. Possibly a cheeky beer once as a teenager, which was guzzled straight from Santa's bonce, but I won't linger on that in case my parents read this. It is a treasured jug.


You can keep your Black Friday shenanigans, spending very little but giving something back at the same time is where I am still at. Keeping things out of landfill, being grateful for small things, re-loving items that others no longer like. It makes me happy.

This is something else that keeps me happy; reading Christmassy books to the biggest bookworm I know. She will be two in three weeks time, I can't quite believe it.


It wasn't so long ago that she looked like this:


She has been the most precious, unexpected gift to us and brings us masses of joy daily. She slots in well and the other two love her to bits. It's kind of hard not to.

In other news, the Princess has turned 12. How?!


She was also a very beautiful baby;


Her birth was hideous and traumatic and we still count our lucky stars that she is with us. 


Christmas is rushing closer and I am feeling a little stressed. Nowhere NEAR completing my Christmas shopping, I have written many Christmas cards but not addressed them. Not planned much at all. It isn't helped by Sweet Child turning two on December 23. Eek.

And on a final note, the Prince came rushing out of school the other day and proudly announced he is a leopard in the school nativity play. A leopard, I thought to myself. Why do schools have to make it so complicated for parents? Why an exotic animal? Hardly festive is it? How on earth would I source a costume? I can't sew. I lack imagination when put under pressure. I can't exactly Bet Lynch him up in a leopardprint catsuit, although it would have made a great laugh on his 18th birthday in terms of photos.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "Are you definitely going to be a leopard?"

He nodded vigorously.

"Definitely a leopard."

So I stressed silently within and unpacked his school bag once we got home.

I found the letter containing details about the nativity play.

And of course, he is going to be.....a shepherd.

#defleppard


(I got this book from a charity shop recently too!)

13 comments:

Kylie said...

Ha-Ha!
It's nice to see you still writing here Gem x

faith76 said...

Lol kids are fantastic! I love the story about the leopard, it made me smile xxx Love your christmas find, he is a very jolly father christmas x

Anonymous said...

Always lovely to read a post from you. How time does fly though. Two?! She is lovely though. Enjoying books together is one of the things to treasure, it's such a companionable and fun thing to do. Hours of it I used to do, and loved every second. I agree with you about spending. I think it is about filling a vacuum for some people. But it doesn't really work. Enjoy your Santa jug!

Michelle said...

Wow, Sweet Child looks soooo grown up in that photo! We had a second birthday a few weeks ago, couldn't believe how quickly it came around!

Love the Leopard story ;-)

xx

Charis said...

Ha ha, bless him, a leopard! I wonder if a shepherd has ever been seeing rocking the leopard print before... ;)

kmmms said...

A LEOPARD?! That's amazing! Just wonderful! Almost as good as me being the desert wind once. This year Brooke is an old man and Taya is a CLOUD! I had fun making the cloud costume though. How brilliant, I love Noah.

All 3 of your kids are beauties, just stunning, but I do especially love that latest pic of Rose with the book. Adorable. xxx

Julia said...

Oh Gem, you knew how to cheer up a dull gloomy day! Loved your post from start to finish. Can't believe Sweet Child is nearly two, that has just flown by, she looks so grown up! I did chuckle at the leopard story, I was looking forward to seeing what costume you came up with! xx

Gem said...

Hahahaha oh how funny, can you imagine if you had of sent him in dressed as a leopard, oh bless him.
x x x

sandiart said...

Two!! ahhh, Happy Birthday gorgeous girl, cannot believe how quick two years have flown. Hope you had a lovely Christmas, wishing you all a wonderful 2016 xxx

Lakota [Faith Hope and Charity Shopping] said...

Haha, bless him, love the leopard story! Bet you were secretly disappointed that you didn't get to dress him up like Kat Slater.
x

m said...

Hi Gemma :-) How are you all doing now that Christmas (and the leopard eeeh shepherd outfit) is a distant memory? Are you experiencing any of the awful weather that seems to have hit England this winter? I hope you're all alright! We've moved from Istanbul, but I continue to follow your blog from Switzerland! Sending you lots of virtual Swiss chocolate :-) many greetings, M

sandiart said...

Hi {waving} miss your writings, hope all is well xxx

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