I can hardly believe it is the last day of 2008 - this year has seemed to go so quickly.
The last week since Christmas has been unbelievably quick - I still haven't uploaded any photos yet! We had a lovely Christmas Day and have been enjoyed playing the games on the new Wii that the boys got - some more successfully than others!
We have a quiet New Year planned - although Andrew is determined to stay up to see the New Year in - we will see if he manages it!
My word for this year was Positive and I have certainly finished the year feeling a lot more positive about many things than I was at the start. Some things have not worked out the way we thought they would this year, but we have trusted in God and in His plans for our lives. There have been lots of positive things happened this year as well, for which I have been thankful.
My word for 2009 - I'm still working on that - watch this space!
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Wednesday, 24 December 2008
Merry Christmas
No I haven't disappeared totally off the face of the earth - it just feels a bit like it! I really don't know where the month has gone to. We have all had the dreaded cold/flu lurgy over the past couple of weeks. I think it might even be going round us all again - I was at the docs today with a sore throat and John has been in bed all day feeling sick. I have not even had time to do any more of my Christmas Journal, but I do intend to get it up to date sometime with the poems that the boys had each day.
Tomorrow might not be the Christmas Day we had intended or hoped for, but I am sure we will enjoy it nonetheless.
I wish anyone who reads this blog a happy and blessed Christmas Day.
Tomorrow might not be the Christmas Day we had intended or hoped for, but I am sure we will enjoy it nonetheless.
I wish anyone who reads this blog a happy and blessed Christmas Day.
Monday, 15 December 2008
Results
I got the results in from my OU course: Religion, Tradition Modernity and Change and I am so chuffed - I got a Grade 2 Pass. I am feeling really happy today! I start my next course: Living in a Globalised World at the beginning of February, so it will soon be back to the books!
Sunday, 14 December 2008
Advent 10 & 11
Yes I know I'm a bit late putting these pages up. I did actually do them on the right days just never got round to uploading them. Day 10 prompt was about wrapping paper, or paper in general, Gordon brought home our copy of the Radio Times today, which he only every buys at Christmas -so of course I just had to do my page on that.
The poem is The Time Draws Near by Alfred Lord Tennyson
The time draws near the birth of Christ:
The moon is hid; the night is still;
The Christmas bells from hill to hill
Answer each other in the mist.
Four voices of four hamlets round,
From far and near, on mead and moor,
Swell out and fail, as if a door
Were shut between me and the sound:
Each voice four changes on the wind,
That now dilate, and new decrease,
Peace and goodwill, goodwill and peace,
Pease and goodwill, to all mankind.
Day 11 prompt was about Christmas trees, I will add a photo when I get round to taking it!
The poem was: I Can't Wait for Christmas
I can't wait for Christmas
Only 125 more days t go
I hope we're going to Granny's this year
And I hope it's going to snow!
I can't wait for Christmas
Only 68 more days to go
I've made my list from the Argos catalogue
What more do they need to know!
I can't wait for Christmas
Only 24 more days to go
We've put up the decorations
Including the mistletoe!
I can't wait for Christmas
Only 1 more day to go
I bet I can't sleep at all tonight
'Cos it's Christmas day tomorrow!
I can't wait for Christmas
Only 365 more days to go.
I know it's a long time to wait
But I do love Christmas so!
I am now only 3 days behind, but it has been a busy weekend. Yesterday was JAM for primary aged children, it went well and we had a bit of a party. Then last night Andrew was up sick, but seems better today.
Only one more week to go before the schools stop - eeek there seems so much still to do!!!
The poem is The Time Draws Near by Alfred Lord Tennyson
The time draws near the birth of Christ:
The moon is hid; the night is still;
The Christmas bells from hill to hill
Answer each other in the mist.
Four voices of four hamlets round,
From far and near, on mead and moor,
Swell out and fail, as if a door
Were shut between me and the sound:
Each voice four changes on the wind,
That now dilate, and new decrease,
Peace and goodwill, goodwill and peace,
Pease and goodwill, to all mankind.
Day 11 prompt was about Christmas trees, I will add a photo when I get round to taking it!
The poem was: I Can't Wait for Christmas
I can't wait for Christmas
Only 125 more days t go
I hope we're going to Granny's this year
And I hope it's going to snow!
I can't wait for Christmas
Only 68 more days to go
I've made my list from the Argos catalogue
What more do they need to know!
I can't wait for Christmas
Only 24 more days to go
We've put up the decorations
Including the mistletoe!
I can't wait for Christmas
Only 1 more day to go
I bet I can't sleep at all tonight
'Cos it's Christmas day tomorrow!
I can't wait for Christmas
Only 365 more days to go.
I know it's a long time to wait
But I do love Christmas so!
I am now only 3 days behind, but it has been a busy weekend. Yesterday was JAM for primary aged children, it went well and we had a bit of a party. Then last night Andrew was up sick, but seems better today.
Only one more week to go before the schools stop - eeek there seems so much still to do!!!
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
Advent Day 9
Todays Poem - Christmas Bells by John Clare
The singing waits, a merry throng,
At early morn with simple skill,
Yet imitate the angel's song
And chant their Christmas ditty still;
And, mid the storm that dies and swells
By fits, in hummings softly steals
The music of the village bells,
Ringing round their merry peals.
Todays prompt by Shimelle was about Traditions. I like that my Christmas is a mixture of things that have always been and some things that are new. We have always hung up a stocking on Christmas Eve - that includes everyone, even the adults. Santa still puts an apple and an orange in the adults stocking - but not the boys!!!! Since we got married my husband always buys me a Poinsetta plant for Christmas. Some things - like doing this journal are newer traditions. I wonder what my children will remember as traditions and want to carry on when they are adults.
The singing waits, a merry throng,
At early morn with simple skill,
Yet imitate the angel's song
And chant their Christmas ditty still;
And, mid the storm that dies and swells
By fits, in hummings softly steals
The music of the village bells,
Ringing round their merry peals.
Todays prompt by Shimelle was about Traditions. I like that my Christmas is a mixture of things that have always been and some things that are new. We have always hung up a stocking on Christmas Eve - that includes everyone, even the adults. Santa still puts an apple and an orange in the adults stocking - but not the boys!!!! Since we got married my husband always buys me a Poinsetta plant for Christmas. Some things - like doing this journal are newer traditions. I wonder what my children will remember as traditions and want to carry on when they are adults.Monday, 8 December 2008
All caught up now - part 1
I have done lots of scrapping today and have managed to get up to date with Journal Your Christmas.
Each day I am sticking in the poem that the boys get in their Advent calendar and also adding something else, using Shimelle's prompts as starters, but sometimes changing them.
Chubby Snowman
Todays poem - Chubby Snowman
There was a chubby snowman
And he had a carrot nose
Along came a bunny
And what do you suppose
The hungry little bunny
Was looking for his lunch
He grabbed that snowman's carrot nose
NIBBLE! NIBBLE! CRUNCH!
The boys liked this one. I have finally started on my Journal Your Christmas - am up to day 6 at the moment, determined to get up to date by tonight - and take photos to upload.
There was a chubby snowman
And he had a carrot nose
Along came a bunny
And what do you suppose
The hungry little bunny
Was looking for his lunch
He grabbed that snowman's carrot nose
NIBBLE! NIBBLE! CRUNCH!
The boys liked this one. I have finally started on my Journal Your Christmas - am up to day 6 at the moment, determined to get up to date by tonight - and take photos to upload.
And the rest...
Day 6 Poem is a riddle for you to solve
My first is in icing, mincemeat and spice
My second's in sherry and there appears twice
My third lies in brandy but not wine or beer
And my fourth is in socks which my dad gets each year
My fifth hides in stocking which hangs by your bed
My sixth's seen in present and also in sled
My last's found in robin and also in tree
I help to make Christmas but what could I be?
Day 7 - The Shepherd's Story
Snow.
Just as it was growing dark - snow.
Soft, flakes fell
White and glossy
Thick as swans' feathers
Slowly, slowly,
Until the world was put to bed
Under this white quilt
Slowly slowly drifting
Into sleep....
Then. In that silence
The sky was suddenly alive
With angels bright as fire
Their wings burning with such golden light
Their songs like thunder and like ice
Like bells and like the deep and sonorous sea.
Their message stranger
Than any other I have heard.
"God is born", they said
"The God who spoke and shaped the world
The stars, the universes
And the soft black deeps of space
Is born"
There on that hillside
In that snow
I heard them say it
Then just as quickly they were gone
The sky was dark again
No echo lingered
Nothing.
But the white white snow
The secret white white snow
Nothing has even been a greater mystery
Than that night
With angels. Snow.
A million different kinds of light
I knew then that the world is not an ordinary place
When heaven shone from one small baby's face.
My first is in icing, mincemeat and spice
My second's in sherry and there appears twice
My third lies in brandy but not wine or beer
And my fourth is in socks which my dad gets each year
My fifth hides in stocking which hangs by your bed
My sixth's seen in present and also in sled
My last's found in robin and also in tree
I help to make Christmas but what could I be?
Day 7 - The Shepherd's Story
Snow.
Just as it was growing dark - snow.
Soft, flakes fell
White and glossy
Thick as swans' feathers
Slowly, slowly,
Until the world was put to bed
Under this white quilt
Slowly slowly drifting
Into sleep....
Then. In that silence
The sky was suddenly alive
With angels bright as fire
Their wings burning with such golden light
Their songs like thunder and like ice
Like bells and like the deep and sonorous sea.
Their message stranger
Than any other I have heard.
"God is born", they said
"The God who spoke and shaped the world
The stars, the universes
And the soft black deeps of space
Is born"
There on that hillside
In that snow
I heard them say it
Then just as quickly they were gone
The sky was dark again
No echo lingered
Nothing.
But the white white snow
The secret white white snow
Nothing has even been a greater mystery
Than that night
With angels. Snow.
A million different kinds of light
I knew then that the world is not an ordinary place
When heaven shone from one small baby's face.
Catch Up on Poems
I've been in bed with a horrible cold for the last few days, feeling a bit better today but my throat is now sore! I think my lovely son gave me the cold - he was off school last week too - isnt he kind!!!
Anyway thought I'd better post a couple of the poems that the boys have had in the Advent Calendar.
Day 4 - The Christmas Tree
Of all the trees in the woods and fields
There's none like the Christmas tree;
Tho' rich and rare is the fruit he yields,
The strangest of trees is he.
Some drink their fill from the shower or rill;
No cooling draught needs he;
Some bend and break when the stroms awak,
But they reach not the Christmas tree.
When wintry winds thro' the forests sweep,
And snow robes the leafless limb;
When cold and still is the ice-bound deep,
O this is the time for him.
Beneath the dome of the sunny home,
He stands with all his charms;
'Mid laugh and song from the youthful throng,
As they gaze on his fruitful arms.
There's golden fruit on the Christmas tree,
And gems for the fait and gay;
The lettered page for the mind bears he.
And robes for the wintry day.
And there are toys for the girls and boys;
And eyes that years bedim
Grow strangely bright, with a youthful light,
As they pluck from the pendant limb.
Day 5 - When Santa Claus COmes
A good time is coming, I wish it were here,
The very best time in the whole of the year;
I'm counting each day on my fingers and thumbs -
the weeks that must pass before Santa Claus comes.
Then when the first snowflakes begin to come down,
And the wind whistles sharp and the branches are brown,
I'll not mind the cold, though my fingers it numbs,
For it brings the time nearer when Santa Claus comes.
I'll be back later to catch up with the rest.
Anyway thought I'd better post a couple of the poems that the boys have had in the Advent Calendar.
Day 4 - The Christmas Tree
Of all the trees in the woods and fields
There's none like the Christmas tree;
Tho' rich and rare is the fruit he yields,
The strangest of trees is he.
Some drink their fill from the shower or rill;
No cooling draught needs he;
Some bend and break when the stroms awak,
But they reach not the Christmas tree.
When wintry winds thro' the forests sweep,
And snow robes the leafless limb;
When cold and still is the ice-bound deep,
O this is the time for him.
Beneath the dome of the sunny home,
He stands with all his charms;
'Mid laugh and song from the youthful throng,
As they gaze on his fruitful arms.
There's golden fruit on the Christmas tree,
And gems for the fait and gay;
The lettered page for the mind bears he.
And robes for the wintry day.
And there are toys for the girls and boys;
And eyes that years bedim
Grow strangely bright, with a youthful light,
As they pluck from the pendant limb.
Day 5 - When Santa Claus COmes
A good time is coming, I wish it were here,
The very best time in the whole of the year;
I'm counting each day on my fingers and thumbs -
the weeks that must pass before Santa Claus comes.
Then when the first snowflakes begin to come down,
And the wind whistles sharp and the branches are brown,
I'll not mind the cold, though my fingers it numbs,
For it brings the time nearer when Santa Claus comes.
I'll be back later to catch up with the rest.
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
Advent 3 Poem
The poem for today was:
S stands for stockings we hang up so high.
A is for all we get if dont't cry.
N is for nobody he will pass by
T is for tomorrow, the day we eat pie.
A stands for at last old Santa is nigh.
C for the children who love him so well.
L for the little girl, his name she can spell.
A stands for apples so rosy and red.
U is for us as we wait for his sled.
S stands for Santa Claus, who comes in the night
when we are tucked up in bed with our eyes closed so tight.
I went to do some Christmas shopping today and now I remember why I like on-line shopping so much. I couldnt find anything inspirational and I got tired and cold!
S stands for stockings we hang up so high.
A is for all we get if dont't cry.
N is for nobody he will pass by
T is for tomorrow, the day we eat pie.
A stands for at last old Santa is nigh.
C for the children who love him so well.
L for the little girl, his name she can spell.
A stands for apples so rosy and red.
U is for us as we wait for his sled.
S stands for Santa Claus, who comes in the night
when we are tucked up in bed with our eyes closed so tight.
I went to do some Christmas shopping today and now I remember why I like on-line shopping so much. I couldnt find anything inspirational and I got tired and cold!
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Advent
Yesterday was the start of Advent and we all started our Advent Calendars, the boys have got their usual chocolate ones, plus a couple of others. This year my Mum knitted this Advent Tree, which she saw in a magazine, and we have knitted/felted/sewed 24 items to hang on it. The idea is that each day the boys can hang a different ornament on and the tree gets decorated. So far they think this is great idea.
Last year I decorated an Advent Box with lots of drawers from B&Q and put in different activities - well this year I have put a poem in for each day (along with a chocolate each). The boys are quite liking this idea as well.
Day One Poem was:
O, Merry Be, Both One and All
O, merry be, both one and all
This festive Christmas season
Let stockings have from every wall
With joyful hope and reason
As family and friends do call
May company be pleasing
And let the snowflakes gently fall
This festive Christmas season.
O, celebrate in revelry
Now Yuletide has begun
Sing carols’ holy melody
The Virgin Mary’s son
And look ahead at what’s to be
And what is yet to come
‘Tis a time of mystery
Now Yuletide has begun
Saint Nicholas attired in red
Now Christmastime is here
With reindeers seven before his sled
This one night of the year
All children good tucked up in bed
Dreams of gifts that cheer
So onward let us all be led
Now Christmastime is here
God bless all merry gentlefolk
It’s Christmas! Let us shout!
Uncork the wine and laugh and joke
Let love and joy ring out
Sing on until our voices croak
While snow be round about
May sleigh day dreams be filled with hope
It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas!
IT’S CHRISTMAS! Let us shout!
Neville Ambrose Xavier
Todays poem was:
The Christmas Pudding
Into the basin
put the plums,
Stir-about, stir-about,
stir-about!
Next the good
white flour comes,
Stir-about, stir-about
stir about!
Sugar and peel
and eggs and spice,
Stir-about, stir-about
stir-about!
Mix them and fix them
and cook them twice
Stir-about, stir-about
stir-about!
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