A LIFE WORTH LIVING....: Build up and Xmas 2010...

Saturday, 1 January 2011

Build up and Xmas 2010...

On the Thursday before Xmas we had plans to go out with Lisa and the kids, unfortunately a leak in her bathroom roof meant we had to cancel the planned outing.Still really keen to see them all we decided to take them sledging ( on a hill in the village just made for that purpose ) and then go back to theirs for hot chocolate before coming round to mine for lunch.That gave Lisa a chance to rang the insurers.

They had a wonderful game in the sun room - bringing down boxes of bratz and setting up a bratz world! Morgan (5) played happily alongside them with a box of fantasy figures Milly had brought down for him. He had great fun playing with some miniature spiderman/batman figures and Milly said he could keep them. We all took Beauty for a walk and then took them home on our way to a friends Xmas party - a tradition over the last few years .

Maria's Pixies party was great fun and Emily really enjoyed the fact that she was Maria's helper, looking out for the little ones during the games and at tea time ;-) I enjoyed chatting and drinking tea :-)

I had hoped to have had all the shopping and prep done before Xmas eve - didn't happen ;-)

However Alan and I worked together to get it all done on the morning .He went off shopping for food and to drop some presents off, whilst I tackled the housework.We were working towards sitting down together to watch Alice in wonderland at 2ish, before getting ready to visit a family friend to celebrate her sons birthday.It has become a family tradition and Xmas eve wouldn't seem the same without it :-)

Milly had a present to drop off for Amy and walked round to deliver it and ended up staying round at theirs for an hour.Milly said Morgan was happy to see her and gave her big cuddles - apparently he had fallen asleep clutching the toys she had given him .We really must make arrangements to see them more often and not wait til the next school holiday.

Instead of watching the film I decided to have a nice long bath and when Milly got back we left for the party a little earlier.

After Hazels Xmas eve party we had a very, very cold but enjoyable walk with Beauty.A cuppa and a rest before heading out to visit with some friends of my Sisters who had very kindly invited us along. Spent a very pleasant hour and a half there ( there were lots of children there but Milly was unsettled/excited and keen to get home ) before heading back to snuggle down and watch The sorcerer's Apprentice in our new Xmas PJ's. I always buy a film for Emily to open on Xmas eve and we all always have PJ's to open.

We settled down to sleep around 11.30.Much, much earlier than last year! I no longer had to hang around waiting til she went off to sleep!Milly knowing about Santa has made the build up quite a lot easier for her but she was still very excited;-) She still wanted to do the traditional things,like our Xmas eve walk to listen for the sleigh bells. Santa always leaves a snowy footprint on the fireplace and she wanted to do that once I had told her how I did it!. We did however forget to leave out the carrot, mince pie and sherry!

We have never set a time that Milly has to stay in bed until on Xmas morning,we have always accepted it would be early and that it is part of the excitement of the day.. A few years ago we decided instead to arrange our day to suit an early start.this year Milly brought up about what time she might get up,she wanted to know a time.We did set a limit - and after discussion all agreed - not before 5 ....

We had been busy during the day and thought ( hoped ) she would be tired and not likely to wake up early.

Alan set up the bag of presents from Santa and we all settled down to sleep...

5 o'clock and Milly woke us gently.... She had been awake since 4.00!

And so we began our Christmas day...

Skelanimal Tattoo's were a big hit!

Friends Box set - bought at a very good price from Morrisons on Xmas Eve - hours of fun to come..

A look of disbelief.Is this really what I think it is???

Is it? It is !!!

Oh my! It is so beautiful.An ipod touch:-)

Milly had been saving for a few months and had decided that any money she got for Xmas would go towards one.She also asked if we could save some of her xmas money and not buy any more gifts and put some towards it. Whilst I was researching them - so I knew what an ipod actually was! - what price they were etc - I saw a brilliant deal on Tesco direct. Alan and I decided to buy it ( to be reimbursed by Milly after Xmas ) instead of waiting til January.So glad we did!

So you think you know Lemony Snicket quiz book.

Manga, 20q, notebooks, DVD's, Beannie boo, Emily the Strange art book, and more...

Lemony Snicket autobiography.

Bath bombs, wooden chest to store special things in,nail-varnish,Phone (ipod) cover,Eclipse movie book,more Emily the strange merchandise,manga fairy shrinkles.A lot of lovely things from wonderfully generous friends and family.Set out near the tree where they stay for a week or so getting used and moved as the week goes by.

Milly asked me to take a shot of her writing in her new Emily the Strange locking journal, with new socks and nightie on and her new dressing gown nearby.The Lolo ball is always at her feet - its good to have something to jiggle when you like to move a lot ;-)

A leisurely morning ( Alan headed back to bed for an hour or so ) getting to know the ipod and checking out her presents,before getting ready to go to my Sisters for a late lunch.

Over the last few years we had tailored our Xmas days to take account of the early start and stayed at home, spending the day quietly.However after discussing it we were all keen to go to my sisters this year when they invited us.Alan and I had both hoped we would have a later start this year though ;-)

Got to my Sisters about 12.30 and around two o'clock a couple of Elves came along with wonderful glittery, sparkly, party head gear for us all to wear and the bubbly to go with the canapes and the party started!

A lovely family time, wonderfully hosted, with great food and good fun.

One drawback to such an early start is it can all fall apart later in the day :-) We all lasted quite well, but by early evening we were ready to head home and an early night set us back on track.

3 comments:

Classroomfree said...: Lovely to read Lynn, wishing you all the very best of everything in 2011 - you deserve it :)

Love to you all.
Jules x; 2 January 2011 at 10:43
Colleen Paeff said...: That sounds like a lovely day. I love the footprint on the hearth! What a great idea. :) I'll have to find out from Jerry if there are game apps they could play together if they both happen to be online. That would be cool.; 3 January 2011 at 15:58
K said...: Ah - another iPod victim!! Angel got one for xmas too, and has since been constantly attached to it :-) They are fun though, I'm thinking I'll need to get one for myself ;-)

Sending you lots of good wishes for 2011!
Kx; 3 January 2011 at 17:09

This is me.....

There comes a time when you have to stand up and shout: This is me damn it! I look the way I look, think the way I think, feel the way I feel, love the way I love! I am a whole complex package. Take me... or leave me. Accept me - or walk away! Do not try to make me feel like less of a person, just because I don't fit your idea of who I should be and don't try to change me to fit your mold. If I need to change, I alone will make that decision.When you are strong enough to love yourself 100%, good and bad - you will be amazed at the opportunities that life presents you.” Stacey Charter.

Why we Home educate

( Slightly edited from a blog post I did when we started out) In the end the actual decision to take Emily out only took a matter of days but before that it had been around a year and a half of talking about ti and reading books, Free range education by Terri Dowty, Educating your child at home by Jane Lowe and Alan Thomas were two that had a real impact for different reasons. Free range education has lots of examples of real life home educators and I think I can say that it was this one that convinced me the most that we could do it. We are two very average people ,neither of us left school with many qualifications, we went on to do quite well in our chosen professions and had no need to think about the education system at all until Emily came along.

I knew about home education and when Emily was born considered it as an optionbut always felt my lack of education would be a problem and that I wouldn't be capable of providing her with what she would need.Looking back with hindsight it is easy to see how wrong I was!!

School never really suited Emily......After the nursery year at a very highly rated, high achieving school we knew that particular School wasn't for us and took her out. We enrolled her in a lovely village school with only 70 children in the whole school .The ethos of the school was totally different, the children didn't wear uniforms and there was much more emphasis on the children being individuals.The head was a sensitive and principled man who wanted the best for the children. We thought we had struck gold.Over the reception and year 1 Emily gained confidence and really started to bloom. It was at this time she was diagnosed with dyspraxia( we had had to go down the diagnosis route as our observations of Emily's difficulties were not enough to enable the teachers to tailor things so she was helped and given less work in class) but she managed quite well in the more relaxed play orientated early years.Year 2 with more emphasis on academic activities got progressively harder for her. She is very sensitive and it wasn't just the academic side it was the embarassment of having to put her hand up for the toilet,seeing others being told off and worrying in case she did something wrong and got the same treatment, panicking because she couldn't do the work and the teacher never had time to sit with her (alot of this did not come out until she had left school) her behaviour at home became worse and worse she was so angry and obviously stressed . At this time we began to seriously consider taking her out but held back because of my lack of confidence in my ability to provide her with an adequate education ,my health being so poor was also a major stumbling block.

Then in year three it became blatantly obvious that something needed to change .She was struggling on all levels and we couldn't allow the school system to damage our daughter anymore.She became ill with a bug that was doing the rounds and she was off for two weeks , during that time I had a conversation with a friend who home educates her two children and I was so upset I couldn't make a decision and she said just go with whats in your heart and that really helped me to shift my thinking and stop worrying about what I couldn't give her and focus on what I could give her.

We never sent her back.I still get emotional when I think of that time , the look on Emily's face when we told her she would never have to go back to school was priceless,the immense sense of relief that we were off the treadmill of school life and the excitement of the time ahead and to be honest the fear of the unknown......

So here we are four years on and a lot of reading and researching later I feel comfortable with what we are doing . The changes that have happened so far have been helped along the way by the many wonderful blogs out there.They are so varied and there are so many different approaches , I have found ones that I can identify with and have read a lot of archive material that has been written in each and found answers to so many of the questions I have had that they have helped me to sort out what will work best for us .As much as I wish we had done this earlier and saved Emily from the distress that she went through I do believe things happen for a reason and that the time was right for us to take her out and that looking on the bright side one of the benefits is that at least she has had a taste of school and now we all know without a doubt that it is not for us !!!!

It is very liberating to be making decisions based on what works best for us as a family and not what society expects.

Let your child be a child.

No child was ever spoiled by too much love.

Be authentic with your child.

Listen openly to your child’s needs.

Believe in your child’s good intentions.

Find the humour.

Look past the behaviour… what is your child feeling?

Have fun with your child today!

“There is no reason why we cannot say ‘No’ to children in just as kind a way as we say ‘Yes’.” - John Holt

“Play is really the work of childhood.” - Fred Rogers

“The best way to make children good is to make them happy.” - Oscar Wilde

Children thrive in a peaceful and loving environment.

A child needs love most when things go wrong.

Children reflect the treatment they receive.

A few qoutes I like....

Life shouldn't be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in, broadside, thouroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly shouting, 'WOW'.... Beth Moore

The perpetual testing of public school children is like a gardener constantly pulling his plants up by the roots to see if they are growing....(unknown)

Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instuction...Helen Kellers teacher

I hear and I forget I see and I remember I do and I understand...Confusious