…ok, so there’s no chestnuts (yet) and no roasting (yet) but we can do the open fire, and THANK GOODNESS because it’s come to the rescue twice in as many months!

First, the power went off about a month or so ago in the high winds and although the water is heated by the boiler, which is fired by oil, the  pumps run on electricity so when it goes off we lose everything.

So the Bear missed out on a bath and it looked as if we were going to be without power for the duration.  My mum wasn’t affected so Simon beetled off over there armed with a flask or two so that there was hot water to make milk for Edward and perhaps a cup of coffee in the morning if it still wasn’t back on.

Edward couldn’t wait for his bedtime milk so I put some water in a pan and held it in the fire for a minute or so – I must confess to wondering how many other people had cooked/heated things in that fireplace over the 400+ years that this house has stood for; I felt very historic.

The second time our lovely open fire came to the rescue was on Monday and Tuesday this week.  I woke up and thought I could smell oil, but I was half asleep and decided that I was imagining it.  When we actually got up, the house was freezing and there was almost over-powering smell of oil pervading the house – the boiler was kaput!

We called Ruth (she’s our point of contact within the Drayton Estate) and she, in turn, got onto the plumber and the earliest he could come out was Tuesday afternoon.  So we lit the fire in the morning and had it blazing and crackling until at least 9pm that evening, followed by a repeat performance the next day.

What else has been happening – LOTS!

Edward has become partial to a bit of dog training, he’s a bit of a one-trick pony at the moment though.  If the dogs are being particularly noisy or boisterous behind the gate, Edward goes to the gate, throws his hand out and shouts, “SHUP!  Bad bob!”  Then he turns round looking pleased as punch and every inch as though he is control.

Crawling is pretty much a thing of the past now.  Since my birthday, when he finally decided that walking was definitely the way to go, he has become increasingly confident and even breaks into the odd run here and there.  Being up on two legs also opens the way for JUMPING and BOUNCING on the sofas amid much squealing and laughter.

In the absence of being able to articulate, “Will you get out of bed now and get up please!” Edward has developed his own unique way of communicating this wish.  He slides off our bed (where we’ve been sharing early morning cuddles, or more often where he’s been poking Simon in the eyes and up the nose whilst shouting, “DAAAD!!”) and goes and gets our slippers and throws them on the bed – impossible to argue with because it’s so CUTE!

Jack and Ellie are still going great-guns at school.  Ellie got her silver award the other week and is well on her way to a gold award.  Jack has his bronze award and has a few merits to go before he gets a silver one.  Ellie also took part in the ‘Christmas Cake’ lunchtime club and her cake is currently on display in school.

I won’t even bother you with the MADNESS that is Internet Explorer rendering issues – suffice to say that it really shouldn’t be so bloody difficult to line up four buttons on a web page!!

And so we rapidly face the dawn of Christmas Day and all the pre- and post-festivities that go with it.  I adore Christmas.  I still remember the excitement of Christmas Eve and going to my Grandma and Gramps’ in the evening, the journey home counting how many Christmas trees you could see in peoples’ windows.  The feeling of anticipation going downstairs and hoping that Father Christmas had left presents and the feeling of REALLY believing that he’d been in the house and stacked all the gifts under the tree.  It’s just magical.

So I kicked off Christmas gifts early for Simon by ‘giving’ him a little surprise present this morning – I arranged for a special crimbo message to be displayed on the HUGE Coca-Cola sign in Picadilly Circus.  If we were a child and dog free couple then I would have whisked him off down to London so that we could go and see it ‘in the real’ but it was just as special watching it over a live feed instead.

I am quite excited about the presents we are giving this year – some of them have been quite a long time in the ‘making’ and there were times when it seemed that we might not be able to pull them off, but they are here!  HURRAH!

The house is looking particularly festive this year I think and I bought a couple of special little ornaments for the tree.  I did have visions of Edward trashing the tree but he’s only been interested in jangling the two little bells, other than that he just likes to point at it and say, “Ee.”  Even the dogs have left it alone this year – amazing.

It’s the start of the Strictly Come Dancing semi-final in 5 minutes and I have cheesy dumplings to make, so I will leave you with some pictures -one of Cypher (that I took ages ago but only recently got round to working on), a couple of Edward (one with Jack whom is disgustingly photogenic) and a few festive ones, shot especially for Niki