I hope you all managed to get through Christmas and New Year. I know for some it is a difficult time of year and for others a favourite time of year. My Christmas has been a very full one with lots of time spent with my children and their families. It started the weekend before Christmas with No 3 heavily pregnant staying the weekend - as she had been ill and the pregnancy being rather difficult. They left Monday and come Tuesday evening different parts of the family started arriving. It was No 4 and his new wife. It was soooo lovely to have some time together before other family arrived. We do not get to see them so often because of where they live. We had some time to make some decorations for the Christmas pudding and enjoy a special quiet time together. Christmas Eve was last day of work and the day when more family arrived - including the baby twins. What seemed to be a large house suddenly starting shrinking as we all crammed into each room. Christmas Eve Mr P and I attended a midnight communion service. This for me is the highlight of Christmas. All the shopping has been done, food prepared, presents wrapped, rooms ready for visitors and now time to truly contemplate what Christmas is all about. We love to find a village Anglican church with bells, choir, candles, nativity scene etc etc. We turned up at one local church and the lights were on full, no choir and so we made a hasty retreat! Daft probably but being free church it's just so lovely to go and join the Anglicans in what I think they do best. Christmas morning and the babies started opening a few presents but they are still not old enough to understand what is happening. In fact it took days for them to get through their presents as they got side tracked and required food or a nap! I guess it will be different next year!
The twins were rather poorly and Christmas night was rather traumatic with them not sleeping well and the other baby being disturbed as he was not feeling too good either. Midnight saw us all moving cots around, son in law staying up till 4am to check that his son did stay asleep. Next morning Mr P and I had to be up as No 1 and hubby were flying in from Belfast at 8am to Birmingham airport. Also my dad was coming over to join in with the celebrations. As Mr P drove I did my best to convert the living room into some sort of normality after bodies had been sleeping everywhere. Needless to say some people did not get up till later on that morning due to lack of sleep. Amazingly it all got sorted and looked as if we had all had a good night! After lunch my No 4 son and wife had to leave in order to spend some time with her parents in Leeds. We were all sad to see them go but grateful to have had some time together.
The twins amaze me with their ability to lift their legs and feet up. According to my son and daughter in law they sometimes have to remove the girls feet from their mouths in order to feed them - oh to be so supple!
Now Rowan needs no persuasion to eat unless he is ill and there was one day when he turned food down! He has started to interact with his cousins and it is so lovely to watch. I cannot wait to see them all grow up together and hopefully become special mates. At the moment he is winning with having first go on the slide but I think his cousins will soon be making it very clear that they too want to be first on the slide!
Here he is wearing a gnome hat that the twin mummy knitted - I have NO idea when she found time to make this?!
Uh oh looks as if one of the girlies is up to mischief! The days flew by and very soon Saturday arrived and it was time to pack up and say goodbye. For Mr P and I we tried to pack in order to head up north to our home in Northumberland. It was really difficult to pack with everyone else trying to pack their stuff up to! I discovered I only packed one jumper once I arrived up north! This time we head up north not alone but with No 1 and hubby. It was so lovely to have time with them. In fact I'd go as far as to say that this was probably the first time we have ever spent days together without other parts of the family being there too.
Sunday we headed out to Holy Island. It was sunny but bitterly cold and here I am all wrapped up with my layers!
The light here is so clear, I guess there is very little polution.
Now I am going to skip through the week, otherwise you'll all be asleep, that's if you're not already!
Monday we needed to get some food and so we headed to Berwick. We were furious as our favourite coffee shops was closed! Guess it's that time of year when some places open up and others take a, I'm sure, a well earned break. Tuesday we headed off to St Cuthbert's cave. This is somewhere that No 1's hubby had never been to and had heard so much of us talking about it.
As you can see we are all wrapped up again! Back in Leicestershire there is snow but up north just very cold.
When our children were small we would come and bring a picnic, sometimes a makeshift BBQ, and they would play hide and seek behind these rocks and in the bracken. This place brings back so many happy memories.
I love seeing wild mushrooms - daren't forage as I would probably poison us all!
This was the view that she was getting excited about.
Wednesday started the day with Mr P not having slept the night. He became ill with what appeared to be a cold but was rather nastier than that. So he had to spend the whole day in bed! This is something he has not done for about 30 years! He only got up to make a drink or visit the bathroom! Totally unheard of. Poor No 1 went around with her neck wrapped up in a scarf and keeping it very still. We decided to visit Alnwick and mooch around the shops - so no pictures I'm afraid. Thursday was a rather sad day with packing up as my daugher and son in law had to be driven to Newcastle airport to head back to Belfast. Then I had to drive back up north to drop my husband off at Berwick train station. He needed to be back in Leicester as the next day he needed to conduct a funeral for a lady who was very much loved and thought of highly at the church.
Now I think I have bored you enough with my ramblings. I'll finish off my last few days in Northumberland in a few days time - when I have had a chance to enjoy them.
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