Christmas Club 3 x

I apologise for this post being a day late but Blogger automatic posting failed :(

So welcome to week 3 of Sian's meme Christmas Club. Hope you are all loving the wonderful stories shared so far.

Todays story was inspired by Abi who reminded me from her story last week of some of the special times I have spent with my dad at Christmas time.

As many of you well know, I am a Christmas baby, not Christmas Day but Eve. Every year as a child I had to have my birthday parties days in advance as people were going off to relatives for Christmas so I although I was very lucky to have a party I felt my birthday wasn't the same as everyone elses.

Thankfully my parents had a cunning plan and my dad and I would go off on my birthday to the local cinema to see a film together. Looking back, I imagine it was also to give my mum time to get sorted for Christmas Day and also look after my baby sister and maybe have a quiet minute to herself.

Anyway, I can remember getting in the car all wrapped up warm and my dad driving us to Christchurch, our local cinema, to go the pictures. Driving to Christchurch was always lovely because you went through bits of the New Forest and also suburban areas where trees twinkled in the windows and as you came into Christchurch itself the town was decorated with lights up above us to celebrate Christmas.

I would hold hands with my dad as we walked into the cinema and he would buy the tickets to the film. There was only ever one choice as far as I remember and we would take our seats. Mum would send us off with a small bag of sweeties to eat and we would wait for the film to begin.

I remember the seats were soft and red and how the big curtain would open when the film started. It was always a Disney film as I think in those days they released them every Christmas. I vividly remember watching Mowgli dancing with bears, elephants and naughty monkeys,

singing along to the songs and even watching a Disney princess sing along while she did the housework, made 7 dwarfs dinner and eventually met her handsome prince.

But what I most remember is being with my dad on the way home and singing the songs together even if we didn't remember the words.

I hope you have special things you do together with your family at Christmas xx

Christmas Club - 2 x

Wow it's time for another edition of Christmas club with the lovely Sian. Every Sunday until Xmas, we are joining in by telling tales of Xmas past and present, and maybe the future, who knows. So this week I hope you have been busily preparing for Xmas. I know I have. What with shopping, making, cooking and generally looking at pretty lights, it is certainly feeling alot like Christmas.

So strangely, today is all about Xmas making. I was having a chat with The Mother recently when we talked about childhood Xmases and I remembered all the things we used to make as children. I am sure if she looked hard enough in the loft, my mum could find the odd thing my sister and I had made to go on the Xmas tree or to hang on the wall.

One of my strongest memories is making paper lanterns at school. Such a simple crafting make, but full of fun and possibility. I remember them being hung in the classroom at Xmas times and then brought home to hang on the wall near the Xmas tree by my parents. I'm sure lil sis and I made them every year for many years and they always looked lovely made from shiny coloured paper and with gummed stickers in all different shapes to make them look like Xmas.

If you want to make some, and I can certainly recommend it,  here is a great post explaining how to make your own lanterns

The other thing we'd make at home was paper chains. Mum would buy a few packs in the local shops and lil sis and I would lick the glue part and stick them together until the floor was covered in linked chains of paper shininess. Dad would hang them up from each corner of the room ceiling and where they met he would hang the big paper decorations which came out every Xmas, and which sadly over the years fell apart and had to be replaced.

These days, there are templates for making chains of snowmen, angels and other amazing choices. What a fun activity to do when the children have finished school and you have a spare hour to sit and get them making.

Making is still going on in my house today, where the Xmas cake has been baked and frozen ready for decoration nearer the day, a Xmas wreath has been made and hung on the door, sewing of gingerbread men and crocheting of birds, and making of Xmas gift tags occurred. I suppose I will always be a maker. There might even be the odd handmade present under the tree.

However, you decorate this Xmas I hope your home is filled with beautiful colour and Xmas spirit.

Christmas Club x

Ooops, she says with her head held in shame, I forgot to do my Christmas club entry for Sunday. In my defence, I was actually doing a Christmas activity to tell you about and better late than never.

Oh sorry, what is Christmas club I here you ask. Well, way back in a time when we bloggers were still in our infancy, the lovely Sian suggested the rather whimsical idea of sharing a Christmas story on the Sundays leading up to Christmas. This then turned into Storytelling Sunday. Alas Storytelling Sunday had to be archived but the Christmas club was reborn for 2014 and so those of us who enjoy a good tale will be telling of Christmases old and new over the coming Sundays. So shall we begin?

For me, Christmas, despite all the preparation and seeing decorations, receiving cards and even presents, doesn't begin to feel real until the Reindeer Parade.

What is the reindeer parade? It is an event organised by Wells Rotary club when Santa parades down the high street with his helpers and some rather beautiful real reindeer from the Scottish Highlands. On the first Sunday of December he flies in on his sledge and brings Christmas cheer to Wells and all the people from roundabouts. He also helps to raise money for our local air ambulance.

For me this has become a part of my Christmas celebrations for the last 6 years now and I so enjoy seeing the sights of all the children's faces full of wonder and excitement to see Santa and even more to see proper reindeer. It takes me right back to those childhood moments of going to see Santa and him asking what you would like for Christmas.

It also reminds me of the simplicity of Christmas, that it's not all about the mad present buying frenzy or the fear you'll offend someone by getting the wrong thing. Christmas is about the simple fact that one tiny baby was born who would ultimately alter our world forever. I am not asking you to believe the same as me, there are many different faiths in this world who believe different things.

The simple things I enjoy at Christmas include this very special event but also reindeer cos who doesn't love a reindeer?