1. Plink, fizz, a soluble aspirin does the trick.
2. A man stops us in the car park to admire the Octavia and ask where we got it from. ‘Really?’ we ask. Yes, really, it seems.
3. We hear local fireworks just after midnight and roll over in bed to wish each other a Happy New Year.
1. The park is deserted but for our two friends and their boys. All four children swing backwards and forwards in synchronisation.
2. We go to the sorting office to pick up a late Christmas parcel. The address reads Canbridge Walls and the postcode is wrong but they still know it’s for us.
3. A cracking New Year’s Eve Eve celebration with friends up and down the road.
1. The wind at Cap Gris Nez is so strong it takes your breath away and pushes you this way then that
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2. Moules frites in a cream and garlic sauce
3. It’s good to go away but it’s good to come home. We put our feet up and try a glass of our bargain French wine with some leftover Christmas cheese.
1. We arrive in Le Touquet after an early morning start. The first taste of a ‘pression’ beer and french bread with butter is so good.
2. An afternoon doze in the hotel as the rain patters on the window.
3. The Le Touquet Christmas lights are so pretty. We walk through the ‘Enchanted Forest’ and the white lights dance in the trees as if by magic.
1. Our house now seems enormous after the visitor exodus. Time to put the new slippers on and be quiet for a bit…
2. The rest doesn’t last long as we have neighbourly drinks at three different venues along the road. The kids play nicely, the prosecco goes down very well indeed and the walk home is very very short.
3. Isla’s passport has come through so we pack for a quick trip to France. Clean pants, nappies, socks and our toothbrushes and we are all set to go. I love the fact that France is so close and it seems crazy that it’s quicker to get there than it is to get up North.
1. The snowman piñata is no more. Doris and Emily set to it with a couple of broom handles. Emily has a mean swing on her (the next female Tiger Woods perhaps?) and they soon decapitate him and get the sweets out.
2. Split pea and ham soup made with yesterday’s leftovers. Lovely.
3. Another festive dinner for 13 this time. We eat more food and drink more drink and swap more presents while the light-up snowman looks on, pining for his piñata mate perhaps?
1. ‘He’s been!’ Doris comes running in announcing that Father Christmas has indeed visited. Then she takes her stocking into Granny Anne and Grandad Peter’s room to open it, while we have another snooze.
2. Just before dinner there is a knock at the door – Santa has come to pay us another visit. Doris and Emily are transfixed and we are sure that they will notice the elastic holding up his beard at any moment…but they don’t.
3. Dinner for 14 and the whole thing works out perfectly with nothing burned, no family arguments and smiles all round. Oh, and a little too much port.
1. The rellies start to arrive and there is a delicious sense of anticipation about what’s to come.
2. Doris is a happy participant in the Christmas eve crib service at the local church. She dresses as an angel and gets involved in all the activities with such relish. Isla sits there and gurgles – too big to pass as baby Jesus now…
3. We leave out a note for father Christmas and Doris is very particular about what we leave out and where we leave it. She is then desperate to get to bed so she can hang her stocking on her doorknob. Isla wears her festive babygro and we hang a stocking for her too.
1. I come back from dropping Doris off at nursery to find Isla propped up on a pillow in the middle of the bed like Lady Muck looking very pleased with herself. She is on such good form at the moment.
2. After picking Doris up from nursery, we walk across to the new-ish pub for a lunch special – a sandwich, chips and a glass of wine for six quid.
3. Isla dozes in my lap on the sofa. There is something just so lovely about the weight of a sleeping baby in your arms.
1. The blue sky and sunshine is just so amazing today. “Feels like a spring day,” says Fred the postman, and I have to agree with him.
2. Carols on the Pantiles by Kent Chorus. I wave at my friend Cheryl as she and her fellow choristers sing their way through the classics and many more besides. The twinkly fairy lights in the trees are so pretty too and these, combined with the carols, make us feel very Christmassy.
3. I get my eyelashes dyed this evening. It’s been a while since the last time and suddenly I look at lot less tired and more ‘defined’ than I did before.
Three Happy Thoughts 