25/12/2021
It was a quiet start to the week. It is getting darker and darker. We were starting to discuss how dark it is going to get throughout January and February. However, on Tuesday it was the Winter Solstice. So it is actually starting to get lighter and lighter until we get almost 18 hours of daylight in June. That was not so bad. Hopefully, the next couple of months do not bring much rain as it is continuing to get colder and the forecast has been teasing us with snow.
“I hate all those weathermen, too, who tell you that rain is bad weather. There’s no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing, so get yourself a sexy raincoat and live a little”
Tuesday, “Santa [was] removed from Glasgow statue by police”. There is no time for COVID-19 reporting in the UK media with this sort of material on the streets.
Jennine came over to play with the kids Wednesday and work out the grand plan for Christmas Day. Meanwhile “Livingston locals baffled as escaped emu takes a walk through town. TikTok user Fraser Ballantyne (@frazmataz15) posted a video to their page. In it, one observer can be heard saying that they “think [the bird] is a little bit bigger than a duck””. They should have deployed us to catch it.
Apart from that and some last-minute Christmas shopping, it was just the usual shenanigans around the house. Lachlan found a wee dressing gown which was a good laugh.
Eloise has hit the age where she questions everything:
Super Mum: “Eloise we have to make biscuits for Santa”.
Eloise: “Why?”
Super Mum: “Because it is hard work delivering all the presents”.
Eloise: “Why?”
Super Mum: “Because he has to go a long way”.
Eloise: “Why?”
Super Mum: “Because he does Eloise”.
Friday, Christmas Eve we caught up with the Fensom/ Sinclair Christmas shindig, Eloise and Lachlan made sure they were dressed to impress.
Just before midday, Liam was then officially on holiday! Although he is only off until the 05/01/20212. People do not tend to take long Christmas breaks in the UK and use most of their annual leave during the summer holidays in the middle of the year.
After dinner, Eloise laid out the special Christmas themed Empire biscuits and a glass of milk for Santa with carrots for the reindeers. It was then off to bed with her Christmas books. Although it was a long night, she was so excited waiting for Santa and the reindeers to come.
Once Eloise was finally in bed we polished off the Empire biscuits and Santa filled up the tartan stockings. Ready for an exciting day tomorrow. The kids were both asleep in their Christmas jammies but there was no new Christmas Jammies video yet.
Eloise woke up with a spring in her step this morning.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
“Lach wake up now, come on Lach, Christmas!”
We all sprinted downstairs to see if Santa and the reindeers had made it. “Yahhh!” Eloise was so excited, but she made sure that Lachlan started unwrapping his presents first. Eloise was buzzing about the room and before we knew it Lachlan was drowning in presents “Christmas Lach”.
Lachlan was very confused but with some training from Eloise caught onto the game plan.
We checked in with the Nicholls and Fensoms in Kangaroo Land (George, it is like Kangaroo Island, but the bigger one) to virtually exchange gifts that Elf Grandma and Elf Nali had wrapped for us.
It was then playtime.
Luckily Grandma Nicholls got Eloise some Duplo to add to her collection. She has a lot of training to do. She needs to reconstruct the Millenium Falcon when we return to Radelaide.
Eloise and Lachlan’s new sledge was an instant hit. The “Met Office confirms white Christmas as snow falls in Scotland”. However, their definition is a bit weak in our opinion “The Met Office defines a white Christmas as when one snowflake is observed to fall in the 24 hours of Christmas somewhere in the UK”. It was actually quite heavy about an hour drive north of Glasgow, prime sledging conditions. We will have to go snow searching over the next few days. We are thinking we might head to the Highlands. Watch out Eddie!
Lunch was delayed a wee bit as Bill mixed up the goose dish with the potato dish. We had some very well cooked potatoes. Absolutely nailed the lamb roast and Yorkshire puddings. As we are in Britain, we figured you cannot have a roast without freshly made James May inspired Yorkshire puddings. We were well equipped seeing as Sophie got a “Yorkie puds” stand for Christmas.
We quickly worked off Christmas lunch trying to keep up with Eloise and Lachlan and their new toys.
Lachlan is out for the count, not sure how Eloise still has room to eat, she did start to eat sideways, whatever that means.
A couple of quick new Christmas books and Marshall was asleep in no time.
Merry Christmas from the Fensoms and The Queen.
Hope you all enjoyed the special Christmas formatting, that took far more lines of code than it was worth! It is now time for bed.
Dear Sophie, Liam, Eloise and Lachlan
Merry Christmas to you all.
Thankyou for sharing your Christmas photos with everyone. I love the Christmas pyjamas.
We had a good day at our place but so busy that we forgot to take photos. You seem to have nailed documenting your travels and lives in Scotland so you will have some lovely pictorial memories.
Enjoy your snow travels wherever you go. The Highlands are so lovely.
Take care and thanks again for the blog.
Sue and Paul
💕 Fensom Christmas somewhat reduced this year without you and the the Moy’s! Tash had the sniffles so they stayed away! But Pip made it! And all the rest of the crew! Rest well and talk again soon!