Christmas Holidays

So, I got to the end of my orders, Matt got to the end of his translations and Tom got to the end of school all at the same time - phew!

We were in desperate need of family time together as we have all been working so hard, with a week to kill before Christmas we started to plan some treats - especially as the weather was looking to be quite horrible.

Saturday we went to the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal to see the Lancashire Hot Pots.  They were as good as every - they really know how to work the crowd and get a rapport going.  The venue was very small - only 300 and standing only, so it was pretty crowded but it was a good atmosphere - every one was there from babies in arms to 90 years olds in walking frames.  They played most of their big hits and some Christmas songs too - so a good sing along was had.  A good start to destressing for Christmas.

Sunday we stayed in (didn't get to bed until after 1am and we are old now and unable to cope with late nights out!).  We are supposed to meet up with Bob at Goat Gap for lunch, but it was snowing in Settle and Bob didn't want to risk it - fair enough, we didn't want him to risk it either!  We had a game of Wingspan and then watched the new Gihbli film: Earwig and the Witch (didn't understand it?!)

Monday we had a useful day.  Matt went to see Bob, I did some cleaning and tidying and Tom did some revision (he has exams as soon as he goes back to school!). We had a game of Wingspan, and then spent the afternoon on the sofa with a duvet watching Elf - first time I've seen it all through - it was fun.  In the evening we went to the Wheatsheaf for the Xmas quiz - came third - arghhhhh!

Tuesday we got up at a reasonable hour and got the train from Ribblehead to Carlisle.  Matt and Tom went off to do useful things - new school shoes (Tom's have died after 1 term!) and some other bits and pieces, whilst I went round the shops desperately trying to find last minute things for Christmas. We then met up at the Last Zebra for lunch (one of our favourite restaurants and it didn't disappoint).  Matt had 2 pints which then meant we had a fun time shopping afterwards - we somehow ended up with two new duvet sets with Highland Coos on them!  

Wednesday - we went into Lancaster - we needed to go to Honda to get new batteries in our car keys.  We then went into the town centre so that we could get new school shoes for Tom (couldn't get them in Carlisle as they offered to replace them but needed the old ones to swap for new ones).  Tom got a steam train necklace from Georgie for a Christmas present but it didn't have a proper clasp on it, so Tom was unable to wear it - we found an independent jewellers who attached one on it for him - awwwwww!  We had lunch at the Chinese Noodle shop - yummy and then headed to Barton Grange to see Polar Express on the big screen.  It was very enjoyable.  The cinema is super comfy (we were front row and had a cosy chair and pouffe each) and the animation so much better and clearer on the big screen.  Found it very very lovely indeed - will happily do that every Christmas!

Thursday - we had a useful morning, then headed to Hawes for lunch.  A game of Wingspan, a weigh in at Slimming World (I've put on 3.5lbs this week - oooops!) and then the Bickerstaffs came round, so we opened mulled wine and the sloe gin.  A bit of a merry evening was had!