Lambs in January

Just at home with the family, having a quiet moment when the TV gets turned on and shrieking comes from the TV room. Come Dine With Me has gone to Made In Chelsea! Binky, Mark, Spencer and Caggie are cooking it up posh style. Great January TV. Teen Chick is beside herself with joy.


So I have been nicely busy since the beginning of November. I worked everyday with my girlfriend at her farm, selling Christmas trees, making and decorating fresh wreaths and garlands and even decorating the odd house for clients. Through it all, we had the Internet business to run and houses and families to run as well. Seven days a week for nearly seven weeks is exhausting but fun. It is Christmas after all and I never tire of Christmas tunes. But by the 22nd of December, I was beat. The friends and family started to arrive and we kept very busy right up until New Years Eve. I love having a house full of friends and or  family, especially during the holidays. All went well. 


New Years Eve was celebrated at a friend's house with our chicks and about 80 other parents and children(teens). Safe, fun and close to home. I didn't make any resolutions because I hate to disappoint myself but I know this year will be full of trials. Some for me and some for my chicks. 


Today was one of the first trials, literally.  The family spent the day up in Birmingham at Moseley Rugby Club with the teen boy. He was selected to represent the South East  in rugby trials for The Lambs (an English Independent Schools U18 team). He was very nervous over the last few days but he performed brilliantly on the pitch. 80 boys working their stuff off for 26 places. It was a great day out and we were so proud of him. If he doesn't make it any further then todays trials, so be it. It was a great achievement to get this far. He is asleep now and so has missed The Chelsea lot dinning together. Shame.


I love the start of a new year. Full of new things and ideas. Us lucky lambs.

It's All About The Tree

Your tree might be wild and wacky or more traditional.









Which ever way you choose to decorate your Christmas tree, have fun doing it. 
Don't fret, panic or get tied in knots. It's once a year and only with you for a few weeks at most. Once a few presents are under it and the lights get turned on, every Christmas tree becomes beautiful.


I'm living with Christmas trees at the moment. It's a 9-5, 7 days a week job up until Christmas Eve. I look at a lot of trees and hear a lot of stories about peoples tree habits.

Some people come as couples and whisper and touch gently, choosing delicately. They are sweet and giggle a bit. They choose in about 15-20 minutes, looking at maybe three different trees.


Some people come by themselves, usually the wife, and she hums and ha's, hands on hips, looking critical because she is the one who will be looking at it everyday until it gets taken down and chucked on the bonfire. She looks at maybe eight different trees and can take up to half hour to pick one tree.


The well married couple that comes are pleasant, aren't really paying attention to the trees that we are showing them until they spot the tree being showed to another person then they instantly want that tree! Pleasant couple becomes competitive couple. They start following other people around and watch as trees are brought out and displayed. When one tree is discarded, they swoop and buy. We are happy to see them go.


The man comes. He is husband, he has instructions, he has a measuring tape! He doesn't need our help and he will take it with him; no delivering. We like him.


The woman in Gucci boots comes in. We all hide. She will want to look at all the trees that are over 9 feet tall. She will want it perfect and will make us dig through a pile of wet, freshly cut trees forever until she gets just the right one. She will complain about the mud in the yard, the pine needles clinging to her trouser bottoms, the cold, the fact that her gardener will make a mess putting it in her house even though her cleaning lady will be the one sweeping up the needles. She will decorate the lower branches and have staff to do the higher ones. She will want it delivered yesterday. 

The families are the funniest. They all want different trees, different sizes and shapes and are super critical of each others choices. They all say 'no' to mom's choice. They have a warm drink and look at decorations and stands and lights and all agree on a big wreath for the door with a red ribbon. They have a nice time and usually leave,having bought two trees. Even if they want the trees delivered by the weekend, they had a good time and the fun rubs off on us and we are happy to oblige.  


The couple that fight. They have brought their troubles with them and have no qualms about public displays of...non-adoration. There is a lot of finger pointing and jabs about mother in-laws, egg nog consumption and dirty dishes. They often want a large tree, a status symbol to their fained happiness perhaps. Sometimes we give them a strip of ribbon and send them out into the tree plantation by themselves to sort it all out. They come back half an hour later,visibly relieved, having picked the perfect tree and settled their marital life for the moment. We wave them off, forgetting the public tiff but expecting our driver to get  tip when he delivers their tree two days later.

The very best is the eight second picker. She comes in has a quick scan of the trees,points to the first tree in the line, rips off the tag,pays and bam, done and dusted. We net it load it and she's off. And we're on to the next one.


Maybe it is all bout the tree. It sets the mood. It enlightens us for the holiday. 


Happy holidays everyone.

Selective hearing and other things...

I had a very interesting book club meeting last night. 


Firstly, I was late because I am the youngest member of book club and still have children that need picking up from school, bus etc.
Second, I was a solo parent as the Rooster was in the West Country on business. Not really sure what that means but there he was, not home. So I had to throw food at the chicks and hope they got it.
Thirdly, when I got to b.c., we spent 30 seconds talking about a Charming Scottish tale called, House-Bound by Winifred Peck. Enough said about the book. The real conversation was about our husbands and sons.


It was instigated from the book really, housewife taking on the role of chief cook and bottle washer while husband sits in his velvet smoking jacket with his feet up in front of the fire, laid by wife earlier that day of course.


Our thought for the evening was really that our husband's mothers are/were to blame if our husbands are useless in this day and age. 
Don't get all uppity- 'But they work so hard in the city, farm, store, whatever, they don't want to come home and take out the trash, garbage, rubbish,etc.


This is 2011, not 1911. Men are very capable and so are their sons. 
Loading a dishwasher, ironing a shirt and sorting out the bloody recycling are good common sense jobs and a nice little bit of help for mom/mum.


There are jobs in our house that I save for my Rooster. Sometimes I save them for months for him because he has selective hearing when it comes to manly duties around the home. Light bulbs are for him as we have 12 foot high ceiling and I am 5"2, 5"10 on a ladder because I hate heights and won't go to the top. I have also taught son to do these jobs when he is home from boarding school.
   Recycling is mostly his job too. I find it very amusing when he walks into the pantry and then tells me there is a funny smell coming from in there and he wonders what it could be. The fact that he had to step around the over flowing bin to get to the larder is not hear or there.

    Another job that I feel is for the man of the house is the Christmas tree. There it lovingly stands for a couple of weeks, decorated with care and brightly lit, presents scattered around its flowing bottom branches until I can't stand it any longer and whip the whole thing down in 10 minutes, lights and all about the 5th of January. Remember, I am in the Christmas business and having sold trees 24/7 for 5 weeks, January 5th was a do-able dismantling date for me. Son kindly dragged tree out the door on his way up out but guess where that tree is still today??? And I was not alone in this with the other b.c. moms- about four feet out from the front door. Still. 


Selective hearing, seeing and doing more like it.

Sip the mulled wine, it's the holidays!

I have been working everyday now for the last 10 days and won't surface until about the 23rd of December.
 I have dug out the long under wear, ski socks, trapper hat, mink ear muffs, cashmere scarves, wrist warmers and sweaters ( I might be out in the cold but I'm going to look good and feel warm doing it!), I have my new black sheepskin thermal boots and great lip gloss that my hair doesn't stick to. I am all set for the Christmas rush. 
I will now be outside working at the Christmas Tree farm until Christmas, snow or shine. We sell our trees in a big barn but who am I kidding, it isn't warm in there, just dry (unless I am wet from lugging trees in from the field). The trees love the cold frosty weather we are having. It makes them last longer if they have had a nice cold snap before they come inside for the holidays. Even the internet barn is cold.

I've made some cracking wreaths for people already and have even sent several out via the internet already. 


Decorations are my weak point though. I love doing up trees and when I have tons of decorations at my disposal, I have great fun.

This is a tree I did in Suffolk not long ago.
 Funny enough though, I have only glass ornaments on our tree and some red roses. I use lots of white lights to get the wow effect. I have been decorating other peoples trees for over ten years and yet tend to keep it really simple for myself. Most of the ornaments that I have will get passed along to each child when they move out and start having their own trees. I have been collecting for them since they were born. Keep sakes. Every year I buy two of the same decorations for them to add to their collection. I put them on our family tree but they know that some day they will be put on their own tree. 


Boy will my tree look bare when the first child moves out! Maybe then I'll start collecting other themes!


I'll try to stay in touch and pass on any funny antics from the tree farm between now and Christmas. So put on some Frank and sip some mulled wine and enjoy the Happy Holidays!