We've made a list and we've checked it twice...

When I married Hubbie I found that our families have quite different approaches to Christmas. Of course mine don't even have to celebrate it, but we always have and it was only in recent years and toward the end of her life that I discovered that my beloved grandmother loved Christmas cake and would devour 'plum cake' as it's called in India. Hubbie's late grandmother made something called 'white Christmas pudding' which I had never heard of. A few years ago Mother in law decided to give it a go as a nostalgia thing and to introduce me to the delights of childhood Christmas meals in the family. It looked promising enough and was scattered with crumbled mint aero on top, but I have to say it was terrible !

The main difference between our families is the attitude to presents. Mine cannot wait to tear into gifts and my Mum instigated a rule when my sisters were young that we had to eat breakfast before we could open gifts. The first year I stayed with the in-laws for Christmas I sat politely through breakfast and waited. They opened stocking presents and then went on with preparing Christmas dinner. As the day went on I became more and more impatient. We ate the meal, lit the pudding and even had after dinner mints, but still no pressies. Finally around teatime Father-in-law selected presents from under the tree, put them into separate piles for everyone and we all sat politely waiting. My lot are like wild animals in comparison and a badly scrawled name tag has been known to throw off the whole present opening madness.

Growing up we never asked for presents and knew that we couldn't request anything as it was unlikely we'd get a say in what we received. We didn't write letters to Father Christmas as my parents just didn't want to give an credit to a fat white bloke for presents that they had paid for. Hubbie's family ask for a list of preferred presents and you can guarantee that you will get what you ask for as Mother-in-law does not want to risk buying a gift that is not wanted. I like the approach, even if it does do away with surprise and spontaneity. The only issue I have with this is that I struggle to think of things to ask for as I am so lucky to have such lovely things already. I do think of things for the boys though and this year it's been a bumper year of choosing for two of them. I got Big Boy to write his letter to Father Christmas last week and they will both be going to see him before the day itself so they can assure him they've been good.

I thought I'd give him a head start though by sharing the main things we have on our wish lists:

Big Boy: Anything Lego really - I've bought him a big Lego head storage box and of course I've been collecting the free packs with newspapers all year so he's getting those as stocking fillers. Last year we discovered that Wilko do their own version that is compatible with the brand name bricks. Blox come in great sets and we have the fire station, the police station and an emergency services kit so far. As a special treat we're giving him some Blox figures as he's such a fan of the characters.

Baby Boy: As he has had his eye on Big Boy's Microscooter for so long he is getting a very special big present. I asked for some advice on a starter scooter suitable for a 2 year old and the lovely folks at Microscooter suggested that this mini 2 go micro scooter  would suit him. I cannot wait to see his face when he opens it. I'll be posting pics and a proper review later.

Hubbie: Well as you know he does read this so it's pretty unsafe to even suggest what I might buy for him. We do share our Amazon wishlists with each other so that we can choose specific gifts and his nearly always has band t-shirts and lots of Fall related merchandise on it. He has been talking about getting into cycling more so I know he'd love anything to do with that and have been keeping my eye out for cycling jerseys and useful things like bike lights. I can't say any more - you understand I'm sure.

Me: Well as I said I struggle to think of anything that I actually need so one year I asked for consumables like nice wine and chocolates. Last year I got some fab vouchers for Fat Face which I spent on a lovely new coat in their sale. I know I'll always find something I want to wear from Fat face and also lovely bags.

If I'm being honest the one thing I really want this year for Christmas isn't on any lists and I can't even tell you about it until after the event. Fingers crossed.

Beautiful creatures, body art and Bill Oddie - not your usual Monday morning :)

On Monday we were up and out early to get into London for a very special trip. I took my boy to the launch of the DVD and blu-ray of Rio 2 which was being held at London Zoo. We got an early train then took the scenic C2 bus which gave us some stunning views of London from the top deck. As we were walking to the event I thought I saw Bill Oddie driving past us and sure enough when we arrived he was there ! A real life Goodie in the same room as me !

Being painted

Breakfast and Bird tattoo 

We arrived in time for some lovely breakfast and as it wasn't too busy my boy had a tattoo painted onto his arm which he was very proud of. It was such a beautiful sunny morning we sat outside to enjoy some juice, fresh fruit and he even had a sneaky doughnut. There is a special Rio dozen from Krisy Kreme at the moment and they are colourful and (from what I can tell) very delicious !!

Body percussion with Barbatuques

Before the movie we had a chance to meet the Barbatuques who are a musical troupe that perform using their bodies to make music. The musical percussion making Brazillian rhythms is incredible and they even did a little audience participation that the children (and adults) enjoyed. Just before the movie started they also performed Beautiful Creatures the song that is featured in the movie. My boy was too shy to meet them, but they were very friendly and did a mini performance for him which he secretly really enjoyed - he has been playing 'body percussion' ever since :)

The movie itself features Jewel and Blu returning to the Amazon with their young family and is beautifully animated with great music and some endearing characters. We met Nico and Pedro and my boy had Pedro drawn on his arm.

Hola Pedro :)

He has watched the DVD a few times since Monday and I'm sure it will become one of his favourites. To give you some idea of how much fun it all was and to witness the amazing Barbatuques performing you can watch this short video all about the launch event.

Disclosure: We were kindly invited to attend the DVD Blu-Ray release of Rio 2 courtesy of Mumsnet in order to write an honest review. 

My week in pictures: Hey, Ho, Let's Go !!

David & David onstage

On Sunday evening I went with my lovely pal Jo to watch David Arnold in concert for the first time ever. He is the composer whose music you know even though you may not know him.  He composed the theme music for the Olympics, Sherlock, James Bond movies and the marvellous 'Play Dead' that David McAlmont came on stage to sing - it was electrifying !! We also spotted Charlie Higson, Mark Gatiss, Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington in the crowd and apparently Caitlin Moran was there too !

This cat is almost cooked

If you're a regular reader you will know my cat Neo. He's a sun worshipper and a spoiled old thing who has spent a week with grandma and grandpa while we were on holiday at Coombe Mill. This meant he was not allowed outside so this week he has made the most of his freedom and been in the garden as much as possible.

I am a feminist

love is...sharing chocolates

Hubbie and I don't get to go out on a hot date that often, so going to see Caitlin Moran was just a wonderful treat. The gig was sold out and I just happened to ring up one afternoon and they had two tickets returned so I asked Hubbie if he wanted to go - thinking he'd say no for sure - and he said yes !! We ate a lovely Thai meal first then went to watch her show and Hubbie was one of only around 20 men there. He wins many, many cool points for this :)

Liquid brunch

I was invited to an event to showcase the new Amazon prime summer offering for kids this week. As my boy was staying with my folks I went along solo.  On arrival they served brunch which included bucks fizz and the biggest pastries you've ever seen. I did a quick calculation of the chances I'd have to drive later and worked out I could risk a sneaky drinkie :)

Want !!! 

Yep, so doing this 

I then went onto some Christmas preview events that were just stunning. I'd love to have a Christmas table that looked like this, but I suspect with an almost 4 year old it's unlikely !!

open top bus fun

it's Big Ben !! 

We were also lucky enough to get invited to do a Big Bus Tour of London that my boy - and Hubbie - just loved it. We got up close with Big Ben and even managed to learn some stuff that we didn't already know about London from the fabulous - and very knowledgable - tour guide Phil. 

My little Michaelangelo

Now with so much going on this week we had to have a quiet day, so when it was just me and the boy on Friday I gave him a huge set of felt tip pens and some paper to do some drawing. It's a work in progress, but I will share when it's finished. This may take some time as it really is a big piece of paper and there are a lot of colours ! 

Tommy Ramone RIP

So we come to today and this morning I presented my radio show where I interviewed Andy Kershaw and I opened with the Ramones: I wanna be sedated, because Andy had worked with them in the past. I also wore my Ramones t-shirt and it wasn't until I returned home that I found out Tommy Ramone had died.

So, just like I did last week, I'm sharing a Ramones song with you for the weekend. Enjoy :)