Last Crimbo (2009) Part I..

Ok, I know its been yonks since last I was here and a longtime since I had the time to blob around all everyones blobs.... Im sorry, but life caught me by the short and curlies and I thought it best to step back from most things in life for a while.. but it doesnt mean each and everyone of me blob maties havent been in my thoughts daily..

There are reasons as to why I could not be here and if I wrote a proper list it would be as long as me arm, but Im sure over the coming months these reasons will be put down on Twaddle for the record lol... these are reasons not excuses... and of course the longer I left it the harder its been to tiptoe back in, and without dearest Buff my blogger friend who upped and bloody died on me, to nag me constantly in emails to 'get me arse back' its been hard, but I had to remind meself as to the reasons why I started this blob, and that was as a record of things in my life that my lads might oneday enjoy when I am no longer around, and jebus knows I have so much more to get down on record...

These are a few of the 'reasons' that spring to mind ....Life - My Best Blobber Friends Death (which had such a profound affect on me) - Allotment - Birthdays - Lack Of Work - Almost Financial Ruin - Woodelf - Sadness - Snippets Of Hope - Laughter - Tears - Struggles Beyond Measure - Loss Of The Most Precious Friendship With What Was A Dear Blobber/Sista Friend Which Im Still Finding It Hard To Get Over - Baby - New Chickens - Twat Neighbours - Summer - Twice A Week Physio - My Best Friend Here Wendy Whom Is The Reason Im Still Sane Even Though That Is Debateable...She Is The Only One That Truely Knows Whats Been Going On..

Anyways... Enough of all that.... I need to get down the things that happened last christmas before this christmas is upon us..... havent done one single thing as yet towards this years crimbo..... one has to be very creative when one is as skint as me lol....

So..... This one is in honour of my 4 sons, I wonder if they will ever truely know just how much I love them.... last Crimbo was the bestest Christmas we have EVER had.... filled with laughter, love, tears, togetherness in the face of adversity......

Im never prepared for just how quick christmas decends upon us, I always think its ages away, and I like to celebrate my Sams Birthday in the middle of November before I even think about whats got to be done in preparation for christmas......and then before I know it, its just a few weeks before actual christmas and Im all in a fluster and cos Im on my own there is so much I have to do....

Our Crimbo always starts with us going to cut down a tree at Southwick Estate something my Sam and Jacob always love to do with me... (dont know what will happen this year as the Estate is not opening the tree meadows this crimbo)..

Just look at that straggly specimen, and I dont mean me lads lol - we laff so much picking a tree and cutting it down and dragging it to the car... the old man that usually sits in the little shed and dishes out the saws for the cuttings was not there last year, which was upsetting, I presumed he had died, cos he was rather ancient... I said my condolences to the other bloke in the shed and waffled on and on about how sad it is that the old chap was no longer with us.... to which this bloke replied, after letting me prattle on and on..... oh, you think he is not here cos he has died *much laughter and shaking of his head* well, he says, he aint here cos he has gone for his teabreak, he unfortunatley is still alive and kicking LOL.... it was then my turn to shake me head lmfao


This photo of my Sam makes me smile, note he has a 'dew drop' on the end of his nose, cos it was so cold that day lol

We decorated our little house with things we get out year after year, we like the tradition of our old decorations, wooden decs and glass baubles and all the childhood decs me lads made as children and even a little glass tree dec from my childhood - our special bits and bobs of christmas's past, with the always new little added decoration of the present crimbo, usually a wooden one upon which we write the year and our names and ages, its become a family tradition, and its nice to pick out the decorations from when we first started it, the year we found ourselves on our own.. it was like a new beginning.. to see just how far we have come despite all the things that have been thrown at us especially over the past few years..




I cant imagine living in a house without a working fireplace, somewhere to burn huge logs and a bucket of coal over the winter months, especially at christmas for roasting chestnuts and marshmallows upon.... logs are so expensive over here but this year we managed to nick some hahaha (but thats another fasinating story) so will have at least enough to burn over the crimbo week...

I have this father christmas that I hang from my bedroom window...


The minded nippers love him, when they arrive in the morning and see him hanging from my window I tell them he is listening and watching to see who is being good lol....

But, from inside my bedroom I get a fright every morning when I pull me curtains back, and no matter how many times I do it, I ALWAYS get a fright and think its someone trying to get in me window lol....



See what I mean, every day it makes me jump when I open me curtains lmfao....



We decorate the windowsill.... see that white star hanging, well its a Norgewian star that my sister sent me about 25 years ago one crimbo when she lived in Norway, and do you know it still has the same lightbulb in it from all those years.. I love my star... and all me little old wooden bits and bobs we have on the windsill..



We decorate the fireplace with fir garlands and lights and cinnamon sticks and dried orange and fruits and special little wooden and tin bits and bobs... and of course my shabby chic santa takes pride of place :) we just have to move him when we light the logs.. the gold wicker stars with lights entwinned with I found about 15 years ago and just fell in love with them and they still work :) - we have beautiful tin wired stars hanging from me lights..... just natural wooden and tin things.... aint to kean on plastic rubbish lol

Then there is our tree, its never a perfect shape, cos we usually feel sorry for the little lone tree that everyone walks past and we always end up cutting that one down and bringing it home lol.... but at least it is loved for a few days.... and we wrap garlands up the stair bannisters and hanging all our beautiful wooden geese and moons and stars and bits from that to... the tree is always in our middle room cos there is no room in our little lounge...





So I know our decs aint to everyones tastes but Ive always loved the old wooden and tin and glass things just love the more natural feel of things.. I still have decs on our tree that me lads all made at pre-school lol....





From last year onwards our crimbo table will always have a beautiful crafted table runner that a once dear blobber friend sent us.... I love it almost as much as I love her... JBelle has started a new tradition in our house, and I will treasure it always and each and every year until I die, it will run down the middle of our crimbo table..



And of course no self respecting bottle of red would adorn the crimbo table without its little knitted father christmas :)

Do you know what I like about crimbo day in my home...... cos its just me and me lads for the morning, and sometimes one or more of their girlfrieds will come in the afternoon but mostly its just us, we dont have to dress up, we can lounge around in comfy gear or just JimJams.... we dont have to go all posh we can just be US...

Once dinner is in the oven we open our pressies, we only get pressies from each other, dont have grandparents or auntie and uncles to buy anything for me lads, so its just pressies from each other.... even though my lads have numerous uncles and aunties and still have a set of grandparents around, they never hear from them or get any recognition that they exist.... so you can see its been hard for me over the years to try and give them all a special crimbo with just US.... sometimes I look and read about other family crimbos and it makes me cry knowing what me lads miss out on, I mean they only have me, just me and each other, its not much... I have to just hope its been enough..

Anyways, we exchange our little gifts with much laughter and love in our little lounge filled with christmas decorations from years pass..... there are always smiles in our home a crimbo... often throughout the year there are many tears shed, mainly by me in the quiet of my own room... sometimes I dont even know why Im crying.. but on crimbo its all genuine smiles and laughter and love...



See what I mean about bumming around in jimjams and no tops lol oh and the smiles...Thats my Ben infront of the fireplace and my Sam on the right...



This is our Tom, he was really laffing, you see if you read this blob you will know about the 'turkey neck' from the other year, when I told our Sam that it was the turkey's willy and he believed me and I chased him around the house with it, well Tom is laffing in this photo cos our Sam wrapped up the turkey neck and put it in a parcel with Toms name upon it, and when he carefully opened what he thought was a nice pressie from his brother the turkey neck wobbled and moved as he opened the box and he jumped back with shock cos he thought it was some creature moving inside, it was just the funniest dam thing ever and we laffed for the rest of the day about it....



Ben laffing at Tom about the turkey willy lmfao



And here is the culprit LOL..... I think you just had to be there to see the funny side..

My lads have never written crimbo lists, not even when they were smaller.... father christmas would leave a little stocking filled with things from him on the end of each of their beds, he never left a big pressie like a bike or nuffin, cos I always felt if I had to struggle to buy a dam bike for each of them then at least it should be me that gets the fanks for it LMFAO... so, no lists, Ive always considered crimbo was about what people 'wanted' to buy another person, and I felt that I knew me lads well enough to know what I think they would like without no dam lists of greed and wants... and I dont think they have ever been disappointed....



T J and B looking at something Jacob got..



Maybe I should of bought Jacob a belt lmfao..



Monging out whilst dinner is cooking..



My bestest new slipper boots lol see how low maintenance I really am :)

Tom and Jacob trying to suss out their new Iphone applications and Ben and Sam sorting out guitar hero...

They must of been getting hungry cos me lads moved from the little lounge to the middle room lol....




love these shots of me lads all together trying to suss something out....

ok the turkey was cooked and time to EAT it was about 2ish by then and tummys were rumbling....

If anyone remembers me christmas past posts about the turkey willy and the birdseed cake which me lads thought was stuffing lmfao or the post and the photo about the EYES inside the turkey... well there always seems to be a funny thing about the turkey and last year was no exception.... I lifted the turkey out and placed it upon pride of place on the huge turkey platter... when Sam exclaimed WTF is that, pointing to the cooked turkey.... here let me show you..



See the flap of skin that covered the neck opening of the turkey, well I told Sam that it was the Turkeys Balls LMFAO hahahahaha.... yeah right he said and pretended he didnt believe me..... so, if he didnt believe me, how come I caught him doing this........



He was only taking a sneaky double peek at the turkey nuts lmfao hahahaha oh my goodness I sooooooooo laffed.....

We take it in turns to carve the turkey and this year it was Toms turn....



Its strange sometimes just being the 5 of us, when it use to be not only my sons father at the table but my mother and father and my brother and his wife... that seems so far away now, my parents are both dead and my brother parted ways, so its only been the 5 of us for years and years.... but, my goodness, do we laff at our christmas dinner table or what lmfao



My Sam was explaining about something he had done which sent us all into fits of laughter, its unrepeatable here but the 5 of us laffed so much (Sam looks like a redneck in this photo lol)



Yep, by now the giggles had got out of control lmfao




Please excuse the fishtank that had yet to be cleaned out and set up for a bearded dragon LOL

My Sam and Jacob are both as thin as sticks cos they both do extreme sports and burn more calories then I can possibly put inside of them.... and somehow the table talk got around to who had the biggest skinny muscles lmfao.... my Jacob on the left is 3 1/2 years younger then Sam on the right... Sam does extreme skateboarding and Jacob is a free-runner and a trampolinest, oh and is doing tree surgery and forest management at college so is up and down trees like a monkey and uses a chainsaw daily so has good upper body structure lol...




Skinny rats the pair of them :)

we usually spent a good couple of hours at the table eating dinner and numerous puddings and drinking and just talking about different things..

then its all back into the lounge to mong out, and Toms Girlfriend with whom he lives turned up (she had been at her mums for dinner lol)



So more laughter, I love this girl with all my heart, she is beautiful both inside and our and is about a foot shorter then my 6'4" Tom lol.... who would of thought that within 18 months of Tom splitting up with his long term (3 years) girlfriend just 18 months previous that he would of met such a beautiful girl as Sammy and got engagement and moved in with each other.... Sammy just slipped into our family unit like a soft hand in a glove, it was meant to be.....

Anyways I need to close this terribly long post lol.... but before I do I must just add this......... last crimbo I decided not to fill up each of me lads stockings with new socks and boxers, you know like us parents do to bulk out their stockings (and yes I still do them each a stocking) but upon seeing the next photo...



maybe I should of at least got Tom some new socks lmfao

So there was crimbo 2009 in my house.... if nuffin else it was filled with love and laughter and surely thats what its all suppose to be about....

I doubt if anyone is still here or anyone has read my long winded post, but I needed to get it down before this coming crimbo is truely upon us....

It was THE BEST christmas day we had ever had, and usually they are good, but this one, well it just had an ease about it, it didnt matter that we didnt eat til 2ish or that the sprouts were a tad soggy or the parsnips fell on the floor lol.... it was just the best......

and tomorrow would be boxing day, usually the day I love best in the whole year.... and within this next week I WILL get down about that day.... it was to turn out to be the most surprising special day in a very long time.... a day that bought more laughter and tears running down my face with joy.....

so, know you are loved Twaddlers if any of you still exists.... and I will do Crimbo Part II in the coming days......

OXO