Anna has performed in her first ever Nativity play.
It is very strange to see 20 3 and 4 year-olds all dressed up singing 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' while 40 parents are all snivelling and crying in the audience with the children wondering what the fuss is about!
Anna ended up being a Reindeer. I'm not sure why she wasn't an angel as originally planned but it might have had something to do with the not-so-angelic way that she insisted on watching her fellow performers act and refusing to look at the audience! While all the other reindeer's wore their antlers, Anna also insisted on using them as handle bars for, what looked like, a pretend motorbike! I imagine that the same scenario probably occurred with angel wings or her halo, hence the Reindeer role.
I was actually told that Anna chose to be a Reindeer after having a change of heart about the angel. I'm not sure how much of that is true, especially considering the information above but who wants to be angel anyway?? Boring angels just get to stand there looking angelic while Reindeer's prance around the stage having fun.
The actual content of the Nativity was an interesting portrayal of the Christmas story. It began with the Reindeer's (Anna opened the show!!) singing Jingle Bells while shaking bells manically with one little boy shaking his bells so enthusiastically that he ended up hitting people over the head with them... accidentally on purpose!
The angels then came on and sang some bland song (Who wants to be an angel anyway!!!) but did look beautiful and very angelic.
There was then a short play about Father Christmas who fell over and the mice came to help but a cat chased them away. Then, I think there was a twist to the tale but the child who was due to act out the narrative suddenly got shy and a huge part of the story got missed but it then all concluded with the mice and cat being friends and Father Christmas sat on his sleigh! I'm not sure who wrote this particular play but I am pretty certain that it wasn't Shakespeare!
There was then a short interlude where the cast had a costume change. Well... most of the cast! Apparently Anna refused to take her Reindeer costume off so, for the first time in the history of the Nativity story, there was a Reindeer in the stable amongst Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. I think Anna was just feeling sorry for the donkey who had been forgotten off the cast list so this was her actual portrayal of the often forgotten donkey. She just wasn't able to explain this to anyone!!
The actual story was left unspoken, except for Joseph who kept shouting 'MUM, take my picture. Don't get her in it' while pointing to Mary. The children then all sang 'Away in a Manger' (a more accurate statement would be that the adult helpers sang while the children looked a little confused!) before a photo opportunity was then announced. I would love to publish a photo on here but Anna had her back to the audience throughout!
James didn't know what to expect but he did look rather puzzled throughout. However, despite the slight confusion, it still saw me reduced to tears, seeing my little girl looking so grown up and dressed as a Reindeer!!
Monday, 21 December 2009
Friday, 18 December 2009
Meeting Father Christmas
I felt that I had to write a separate blog post about meeting the big man, just because it felt extra-special and deserved a post all of it's own.
Like the whole weekend at Alton Towers, I wasn't sure what to expect when we met Father Christmas. However, I did live in hope that, being a big tourist attraction, they would be able to conjure up something special. I could never have dreamed about how good it actually was going to be.
Alton Towers had created a forest by buying the entire contents of an actual forest and transporting it to Alton Towers. OK, I admit that this may have been actually better if the forest had been authentic but I can't blame Alton Towers for not having a huge forest placed in the middle of their theme park for 12 months of the year. This forest was filled with Christmas Trees covered in snow. Then, on top of the hill covered in trees, you could make out the rooftop of a wooden lodge with smoke coming out the chimney.
Thankfully, due to an extremely effective system, there was no queueing so, at our allocated time, we made our way to the foot of the forest where a friendly Elf called 'Pumpkin' was there to meet us. She talked to Anna and asked her what she wanted for Christmas. I was a little worried at first as Anna had just ranted at me that she was tired and wanted to sleep but she soon perked up when the topic of presents came up! 'A Doll's house please' said Anna. 'Phew' thought her Mummy!
'Pumpkin' then told Anna to look up towards the hill and there coming down to greet us was a fellow Elf called 'Petal'. She explained that she would take us to see Father Christmas and began to lead us up the hill through the forest of trees. We then came to a crossroads with 3 paths leading off. Petal told us that one path lead to the Elves Workshop while the other lead to Mrs Christmas' kitchen. We even got the faint smell of spiced apple (just to make it smell little more Christmassy!!).
Then, we continued up the hill and came to a huge wooden lodge with an old rocking chair sitting on the veranda and a huge old oak door. We knocked on the door and walked in.
Anna confidently strode in and then stopped very abruptly while staring at Father Christmas sat in his old Armchair, next to a roaring Fire and a hot steaming cup of coffee sat on the table beside him. (Not sure where the Health and Safety inspector was - a hot drink and young children should never be in a 50 mile radius of each other in public spaces according to my old teaching training. I would have liked to see the Risk Assessment but didn't like to ask!!!!). Anna took at least 30 seconds to just stand there with her mouth open, taking it all in. She then shouted 'Look, it's Father Christmas' before racing over him and giving him a huge cuddle. She then took a seat on the stool next to Father Christmas and proceeded to tell him all about the elves and how nice his house was! When Father Christmas could get a word in edge ways, he asked her what she would like and a Dolls house was requested. 'Please can I have a dolls house please. Thank you. A doll's house please thank you very much. please. thank you'.
Father Christmas then explained that Anna would have to go to bed early on Christmas Eve and leave out some carrots for the reindeer and a cake for him. Anna nodded her head and then looked at me and said 'Cake Mummy', making sure I had noted it down somewhere.
As a Thank you for visiting him, he then presented Anna with a small gift to play with until Christmas Eve. At first, I feared that Anna thought this was the actual doll's house and I could envisage tears that Father Christmas was unable to meet her request. Thankfully, she soon realised what was going on and thanked him, with no prompting from anyone. In fact, both 'Petal' and Father Christmas congratulated Anna on being 'the politest young lady we have met this weekend'. Apparently, most children needed prompting to say Thank you. Anna knows how to play the game!
After a good long chat with the man himself, we headed for the door. Anna, unable to take her eyes off him, backed up to the door as though looking away would somehow break the magic spell. We then said 'Goodbye' and we walked back through the forest. Anna telling us all about Father Christmas (forgetting that we were all there when she met him).
As Petal waved us goodbye, Anna opened her gift and was extremely impressed to find a Ballerina Bunny called Belinda (a big cuddly toy). Anna has not let her go since. I think it is reminding her that she did actually meet Father Christmas and this Christmas magic might all be real after all!!!
Like the whole weekend at Alton Towers, I wasn't sure what to expect when we met Father Christmas. However, I did live in hope that, being a big tourist attraction, they would be able to conjure up something special. I could never have dreamed about how good it actually was going to be.
Alton Towers had created a forest by buying the entire contents of an actual forest and transporting it to Alton Towers. OK, I admit that this may have been actually better if the forest had been authentic but I can't blame Alton Towers for not having a huge forest placed in the middle of their theme park for 12 months of the year. This forest was filled with Christmas Trees covered in snow. Then, on top of the hill covered in trees, you could make out the rooftop of a wooden lodge with smoke coming out the chimney.
Thankfully, due to an extremely effective system, there was no queueing so, at our allocated time, we made our way to the foot of the forest where a friendly Elf called 'Pumpkin' was there to meet us. She talked to Anna and asked her what she wanted for Christmas. I was a little worried at first as Anna had just ranted at me that she was tired and wanted to sleep but she soon perked up when the topic of presents came up! 'A Doll's house please' said Anna. 'Phew' thought her Mummy!
'Pumpkin' then told Anna to look up towards the hill and there coming down to greet us was a fellow Elf called 'Petal'. She explained that she would take us to see Father Christmas and began to lead us up the hill through the forest of trees. We then came to a crossroads with 3 paths leading off. Petal told us that one path lead to the Elves Workshop while the other lead to Mrs Christmas' kitchen. We even got the faint smell of spiced apple (just to make it smell little more Christmassy!!).
Then, we continued up the hill and came to a huge wooden lodge with an old rocking chair sitting on the veranda and a huge old oak door. We knocked on the door and walked in.
Anna confidently strode in and then stopped very abruptly while staring at Father Christmas sat in his old Armchair, next to a roaring Fire and a hot steaming cup of coffee sat on the table beside him. (Not sure where the Health and Safety inspector was - a hot drink and young children should never be in a 50 mile radius of each other in public spaces according to my old teaching training. I would have liked to see the Risk Assessment but didn't like to ask!!!!). Anna took at least 30 seconds to just stand there with her mouth open, taking it all in. She then shouted 'Look, it's Father Christmas' before racing over him and giving him a huge cuddle. She then took a seat on the stool next to Father Christmas and proceeded to tell him all about the elves and how nice his house was! When Father Christmas could get a word in edge ways, he asked her what she would like and a Dolls house was requested. 'Please can I have a dolls house please. Thank you. A doll's house please thank you very much. please. thank you'.
Father Christmas then explained that Anna would have to go to bed early on Christmas Eve and leave out some carrots for the reindeer and a cake for him. Anna nodded her head and then looked at me and said 'Cake Mummy', making sure I had noted it down somewhere.
As a Thank you for visiting him, he then presented Anna with a small gift to play with until Christmas Eve. At first, I feared that Anna thought this was the actual doll's house and I could envisage tears that Father Christmas was unable to meet her request. Thankfully, she soon realised what was going on and thanked him, with no prompting from anyone. In fact, both 'Petal' and Father Christmas congratulated Anna on being 'the politest young lady we have met this weekend'. Apparently, most children needed prompting to say Thank you. Anna knows how to play the game!
After a good long chat with the man himself, we headed for the door. Anna, unable to take her eyes off him, backed up to the door as though looking away would somehow break the magic spell. We then said 'Goodbye' and we walked back through the forest. Anna telling us all about Father Christmas (forgetting that we were all there when she met him).
As Petal waved us goodbye, Anna opened her gift and was extremely impressed to find a Ballerina Bunny called Belinda (a big cuddly toy). Anna has not let her go since. I think it is reminding her that she did actually meet Father Christmas and this Christmas magic might all be real after all!!!
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Santa Sleepover
Last weekend, we went to a Santa Sleepover (although I still insist that he is not called Santa (Far too American) and that he is, and always will be, Father Christmas. However, Father Christmas Sleepover doesn't have the same ring to it, but I digress!)
The Santa Sleepover was taking place at Alton Towers and, before I went, I knew very little detail. James had booked it after a friend of his had been saying how good the Halloween festivities were. Apparently, James had been looking for somewhere to take both Anna and me for the weekend leading up to my birthday. However, he also knew that I would refuse to go anywhere if I thought it was to 'celebrate' my forthcoming birthday (which I had told everyone to forget, just as I was trying to do). Therefore, he thought he could get away with it if he said that he had booked a weekend away for Anna to meet the big man in the red suit. He was right!
Even as we drove up the long winding driveway to the Hotel, you knew it was going to be a bit different, which is confirmed when you approach the hotel and there is a massive pond with a 'chitty chitty bang bang' car emerging from the water!!! Inside the hotel is also very much the feel of 'Disneyland' with a Hot Air balloon hanging down from the dome-like roof and a pirate ship moored on the ground floor. It seems that around every corner is another surprise such as a Giant's chair that you can climb onto and other spectacles to see.
However, the biggest surprise came in the ladies toilets!!! I was innocently changing Anna's nappy (Still no success with the potty training - Anna will be collecting her GCSE's in nappies at this rate!) when a woman approached the huge mirror that was hanging behind me. This mirror was very ornate with a huge gold frame hung from floor to ceiling. So, the woman starts to run her fingers through her hair and check her lipstick when suddenly somebody wolf-whistles. Of course, we all look round quickly before the lady says 'There is a man in this toilet'. Then the voice says 'You look gorgeous. Look at your hair, your eyes, your smile. You don't need to look at me, you need to go and show the world'. The mirror was talking to her!!!!! It then pretended to take her picture before telling her to get out there and show off her finest assets!! After we had all picked ourselves off the floor and stopped laughing, I then told Anna to go and stand in front of the mirror, to which the mirror said 'Wow. What a beautiful lady'. Anna just looked as though she met a talking mirror every day and walked off with a strut!! I am told there was one in the men's toilets too!!!
It was little things like this that made it magical! Like getting in the lift before all the lights start flashing and music blasted out, making you feel like you were Charlie in the Great Glass elevator. The hotel room was also very nice and very big!!!!
After checking in and writing our letter to Santa and posting it in the post box, we caught the Monorail into the theme park. I think Anna thought that the monorail was the theme park and that we would just be riding around on that all day. She would have been very happy with that alone.
Basically, hotel guests had exclusive openings to the theme park for this weekend only. It was only infant children rides only (about 20 in total) but everything had been decked in fake snow and there were Christmas trees and lights everywhere, twinkling and flashing and making everything feel very festive. There was also Christmas music wherever you went and you couldn't help but find yourself humming 'Winter Wonderland' all weekend.
We first visited the real Reindeer who were taking a well-earned rest before the big night on the 24th. However, Anna's attention was soon diverted by 2 giant snowmen who were walking towards her. Now, when I was 3, if I had been approached by 2 giant snowmen, I would have ran a mile or just burst out crying. However, Anna rushed straight up to them and started talking to them before hugging each one and telling them that she loved them! The snowmen were to have lots of discussions with Anna over the 2 days.
For the rest of the morning, we then went on all the rides which were great fun and, due to so few people, there were very little queues which made everything so much more magical and very unlike a normal Alton Towers.
Despite the freezing cold weather, we still managed to sit outside while eating freshly-made pancakes with chocolate and banana before then heading to the older children's rides. Fortunately, Anna is tall for her age so the height restriction did not apply to Anna. Obviously though we were not going to take Anna on any ride that she did not want to go on. There was no fear of that. After insisting that Anna stand and watch the ride so that she knew what she was about to get on, Anna headed straight for the pirate ship. I kept telling her that it would go fast and spin a lot but that just seemed to make Anna more excited! She loved every second and giggled throughout. Meanwhile, her mother felt quite sick. In my day, Pirate ships just went backwards and forwards, admittedly quite high but just in 2 directions. This pirate ship spun 360 degrees and went extremely high! Anna loved every second and, once it was over, asked if she could go on again! After we had been flung around on the teacups and spun on the pirate ship, I was feeling extremely dizzy but Anna was on an adrenalin high and remained excited throughout the whole day. A 3 year old is meant to enjoy the sedate rides like the squirrel ride which slowly takes you around a track. Once Anna had tasted the thrill-seeking rides, there was no going back!
Once we had visited Father Christmas (more of that later) and gone on several hundred more rides (mainly on the Pirate ship), it was time to return to the hotel. We then got dressed for dinner. However, before going to the restaurant, we just had time for a puppet show, all about the true spirit of Christmas and showing love to everyone you meet. At the end of the show, I asked Anna what the show had been about (pretending that I had not seen it) and she replied 'The puppets gave presents to people. There were lots of presents Mummy because it was Christmas. Christmas has lots of presents'. Glad to see the meaning wasn't lost on Anna!!!
We then went to our Christmas dinner where we all had Roast Turkey and Christmas Pudding. I did try to get Anna to eat Turkey but there was no way. She ended up having Chips!!!! (Bad Mummy... but it is Christmas!!!!)
After Dinner, we then went to a 'Pirate Bill magic Show.' I got rather nervous because beanbags had been set aside for the children while the adults were sat on chairs at the back. Due to the sheer numbers of people, I soon lost sight of Anna and just hoped that she would not be frightened by the pirate or the 'He's behind you' scenario. I need not have worried because Anna was perfectly behaved and sat mesmerised throughout, laughing on all the right places and joining in with the shouting! James and I just looked very frightened when he was trying to select someone from the audience to come and help with a magic trick. We could see him scanning the audience and looking in Anna's general direction. I just feared that, once on stage, she wouldn't get off again and would insist on performing the magic trick alone before then insisting on a standing ovation. Thankfully, Pirate Bill chose someone whoo looked a little more timid!
Once the magic show was over, Anna quickly located us again (which was amazing considering how many children were trying to get out the door!!) and said 'Disco now'. Anna had been excitedly anticipating this all evening, ever since we had told her that there would be a disco. She didn't even eat her pudding at dinner because she said' No pudding, disco now'.
As soon as we entered the disco, Anna didn't look back. She didn't hesitate as she strolled onto the dancefloor purposefully, taking her position right in the middle. She then dropped her cube in a very exaggaarated manner and started to dance around it!! All of the cheesy hits were played and Anna danced to them all. However, the most energetic dancing was saved for Lady Gaga. As soon as that came on, Anna wasn't going to take any nonsense and was soon showing everyone how it had to be done, singing every single word in time and her hip action was something to see!!! However, all diva's need their beauty sleep in the end and, at 10pm, Anna told us it was time for bed so we headed back to our hotel room where Anna fell asleep within 30 seconds of being tucked in!
The next morning, we were woken by a rustling at the door and as Anna ran over to see what it was, there was a red envelope sitting on the doormat addressed to Anna. Inside was a letter from Father Christmas. It said that he had noted that Anna would like a Doll's house and would deliver it on Christmas Eve. I would love to say that Anna was overcome with joy at receiving a letter from Father Christmas but, while her Mummy was reading it aloud with tears in her eyes, Anna was saying 'OK, enough now, let's get dressed'.
After a huge breakfast, we headed back to the theme park where we had a 'Claim to Fame' of being the very first people into Alton Towers on that morning (Not the best 'Claim to Fame' I grant you). Of course, Anna headed sraight for the Pirate ship and I was soon regretting the big breakfast! The amazing thing was that many of the overnight guests had not returned to the rides this morning so we basically shared a theme park with about 30 people. On every ride, once it had finished, Anna was asked whether she wanted to carry on the ride again or wanted to go to something else as there were no queues or anyone waiting. The trator ride saw us going around the circuit six times in a row! we started to feel like V.I.P'S or celebrities who had hired the whole theme park for themselves. It felt rather special! Of course, with no people around, we had gone on every ride about 30 times by 11am so headed back to the hotel.
Once back at the hotel, we went to the 'Crazy Golf'. This was a golf course like no other. Each 'hole' saw us putting golf balls into huge giant teapots, giant baths where the ball had to go down the plug hole or having to hit a speed camera so that the light flashed. Anna loved it and all that hockey practice has come in well as she really was rather good with a golf club in her hand! I came last, Anna was second while James won!!
In the afternoon, we headed to the Water park. This is like a theme park in itself with at least 10 water slides (the longest and scariest I have seen), lazy rivers where you just lie back and the current takes you for a gentle meander down a lagoon, fountains galore, children's pools with giant water toys and slides and a Fun House, very much like you would find in a soft play centre but designed with water in mind.
I was a little nervous about taking Anna as the chlorine found in public pools has a horrible tendency to set Anna's asthma off. However, just sometimes, it is worth taking the risk as Anna adores water. I do fear that she is way too confident with water as she insists in wading through the pools with no helping hand from Mummy and Daddy and nothing seems to scare her about deep water. However, it is also very clear to see that Anna has massive fun and, so every once in a while, it is worth it and this was no exception. (Thankfully, Anna seems fine with no asthma symptoms!)
After 2 hectic days, it was time to go home. We all set back to the car looking a little sad, very tired but also very happy at having such a wonderful weekend. My birthday wasn't mentioned once (always a bonus) and Anna had such a tremendous amount of fun along with a very memorable first meeting with Father Christmas (to be continued in the next blog post).
Alton Towers put the icing on the cake 3 days after we returned.
In Anna's letter to Father Christmas, we had politely asked Father Christmas for a Doll's house and promised to leave him a big piece of cake and carrots for Rudolph. I acted as scribe as Anna told me what she would like to say (which went something along the lines of "A doll's house please, a Doll's house please, a Doll's house please" so I padded it out a bit!!!!) I then asked Anna to sign her name at the bottom, expecting some random marks on the page. Imagine my absolute surprise and delight when she wrote her name which, albeit not perfect, was certainly recognisable with all the letters in the correct order and looking like proper writing!!!!! I was half tempted to keep it as a souvenir of the very first time that Anna wrote her name properly. However, I also thought it would be a little mean not to post a letter to Father Christmas so added a P.S at the end , requesting whether I may have the letter back along with Father Christmas's reply as this was the very first time that my daughter had wrote her name etc etc.
When the reply came back. it didn't have Anna's original letter too. However, I have to say that I wasn't very surprised as there must have been, at least, 300 children that Father Christmas had to write to overnight (all the guests in the hotel who had posted their letter the day before and had to receive them this morning before checking out).
3 days after we returned home, Anna and I returned from the supermarket to find that the postman had left a note saying that there was a 'special delivery' but that I had to sign for it and it was waiting at the post office. I had no idea what it was but grumbled under my breath and went to collect it.
There, waiting for Anna and I, was an envelope marked 'Very Special delivery' on the front of it. Still not knowing what it was, I opened it and got a very nice surprise inside. It said....
Dear Mrs Gibson and Anna,
I am so sorry. With having so many children to write back to on Sunday night (making sure they got their replies before they left) and writing a large list of what everyone wanted, I did not have time to read my letters as carefully as I would have liked. After you had left, I sat down with a nice cup of tea and some biscuits and re-read all my letters. Imagine my upset when I realised that I had missed your polite request to have your original letter returned (after I had noted that Anna would like a Doll's house'.) Therefore, please find enclosed your letter and I hope you have received it quickly. I have sent it special delivery as I realise how very special it must be! What a clever girl Anna is to write her own name. Thank you for visiting me at Alton Towers. I loved meeting you too.
Love from Santa xxx
P.S: Thank you for offering to leave me a piece of cake out on Christmas Eve. Rudolph will love the carrot. Could you make sure I have big piece of cake please????
Thank you Father Christmas! You will be having a very big piece of cake!!!
The Santa Sleepover was taking place at Alton Towers and, before I went, I knew very little detail. James had booked it after a friend of his had been saying how good the Halloween festivities were. Apparently, James had been looking for somewhere to take both Anna and me for the weekend leading up to my birthday. However, he also knew that I would refuse to go anywhere if I thought it was to 'celebrate' my forthcoming birthday (which I had told everyone to forget, just as I was trying to do). Therefore, he thought he could get away with it if he said that he had booked a weekend away for Anna to meet the big man in the red suit. He was right!
Even as we drove up the long winding driveway to the Hotel, you knew it was going to be a bit different, which is confirmed when you approach the hotel and there is a massive pond with a 'chitty chitty bang bang' car emerging from the water!!! Inside the hotel is also very much the feel of 'Disneyland' with a Hot Air balloon hanging down from the dome-like roof and a pirate ship moored on the ground floor. It seems that around every corner is another surprise such as a Giant's chair that you can climb onto and other spectacles to see.
However, the biggest surprise came in the ladies toilets!!! I was innocently changing Anna's nappy (Still no success with the potty training - Anna will be collecting her GCSE's in nappies at this rate!) when a woman approached the huge mirror that was hanging behind me. This mirror was very ornate with a huge gold frame hung from floor to ceiling. So, the woman starts to run her fingers through her hair and check her lipstick when suddenly somebody wolf-whistles. Of course, we all look round quickly before the lady says 'There is a man in this toilet'. Then the voice says 'You look gorgeous. Look at your hair, your eyes, your smile. You don't need to look at me, you need to go and show the world'. The mirror was talking to her!!!!! It then pretended to take her picture before telling her to get out there and show off her finest assets!! After we had all picked ourselves off the floor and stopped laughing, I then told Anna to go and stand in front of the mirror, to which the mirror said 'Wow. What a beautiful lady'. Anna just looked as though she met a talking mirror every day and walked off with a strut!! I am told there was one in the men's toilets too!!!
It was little things like this that made it magical! Like getting in the lift before all the lights start flashing and music blasted out, making you feel like you were Charlie in the Great Glass elevator. The hotel room was also very nice and very big!!!!
After checking in and writing our letter to Santa and posting it in the post box, we caught the Monorail into the theme park. I think Anna thought that the monorail was the theme park and that we would just be riding around on that all day. She would have been very happy with that alone.
Basically, hotel guests had exclusive openings to the theme park for this weekend only. It was only infant children rides only (about 20 in total) but everything had been decked in fake snow and there were Christmas trees and lights everywhere, twinkling and flashing and making everything feel very festive. There was also Christmas music wherever you went and you couldn't help but find yourself humming 'Winter Wonderland' all weekend.
We first visited the real Reindeer who were taking a well-earned rest before the big night on the 24th. However, Anna's attention was soon diverted by 2 giant snowmen who were walking towards her. Now, when I was 3, if I had been approached by 2 giant snowmen, I would have ran a mile or just burst out crying. However, Anna rushed straight up to them and started talking to them before hugging each one and telling them that she loved them! The snowmen were to have lots of discussions with Anna over the 2 days.
For the rest of the morning, we then went on all the rides which were great fun and, due to so few people, there were very little queues which made everything so much more magical and very unlike a normal Alton Towers.
Despite the freezing cold weather, we still managed to sit outside while eating freshly-made pancakes with chocolate and banana before then heading to the older children's rides. Fortunately, Anna is tall for her age so the height restriction did not apply to Anna. Obviously though we were not going to take Anna on any ride that she did not want to go on. There was no fear of that. After insisting that Anna stand and watch the ride so that she knew what she was about to get on, Anna headed straight for the pirate ship. I kept telling her that it would go fast and spin a lot but that just seemed to make Anna more excited! She loved every second and giggled throughout. Meanwhile, her mother felt quite sick. In my day, Pirate ships just went backwards and forwards, admittedly quite high but just in 2 directions. This pirate ship spun 360 degrees and went extremely high! Anna loved every second and, once it was over, asked if she could go on again! After we had been flung around on the teacups and spun on the pirate ship, I was feeling extremely dizzy but Anna was on an adrenalin high and remained excited throughout the whole day. A 3 year old is meant to enjoy the sedate rides like the squirrel ride which slowly takes you around a track. Once Anna had tasted the thrill-seeking rides, there was no going back!
Once we had visited Father Christmas (more of that later) and gone on several hundred more rides (mainly on the Pirate ship), it was time to return to the hotel. We then got dressed for dinner. However, before going to the restaurant, we just had time for a puppet show, all about the true spirit of Christmas and showing love to everyone you meet. At the end of the show, I asked Anna what the show had been about (pretending that I had not seen it) and she replied 'The puppets gave presents to people. There were lots of presents Mummy because it was Christmas. Christmas has lots of presents'. Glad to see the meaning wasn't lost on Anna!!!
We then went to our Christmas dinner where we all had Roast Turkey and Christmas Pudding. I did try to get Anna to eat Turkey but there was no way. She ended up having Chips!!!! (Bad Mummy... but it is Christmas!!!!)
After Dinner, we then went to a 'Pirate Bill magic Show.' I got rather nervous because beanbags had been set aside for the children while the adults were sat on chairs at the back. Due to the sheer numbers of people, I soon lost sight of Anna and just hoped that she would not be frightened by the pirate or the 'He's behind you' scenario. I need not have worried because Anna was perfectly behaved and sat mesmerised throughout, laughing on all the right places and joining in with the shouting! James and I just looked very frightened when he was trying to select someone from the audience to come and help with a magic trick. We could see him scanning the audience and looking in Anna's general direction. I just feared that, once on stage, she wouldn't get off again and would insist on performing the magic trick alone before then insisting on a standing ovation. Thankfully, Pirate Bill chose someone whoo looked a little more timid!
Once the magic show was over, Anna quickly located us again (which was amazing considering how many children were trying to get out the door!!) and said 'Disco now'. Anna had been excitedly anticipating this all evening, ever since we had told her that there would be a disco. She didn't even eat her pudding at dinner because she said' No pudding, disco now'.
As soon as we entered the disco, Anna didn't look back. She didn't hesitate as she strolled onto the dancefloor purposefully, taking her position right in the middle. She then dropped her cube in a very exaggaarated manner and started to dance around it!! All of the cheesy hits were played and Anna danced to them all. However, the most energetic dancing was saved for Lady Gaga. As soon as that came on, Anna wasn't going to take any nonsense and was soon showing everyone how it had to be done, singing every single word in time and her hip action was something to see!!! However, all diva's need their beauty sleep in the end and, at 10pm, Anna told us it was time for bed so we headed back to our hotel room where Anna fell asleep within 30 seconds of being tucked in!
The next morning, we were woken by a rustling at the door and as Anna ran over to see what it was, there was a red envelope sitting on the doormat addressed to Anna. Inside was a letter from Father Christmas. It said that he had noted that Anna would like a Doll's house and would deliver it on Christmas Eve. I would love to say that Anna was overcome with joy at receiving a letter from Father Christmas but, while her Mummy was reading it aloud with tears in her eyes, Anna was saying 'OK, enough now, let's get dressed'.
After a huge breakfast, we headed back to the theme park where we had a 'Claim to Fame' of being the very first people into Alton Towers on that morning (Not the best 'Claim to Fame' I grant you). Of course, Anna headed sraight for the Pirate ship and I was soon regretting the big breakfast! The amazing thing was that many of the overnight guests had not returned to the rides this morning so we basically shared a theme park with about 30 people. On every ride, once it had finished, Anna was asked whether she wanted to carry on the ride again or wanted to go to something else as there were no queues or anyone waiting. The trator ride saw us going around the circuit six times in a row! we started to feel like V.I.P'S or celebrities who had hired the whole theme park for themselves. It felt rather special! Of course, with no people around, we had gone on every ride about 30 times by 11am so headed back to the hotel.
Once back at the hotel, we went to the 'Crazy Golf'. This was a golf course like no other. Each 'hole' saw us putting golf balls into huge giant teapots, giant baths where the ball had to go down the plug hole or having to hit a speed camera so that the light flashed. Anna loved it and all that hockey practice has come in well as she really was rather good with a golf club in her hand! I came last, Anna was second while James won!!
In the afternoon, we headed to the Water park. This is like a theme park in itself with at least 10 water slides (the longest and scariest I have seen), lazy rivers where you just lie back and the current takes you for a gentle meander down a lagoon, fountains galore, children's pools with giant water toys and slides and a Fun House, very much like you would find in a soft play centre but designed with water in mind.
I was a little nervous about taking Anna as the chlorine found in public pools has a horrible tendency to set Anna's asthma off. However, just sometimes, it is worth taking the risk as Anna adores water. I do fear that she is way too confident with water as she insists in wading through the pools with no helping hand from Mummy and Daddy and nothing seems to scare her about deep water. However, it is also very clear to see that Anna has massive fun and, so every once in a while, it is worth it and this was no exception. (Thankfully, Anna seems fine with no asthma symptoms!)
After 2 hectic days, it was time to go home. We all set back to the car looking a little sad, very tired but also very happy at having such a wonderful weekend. My birthday wasn't mentioned once (always a bonus) and Anna had such a tremendous amount of fun along with a very memorable first meeting with Father Christmas (to be continued in the next blog post).
Alton Towers put the icing on the cake 3 days after we returned.
In Anna's letter to Father Christmas, we had politely asked Father Christmas for a Doll's house and promised to leave him a big piece of cake and carrots for Rudolph. I acted as scribe as Anna told me what she would like to say (which went something along the lines of "A doll's house please, a Doll's house please, a Doll's house please" so I padded it out a bit!!!!) I then asked Anna to sign her name at the bottom, expecting some random marks on the page. Imagine my absolute surprise and delight when she wrote her name which, albeit not perfect, was certainly recognisable with all the letters in the correct order and looking like proper writing!!!!! I was half tempted to keep it as a souvenir of the very first time that Anna wrote her name properly. However, I also thought it would be a little mean not to post a letter to Father Christmas so added a P.S at the end , requesting whether I may have the letter back along with Father Christmas's reply as this was the very first time that my daughter had wrote her name etc etc.
When the reply came back. it didn't have Anna's original letter too. However, I have to say that I wasn't very surprised as there must have been, at least, 300 children that Father Christmas had to write to overnight (all the guests in the hotel who had posted their letter the day before and had to receive them this morning before checking out).
3 days after we returned home, Anna and I returned from the supermarket to find that the postman had left a note saying that there was a 'special delivery' but that I had to sign for it and it was waiting at the post office. I had no idea what it was but grumbled under my breath and went to collect it.
There, waiting for Anna and I, was an envelope marked 'Very Special delivery' on the front of it. Still not knowing what it was, I opened it and got a very nice surprise inside. It said....
Dear Mrs Gibson and Anna,
I am so sorry. With having so many children to write back to on Sunday night (making sure they got their replies before they left) and writing a large list of what everyone wanted, I did not have time to read my letters as carefully as I would have liked. After you had left, I sat down with a nice cup of tea and some biscuits and re-read all my letters. Imagine my upset when I realised that I had missed your polite request to have your original letter returned (after I had noted that Anna would like a Doll's house'.) Therefore, please find enclosed your letter and I hope you have received it quickly. I have sent it special delivery as I realise how very special it must be! What a clever girl Anna is to write her own name. Thank you for visiting me at Alton Towers. I loved meeting you too.
Love from Santa xxx
P.S: Thank you for offering to leave me a piece of cake out on Christmas Eve. Rudolph will love the carrot. Could you make sure I have big piece of cake please????
Thank you Father Christmas! You will be having a very big piece of cake!!!
Saturday, 5 December 2009
The Nativity
Anna is to star in her first ever Nativity Play. Last week, we had a letter from pre-school saying that there was to be a school play next Friday. I later found out that it is actually the nativity.
I was desperate to find out more so started quizzing Anna but all she could tell me was 'sshhhh... secret from Mummies and Daddies'.
'Well, is there singing' I pestered!
Anna just gave me a sneaky smile and said 'Yes Mummy, there is singing' before refusing to answer any more! However, my detective instincts didn't let me down today. I attended the pre-school coffee morning (translated as 'Let's fleece these poor Mothers for every last penny they have) and there just happened to be a 'cast list' sitting on the table as I leaned over to grab my mug of coffee. I couldn't help it when Anna's name jumped out of the page.
I have found out that Anna is to play an Angel!!!!!!!!!!! How cute is that!!!!!! I can't wait!!!!
This evening, I asked Anna if she was playing an angel. She just looked at me quizzically, trying to work out how I found out, before looking very disapprovingly at me and said "Yes Mummy. I'm an angel. No more". However, she then gave me a full rendition of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' so I am guessing that this may be one of the feature songs of the performance! I fear that the Nativity may last longer than planned due to every time that I clapped at the end of Anna's singing performance, she insisted on singing the entire song again!!
So, next Friday, James and I will be one of those annoying parents, probably sat in the front row, armed with cameras (if allowed due to child protection) and me with my box of tissues. Anna will probably be the one who is walking in the opposite direction to everyone else and stood in the middle of the stage while everyone else has exited right!!! I can't wait!
I was desperate to find out more so started quizzing Anna but all she could tell me was 'sshhhh... secret from Mummies and Daddies'.
'Well, is there singing' I pestered!
Anna just gave me a sneaky smile and said 'Yes Mummy, there is singing' before refusing to answer any more! However, my detective instincts didn't let me down today. I attended the pre-school coffee morning (translated as 'Let's fleece these poor Mothers for every last penny they have) and there just happened to be a 'cast list' sitting on the table as I leaned over to grab my mug of coffee. I couldn't help it when Anna's name jumped out of the page.
I have found out that Anna is to play an Angel!!!!!!!!!!! How cute is that!!!!!! I can't wait!!!!
This evening, I asked Anna if she was playing an angel. She just looked at me quizzically, trying to work out how I found out, before looking very disapprovingly at me and said "Yes Mummy. I'm an angel. No more". However, she then gave me a full rendition of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' so I am guessing that this may be one of the feature songs of the performance! I fear that the Nativity may last longer than planned due to every time that I clapped at the end of Anna's singing performance, she insisted on singing the entire song again!!
So, next Friday, James and I will be one of those annoying parents, probably sat in the front row, armed with cameras (if allowed due to child protection) and me with my box of tissues. Anna will probably be the one who is walking in the opposite direction to everyone else and stood in the middle of the stage while everyone else has exited right!!! I can't wait!
Friday, 4 December 2009
Christmas is Coming
The magic of Christmas has entered the Gibson household this year - Anna is beginning to understand what Christmas means! Well, actually I should re-phrase that to say Anna understands that Father Christmas comes and leaves presents under the tree if you are a good girl. She is now telling everyone who she happens to see dressed in any item of red clothing, that she would like a Dolls House (which is a bonus as her Mummy has already put a word in with the elves that Anna may have liked that. I know my daughter well!).
As for her mother, up until this past day or so, I have been going round looking and sounding like scrooge!!! On Tuesday, a group of friends with accompanying toddlers meet. (We pretend to go for their music class so they get 'educational stimuli' but really, it just an excuse for coffee, food and a gossip!!!). This Tuesday, my poor friends had to put up with me whinging every time that a new Christmas song came on and if I heard Noddy Holder yell 'It's Christmas' one more time, the Cd wasn't going to get to see another Christmas after I got hold of it! Annabel's Mum just started laughing at me in the end as I automatically grimaced as each new Christmas song was played. For goodness sake, it was only December 1st. I am sure that Christmas songs were not played until, at least, the 20th in my day (sounding as old as I feel!!!).
I just hate the commercial aspect of it all. This is why I refused to even think about anything Christmas at all until December 1st but it seems as though the whole world has already bought and gift-wrapped their presents while I am left wondering if I have enough time to do it all. To be fair, I had already planned Anna's gifts in October but that is different because it is my little girl so it doesn't matter what time of year it is - I still get excited about gifts for Anna.
To me, Christmas is all about time spent with family and showing people that you care about them by the giving of a gift, regardless of how expensive/inexpensive it is. I know that young children would find this a hard concept to understand and, for them, it is all about Father Christmas magically coming down the chimney on Christmas Eve and leaving them a present under the tree. I wouldn't want it any other way. However, I think adults may have lost sight of it too and everyone feels pressured into getting expensive gifts that they can't afford (especially this year) and it all becomes a little competitive, especially when it begins in September!
However, there are certain events that have occurred this week that have begin to melt my scrooge-like heart and I am actually beginning to get excited too (finally!!)
1. The first is Anna's pure excitement at seeing a Christmas tree in our local Sports centre (where we go dancing). She raced in and the smile on her face was incredibly wide. 'Look Mummy' she gasped as she looked at me with her eyes as wide as saucers. 'It is a Christmas tree. That means Father Christmas will come soon and leave presents' before she then started jumping up and down, just to try and release some of that pure adrenalin of excitement racing through her body! She then sat under the tree until her dance class began. I honestly think that she expected Father Christmas to come, then and there and drop off her present. I had to explain that he would come on Christmas Eve and, being the wonderful girl she is, said 'OK' but has then asked me if it is Christmas Eve every hour since that day!
2. Anna's advent calender has also got me a little excited! Due to Anna asking when it will be Christmas Eve (see point 1 above), I thought it may help to get an advent calender. At first, I did want to get one which didn't contain chocolate and just had a merry Christmas scene on the front of it. I failed in my quest. All non-chocolate calenders seemed to be highly religious images which seemed a little grown up for a 3 year old. I have later discovered that you can get fuzzy felt advent calenders which would have been rather cool but not to be for this year at least. Now, after dinner, Anna starts bouncing up and down on her chair saying 'Finished pudding, Father Christmas door time'. Anna's calender is then taken form the top shelf (all of the chocolate would be long gone if I put it within arms reach of Anna) and we discuss what day it is before she finds the corresponding number. Anna then counts the 'doors' left until Christmas Eve and gets very excited!
3. The third event to make me more excited about Christmas is the Christmas nativity! Last week, we had a letter from pre-school saying that there was to be a school play next Friday. I later found out that it is actually the nativity. Now, this deserves a post all of it's own, which I will write ASAP but, needless to say, it has got me very excited!
4. This weekend has also seen me think more Christmas-like thoughts. We are going to the Santa sleepover at Alton Towers!!! I'm not sure all that it entails but I do know that there will be real Reindeer, Santa's Grotto in a secret hiding place, complete with Santa inside, lots of fake snow and it all decorated like the North Pole within the actual park. It also involves a hotel, scrumptious Christmas dinner and magic shows, disco and puppet shows galore! We have told Anna but I was a little worried that she thought this would mean that it is actually Christmas this weekend, complete with Dolls house. I then had to explain that we needed to ask Father Christmas about the Dolls House before he actually came on Christmas Eve. This took some explaining!
5. I have realised that getting excited means that I can forget entirely about my birthday which was making me feel depressed beyond belief! (It is a big one and I will be feeling incredibly old by this time next week)
So, once I return form Santa's wonderland this weekend (Alton Towers is owned by the Madame Tussards group so I am anticipating that it should be a good makeover job of the park and will feel very 'Christmas-like'. Fingers crossed. I think the scrooge will have entirely left me and I will be one very excited mummy due to my very excited 3 year old!!! Yay!
As for her mother, up until this past day or so, I have been going round looking and sounding like scrooge!!! On Tuesday, a group of friends with accompanying toddlers meet. (We pretend to go for their music class so they get 'educational stimuli' but really, it just an excuse for coffee, food and a gossip!!!). This Tuesday, my poor friends had to put up with me whinging every time that a new Christmas song came on and if I heard Noddy Holder yell 'It's Christmas' one more time, the Cd wasn't going to get to see another Christmas after I got hold of it! Annabel's Mum just started laughing at me in the end as I automatically grimaced as each new Christmas song was played. For goodness sake, it was only December 1st. I am sure that Christmas songs were not played until, at least, the 20th in my day (sounding as old as I feel!!!).
I just hate the commercial aspect of it all. This is why I refused to even think about anything Christmas at all until December 1st but it seems as though the whole world has already bought and gift-wrapped their presents while I am left wondering if I have enough time to do it all. To be fair, I had already planned Anna's gifts in October but that is different because it is my little girl so it doesn't matter what time of year it is - I still get excited about gifts for Anna.
To me, Christmas is all about time spent with family and showing people that you care about them by the giving of a gift, regardless of how expensive/inexpensive it is. I know that young children would find this a hard concept to understand and, for them, it is all about Father Christmas magically coming down the chimney on Christmas Eve and leaving them a present under the tree. I wouldn't want it any other way. However, I think adults may have lost sight of it too and everyone feels pressured into getting expensive gifts that they can't afford (especially this year) and it all becomes a little competitive, especially when it begins in September!
However, there are certain events that have occurred this week that have begin to melt my scrooge-like heart and I am actually beginning to get excited too (finally!!)
1. The first is Anna's pure excitement at seeing a Christmas tree in our local Sports centre (where we go dancing). She raced in and the smile on her face was incredibly wide. 'Look Mummy' she gasped as she looked at me with her eyes as wide as saucers. 'It is a Christmas tree. That means Father Christmas will come soon and leave presents' before she then started jumping up and down, just to try and release some of that pure adrenalin of excitement racing through her body! She then sat under the tree until her dance class began. I honestly think that she expected Father Christmas to come, then and there and drop off her present. I had to explain that he would come on Christmas Eve and, being the wonderful girl she is, said 'OK' but has then asked me if it is Christmas Eve every hour since that day!
2. Anna's advent calender has also got me a little excited! Due to Anna asking when it will be Christmas Eve (see point 1 above), I thought it may help to get an advent calender. At first, I did want to get one which didn't contain chocolate and just had a merry Christmas scene on the front of it. I failed in my quest. All non-chocolate calenders seemed to be highly religious images which seemed a little grown up for a 3 year old. I have later discovered that you can get fuzzy felt advent calenders which would have been rather cool but not to be for this year at least. Now, after dinner, Anna starts bouncing up and down on her chair saying 'Finished pudding, Father Christmas door time'. Anna's calender is then taken form the top shelf (all of the chocolate would be long gone if I put it within arms reach of Anna) and we discuss what day it is before she finds the corresponding number. Anna then counts the 'doors' left until Christmas Eve and gets very excited!
3. The third event to make me more excited about Christmas is the Christmas nativity! Last week, we had a letter from pre-school saying that there was to be a school play next Friday. I later found out that it is actually the nativity. Now, this deserves a post all of it's own, which I will write ASAP but, needless to say, it has got me very excited!
4. This weekend has also seen me think more Christmas-like thoughts. We are going to the Santa sleepover at Alton Towers!!! I'm not sure all that it entails but I do know that there will be real Reindeer, Santa's Grotto in a secret hiding place, complete with Santa inside, lots of fake snow and it all decorated like the North Pole within the actual park. It also involves a hotel, scrumptious Christmas dinner and magic shows, disco and puppet shows galore! We have told Anna but I was a little worried that she thought this would mean that it is actually Christmas this weekend, complete with Dolls house. I then had to explain that we needed to ask Father Christmas about the Dolls House before he actually came on Christmas Eve. This took some explaining!
5. I have realised that getting excited means that I can forget entirely about my birthday which was making me feel depressed beyond belief! (It is a big one and I will be feeling incredibly old by this time next week)
So, once I return form Santa's wonderland this weekend (Alton Towers is owned by the Madame Tussards group so I am anticipating that it should be a good makeover job of the park and will feel very 'Christmas-like'. Fingers crossed. I think the scrooge will have entirely left me and I will be one very excited mummy due to my very excited 3 year old!!! Yay!
Is Anyone There?
Ever since returning from Finland, life seems to have gone at 90 MPH. Anna started the playschool the week after we returned and we put house on the market (which has resulted in a lifetime of cleaning the house, walking Anna to school and back again and playing catch-up in the times in-between!!)
However, none of this is an excuse for letting the blog get ignored.
Therefore, if there is anyone still out there who still checks into this blog every once in a while, I can only apologise and promise that I will try to do better from now on. If nobody is reading this (got bored of looking and finding nothing written), I can only hope that a grown-up version of Anna is, one day, reading this and appreciating it! Unfortunately, a lot of the posts will now be written with the benefit of hindsight and from memory of something that happened quite a while ago but for, Anna's sake, I will try to include as much as possible and will also try to catch up as fast as possible!
However, none of this is an excuse for letting the blog get ignored.
Therefore, if there is anyone still out there who still checks into this blog every once in a while, I can only apologise and promise that I will try to do better from now on. If nobody is reading this (got bored of looking and finding nothing written), I can only hope that a grown-up version of Anna is, one day, reading this and appreciating it! Unfortunately, a lot of the posts will now be written with the benefit of hindsight and from memory of something that happened quite a while ago but for, Anna's sake, I will try to include as much as possible and will also try to catch up as fast as possible!
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Birthday Celebrations - Part 3
To complete Anna's birthday celebrations, we held another party for her on the Saturday after her actual birthday. This would see her Daddy's side of the family attend along with her little friends from various social gatherings that my daughter attends!
I feared for my sanity! In previous years, we have held one party with, most importantly, my mother coming to organise the chaos whilst I ran around like a headless chicken. I still envisaged the headless chicken impression but without the essential cooking element going on in the background.
Of course, I had gone mad with the buffet again but had also taken on more responsibility this time, not leaving it all to Mr Marks and Mr Spencer. The problem I had was that M and S are great at providing not just a ham salad sandwich but smoked Wiltshire ham on seeded multi-grain bread with crisp fresh iceburg lettuce and juicy sweet tomatoes with lashings of creamy organic mayonaise but not so great at providing a plain and simple ham sandwich, which is want a 3 year old wants!
So there I was at 11am on the Saturday morning, making hundreds of cheese, jam and ham sandwiches and muttering aloud at how my mother can get pristine sandwiches while mine look like they have been cut with a trowl!
Somehow, James and I managed to decorate the house, blow up 36 balloons, make the buffet, collect the remaining order from the shop, set the tables up, rearrange the lounge furniture and keep Anna from going into excitement meltdown, all before 2pm.
At 2pm, James and I braced ourselves in the kitchen, armed with kettle and camera. At 2.05pm... nothing.
'Are you sure you put 2pm on the invitations?' asked James
'Yes'
'Are you sure you put the 21st November?'
'Yes, I think so... but then again...'
Then the doorbell rang and, lo and behold, there were 26 guest all stood on my doorstep at the same time. They were very good though and formed an orderly and well-behaved queue while I tried to usher everyone in. Meanwhile, all I could hear was Anna's voice getting more and more excited in the living room as she began to open gifts. As expected though, as soon as the first gift was opened, she only wanted to play with that and the other gifts were left looking neglected on the carpet. Of course, Anna had to open the one gift that was attached to the packaging by screws and therefore, I was on the hunt for a screwdriver for the first 10 minutes of the party. I did try in vain to encourage Anna to open another gift while waiting but she had set eyes on the Postman Pat mail centre and nothing was going to budge her. Thankfully, I found the screwdriver and thrust it into some poor unsuspecting person's hand while I said 'hello' to everyone who had managed to get through the door while my daughter demanded a screwdriver!
After the first 10 minutes being utter chaos, things did actually manage to calm down and the first party activity was under way. I had made fairy cakes and bought numerous sweet things to decorate them with such as Smarties (I know, I know but it was party), hundreds and thousands, iced stars, iced flowers, glitter, icing pens and the list goes on. I think it went well as all the children seemed to love decorating the cakes. Well, everyone except Anna who just sat there eating the contents of the decorations before they managed to make it onto the top of any cake!
With the benefit of hindsight, the cake decoration may have been better after the buffet however as, quite rightly, the children wanted to eat the cakes they had just decorated and devoured them whilst I stood there holding the cling film in which to wrap them up to take home. Who was I trying to kid! The Buffet was no longer such a big deal for the kids who had just been filled up on cake but the adults, thankfully, dived in! Meanwhile, the children explored Anna's toys and just looked to have a lot of fun.
It was then time to sing 'Happy Birthday' and cut the cake. Again, a massive thank you to the very talented Grandma Lynn who triumphed, yet again, with am amazing cake. There will be photos to follow w (Keep checking back because I will try to get round to posting a picture) but basically it was a massive pink cake with iced flowers and a giant iced Peppa pig on top with little fairy cakes then placed around the entire base of the cake. Not only did it look amazing but it also tasted completely scrumptious too!!! Thank you Grandma Lynn!
Anna adores every second of the whole cake thing (not least of all eating lots of it) and is what parties are made for according to Anna. Who wouldn't? Anna gets to stand in the middle of the room while everyone stands around her singing to her. In previous years, I have held Anna while everyone sings but Anna wanted to stand on her own 2 feet this year - just so that she could show her dance moves off whilst everyone sang. She then insisted on giving a solo performance, wishing herself a Happy Birthday before everyone kindly applauded at the end. We then blew out the candles. Anna still hasn't got the knack of blowing things out yet but I promise that I did try to move Anna further away from the cake as she 'attempted' to blow out each candle!
We then played Pass the Parcel - The Toddler Version. Basically, I had wrapped up enough gifts so that each layer revealed a gift for each child. Jame had been given several tasks to do during this activity. The first was to delegate the camera and camcorder to 'responsible' people who would take decent shots and footage. Once done, James then had to operate the music. This was no mean feat as he also had to ensure that the music stopped on each and every child in order that they could get a gift and that no child received 2 or even none at all! I'm sure Pass the Parcel wasn't so complicated in my day but thankfully, James (with a little help from Uncle John, who had come all the way from Edinburgh. Thank you!) managed to get every child happy by the end of the game. Phew!
Once some more playing had been undertaken, the 2 and half hours of party mayhem was drawing to a close. I would like to think that the children had a good time and 2 of them burst into tears when it was time to go because they wanted to stay for longer (although I don't try to judge parties on how many people are crying as they go out the door!!!). I certainly know that Anna had an amazing time, judging by the permanent smile on her face throughout the celebrations and the way in which she has talked about nothing else for 2 weeks after. She is also constantly reminding me that 'Mummy, I love my parties', just to make sure that I don't forget for next year!
As for next year... I am certainly starting to see the benefit of hiring soft play centres or, at the very least, outside catering!
I realise that this is going to sound very idealistic and you will probably think 'Yeah Right, who is she trying to kid?' once you read this but I honestly think that Anna's true enjoyment of the parties comes from, not the extremely generous and kind gifts, but the fact that she has her family and friends around her (Oh, and the fact that there is lots of cake). Anna is extremely sociable (When walking to playgroup each morning, she excitedly keeps saying 'I am going to see my friends today. I love my friends'.) and her dream is to have all those that she loves around her. At her parties, it comes true.
Thank you to everyone who was so incredibly kind and generous and gave Anna a gift. Every year, I am completely overwhelmed by the gifts she receives and people's kindness and generosity. This year was no different, I hope that everyone has now received their Thank You cards, lovingly created by Anna. Oh... and for those of you who received cards with red things and black blobs on the front, they are in fact ladybirds. I have now had several family members thanking me for the cards with the bears face/clown/random painted 'things'. The biggest THANK YOU is for making Anna's birthday so special for her by being there to help her celebrate.
(I will try to post photos on her asap, as soon as I can get my hands on James' camera!)
I feared for my sanity! In previous years, we have held one party with, most importantly, my mother coming to organise the chaos whilst I ran around like a headless chicken. I still envisaged the headless chicken impression but without the essential cooking element going on in the background.
Of course, I had gone mad with the buffet again but had also taken on more responsibility this time, not leaving it all to Mr Marks and Mr Spencer. The problem I had was that M and S are great at providing not just a ham salad sandwich but smoked Wiltshire ham on seeded multi-grain bread with crisp fresh iceburg lettuce and juicy sweet tomatoes with lashings of creamy organic mayonaise but not so great at providing a plain and simple ham sandwich, which is want a 3 year old wants!
So there I was at 11am on the Saturday morning, making hundreds of cheese, jam and ham sandwiches and muttering aloud at how my mother can get pristine sandwiches while mine look like they have been cut with a trowl!
Somehow, James and I managed to decorate the house, blow up 36 balloons, make the buffet, collect the remaining order from the shop, set the tables up, rearrange the lounge furniture and keep Anna from going into excitement meltdown, all before 2pm.
At 2pm, James and I braced ourselves in the kitchen, armed with kettle and camera. At 2.05pm... nothing.
'Are you sure you put 2pm on the invitations?' asked James
'Yes'
'Are you sure you put the 21st November?'
'Yes, I think so... but then again...'
Then the doorbell rang and, lo and behold, there were 26 guest all stood on my doorstep at the same time. They were very good though and formed an orderly and well-behaved queue while I tried to usher everyone in. Meanwhile, all I could hear was Anna's voice getting more and more excited in the living room as she began to open gifts. As expected though, as soon as the first gift was opened, she only wanted to play with that and the other gifts were left looking neglected on the carpet. Of course, Anna had to open the one gift that was attached to the packaging by screws and therefore, I was on the hunt for a screwdriver for the first 10 minutes of the party. I did try in vain to encourage Anna to open another gift while waiting but she had set eyes on the Postman Pat mail centre and nothing was going to budge her. Thankfully, I found the screwdriver and thrust it into some poor unsuspecting person's hand while I said 'hello' to everyone who had managed to get through the door while my daughter demanded a screwdriver!
After the first 10 minutes being utter chaos, things did actually manage to calm down and the first party activity was under way. I had made fairy cakes and bought numerous sweet things to decorate them with such as Smarties (I know, I know but it was party), hundreds and thousands, iced stars, iced flowers, glitter, icing pens and the list goes on. I think it went well as all the children seemed to love decorating the cakes. Well, everyone except Anna who just sat there eating the contents of the decorations before they managed to make it onto the top of any cake!
With the benefit of hindsight, the cake decoration may have been better after the buffet however as, quite rightly, the children wanted to eat the cakes they had just decorated and devoured them whilst I stood there holding the cling film in which to wrap them up to take home. Who was I trying to kid! The Buffet was no longer such a big deal for the kids who had just been filled up on cake but the adults, thankfully, dived in! Meanwhile, the children explored Anna's toys and just looked to have a lot of fun.
It was then time to sing 'Happy Birthday' and cut the cake. Again, a massive thank you to the very talented Grandma Lynn who triumphed, yet again, with am amazing cake. There will be photos to follow w (Keep checking back because I will try to get round to posting a picture) but basically it was a massive pink cake with iced flowers and a giant iced Peppa pig on top with little fairy cakes then placed around the entire base of the cake. Not only did it look amazing but it also tasted completely scrumptious too!!! Thank you Grandma Lynn!
Anna adores every second of the whole cake thing (not least of all eating lots of it) and is what parties are made for according to Anna. Who wouldn't? Anna gets to stand in the middle of the room while everyone stands around her singing to her. In previous years, I have held Anna while everyone sings but Anna wanted to stand on her own 2 feet this year - just so that she could show her dance moves off whilst everyone sang. She then insisted on giving a solo performance, wishing herself a Happy Birthday before everyone kindly applauded at the end. We then blew out the candles. Anna still hasn't got the knack of blowing things out yet but I promise that I did try to move Anna further away from the cake as she 'attempted' to blow out each candle!
We then played Pass the Parcel - The Toddler Version. Basically, I had wrapped up enough gifts so that each layer revealed a gift for each child. Jame had been given several tasks to do during this activity. The first was to delegate the camera and camcorder to 'responsible' people who would take decent shots and footage. Once done, James then had to operate the music. This was no mean feat as he also had to ensure that the music stopped on each and every child in order that they could get a gift and that no child received 2 or even none at all! I'm sure Pass the Parcel wasn't so complicated in my day but thankfully, James (with a little help from Uncle John, who had come all the way from Edinburgh. Thank you!) managed to get every child happy by the end of the game. Phew!
Once some more playing had been undertaken, the 2 and half hours of party mayhem was drawing to a close. I would like to think that the children had a good time and 2 of them burst into tears when it was time to go because they wanted to stay for longer (although I don't try to judge parties on how many people are crying as they go out the door!!!). I certainly know that Anna had an amazing time, judging by the permanent smile on her face throughout the celebrations and the way in which she has talked about nothing else for 2 weeks after. She is also constantly reminding me that 'Mummy, I love my parties', just to make sure that I don't forget for next year!
As for next year... I am certainly starting to see the benefit of hiring soft play centres or, at the very least, outside catering!
I realise that this is going to sound very idealistic and you will probably think 'Yeah Right, who is she trying to kid?' once you read this but I honestly think that Anna's true enjoyment of the parties comes from, not the extremely generous and kind gifts, but the fact that she has her family and friends around her (Oh, and the fact that there is lots of cake). Anna is extremely sociable (When walking to playgroup each morning, she excitedly keeps saying 'I am going to see my friends today. I love my friends'.) and her dream is to have all those that she loves around her. At her parties, it comes true.
Thank you to everyone who was so incredibly kind and generous and gave Anna a gift. Every year, I am completely overwhelmed by the gifts she receives and people's kindness and generosity. This year was no different, I hope that everyone has now received their Thank You cards, lovingly created by Anna. Oh... and for those of you who received cards with red things and black blobs on the front, they are in fact ladybirds. I have now had several family members thanking me for the cards with the bears face/clown/random painted 'things'. The biggest THANK YOU is for making Anna's birthday so special for her by being there to help her celebrate.
(I will try to post photos on her asap, as soon as I can get my hands on James' camera!)
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