Weekending

This week has seen the end of one year and the start of the next, a time to herald in new beginnings should you so wish.

We started the week at a friends house where we were staying to celebrate the New Year.  We have been meeting up for years to celebrate together initially as adults but now as families, we are thirteen into total which requires a lot of organising on the food front.  On New Year's Eve the older children and most of the adults headed out early to walk up a big hill, it was windy and icy cold so they did not make it to the top but had a good walk nonetheless, they arrived back with a mass of wet clothing and kit.  The younger children and two adults remained at home for playing, drawing, painting, baking and in the afternoon a wet, muddy walk in nearby woods.  They loved running around and got plastered in mud by the end.  In the evening we all sat down for a buffet tea prepared by some of the adults.  Once we had eaten and cleared up we moved the tables to one side and danced to some cheesy 80s music.  The younger children went to bed and the older one's stayed up to welcome the new year in at midnight.  We all collapsed into bed soon after.  The afternoon of New Year's Day was spent on the beach as is our tradition.  We had a big cooked breakfast before setting off and prepared a stew which was cooking in the oven for our return.

We set off home on Wednesday, we had been away for ten days and it was good to be home again.  The children always spend the first hour or so finding all their favourite toys to play with, reunited after a break.

Thursday we spent the day at home, unpacking, washing, finding homes for our presents and tidying up.  I had been so busy making presents before we went away that the house was not particularly tidy when we left.   The children kept themselves busy for most of the day playing with Lego.

Friday we had plans to meet up with friends and hoped that the weather forecast was correct.  We were grateful that it was and had a wonderful day out enjoying the outdoors.

Over the weekend we have pottered around at home, drawing, playing with Lego, reading books together, knitting, playing games, making dens and snuggling under blankets.  We joined some friends for dinner on Saturday night it was good to catch up and chat with them.  After a very different week I am looking forward to returning to our usual daily rhythms.