Christmas building

A sign of a good Christmas present is that it isn't looked at, said thanks for, and then placed to one side for further inspection later, but one that is immediately investigated further - read, played with, eaten, listened to or whatever is required of it.

Jake received such a present from Rew and Frances on Boxing Day - a Meccano set that can be used to build several different models. Jake had tried out Meccano before, but wasn't quite ready for its slightly more complex challenges than Lego has to offer. This time, he's most definitely up for it, even if there was some initial confusion and frustration about exactly which piece was which.

As I type this, Jake is working away on model number two, having completed and dismantled the helicopter. As promised, here is a picture of the completed model.

One other entertaining picture from Christmas Day - the three wise monkeys set the task of peeling the leaves off the sprouts so that we could enjoy them as per the Heston recipe. Tasted lovely - best thing being that they tasted almost nothing like sprouts!

Christmas Eve

So Christmas can be declared to have arrived. I'm sat with Dad listening to the carols whilst Mum and Jake are working on a puzzle. Nicky has popped over the road to deliver some presents. The Christmas tree is well and truly surrounded with presents, with stockings waiting to be filled later. There is still snow around, and having walked the dog a little while ago it is definitely cold enough that it'll still be here tomorrow, so we're in for a white Christmas. Chocolates have been put out in bowls strategically placed so that you're never too far from one, to be joined by bowls of nibbles soon. The fridge and the freezer and all the cupboards are groaning with goodies, and Nicky's made Jamie's chilli for us to have later on. I'm off to the midnight service later to play some carols. John and Margaret will be round tomorrow, bringing turkey and beef with them, as well as an oven to cook one of them in. Much food and merriment will be had, interspersed with lots of unwrapping. Heather and Andy will join us in the evening, bringing Mikey, the 2010 addition to the family with them. No doubt board games will be played at some point and Christmas specials will be watched on the TV. I'll be off to church again on Boxing Day to play more carols, and buffets will be served. Chocolate log will be eaten. Hopefully Rew and Frances will join us in the evening, broken ribs allowing. Then on the 27th we'll move the festivities over to Bec's, Dad will have his birthday presents, more scrummy food will be enjoyed and even more presents will be unwrapped.

Christmas magic.

Nearly Christmas

So, the end of the week is here, and a long one it was too. Jake has broken up for Christmas, but sadly I can't say the same. A certain volcanic ash cloud rather mucked up my holiday planning this year. Still, getting an extra week in California was worth it even if it means I have to work right up to Christmas.

Thinking of holiday plans, it's salary review time at work, and the powers that be decided that I was worthy of a small raise. I have already "spent" a sizable chunk of it on buying an extra 5 days of holiday during 2011. Seemed like a good plan, and what with a bonus public holiday thanks to next year's royal wedding, I should be set for getting a decent amount of time off.

As is well known, we have operated a policy of home one year, away the next year when it comes to planning Christmas, and 2010 is a home year. This is all fine and dandy, and I'm looking forward to the traditional family Christmas - presents under the tree, turkey and all the trimmings, watching old movies, playing board games and doing puzzles! But the strange thing is that having been away for Christmas several times in recent years, there are certain Christmassy things that make me think more of Florida than they do of home. A good case in point is listening to the radio at the moment, where it's not possible to do a journey of any great length without hearing Bing and his White Christmas. That song really makes me think of the WDW resorts, wandering around in the warm weather laughing at the "sleigh-bells in the snow". Be back there next year ...

The other radio comment from today is listening to a song from Michael Jackson's new album. I'm a big fan of his ballads, and "Much Too Soon" is right up there. Poignant sentiment from a posthumous album.

My busy week this week started on Monday with meetings in London, and my first one finished with enough time to walk to my second (near St Paul's to London Bridge). Half way across the Millennium Bridge I remembered that I had a camera in my bag, put there last week when I thought (wrongly) that going to the Olympic site in Stratford would yield some photo opportunities.







Holidays are comin' ....

Olympic

Yesterday's post was about Advent, and the countdown to Christmas. Well, here's another countdown for you - it's 596 days until the 2012 London Olympic games.

As I have blogged and/or tweeted about before, I am a big fan of the fast train in to London from Ebbsfleet, and today i was on it again. Between Ebbsfleet and St Pancras it only has one stop, and for the first time today I got off at that stop - Stratford International. In anticipation of emerging to amazing sights and views of the Olympic stadia nearing completion I had lobbed a camera in my bag this morning, but I needn't have have bothered. When I emerged from the station I was in a building site in what appeared to be the middle of the athlete's village. There was no question of having a quick wander around as everyone got onto a shuttle bus from the International station to Stratford everything else station.

The reason for doing this was that I had a meeting in Canary Wharf. The meeting was at the offices of an investment bank, and our plush meeting room on the 14th floor had west-facing windows with glorious views of the City in the winter sunshine. Seeing the City laid out before us it was clear that the shard is going to be quite something when it's finished.

Haven't been to Canary Wharf before either. Would have been nice to take some time to have a look round after the meeting, but no such luck - had to dash back to the office.

To complete an Olympic day, we had a visitor to our office today who came to talk to us about her preparation for London 2012 - a member of the GB ladies wheelchair basketball team.

Hope we manage to score some Olympic tickets - and some Paralympic ones too.

Advent

According to our the numbers hanging on our Christmas countdown, it is just 17 days to Christmas, and the excitement continues to build nicely. Being the helpful soul that she is, Nicky seems to have taken to sending me a daily text with more ideas of what I could buy for her Christmas stocking! I really must do some wrapping up soon - she knows where my hiding place is!

As well as being two and a half weeks to the big day, today also marks the 30th anniversary of the sudden and shocking death of John Lennon. I think that his murder was probably one of those JFK-type moments for which people can recall what they were doing or where they were when they heard the news. Having said that, I'm not really sure if it properly registered with me at the time - I was only little after all.

For me, the song I think of first when I think of John Lennon is "Imagine". A truly beautiful song, but as we prepare for Christmas, with a couple of lines that have always bothered me a bit: "Imagine there's no heaven" and then later "... and no religion too". I don't want to imagine there being no religion or no heaven - both of them are rather important to me!

However, this probably shows me listening to snippets without listening to the wider message and context. The "and no religion too" follows straight on from "Nothing to kill or die for" and even though it was released nearly 40 years ago seems like a message worth listening to today. Too many people in this world commit acts of violence, justifying them on religious grounds.

In the same way, the song's opening line, "Imagine there's no heaven" comes at the beginning of a verse which goes on to say "Imagine all the people, living for today". For me, this means that there's nothing wrong with believing in a heaven - just that I shouldn't let it stop me making the most of the world I live in today.

The importance of making the most of each day was the theme of the pause for thought on the radio this morning, and in particular how children give us a wonderful opportunity to do just that. Good lesson, and one I keep trying to learn.

Just to completely finish me off, the next song on the radio was Universal Child by Annie Lennox, which features on her new album of Christmas music. Listening to the words, and reflecting on Annie's reputation for championing the causes of children, particularly in Africa, it seems like the lyrics could be referring to one particular child, born in a stable two thousand years ago, but also to many thousands of others struggling and suffering now.

And when I look into your eyes, so innocent and pure

I see the shadow of the things that you've had to endure

I see the tracks of every tear that ran down your face

I see the hurt, I see the pain, I see the human race.

So, I'm looking forward to Christmas. Bring on the presents, bring on the good food and the holidays.

But bring on too to opportunity to stop for a moment and remember what it's all really about.

Thawing

Well, it almost feels like we've had a mini pre Christmas break, thanks to the snow, but it's back to work and to school tomorrow morning. I've not been to the office since last Monday (although I did do work at home for the rest of the week) and Jake hasn't been to school since Wednesday. And, it's less than three weeks to Christmas now. As always, the festive season has officially kicked off because the Christmas coke adverts have started up on the TV.

As we're coming over all Christmassy, we put the decorations up yesterday, and so thanks to my alarmingly organized wife, not only to we have a fully decorated tree up in the lounge, it is surrounded by beautifully wrapped presents.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the last couple of days of being at home. Having snow on the ground outside has meant that we've been together at home, and it's been great. Jake and I played Monopoly yesterday, and in the afternoon we snuggled up in the lounge and watched Toy Story 3 together (a birthday present for Nicky and another case of buying for other people what you want yourself). Film was just as fantastic as when we watched it at the cinema earlier this year. Any film that can combine the laugh out loud moments (Mr Tortilla Head, Spanish Buzz ...) with the choke back the tears ones (holding hands in the furnace, Andy playing with his toys one last time ...) in such number and quality is ok with me!

We've decided that Nicky and I should buy each other a Blu-Ray player for Christmas, as to enjoy the film in the lounge we had to get the PS3 out of the games room and plug it in upstairs, and after the film Jake took the opportunity to have a few games of FIFA 11 on the big TV ... Until we remembered how nice it is to have a lounge without games consoles and moved it back downstairs again.

Today we did some snow clearance on the drive so that we can get the cars out. No more snow expected, but it is supposed to get rather cold overnight, so likely to be icy in the morning.

May have to watch the first few overs of the cricket before bed - loving seeing England on top down under!

Snowbound

Today it has continued to snow, and more is coming down as I type. Jake's school was closed today, and I presume it will be closed tomorrow as well. Apparently about half a dozen people made it into the office today with the rest working from home. I suppose it could be said that one of the drawbacks of modern technology is that where previously for office workers like me a snow day meant no work, now it means still working but without the treacherous journey to the office. So, I have been on conference calls and reviewing files at home. Again, thanks to the technology I have a training course by webcast tomorrow morning.

Here are a few pictures of the snowy scenes along our road.