Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Christmas this year kicked off with a trip to Bodiam Castle to see Santa Claus. The castle looked absolutely beautiful surrounded by the snow and the day was picture perfect, sunny blue skies, quite breathtaking. Father Christmas was waiting in his enchanted cave, complete with the Snow Queen in tow. So once Charlie put in his requests for Thomas trains we made our way cagily down the hill to the cafe for a bowl of homemade soup and a large glass of Merlot.

Christmas Day arrived and Father Christmas arrived in abundance. Charlies face and reaction this year was brilliant. As usual he got far too many presents but was amazed to see that Santa had listened to his requests for Thomas Trains and brought him several. We had a great day at my parents with a large crowd of 10 for dinner with other family friends for drinks in the afternoon followed by visits to Mikes family for more lovely food and drinks.

We also had many day trips out making the most of the time off work. We visited the London Aquarium at the request of Charlie and despite the drizzly rain we braved the queues and waited patiently to get in. Charlie got himself a seahorse tattoo on his arm which he thought was fantastic and a ride on a merry go round and for the first time didn't try to launch himself off as has happened in the past. We had lots of lovely lunches out and braved the bitterly cold wind on the beach so that Charlie could take his scooter out. This of course was followed by another large glass of warming shiraz in the local wine bar.

On New Years Eve the 3 of us went for a gorgeous meal at the Crab and Winkle restaurant early evening and then headed off for some friends who live in a tiny village about 10 miles away. Their house is so unusual and quirky. A tiny little cottage that has been added to with many different rooms including the attachment of a large caravan. Seriously, they had used the caravan that they lived in for many years as an additional 2 more rooms to their cottage. In fact you would never know on the inside as it just flowed very easily into the main body of the house. It was a lovely evening of chatting and laughing and 6 of us saw the new year in with the kids all tucked up in bed. We then bundled Charlie into the car and drove home, only to find i had left my bag there with the door keys in so we headed back through the country lanes to pick up the bag and eventually got home at 1.30am

A Beautiful Memorial

Last weekend marked a significant point in our lives when Rubys headstone was finally put into place creating the most beautiful and special memorial to remember her by. It has been nearly 4 years since she died and her burial place has been marked by a wooden cross since then. Over the year the cross has become worn and faded and so to see this shining headstone there instead of the dark cross represented a time of lightness, beauty and joy. The words on the stone made us feel so emotional and so proud and seeing her name carved into the stone was such a tribute to her. It truely is Ruby's special place now.