• You put your best hand towels in the bathroom
• You buy way too many drinks
• Your fridge is stuffed

I love parties, especially when I am hosting them.  I love the planning, the preparation and more so I love the cooking.  I love the gentle flow of the days running up to a party and seeing it all come together at the end. 

I honestly didn't think we would be hosting parties this soon after moving to a new Country, as building enough friends up to actually have a party is pretty impressive in itself!  We have been very lucky to meet people who have accepted us into their friend circle and our party was for them.  It was the very least we could do for all they have done for us. 

I will post some of the recipes this week but here is what I made:


START
Red Pepper, Cucumber and Feta Rolls
Seasonally Spiced Nuts

MAIN
Christmas Glazed Ham
Luxury Mac n Cheese
Red Salad
Christmas Coleslaw
Garlic Bread

SWEET STUFF
Lemon & Lime Posset with Almond Tuile's
Chocolate Mousse with Hoky Poky

The evening was fab.  We ate, drank and laughed a lot. 

I would like to add that we had such a good time we forgot that our little darling children love to see the sun rise in a morning and with us having gone to bed at 2am, I was less than delighted by Alfie, who at 5.30am decided he had slept enough and apparently so had I?!?  Oh the joys of being a parent! 

But it was my hubby who ended up back in bed by afternoon with a slight headache! 

No sympathy here!

Owners of children have no doubt experienced the delights of the indoor play area.  For the uninitiated its a locked, padded cell in which you release your children to burn off as much energy as possible.  They may vary in size, equipment and facilities but the padded cell element remains, this way you can sit back in the knowledge your little darlings cannot escape and you can take your well trained eye off them for a few minutes. 

Its hard work keeping your eye on children all of the time.  Try talking to a person behind a desk when your child is running away from you or pay for something as your child happily pulls at the contents of the shelf behind you- its hard work and at times you actually require your eyes to be looking in two totally opposite directions.  This is why parents turn to the solace of the indoor play area- they can bounce off the walls, climb up, climb down, slide and generally run around and you are comforted in the knowledge that they cannot open the door to escape. 

The one thing you will find in the indoor play area is the child who has a little too much steam to blow off.  They bully, push and run around like they own the facility and your child may fall victim to their boisterous ways.  You watch as they push your child off the toy they were happily playing with and you quickly check to see if bully child's parent also witnessed the event- of course they never do!  This leaves you a choice- march over and tell off bully child or usher your child away from the evil one whilst talking loudly about how some children are naughty and we don't play with them, in the vain hope that bully child's parent hears you and rushes over to get their child to apologise?  Bully child's parent never hear you!  So what do you do?  Is it right to tell off another child?  I have never done it yet and am not sure I would.  Should you go to the parent and explain what their child has been up to and that they are reigning terror on others?  I avoid confrontation at all costs so this very idea makes me uncomfortable just thinking about it. 

I have tried to think how I would feel if it was my child in the bully child role.  I would have them apologising left right and centre whilst explaining that their behaviour was very wrong.  But just maybe the reason bully child's parent came here was to have some time when they didn't have to watch their nasty child do nasty things?  Perhaps their time in the padded cell is the only sanity they get?  Either way I just make sure my trained eye is casually on my little darlings so I can check its not my child that others are looking at thinking how awfully behaved they are!

They are perfect angels of course so no need to worry! 
Perhaps ignorance is bliss!

The alarm goes off- ding, ding, bloody ding!!!!

No matter what I change the ring to, no matter that it chimes into life with my favourite song- I don't like alarm clocks!  As a matter of fact I cannot blame the alarm clock, its actually being woken up I dislike no matter what the method.  I rather prefer to wake up under my own steam than to the beeping drone of a forced wake up. 

There is another kind of wake up call in my house and it is the culprit of many of my before schedule wake ups- the children!  Firstly I must say that I have no room to complain on the whole, my children have always slept well and my insistence on a strict bedtime routine has worked its magic.  They go to bed between 7 and 7.30pm every night- apart from Friday film nights for Harry then it will be a late one!   They usually don't scream and shout in the night and peacefully sleep till morning.  What time in the morning is questionable, as I sit writing this at 6am on a Saturday morning- thanks Alfie. 

In my youth (I used to think only old people said that!), I would just be getting out of a nightclub now as they open the doors into the dim morning light and we do the walk of shame in our short skirts and less that straight makeup after 7 hours of dancing!  I would fall into bed, nursing my aching feet from silly shoes and happily doze under the covers till nearly tea time!  My vampire weekend routine was great fun but the idea of going to bed after 10pm now makes me feel grumpy as I know one of my little treasures will be up, bright and breezy and want to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with me.  My hubby and I shy away from watching films and programmes after 9pm as it will be getting late when they finish and hit record to watch them at a sensible hour! 

I suppose it happens to us all.  It's that getting old, growing up, getting responsible thing.  Thinking about it now I don't think I would thank you for taking me to my old nightclub destinations.  They were dark, noisy, smelly and I don't think I ever saw a wine list there once! 
Its official- I grew up into a sensible person!!  I am happy in my dressing gown and a cup of tea at 9pm.  I am happy to have a nice meal with my hubby with a bottle of wine to share in front of a cheesy film.  I will even take watching Mickey Mouse at silly o clock in the morning, but only until I can teach him to switch it on himself and leave me in bed on the weekends- just for an extra hour at least!