- Briefly snuggling in bed with Mr.LA and the children.
- Sending the children downstairs to climb into bed with my Aunt who came up from Cornwall for a visit.
- Eating fried eggs, hot buttered toast and sipping tea.
- Feeling just a little bit smug about my homemade Christmas presents.
- Finally finishing the dreaded table plan. This task took hours and, if I’m being brutally honest, was the most stressful part of wedding planning so far. I know there are fancy computer programs designed to help you seat your guests these days, but we went old skool with our bits of paper and post-it notes to manoeuvre almost 150 people on to 14 tables.
- Making a start on Christmassing up the house. We haven’t managed to pick up a tree yet, but lighting some candles and erecting a mini red felt tree from Ikea instantly made the place feel more festive.
- Hanging mistletoe.
- Kissing under mistletoe.
- Strolling round Izzy’s school Christmas Fayre.
- Sipping warm spiced apple juice while the children spent their pennies on as much tat as their little arms could carry.
- Watching Izzy on the bouncy castle.
- Eating olives, bread, chorizo and a roasted balsamic onion pie for lunch.
- Sending Izzy off to a friend’s house for a sleepover.
- Wishing Mr. LA didn’t have to spend the whole night at a video shoot.
- Cooking and eating fritatta.
- Feeling a little sorry for Jesse as he struggled to fall asleep without his big sister for company.
- Sipping red wine and eating a mince pie.
- Watching ’27 Dresses’ and thinking about my own bridesmaids. Hard to believe they’ll be walking down the aisle with me in only 5 weeks.
- Giving myself a home facial. A thorough cleanse and scrub followed by a mask and finally a massage with my beloved ESPA facial oil.
- Being vaguely aware of Mr. LA rolling into bed at around 6am. Working nights sucks.
- Waking up at 6.35am and desperately trying to keep Jesse quiet while his Daddy tried to get a little sleep.
- Mooching around the house in my PJs, drinking tea and watching Peter Pan with J.
- Making Mr.LA a strong cup of coffee.
- Taking a long shower.
- Enjoying a leisurely stroll round our local Waitrose while I shopped for lunch and dinner. Foodie heaven.
- Collecting a very sleepy little girl from her sleepover. I believe hey were up until almost midnight after watching’Elf’ and XFactor.
- Introducing Izzy to ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. I felt quite proud when she came rushing into the kitchen as the movie finished, looking very perplexed, and said ‘Oh Mummy, the film has such a happy ending it just makes me want to cry’ before promptly bursting into tears. That’s my girl.
- Daydreaming about what I’m going to cook over the holiday period. A recipe for chocolate and cranberry cake in the latest Waitrose magazine has me drooling.
- Preparing Sunday dinner. I tried out Nigella’s recipe for maple roasted parsnips and they proved incredibly popular with the littlies. Jesse proclaimed them ‘just like sweeties’.
- Loving the look of deep concentration on Jesse’s face as he played with his trains in his jammies.
- Bundling two sleepy children into bed.
- Trying to crack on with wedding tasks but being beaten by tiredness.
- Lying in bed with Mr.LA in the darkness and falling asleep to the sound of the radio playing.
Loveaudrey xxx
The dreaded table plans! I am tempted not to bother with them – just let everyone sit where they like. I mean, ultimately I don’t really care where they sit haha!
We have now enlisted the help of an old friend who runs an events company and has planned and organised tonnes of weddings to help us – YAY! We’re not outsourcing the whole thing but he has so many ideas and contacts that we’d be silly not to utilise his expertise. I feel more chilled about the whole thing now. xx
@Emma My friend wanted to do that but her venue warned her against it as it can be a little chaotic as people come in. In the end she just said which tables people had to sit on and then let them figure out the rest for themselves. It worked really well actually, but would be tricky for a sit down meal I think {she had a ‘help yourself’ type affair}.
Great that you’ve got some professional help on board. Anything to ease the stress! We’ve got an on-the-day coordinator to help us as I wanted the mothers to be able to chill out and enjoy themselves as much as possible rather than worry about suppliers turning up etc.
Eeeek! Your big day will be here before you know it, so excited for you!
Loveaudrey xxx
I loved this post. Great things you.ve been up to. Oooh the sorting of the dreaded table plan. Hope you don’t get people pull out on the day and don’t even tell you like we did!! we had to sort out the tables so that one family weren’t sitting by themselves x
Feeling your wedding excitement by proxy!!?! x
Loving your homemade chutneys, very festive 🙂
Awww! Chuckled at Izzy’s reaction to “It’s a wonderful life” it still gets me every time. Bet Jesse thought it was daft?! haha! 😀 xx
Awww, you’ve made me feel all christmassy!! I love Izzy’s reaction to ‘Its a wonderful life’…I think thats the best thing about having small children about, its getting to see their reactions to things that you love….seeing someone else experience the same enjoyment always warms the cockles of the heart!
I agree that its easy to feel how close and how exciting that is by proxy in regards to your wedding….I will admit that when I saw that picture of the seating plans I did think ‘squeee, its getting near for her!’ but also ‘glad didnt have to do those….that looks like alot of work!!’