Checking in Christmas Tree Time

                                                 La Defense not far from when I work

Since beginning to work again, it's been hard to find the time do do anything other the essential, family, food, homework, cooking, eating, cleaning, working including transport to and from the office.
We have managed to do some progress in the children's bathroom, but it still not finished, maybe next weekend, as this weekend we are getting all Christmassy around here.

                                                    *Three out of five decorating the tree

Luckily the 1st of December was a Saturday this time, this helped a lot with the planning, especially for the Christmas tree.   
Now the children are older, we just them decorate, we have no colour theme, just mix and match.

 When Charlotte was five, we celebrated our first Christmas in France, and beforehand she made a Angel, using a empty toilet roll a polystyrene ball for her had and so aluminum foil for her wings, her nose is a silver star and she has silver hair.  Who would have thought would have survived all this time, but she has, and who would have thought that every year there would be a fight  debate to see who should be the one to put our little Angel on the top of the tree (like every year).  
It was decided that this year Gaby would have this honor, she needed a strong pair of shoulders(her Papa's) though to reach up high enough.  Voila, we are getting all Christmassy and it feels good.

*Charlotte was too busy with friends in Paris and Oliver too, he went to the Christmas market on the Champs Elysées, or so he said, but my guess if was visiting one of this favourite stores "Abercrombie and Fitch"

Christmassy

 We bought our Christmas tree on Saturday, the biggest one so far, measuring over 2m50.
Every year, one of the children get to put the angel on the top and this year it was Alexis' turn.
Charlotte made this angel when she was almost 5 and it's been part of Christmas ever since.

 Alexis had a little help to get up so high.

 And voila, there she is.

 Gaby decorated some cookies so they looked like melting snowmen and Charlotte took millions of photos of them, but here's just two.

1st December

One of my most fond memories from Christmas as a child was waiting for Mr and Mrs Christmas to be unpacked for another year. Christmas only began when they were wound up for the first time to turn around to music, it was magical. I wasn't allowed to wind them up though.

Mum gave me Mr and Mrs Christmas during one of my recent visits back in the UK. Apparently this eldery couple date back to the early 50's, even if they are a little kitch, I still love them so, and my children do too. And guess what, I let my children wind them up so they can see them turn around as if they were dancing.

Yesterday we decorated the Christmas tree. We seem to have lost a box of decorations between Sanary and here so the girls made some salt dough stars and snowball shapes and then painted them gold or silver or both.

When Charlotte and Gaby were younger (5 and nearly 1) they made an angel for the top of the tree and there is always a fight about who should put it on the top of the tree ( our teenagers excluded for the first time this year, way too grown up for that, in their opinion...sniff, sad really).

This year Alexis had the honor. Our tree is so tall that he needed a chair and a papa to reach the top!