Oisìn At Three Years Old!

My Darling Boy, 

I am finding it hard to believe you are now three year old! Where has the time gone? It only feels like yesterday when we where in that newborn bubble getting to know

 each other, days spent feeding, changing and cuddling you! 

You have turned into a threenager almost over night! We managed to miss the terrible two's with you but you have hit the threenager head on! You are so moody, laughing one minute then crying the next because you dinner in your own words is just too tasty!!!

You run around the house in the nude because it's time to get dressed and then decide the minute before we leave the house that you suddenly hate the outfit you have on! 

All of sudden you no longer do what we tell you, you have decide to ignore every order we give!

You also play on us, when Mammy says no you ask Daddy!! You also have took up fake crying and it very amusing to see you try squeeze out tears!

You have a fierce temper and because of all the emotions that you are trying to understand you lash out quickly. Yet now you say sorry straight away and sometimes cry if you know you have been wrong.

Your imagination is so fun to watch you love playing pretend, sometimes Daddy and I will watching you play and listen to you, and we smile. You love to play chef with your kitchen and builder with your tool kit. Yet your favourite toys are still you toy cars and of course Woody from Toy Story, Santa Claus brought you Buzz LightYear and he has been added to your favourite toys.

You totally loved Christmas this year, we didn't think you would understand it as much as you did. You totally understood Santa Claus, presents and loved Jolly The Elf On The Shelf who you are still sad has gone back to the North Pole! You loved singing Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is Coming To Town. You made lovely Christmas decorations in day care and asked Santa for watch like Granddad's and a chocolate doughnut! You got some lovely surprise from Santa but your favourite was your minions!

Minions is one of your favourite movies, along with Toy Story, Alvin & The Chipmonks, Monsters Inc and new favourite The Grinch!

Peppa Pig is still always on the TV but we are doing our best to get you to watch other TV shows!

You are back in pull ups full time as you where getting very upset in day care when going the toliet and we thought it best to leave potty training for now. In the new year we will be trying again and hopefully you will be ready.

My beautiful boy, Happy 3rd Birthday you have gave us the best three years of our lives

we love you so much   

This Month I Have Mostly Been Reading~December

I started off on a reading roll this month but as often happens around Christmas time
I was really busy and haven't finished a book since before Christmas Day!
Watching all the festive TV has got in the way! I started Calling Mrs Christmas the other day
but will not get it finished before writing this post, so will review it in January's post!

Every Time A Bell Rings~Carmel Harrington

Last year Twelve Days Of Christmas was my festive book of the year. This year it is this Irish retelling of It's A Wonderful Life.
It took me a while to get into this book, but when I did I didn't want to put it down! It's full of the spirit of Christmas just what you want in a festive book.
Harrington was quite brave to tackle a retelling of a wonderful life, through the story of Belle a mix-raced young woman who has spent her childhood in various foster homes. It sounds like it could be quite downbeat but it's a stunning book, filled with joy, Christmas magic and the love of family.
I'm not ashamed to say I did shed a few tears at the end when Nora finally got her chance.
I would recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a heartwarming Christmas read

Snowed In For Christmas~Claire Sandy
Beautiful Christmas sparky cover, chick-lit set in Ireland, and an author who I love seems to tick all my boxes, but this book fell so flat for me!
I have LOVED Sandy's other novels What Would Mary Berry Do? and A Very Big House In The Country, so I couldn't wait to read this and see what Sandy had in store at Christmas!
It tells us of Asta who got pregnant as a teenager left the small Irish town she called home and relocated to London. She has been living there every since with her now 16 year old daughter, she doesn't visit home....ever! That is until her hunky boss asks her to go back to report on a religious miracle a weeping statue! Asta is very nervous to go home, as she knows some secrets will start to unravel, everyone thinks that a French exchange student is the Father of her daughter, but the truth is much more murky than that!
When Sandy got some elements of the book right it was brilliant, but the stereotyping of an small Irish town was after a while annoying! Tobercree sound like a cross between Ballykissangel and Craggy Island!
I didn't feel any of the Christmas magic or spirit from the previous book, even with all the sparkle of the cover!

The Winter Folly~Lulu Taylor

I haven't read anything from this author before, but when I saw the title I immediately added to my TBR for this month!

It sounded like something I would enjoy history fiction with a mystery thrown in!

Present day Delilah is a young second wife of John Stirling owner of Fort Stiring the house and owner seem, sad and lonely. Delilah had great plans of change but soon learns that nothing is allowed to change in Fort Stiring! Delilah starts to unravel the secret surrounding John's mother Alexandra and her death. 

It took me about 200 pages to get into this book, the story didn't flow as much I hoped. Some of the characters are very hard to like and lacked dept. That all being said I liked it I just didn't love this book, but I will definitely be reading another book from this author soon.

Wish Upon A Star~Trisha Ashley

This was the last book I finished this month, Ashley books can be a bit hit or miss for me

Last month book A Christmas Cracker was a miss but this one was definitely a hit!

This is another one that has a beautiful festive cover the story is heartwarming and full of Christmas spirit. This one pulled at my heart strings and I shed a few tears at the end

Cally is a singe mother who was told to get rid of the baby when she finds out she is pregnant

She give birth to a beautiful baby girl called Stella but she has a heart defective, so Cally must give up everything to help get the money for surgery. Of course there is a hint of romance thrown in, I loved this book.

I took it as the huge mush fest it is, because at Christmas time that is just what I want to read!

What Oisìn has been reading this month

When I Dream of Christmas~Oakley Graham

Oisìn loved this book over Christmas, we done an advent book calendar which he loved

but he always came back to this book. He loved the different words associated with Christmas time such as North Pole, Angels, Elves, Carol Singers, Santa Claus, and Baby Jesus

A beautiful book which I know will be a favourite for years to come

Paul didn't read anything over the Christmas time or this month

Guess he was too busy with work and last minute gift buying!

So that what we read this month how about you?

Christmas In Pictures

Here is some of our pictures from our the Christmas time

 

We had a lovely family Christmas we spent it with Paul's family

and we are spending New Year's with mine

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas time

Christmas Q&A

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? 

Hot Chocolate I love it!

Does Santa wrap presents or just puts them under the tree? 

Santa leaves the "main present" unwrapped but wraps up any surprises Oisín might get!

Colored or white lights on tree/house? 

I love white/gold lights on our tree and around the house
this year I have added some red lights around our TV
as our Christmas colour theme is red and gold

Do you hang mistletoe?
If I can get any I do! I left it too late this year to get any!

When do you put your decorations up?

Normally the first weekend of December, or if I can get the hubby to agree
the last week in November!

What is your favourite holiday dish?

Christmas roast turkey I know alot of people don't like it but I love it!

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

 Well it's my Birthday so I get to open Birthday gifts

This year Oisìn will be getting his Christmas Eve box from Jolly the Elf!

What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? 

It's all about being with family and friends for me!

What is your favourite holiday tradition?

Going into Dubin city center to see the lights and see Santa

Song of the Week

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas~Michael Bublè

It really is looking alot like Christmas! At the start of the week I was stressed as I wasn't finished Christmas shopping, still needed to post Christmas cards and had ran out of wrapping paper!

Yet between yesterday and today I managed to get everything done! Hubby as even managed to get tomorrow off work so that we can get Christmas food shop done

We are having a little Christmas day tomorrow with my family and friends

and while we are very busy from now till Saturday I am much more chilled

Looking forward to having a Baileys tonight and watching a bit off Bublè!

Over The Weekend #60

Once again a disclaimer about the horrible quality of the following pictures

I am getting so frustrated with having to use a bad quality phone and camera

especially after using a fab quality camera and phone!

Looking forward to the sales to get myself a new I have my eye on a rose gold phone!

A very blurred picture but it sums up our Saturday night

We had our family Christmas night as my parents and a number of my family are going away for Christmas. We had a fun night catching up, swapping presents, eating, drinking, dancing and playing games. Oisìn was allowed to stay up a little later and had everyone laughing with the funny things he came out with! I took other pictures especially of when Oisìn put my Dad on the naughty chair after he said a swear word and the leg fell off the chair! Or when my Dad and Uncle played the After Eight challenge! The photos where worse  quality then these one and that's saying something!

This photo is of my Mam, me, Oisìn and Uncle Martin! 

Sunday was a very chill out day we watched Christmas movies for most of the day
We watched The Snowman cosy on the sofa. Later Paul's brother and girlfriend popped up to see Oisìn we ordered takeout and watched a movie
That was our lovely weekend before Christmas!

Oisìn's Christmas Eve Box

This is my first year doing a Christmas Eve box for Oisìn the past two years he was too little 

to understand it and we wanted to wait until he was a little older

So on Christmas Eve when Jolly the Elf goes back to the North Pole he will leave this lovely box of goodies for Oisìn

Oisìn gets ALOT over the Christmas time and because his birthday is on the 27th I didn't over cram this box and I got things that are practical as well as fun!

Sorry these pictures aren't great I am still using my old crappy phone as my one is un-repairable

so new phone for me in the Christmas sales!

Anyway the first two items are books

The Night Before Christmas is the book we will read on Christmas Eve before bed

This is actually from last year but Oisìn doesn't remember its from Easons and was 7.99

The Christmas Colouring Bag this is a activity book with stickers which I know Oisìn will love it is from Dealz (Poundland) it was 1.50

His Christmas Pyjamas are just plain red with a Polar Bear on them

I wanted some not too festive so that they can be wore again after Christmas

These where from Dunnes Store and were 10 euro

Jolly the Elf knows that Mammy and Daddy where also very good

so he will bring us Christmas PJ's too!!

Oisìn also really need a new dressing gown/house coat/robe

So we picked him up this Liverpool one, much to the delighted of Paul!

It was 16 euro from Dunnes Stores

I also picked up this Christmas plate to leave goodies out for Santa Claus

and then on Christmas day Oisìn can have his Christmas dinner on it

It was again from Dunnes Stores and was 2 euro

The Christmas glass with straw was from a local Pound Store and was 1 euro

We picked some things up for Oisìn's Christmas Eve bath!

He went crazy for this monkey loofah in out local Penney's (Primark) so we picked it up for him it was 1.50

I also picked him up the Butter bear bath bomb from Lush which smells Divine! Looking forward to seeing his face when the bath bomb fizzes up!

Lastly (and a very bad picture) are just some random bits!
On a free Christmas day out at the start of the month Oisìn and I got to make our own Reindeer food so I kept it up to put in the Christmas Eve box
We have no chimney in our house so I picked up a magic Santa's Key
I don't want Oisìn to have too much chocolate on Christmas Eve or he will never sleep
but we will be watching a Christmas movie that evening but there is a few goodies to enjoy
A chocolate Santa, a few chocolate coins and a packet of chocolate buttons
No DVD in our box because we watch most of our movies on Sky and I do have a huge collection on DVD so we will watch one of them!
So that's what's in Oisìn's first year Christmas Eve Box I am looking to keeping this tradition up every year! 

Our Christmas Favourite #3

Favourite Christmas Tradition:

This picture is so blurred but sums up over annual Christmas family night!

We had a great night, Oisìn got to stay up late, we ate, drank, danced and played silly games

It was a fun night and great to catch up with everyone

Favourite Christmas Movie:

We watched this for the first time with Oisìn this weekend and he love it!

We have watched it twice since! 

Favourite Decoration:

My little nutcracker I bought him a few years ago

Every year I keep meaning to add more to my collect but never get around to it!

Favourite Christmas Song:

Wizard I love this song and we danced to it a number of times 

on Saturday night!

Favourite Christmas Special:

We snuggled up Sunday afternoon and watched the wonderful short The Snowman

We have watched in November with Oisìn but he seemed to have forgotten it

He loved the snowman but got very sad at the end when he melted!

Song Of The Week

Walking In The Air~Ryan Sheridan

I don't normal like covers but this cover of Christmas classic by Ryan Sheridan

is amazing

Ryan is an Irish singer/songwriter this cover from 2011, when I first heard it on Christmas FM

It's a totally different take on the classic and of course I love the classic but yet I also love this more laid back version

My Favourite Festive Cups!

This is probably the most strangest post I have done!! Yet I LOVE Christmas cups/mugs

I can't pass a store if I see one I like! It has become a running joke in our house as the hubby states we have more than enough but I still keep buying!

These is only my favourites I do have others but this post is for the ones that I love!

This two large mugs are some of the oldest we have one has a chip in it but I still love it!

We use these for lattes or hot chocolates which they are just the right size for!

I can't remember where I got these from but I know they where on sale and only 99c each!

These are my two novelty Christmas cups, two very sweet snowman, I had a Santa one but he broke this year! We like to drink flavoured tea from these two, peppermint, cranberry, and green tea are all great from these cups. These are both from Woodies and where around 4 euro each

These are in a set of four but the other two are in the dishwasher, the same design are on all four

Paul loves a large mug of tea as does my Mam so these are the mugs that are used the most in our house. We mostly drank tea from these as I don't like my coffee in a mug that size.

I bought these from Musgraves Wholestores two years ago and they where 8 euro for the set

Not a great picture (stupid old phone) but one of my favourite Christmas coffee cups!

I love these size cup for coffee, especially when adding a bit of Baileys to your coffee!

I bought this two years ago in our local shop for 1 euro wish I had bought more!

These are recent additions to our Christmas cupboard! We only got them last week but I already love them! I love the sweet design and they are a nice size to have either tea or coffee!

These are from Dunnes Stores and where 1.50 each

Lastly and the main reason I am writing this post is because of this beautiful cup

I bought this week in Tiger for 2 euro! I love it the other side say Let's Drink Tea Under The Mistletoe

I haven't drank tea from in, but it's the perfect size for hot chocolates, and yummy flavoured coffee!

Do you have any favourite festive cups or glasses?

Festive Reads

It's no secret that I LOVE reading and I am a sucker for a pretty festive cover!
During the year I don't read an awful lot of Chic Lit yet it's all I want to read at Christmas time!
I love the feel good factor and also a good cry when I am reading at Christmas.
This book has it all Every Time A Bell Rings is basically an Irish retelling off A Wonderful Life
I will be doing a full review of this book at the end of the month but I really did love it
I have been reading some other festive books this month but so far this book ticks all the boxes for me

I also love reading and circling the Christmas TV Guide 

A cuppa, a highlighter, twinkly lights and the Christmas guide...bliss

Yet TBH there isn't much this year that I am looking forward to besides The Call The Midwife Special

and of course a magazine of all the Christmas food goodies!

What are your festive reads this year?

Over The Weekend #59

This was our little Oisìn on Friday he was drained from an ear infection and vomiting bug
Friday he and I curled up read Christmas books and watched Christmas TV
I didn't think we would get to do all the lovely festive things we had planned for the weekend
As the day went on Oisìn seemed better and myself or Paul hadn't come down with any bugs!
So I bathed Oisìn Friday night and put him to bed extra early as he was still very tired

Oisìn slept straight through to 8am the next morning and we all seemed well enough to go into Dublin town!
We live in Dublin suburbs so it takes us just over an hour to get into Dublin city centre on public transport. We had ideas to go to Arrotts to see the big man but the Que was crazy and there was actually grown adults racing up three flights of stairs to get a ticket to see Santa. Paul and I both agreed that we needed breakfast and a cuppa before any more madness!!
We ended up seeing Santa in Jervis Street Shopping centre we waited for almost two hours but to be honest it didn't feel that long, little chairs where dotted along the line for tired little legs! Elf's sang, gave out balloons and played games with the little ones!
Oisìn was a little in awe with Santa and although in my opion he wasn't as good as the Santa we saw at the free Christmas family day, he was jolly and friendly.
Oisìn asked him not to forget the most important thing on his Christmas list a chocolate doughnut!

We spent hours and hours in town, strolling around different streets. Watching and buying things from the different stalls on Henry Street, taking a slow walk around St Stephen's Green Park, soaking in the festive atmosphere on Gratton Street. We spent almost an hour in the Disney Store and then went for a yummy dinner. Oisìn was so good he took everything in his stride and the amazement on his face when he saw the Christmas lights was lovely! 

Sunday we went to our local shopping center to get a few more Christmas bits
We didn't stay long as it was crazy!
We got home had a lovely Sunday lunch and snuggled on the sofa
While Paul watched football, Oisìn played with toys, I scrolled through Instagram!
It was a lovely festive weekend...how was yours?