We liked the idea of taking pictures of different parts of the Christmas tree and then making a collage of the images. The initial plan was for Lo to take six photos and Rohan to take six as well. The digital camera was on a strange setting that made it hard to not get a blurred image and our front room with curtains pulled open and all the lights on is still as dark as a cave, so, that didn’t help the camera action either.


Rohan delighted us with his rendition of ‘horsie- horsie’ while rocking on his rocking horse. Logaan took some great images and Rohan wanted me to take photos for him. He only requested one specific part of the tree from where hung his special decoration from Grammy. She gives them one every year.

We had a bit of help with this one - thanks to Roath Park rangers who organise this event as a fundraiser every year.  Eilir and I went along to Roath Park and had the choice of creating either our own wreath, yule log, or table decoration.  I wanted a log, Eilir wanted a table decoration (I think he fancied the look of the oasis), so we ended up with one of each.  Despite starting on separate projects, it very quickly turned into one shared project.  We collected bits of fern, fir, holly, pine cones etc and started to randomly arrange them around a candle by pushing the bits of plants into the flower arranging oasis.  Eilir was soon finished with this task and wanted me to finish it, as my yule log making (which required attaching the different foliage with metal staples and a hammer) looked much more fun.  I'd try to start it off, getting the staple in place, then Eilir would hammer it fully in.  He soon became expert, complaining if I hadn't set it up properly "You've hammered into the plant, not the wood - I can tell".  His enthusiastic hammering produced some squished holly berries and a lot of smiles.

Party time in our house, friends coming round, big tradition of homemade games going back certainly 3 generations that I know of. My Nanna being an expert at circle games, although the prizes were a bit different in those days, I remember handkerchiefs with nursery rhymes on or your initial embroidered in the corner, hey, sometimes it was someone else's initial, but somehow just as coveted, and brown plastic combs, or murray mints, and once I won a tiny bottle of bubble-bath, I was on cloud nine. Anyway, although G never had the joy to meet this pocket wonder of a Nanna, she has fully imbibed the ethos of cutting up that cereal box and making a party game. I was simply the provider of scissors, water, brushes and getting the paint down from the shelf, I was beginning to feel a bit left out when I got offered to do some of the background, and was asked a little bit of advice about the boots. I am proud to say I also cut the mouth bit out of the beard. The rest from sketching out to painting, cutting out and checking it worked was all down to G, another pocket wonder I should say. A pin the tail on the donkey style game, but it is pin the 6 different features on the Father Christmas. Blu tak on the back of each feature, a scarf to gently blindfold your competitors, and optional spinning of course...