Christmas in Pictures...

There was snow to get us dreaming of a white Christmas...


Gifts!...

Decorations...

Preparations.
Including cooking for the 5,000...


Seating the 5,000....

Eating....

With family (the aforementioned 5,000)...



Drinking...
With friends...


Visits...from family....
After this young lady below visited...

..and wore an apron so charmingly, helped to not only cook breakfast but also clear away afterwards and paid due attention to the man of the house t'husband decided he wants a girl...!


There were also visits from friends and friends' young families...


All rounded off with another flurry of snow...
A really, really lovely Christmas and thoughts now turn to what the new year will bring...good times!

Christmas House...

Although, this is not the first time that we have seen The Money Pit blanketed in snow, it is the first time since it has felt like a proper home. The weekend we moved in, back in Feb, it was snowing too. That was a fun weekend! We had spent 3 days packing and shifting our wordly goods, and another week or so making good Eliza, and were leaving our warm, snug little house that we had made home over the last 10 years, for this monster. It was cold, actually it was freezing, empty and the size of the task ahead was a little intimidating. However, by Sunday evening we were in. The bed was made, the fire lit and the first of a few warming whiskies had been drunk and I was able to appreciate why we liked this monster so much.

The move would not have happened without a mammoth effort from t'husband and an intrepid bunch of helpers that I am still beyond grateful to, who not only did all of the heavy lifting but also had to prevent t'husband's wife from going into complete meltdown at numerous stages of the move. Thanks Dave, Graham and Rob - you all totally rock.

Just under a year down the line, although the task is still large, the Money Pit (despite living up to its name) , is no longer a monster. Even though we are still in a bit of a pickle, shopping for pretty stuffs (and even some essential stuffs) seems still to be a long way off, we couldn't be happier. I mean how could you not love a place that looks like this...

I wonder what 2010 will bring for The Money Pit. I suspect the projects may be smaller but will also, in their own way, be significant due to that other project we are also working on. You know the one that looks something like this....
Expect a host of nursery pictures in the new year. 2010 is going to be exciting....

If I wasn't already married...

...then I would love to live with these people. They like so many of the same things that I do. I love the framed tea labels, peonies, welsh blankets, vintage caravans, galvanised tubs for planting...

Dressers, tea cups, leather chairs and vintage looking linens...


And I suppose if I was married to those people, I might have lots of lovely things but I guess I wouldn't have this, the loveliest of things...

The Cuddleston Wedding Nuptials Extravaganza - part 1

You may remember me mentioning on a few occasions that we were off to a wedding in Italy. We were away last week and then this week has been a bit busy so no time for blogging unfortunately but I have meaning to post something about the wedding ever since we returned as it was a truly wonderful, warm and memorable week, full of absolute loveliness in every single respect.

Abi has wanted to wed for as long as I have known her which is now coming up to 22 years, in fact I think it is 22 years this month and therefore the extent of her wedding celebrations were directly in proportion to the amount of time she has longed for them to happen with a full week long series starting with the Italian leg.

The setting
This gorgeous place near Alba about an hour from Turin....

...surrounded by wonderful rolling countryside....

Beautiful sunflowers...

And a hilltop pool, overlooking the aforementioned rolling countryside...

The guests...

The beautiful couple. Bonny bride and ..er.. groom. Looking good Cullum!

The Mother of the Bride. Apparently, after the bride the second most important person there and equally beauteous...

And the proud father of the bride and the event 'sponsor' whose generosity knows no bounds. Here he is preparing his speech and delivering it to no one in particular...either that or he has just got the bill!

Here is the photographer, nose excavator and best man...

...which I guess makes this the 2nd best man...only kidding Rich...

And this little lady very nearly diverted all the attention away from the bride... (and baby Rosie was a hit too!)

Like with the wedding I might eek out the post-wedding posts over a week so stay tuned for The Dress, The Flowers, The Marriage, The Reception and much, much more...

Bohemian babes

For their birthdays I made the girls festival kits for them to take to Camp Bestival. They seem to have taken to the whole festival experience like little diva ducklings to a disco pond. Using their charms to get the best view...

Put your hands in the air and wave them like you just don't care.

The 'don't mess with me or my balloon' look. Looks like a butterfly, stings like a bee...

Super high five....jump Jos!

The Winehouse effect...

Rave on raver....

Mixing with celebrities...



Mesmerised by music....

I love those kids....

Photo envy...

I was uploading some of my pics last night and they accidentally ended up on one of t'husbands web spaces rather than my own. However, as I was having a quick snoop, as a wife is want to do, I saw some rather nice photos he had taken while out biking. Now I don't really have t'husband down as a creative type but I think due to his engineer's love of symmetry and his ability to figure our technology, he seems to have captured some crackers...

Ramsbottom on fire...

Biking to save the world from alien attack...

The climb to the Tower with a bit of sunset thrown in...

And I am jealous as I try hard to take nice photos and don't often succeed so I was feeling pretty frustrated about it and then I saw this...

...not so pretty and more than a little disturbing....perhaps the others were a fluke!

Who says we're not already a B&B....

More peeps to stay this weekend....a fun rain coat and some wine which summed up the weekend really. Wine consumed and a lot of wet weather but still much fun..

My cousin. I managed to capture him without the goofy expression he sometimes uses for photos...

His very beautiful lady wife...

And they brought this rather cherubic child with them. He is the perfect mix of his parents. I think we have a future Angel Gabriel for the nativity if they still do such things in school...

On Sunday, it lived up to its name and the sun came out so we went to the park....

Larked about on the playground....

And I think the kid had a nice time too...

Followed by a walk through the woods...

Seems our family have a thing for stripes as evidenced in this post...in this case his, hers and even one for the baby!

Appreciating the flora and fauna....