Rosie Scribble

Christmas decorations

I'm a little embarrassed. I’m hanging my head in shame. But it’s time to come clean. 

This Christmas ornament is currently sitting on our mantelpiece. 

He has been happily sitting there minding his own business since early December 2011.

I know. It’s February.

There should be a Christmas post here

Located between the post I wrote on Christmas Eve and the one I’m planning in the run-up to New Year, there should be a Christmas post. A post detailing our family Christmas with a full range of accompanying images.

Instead there is a very obvious gap.

Christmas has been left largely unmentioned with only the reference to a digital camera acknowledging that it even happened.

Well it did and it was great but at the moment IJ is recovering from a bout of food poisoning. It’s nothing serious but it has been unpleasant and it’s meant I’ve spent rather longer than normal offline, which is no bad thing.

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas!

It's the night before Christmas and we are suitably attired in our festive knitwear - a dazzling combination of matching jumpers, scarfs, socks and bobble hats.

I've opted for a brown reindeer jumper design on a luminous orange background. IJ, embarrassed by my refusal to take off my striped bobble hat, has opted for a more toned down version of the same design with a more muted colour scheme.

Not really.

However some of our behaviour genuinely has been totally out of character. We have been engaging in a spot of Christmas crafting. Clearly the sense of occasion has overwhelmed us. Or possibly we are coming down with something. Nevertheless paint has touched paper and glitter has been thrown in for good measure.

IJ has been having some last minute Santa doubts.  Apparently most of her friends are under the impression that he isn't real. This of course is absolute nonsense. Have they not watched The Polar Express? Another viewing this evening will help cast those doubts aside.

So we are just about ready. All presents have been wrapped. Extended family are on their way and everything is in perfect running order, although a quite glance at our fireplace reveals that I still haven't changed the clock since the hour changed some months ago. But no matter. Santa will be none the wiser I’m sure.

I’m logging off, not because it’s late or because there’s been a small consumption of Christmas sherry, but because I had hear bells and hooves and if I am very very quiet there seems to be someone on our roof.

So I’m off to unblock the chimney.

Wishing you and your loved ones a very Happy Christmas!

What makes a great Christmas movie?

We’ve received two Christmas movies to watch recently and neither of them have gone down well in our house. Contrary to popular opinion and movie reviewers everywhere we didn’t like It’s A Wonderful Life. Cue readers throwing their arms up in the air and shouting at their screens. Sorry, I know it’s considered a timeless classic, a heart-warming masterpiece and one that has just celebrated its 65^th anniversary release. It has also been nominated for five Academy Awards and voted the most inspirational film of all time, but it just didn’t do it for me.

In my defence, it’s all a matter of personal taste. I like films to be modern, funny, light-hearted and something we can watch as a family. I found It’s a Wonderful Life far too dated, even though I watched the new colourised version, and one that IJ simply wasn’t interested in watching.

A more modern film we received was A Christmas Princess starring Sir Roger Moore and Katie McGrath, although that didn’t really do it for us either. It was very watchable, but just the once. The plot was a little complicated for IJ to follow, and I felt it was very slow in parts. It also lacked that happy, smiley Christmas feeling right up until the very end when of course the main character finds her prince and they all live happily ever after. But it’s set in a cold a rather dreary British castle and overall we found the film a little grey.

We have had a lot more success with Marley and Me: The Puppy Years. Although not exactly a Christmas movie, it has been released in time for Christmas. IJ loved it and it would certainly make a good present and you don’t necessarily have to be a huge dog lover to enjoy it.

It’s the prequel to the original movie starring Jennifer Anison and Owen Wilson Marley and Me and tells the story of Bodi who enters Marley in the Ultimate Puppy Championship. After weeks of training and hard work, Marley and his team the ‘Ragga Rascals’ are readyto take on their competitors, which include a group of pigs, a camp of Australian cattle dogs and a group of intimidating Doberman pinchers. Although Certificate U, there is one dog scene that younger children might find a little scary, where the Dobermans threaten Marley and his friends, but apart from that IJ loved the whole film.

So after watching two Christmas films that we simply didn’t rate, I found myself wondering what the ingredients were for a great Christmas movie, and did what anyone would do in these circumstances – I asked Twitter. Here are the results:

@nurturestore: Snow and a happy ending.

@ vwallop: It’s got to be suitable for all ages, anything with slapstick humour is good for littlies, and something more subtle for adults too.

@swhittle: It's got to be sentimental, funny and not take itself too seriously, in my book.

@PippaD: Any film can be a great Christmas movie it depends on who you watch it with and when in life.

@OnlyDads: In our house Polar Express has everything. The girls just love it. It’s perfect for a Christmas evening on the sofa.

@treasuretoad: Something all the family can watch together, that has the Xmas spirit, feel good factor, snow, and a happy ending.

@essexwriter:  It's that thing that gets the whole family interested, humour, innocence, a new take on the idea.

So this year we’re sticking with the modern, feel good factor films that we know and love: The Polar Express, Nativity and Elf.

Are there any others you would add to our list? What do you think makes a great Christmas movie?

The obligatory Christmas post

With Christmas just a week away and IJ two days away from the start of her official Christmas holidays, cards have been written, presents wrapped and there’s a definite hum in the air.

So I decided to offer up the contents of this post to one eight-year-old girl who is so full of Christmas spirit I was hoping some of it would spill over on to my blog.

Yes dear reader, I have opened up the floor to an eight-year-old child. It’s not quite a guest post opportunity but I have certainly allowed her, as a one off, to decide exactly what I should post here.

I was hoping for a gem of a quote about Christmas being a special time of year spent together with family and good friends. I thought there might be some mention of the real meaning of Christmas as she has just watched her younger friends take part in their school nativity. I thought she might even relay the first few lines of a carol that I could share with you here. It could have been the start of something very special.

Instead, I can only apologise.

Apparently the best thing about Christmas and the only thing worth passing on at this time of peace and goodwill to all men (and women), is this:

Better luck next year*.

I’m not signing off for Christmas yet, but just in case you are busy with other things, wishing all the lovely people that have stumbled across this post, a very Merry Christmas.

*Okay, I admit it. It’s a personal favourite of mine too.