CHRISTMAS 2012

It turned out to be a bit of an Orla Kiely Christmas!!

We had a lovely time, making the most of having the whole family together and playing some hilarious games. We didn't actually need to play games to have a laugh though, things just happened, one of the funniest was when Husb got stuck to a melting snowman, he was traumatised  by that snowman for days afterwards =)

(Trust me... you had to BE THERE! Very funny. I'm laughing just typing this)

Looks like a Dali exhibit now!

We had plenty of rain...

The cycle path

and we got soaked at the Chester game on Boxing Day but blimey there were FIVE goals to celebrate so that kept us warm

Chester 5 - 0 Droylsden

plus Cub had his ritual BOVRIL and I took my flask of tea!

Meanwhile the mighty SKY BLUES were battering Stevenage, Diddy's old team. He actually played for Stevenage 1988-1991, whover would have thought they would be in the same division as the City? But we won't dwell on that.....

Boxing Day saw us crown a new champion in our annual PERUDO challenge!!!

Martin-the-Bus!! HE DID IT!!! HE WON!

It took a lot of concentration and it was very nearly all too much for him...

but he got there in the end! WEYHEY!!!!!

(and I think Katy was impressed!)

We saw the film Life of Pi , which to be fair, I really enjoyed, but it was a bit odd in places and no way should Pi have survived that long...

We also saw James Bond in SKYFALL at last, wow what a quality film that was. 

This week Husb and I went to see One Man Two Guvnors in Llandudno.... what a funny, silly, hilarious, clever slapstick of a play that was - SUPERB!

After 25 years of teaching jumpy uppy downy aerobics, I have finally discovered the joys of a proper sports bra, my shock has never been so absorbed, so much so I went straight back over to the Choaks and bought 6 more of them as they were so drastically reduced in the sales.

The day we went to hit the Choaks sales we only saw ONE person we knew AND IT WAS AN OLYMPIC MEDALLIST!!!!! Beth Tweddle! (She said hello)

I now have a completely safe and functional whisk for baking, after Nem's health and safety boyf condemned the other one to the bin (whoopsie!!!) and we are still cooking in the dark as we have been for the past week, since the kitchen light has blown, but all in all...

IT WAS A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS! Thanks to everyone who made it so!

P.S. You don't want presents when you are 92 so Edna's "present" was lunch out.

Slowboat Dec 2012

 We had the annual Aerobic/Spinning/Aqua/Bootcamp Christmas party at the Slowboat as usual and after the initial panic that none of my "regulars" could make it (it was on a Saturday night which I personally thought was FAB!) it ended up being a brilliant evening. The food was excellent, the "Ode" was "interesting", the company ON OUR TABLE was fantastic and judging by the texts received the next day, everyone had a great time. Starting with Nemmy and her "boyf"...

Laura and Kath, Ian's sis and mum

Oh yeah, we were there too...

Clare was sandwiched between some Jolly Hollies

The Paralympic Archer himself!! Rich Hennahane with bro and Dad.

He had a couple of verses in my Ode. I think he liked the fuss!

The Hollies (very Jolly)

OMG how stunning does Sue K look here! Wow! Her new job is sooooo suiting her.

Sue, Kay, Kay and Cheryl (never a dull moment on that table then Cheryl....)

Boots and Tesco. Man Utd and Chelsea. Front rowers. (Amanda and Debra)

STEVE-THE-BUS! Martin-the-Bus! Katy-the-Maths!

(Katy-the-Bus sounds ok though)(?!)

Denise, Helen, Fiona, Linz, Julie,Celine.Jo, Theresa, Sian

(last to leave....why am I not surprised??!) 

I had to produce a very generalised Ode as we had people from so many different classes.

Naturally we played Heads and Tails, a Jim Gillson favourite.

Hennahanes

Hennahanes

Kay (good arms!!!)

The Pickering Family! (lots of!)

Sue, Sue,Val, Helen, Breda, Ann, Jude...

Karen, Sue, Tracey and Daniella

Vanessa, Kate and Mandy

Louise, Kaz and Maz

Angela, Helen, Fran, Kat☺,Dol, Susan and Dr Sue

Lorraine and Archie

Paula, Lorraine and Margaret

Katy with the Bootcamp table

Ian looked a bit concerned about the Cub's up and coming trip to San Fran....(!)

Cub, with true bearlike qualities, seemed totally laid back about it all...

 I BORE these little beauties!!!!!!!!

Emily, Helen and Gaynor went on to Cruise.... they needed more excitement....

Naturally we ♪♫☺ reached for the stars ♪♫☺

All in all it was a really good night. Thanks to the Slowboat for having us.

Festive meals! Coventry Hilton, Potato Party, Annie's

Embarrassingly, we haven't managed to get together in Coventry AT ALL this year, so Pixen and I took it upon ourselves to set a date and round up the family and we booked the Hilton for the end of November. Diddy had turned 50 in January, Ben was 18 in September and Nemmy got a First for her degree so we had enough reasons to celebrate... plus it was Liddy's birthday the week we met up so she had a cake too.

As Cubski was in San Francisco that weekend I made sure I included him in my ode! And he got it!!! I sent a 4 and a half minute video on Whatsapp Whoop Whoop!

Did "n" Lid

"Hands Off!" Ben's 18th cake

Adopted Grandma Bet (she has the most amazingly soft skin)

Bet and her "grandchildren" !!

I have to say...we don't look too bad for "Over 50's" do we....

Having a hug from my little brother

Benski and Edski
(even though they are now both fully fledged adults!)

Gorgeous Girlies

A spontaneous hug with Beka

A spontaneous hug with Uncle Diddy

Our last Aqua class was on 4th December so our Christmas BAKED POTATO PARTY  was really early this year... the Northgate Arena did well though, baking 40 potatoes for us... I took my cricket teas urn so we could help ourselves to a cup of tea which eased the pressure in the cafe

It was considerably less sophisticated than the Coventry Hilton but just as much fun- we played Heads and Tails which was interesting as some of the ladies who guessed correctly couldn't stand for long so they were sat when they should have been stood, we all had wet hair because we were straight out of the pool and I wore Husb's Santa night shirt with my ridiculous hat. 

♪♫☺ FUNTIMES ♪♫☺

And Christmas meal number 3 was at Annie's.

Meanwhile I was trying hard to keep up to date with all the breadboards and stockings!

When December 25th eventually arrived I couldn't believe how many presents we had accumulated... this was to be a fairly quiet Christmas but on Christmas morning we could hardly see the carpet for gifts...