Would anyone like a cup of tea and a muffin?

[MadBadandDangerousToKnow]

I'm tired and in need of refreshment.

The tea room is now officially open, serving hot chocolate, tea, freshly-squeezed orange juice and a range of home-baked muffins. Tablecloths and crockery are charmingly mismatched antiques (no Cath Kidston here). We overlook an attractive although somewhat overgrown garden, with a distant view of rolling countryside.

Everyone is welcome but house rules dictate that anyone indulging in fisticuffs will be ejected.

Please come in.

here it is, my shiny new christmas name

where are you all?

Ooof sitting room now repainted and restored to normal disorder. No new light fittings although we did go to the light shop and stroke some lovingly as all the ones we liked were too much money.

DS very impressed with the colour change - yesterday when I picked him up from nursery I told him that daddy had been doing big painting on the walls. He was not impressed to find the dining room was not now covered in pictures. Tonight he came in and was 'wow, what happened to the wall ?'

Daisy - good to hear that you made it back in time.

Jacksmama - v festive name. I don't really do name changing as I am short on imagination about it. I also find it hard to get in the Christmas spirit until later than mid December.

CutMeOwnChristmasTreeDibbler?

Quite like that idea, although I (normally) do not like Christmas. What about cnut?

Getting into the spirit of the thing, shall we make good use of Rebelmum's mulled wine sachets?

Feel that MadBad would expect us to be basteling some tastefully homemade and off-centre Christmas decorations.

daisy - glad you made it to the funeral.

Cmot - congratulations on the decorating. I too am very susceptible to decorating porn (maybe the point about porn is that it's for people who never actually do it - decorating, that is) and still hanker after a light fitting that I couldn't bring myself to pay £1000 for when we bought this house. Ridiculous amount of money but it was unique and gorgeous!

Anyone ready to strut their Friday night stuff?

Also feel strongly that Christmas starts on December 1st and not before, (As I work in a school, Christmas play have been in rehearsal since late September, so already almost Christmassed out).

Not trying to spoil anyone's festive fun. Maybe communal name change on Sunday? Feel we should make it an event, with eggnog and maybe a Cath Kidstonned pinecone.

Mulled wine, anyone? Have added extra cloves for the dentally challenged amongst us.

Oh oh oh - CNutsRoastingOnAnOpenFire!!!!

You're getting into this, aren't you?

I think I just can't get worked up enough about lights. The candle sconces, and my lovely chicken wire sculpture dragon - they were too much money, but I have admired them on a daily basis ever since buying them and feel we have had value for money. 500 quid on a light fitting that isn't terribly exciting ( the ones I could imagine spending a lot on are the ones with glass sculpture, but are too long for our ceilings and tall family and friends) just doesn't do it when we can get something acceptable for a lot less. I have now passed responsibility for this to DH.

Mulled wine sounds good, especially if theres a mince pie knocking about too ?

I feel that the tea room probably has a no-mince-pies-before-December policy, but have found a supply of slightly bent twiglets.

chirstmsacnut

Mince pies should be a year round thing imo - in fact I bulk buy christmas pudding to eat in the summer too as I really like it. This is, on reflection, probably the only bit of christmas that I could be accused of over doing.

I thought of racingpig earlier when DS and I were reading 'Aaaaargh, Spider' as in the last picture the spiders have bridled and are riding a very unhappy looking guinea pig

Oh noooo nooo noooo - for a second I forgot my Mum is over there.... must be good. Must be good...

I feel like a Jane Austen character.

T42 bows graciously at Mellors and starts doing a complicated dance that involves lots of skipping up and down the room and nearly touching but not quite!

racingsnake - I am confused - there is an mner called Twiglet.... are you eating her???? - T42 wonders if it is time toleave the room!!!

See, that's why I didn't stay with being cnut. Somehow it seemed a bit, well, dirty.

And christmascnut sounds rather what DH would like in his stockings this year

Ding dong!

Also worried about thought of eating Twiglet, especially as Racingpig joined us for supper tonight.

Very much enjoyed the spagetti with tomato sauce WS gave him, but then started tucking into alice of salami, which I had to stop. Cannot condone the corruption of an innocent herbivore.

Would never feel confortable havng a nap in a tearoom where a gunea pig has once tasted meat. (Racingpig feels he will never feel the same about spiders, either)

Do remember one incident when Racinghens were eating some plate scrapings and we realised they were eating chicken gravy. They were quite happy but it is WRONG.

So, with that cheerful thought, Rp and I are off to bed/hole under the patchwork cushion in front of the tearoom fire, pausing only for another quick slug of gluhwein.

Ohhhhh racingsnake - My MIL keeps chickens - when we eat we have a chicken bowl in the centre of the table - food for the chickens to eat... we must put all left overs in it (they are big seafood eaters so often it is filled with oyster shells, prawn heads, fish heads and lobster and crab shells) but there are two strict rules 1) No parts of chicken to be anywhere near said bowl and 2) No lemons - these rules are there out of respect for our fine feathered friends (referred to by all as the chaaaaaaaaaiiiiickaaaaaeeeeeens - esp if one of the rules is broken by an unwitting guest who thinks it is just a scraps bowl)!!!

Guten nicht (I am speaking german in honour of JMs herritage!!!)

AHA! Racingpig is a GUINEA PIG! It all makes sense now....

I had been imagining all sorts of bizarre things.

Why can't the chickens eat lemons, T42?

I've just made myself a lovely cup of caramel-moccha-coffee with a frothy milk top. Can I tempt anyone to join me? The coffee machine is on, so it's no bother...

They don't like the taste of them - too sour!

I am online shopping could do with a break. So I will have a cocca-mocca-coffa thingy too!!!! Thanks rebel!

So, can I have a little bit of a moan?

I was at this works Christmas reunion thingy last night, haven't seen most of the people for at least 2 years, so it was nice.
And pretty much everyone knew I'd had a baby (actually, I think the last time I saw everyone was at the Christmas do the year before last while pregnant), and were asking after him.

And then, of course, came the "when are you going to have another one?" question, particularly because I'd mentioned how much I was enjoying being a SAHM (I used to be very career-orientated, so this is something of a suprise to everyone, including me ).

So I say, well actually we're not planning any more, we're happy with the one.
And then they all, almost without exception, started trying to convince me that we would indeed be having another one / did really want another one / should absolutely have another one.

I smiled, and just kept repeating that we were v. happy with "just" ds (plus dog!), but really, everyone was adamant that we must have another one...not sure whether or about it, but it was rather annoying to say the least.

I don't understand why people will not accept that having an only child can be a choice, a positive choice at that.

Ok, moan over. Feel better now

Racingpig is that very same guinea pig that is tunnelling next to you on the sofa and has just sunk his teeth into your biscuit! He is, at present, Wrigglesnake's best friend. WS is asleep after very poor night.

Or, Rebelmum, if you are of an advanced age, comme moi, they are just very sympathetic, as if poor dd is always going to be handicapped in some way due to geriatric nature of parent being unable to procreate again.

Three of my closest friends are preganant, two giving birth possibly even as I speak. It can be hard when it was not really a positive choice but one is trying very hard to feel positive about it.

Happy for you that it is by choice.

This is the place to be!

Hey reb, I'm three years older than you and DS is 9 1/2 months old... I get the same thing, so I usually say "well having this one was hard enough, not sure another one is in the cards" (although that is not strictly true) - that usually shuts people up.
Aaaarrrgh, people are jerks, aren't they? It would never occur to us to tell someone off for having a second/ third/ fourth!!!

Tea, stop singing already!! Your voice is getting raw!!