A belated Merry Christmas to everyone!
Brandon.
I’ve been down in Tamworth since Christmas Eve, and it was my first Christmas back down there for quite a few years – certainly since I’ve been living in my current house anyway.
Part of my reason for going down this year was that it was Brandon and Chloe’s first one, so wanted to be there for that really. My sister was doing lunch at hers, and there were quite a few of us there for it… me, mum, Vikky, Damien, the twins, Damien’s mum and dad, and Damien’s brother, Gavin. Also, Steve and Julie popped in before dinner, so it was quite a full house!
Me and Brandon.
I was quite surprised that the twins also had Christmas dinner with us – they were eating pretty much the same as us, and it didn’t seem that mashed up really! They like to be able to grab food and put it in their mouths themselves, so the more food they can hold the better!
It was actually quite weird being around people – I’ve really got used to being on my own on Christmas Day, and doing what I want to do, when I want to do it! So I didn’t get my usual lie-in, and didn’t really get to watch the TV I wanted to see either!! Thank goodness for Sky+! I’ve got so many shows I’ve recorded over the last 3 days that I need to try and find the time to watch!
Anyway, back to Christmas Day at my sister’s…
Brandon and Chloe had a great day – even though they were both a bit snotty. And they got so many presents from everyone, it was ridiculous! My sister said she’d have to put some of their new toys away, and swap them all round every month! It must have been quite bewildering for them, because they got so much attention, and then were going from one new toy to another!
Brandon.
Chloe.
One of their cool presents was a talking Elmo toy – and it was amazing! The movement on it is so realistic, and if he falls over, he even asks you to pick him up again!
Both the twins were transfixed by him – especially since he was sitting at the same level as them – although Chloe eventually decided she wanted a hug from her dad rather than a robotic toy!
It’s amazing seeing the kind of toys you can get for kids nowadays – when I was that age, there was nothing like that at all! It was just teddy bears and Fisher Price telephones!
Brandon and Chloe.
They also got a ball pool which was great fun! We put them in there and buried them under the balls. I don’t think Brandon quite knew what to do at first – he just lay there as they piled up on him! And Chloe spent a lot of time trying to eat them!
Chloe.
There are photos from the day here.
While I was down in Tamworth, I also dug out some old VHS tapes of stuff I filmed years ago and copied them to DVD. Some of my stuff was so bad!! But it’s fun to look back at it now though, especially some of the videos I made with Tom whist I was at school. It also made me realise how bad quality VHS is – especially when I was editing it back then, because the picture got much worse on every pass, whereas nowadays you can copy stuff or edit footage without any quality degradation at all.
I also copied some old home video stuff from when we hired a camcorder back in the early 90s. It’s really strange looking back at video footage of yourself from so long ago! And also of all my grandparents, as well as my dad. It’s one thing looking at old photos, but watching footage puts a whole different perspective on it all.
Anyway, that’s Christmas over… I’m back in Manchester now, but this afternoon I’m off to Anglesey for the next week to see in the New Year in a cottage next to the sea, so hopefully that should be fun!