Downtime

Saturday 21st
J's mum came and we played some Peggle, opened prezzies, ate delicious food and watched the Strictly final. Mostly a very good day. Freya had done a very cute robin Christmas Card for her grandma which was received with great appreciation :)

Sunday 22nd
We went up to C's where she was hosting 2 families for the afternoon. She also kindly transported the five older children into town and back so they could go shopping together for a while. Was a nice afternoon chatting and partaking of snackage in a relaxed pre-Christmassy way.

Monday 23rd
J and Freya went into Btn to do some shopping. They came back absolutely soaked but with a fine haul, including some Doris Day films on DVD. 

Tuesday 24th
J's dad came and we did present exchanging and then went out for a meal at Pizza Express, where J and I couldn't quite allow some of his Telegraph-readerish comments to go undisputed, so we did have a bit of a row there. It got a bit shouty, but we pulled ourselves back and got past it. Ooops! Neither of us is great at letting someone think it's OK when it's not.

Christmas Day to 29th
Had a lovely time just us three. Presents, games, lovely food and drink, films, Doctor Who. Really lovely and that was the first of five days at home together, much in that same vein. Late hours, playing games together, watching things, eating nuts and crisps. J made bread, I made mince pies, it was all very relaxed and just what I needed.
Really enjoyed it and already missing it tbh, as things will be starting up again so soon now.
I gave Freya 2 onesies for Christmas, one smiley faces with moustaches one from the Kylie range at M and Co and one pink leopard print one! from Next, and J and I together gave her a small camera as she has been quite interested in taking photos lately. The present she exclaimed loudest over was a massive box of felt pens that J gave her!
We played lots of Star Trek Catan, my present from J (bit of Wishlist confusion meant I got two!). So far J and Freya have won twice each and I have won once. Really like the game.
We also played tons of Peggle 2.
Between us we all had a lot of DVDs and we enjoyed Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters among other films, including 2 Doris Days and the wonderful Danny Kaye film The Court Jester. J and I watched the recentish remake of Total Recall, which I enjoyed a lot.
Freya gave me a lovely mug, which I have been using ever since opening it. She gave J a rock-guitar-shaped grater, and we also both got truffles.
Gave the cats tin of salmon as a treat, but Fidget found it too rich for her I think, she backed away after a few mouthfuls. She's not been in much, just assuming/hoping she has another home she goes to as the weather has been foul. She reappears every few days. Rorschach has a current favourite cardboard box in the living room, which she spends many cosy sleepy hours in at the moment.

Monday 30th
J had booked us tickets for The Desolation of Smaug at the BFI IMAX in London! As it turned out, trains were in chaos, and he even half thought of not going when he looked at the travel details online on the Sunday. But although the journey was twice as long each way, and much more complicated, all the alternatives were managed really well, and we got seats and often tables, so it wasn't so bad as it sounded at first. 
The film was really good! I loved it. I really didn't like the first one, didn't get into it at all. I don't much like Tolkien overall but this film really stood up on its own as a good film, good story, good characterization, lovely! And the 3D was fantastic in places too. Liked the IMAX, felt like we were really close to the screen and sort of intimate and small somehow even though huge! 
We think we might do the same for the 3rd one.
Had some Tofu Jahang from Wasabi on Waterloo station and Freya had some salmon sushi, to sustain us on our journey home, then back home had some bread and bits and watched a Royal Institution Christmas Lecture I think. J and I later watched the Eddie Izzard DVD he had given me, which was good.

Tuesday 31st
C was hosting again, had a lovely afternoon with C, K, M and J and all the children thereof. Nice mix, was a very good idea for NYE afternoon. And mmmmmm coleslaw... And a lot of tea!
Very enjoyable.
Back home J did some delicious pasta and we watched the 2nd RI Lecture, still trying to get the hang of gene sequences in relation to the base pairs, interesting stuff though.
Played Star Trek Catan again and some Knockout Whist and had some music on. Watched the NYE London Fireworks and had our own sparklers out in the rain!
Was nice! Got Freya to bed about 1 I think. J and I watched some of John Bishop, which was pretty funny.

Other things I forgot timing of: Freya did some history and some geography from her CGP KS3 books, I showed her basic crochet starting chain and it is loads easier for her than knitting, so will follow up on that soon.
Today is an at-home day, weather out there sounds atrocious and heavens are dark. J is making some bread and we will probably play Star Trek Catan again in a bit.