Once upon a time there was a Unicorn who, however hard she tried, just could not fly. Any other Unicorns may thought of this as a ‘failure’, but she was a rather feisty little thing and thought to herself, ‘I may not be able to fly, but I know I can run and if I run fast enough one day I might just take off’.
One of her friends, a pretty little Lamb, invited her to go for a run one Sunday morning. The Unicorn knew her friend the Dormouse would be going too – because Dormice love to run and scurry through the fields – so she accepted the invitation much to the delight of the Lamb.
Arriving at Tardebigge the Unicorn was staggered to see so many other creatures had arrived and immediately felt part of a team – which is important to Unicorns…I will finish the story one day but for now I will just bring you up to speed with what I have been up to over the last week or so!
It’s been a busy few days what with Christmas and all, but it’s been fun too. Before I go any further I’ll confess my life is not perfect; like any family we have members who don’t get on and at times like Christmas, when everyone is suddenly supposed to love each other, things can get tense. I tell you this because someone said to me today, ‘I wish my life was like lots of others peoples, where everything is just lovely’.
I’ve always said nobody really has that ‘Facebook-perfect life’ but we just don’t share the imperfect or bloody awful times on there do we? As I write this there is a programme playing on the TV about the Gallagher brothers – who clearly don’t get on – which makes me smile in a perverse sort of way! If you are going through a tough time, remember Social Media depicts a moment in time; that’s all, a moment in time!
A couple of days before Christmas I put on a little Mad Hatters Tea Party for three of the younger g.children. We had great fun – I was Alice, my OH was the Mad Hatter, K was the White Rabbit, I was the Queen of Hearts and M was ‘The Doctor’…what can I say? When my daughter, C, arrived she was nominated to be the White Rabbits mother. I think ‘Mad Hatters’ is quite relevant for some of our family!
Christmas Eve saw me delivering presents in my Santa Suit – much to the amusement of my friends and my aunt who is 101 years young. I do love to make people smile!
Christmas Day was spent at my son and his partners place; three of their children were there (aged 9, 7 and 3). The excitement was infectious. My mum came along too – it was great to have the four generations together.
K (7) made me laugh when she said her best present was, ‘Double Chocolate’. She actually had some amazing and expensive gifts but I loved the fact that she isn’t at all money-focused and preferred the chocolate – a girl after my own heart. Christmas Day evening was spent playing Whist with my OH, our daughter, C, and her partner, S. Amazingly I won…and I swear I didn’t cheat! I also learnt a card trick courtesty of S which I am trying to perfect!
Boxing Day saw 24 of the family at our place – only 16 for lunch though so that was a breeze (ha).
I’m not sure exactly how to feel about this, but the two things that went down best were the Chocolate Log and the Pate – neither of which I made! Hmmmm. My daughters partner made the log and a friend made the pate.
So much for my bubble and squeak, turkey, Nigel Slater home-made stuffing, roast beef and nut roast then! It’s a good job I’m not sensitive…
Today started off with a short trail run of about 5k – hence the story at the top of this post. It was great fun but I have to say the monkey and one of the rabbits were pretty scary – thank goodness we didn’t come across any young children! I run with a club – Kingfisher Harriers – so, in hindsight, one of us should have dressed as a Kingfisher, especially as we ran along a section of the Worcester-Birmingham canal tow-path.
This afternoon I watched a film at home (pretty rare for me). The Green Book is about friendship, racism, acceptance and difference. If only all of us could accept other’s differences, the world (and families) would be a much nicer place in which to be.
Hugs
Leigh
PS I loved this quote from the film:
‘When you do something, do it 100%
When you work, work
When you laugh, laugh loud
When you eat, eat like it’s your last meal’