Now, where was I … oh yes, enjoying myself with the Christmas festivities.

I made sure I helped Karen with decorating the tree and making her lounge festive and cosy. I’m glad I didn’t have to stay in the tree as it was a bit awkward what with those pine needles and all that, but I couldn’t resist my sparkly decoration.

     

We popped down to the festive fairground at Dreamland with our friend Jenny. Dreamland also had many Christmas trees but I didn’t think any of them were a patch on Karen’s. It certainly wasn’t as warm either.

I did rather like the teapot ride and the reindeer but they didn’t seem to have many presents under any of the trees.

     

We did have a nice meal and I’ve got a photo of the main course. I particularly liked this as it had orange bits in it. The desert was lovely too but photo hasn’t come out on that one (and it didn’t have orange bits in it).

By the time we got home it was dark but thankfully we were welcomed with some pretty outside lights.

So then it was Christmas and what a lovely time I had. I was made to go for a walk in the morning and got a bit worried as there was white stuff on the beach which I thought was snow but Karen told me it was chalk. As we were on the beach, it was only right that I went for a paddle and I found a nice little shallow pool for me.

     

When we got back, I had to work for my Christmas lunch as Karen wanted me to help her peel potatoes. I’m not quite sure how she expected me to do this as the peeler was bigger than me. Let’s just say I supervised.

As I’d made such a good job of the tree, thought I should apply that to the table so it was appropriately festive. It looked better when the candles were lit but I’m a bit hazardous to be left alone with them.

     

Christmas lunch was very delicious and there was lots of food left at the end. No pudding at lunchtime as far too full.

Boxing Day started with another walk, although that was probably a good thing after all that food the day before. It was a lovely sunny day so a very pleasant walk even if it was a bit fresh. Thankfully that’s ok for me as I’m made out of wool.

We then headed to Botany Bay Hotel for lunch but I did get to do a bit of tree climbing while we were waiting for our food.

More food was consumed and the pudding was particularly stunning. Just to point out, it was a sharing pudding and I didn’t eat it all myself.

     

Big sister, Steph, led me astray and gave me some of her wine. Not a good idea as I then did silly things.

     

Fortunately I was rescued before I fell. My punishment was suspended so I was free to go for a walk on the beach.

In the evening we played a card game called Belisha, inherited from Grandma, and James won (we think it was beginners luck). I particularly like this game as it has orange cards.

So that’s the final part for Christmas in 2017. I did see a very nice saying in a local magazine which I’d just like to leave you with:

Happy New Year 2018

• Wishing you 12 months of success
• 52 weeks of laughter
• 365 days of fun
• 8,760 hours of joy
• 525,600 minutes of good luck
• 31, 536,000 seconds of happiness

I look forward to sharing mores of my stories and adventures to come in 2018.