Toothache, Trees and Tinsel

We had quite a busy week last week.. Monday was the HE group meeting at the library. Ella decorated pine cones with glitter, and made an angel, which was also glittered, of course..

Wednesday we went on a trip, organised by the HE group, to a local organic farm. We learned about their rare breed cattle and sheep, then went on a tree spotting walk. It's incredibly difficult (for me at least !) to differentiate trees with no leaves on them.

Friday we spent some time on our festive seasonal table (picture on left). We decided to have "Three Wise Gnomies", bearing gifts of pretty stones. So we have (from left) foliage, glitter cones, the Three Wise Gnomies, angels and stars, Joseph, Mary and the empty cradle for our baby Jesus. I made the baby Jesus last year our of stockinette and finger bandage, so he actually looks more like a severed thumb, so I may put a face on him this year, in case it gives Ella nightmares.

Saturday, Ella and Karl went out to get a Christmas tree. Here's a picture of Ella decorating it. She started decorating it unsupervised, and half of the decorations were on the bottom 3 branches, bless. It's a lovely age for her - she's enjoying doing festive crafts, decorating the tree and reading Christmas stories.

Ella's had a tootache since last Friday, so we missed the HE group yesterday, because she (and subsequently everyone else) had a very broken night's sleep. However, she's got some medication now and we're going to the dentist Thursday, so hopefully that'll sort her out.

Mr Pheasant has started coming back to the garden on a daily basis. Here's a picture of him hoovering up the seeds dropped from the feeders..