Old Age, woolly thingys, Tea, Christmas Treats, Sentimental Aw's and a funny thing!

Old age...fills me full of angst..Yep forget teenage angst I have the other kind. I know if I am lucky enough to reach old age, I shall be the gracefully aging rock chick as age can't change who I am on the inside. But for me growing old feels me full of dread at the thought of someone else being in control of me...my decisions and my life in general. The thought of ending up in a Residential Home can stop me dead like nothing else. I have seen first hand some of the conditions that these lovely aging folks are left to live in and it breaks my heart. And how at the mercy of shady family members they can be. That will not be how I chose to live my later years..believe me! Fight the good fight I say. So it will be no surprise that I have always been a keen supporter of the Charities in England that support the aging community. 

I first started 'caring' about the old folks when I was a small kid and the majority of my paper round was in a residential dwelling in the town I grew up in. I made friends with them and I found myself spending free time with them all too. I was always happy to help them out. I learnt a lot from them. In my later childhood I was responsible for a Christmas Meal and Entertainment night at my comprehensive school and even won a Merit Award for my hard work. But the award wasn't why I did this work...I did it because I believed that these people deserved respect and care. Not someone to take advantage of them, dictate to them or make them feel useless. You can maybe tell that I feel passionately about this, eh? lol 

AgeUK and Innocent Smoothies..you cannot go wrong..lol

So when I was strolling around the local supermarket and I saw the smoothies on sale that had a charity donation to AgeUK I had to cave to the gimmick and purchase two bottles. Innocent Smoothies do this every year to raise money for AgeUK and the funny little knitted hats make both me and My Love chuckle. They are a great charity that promote independence and support for the aging community and I take my knitted hat off to them for bringing this charity to the minds of people who wouldn't normally care or be aware of their good work. For more information about AgeUK simply click here!

Cute little knitted Hats :o)

I have to confess that we had some fun with these hats after the smoothies were long gone. We left them on the floor when the little ones came to visit and said that the Pixies had left them behind after they had visited. Even our skeptical nephew J was completely taken in by our tales...lol. Too cute. 

So now time for more woolly news...lol. My Love came home from the Christmas 'Work Do' a very happy person. Secret Santa this year had got it spot on and brought a very funny mug that had a Tea Colour Chart on it. 

Always the fourth option for My Love lol

Anyone who knows My Love, knows that the stronger the tea the better. But Secret Santa had been very generous and knitted this mug a woolie jumper to keep the tea warm and also provided a knitted teabag holder that had the cutest mini mug as the boggle to keep it closed. 

Secret Santa was very generous this year! Smiles a plenty!

The perfect present for My Love indeed. Now as I am friends with Mrs Christmas (Long story...and one the little ones believe to be true because of my sister! lol) I found out that the knitted items were provided by a lady who knits as passionately as I cook/bake. 

Look at the cute little mug toggle! Do you think it would be missed if I snipped it off and added it to my collection? You do? Oh ok then...*sighs* lol

So thank you goes to H for her fantastic skills and to check out more of H's knitting adventures you can follow her on Twitter @Ellies_mummy  

So we have had Old Age...woollys and tea....so next up is Christmas Treats...

We went in search of a couple of gifts this morning...and came back with three Christmas treats. Two were edible and picked up from a £ Shop...or $ Store for my US friends. lol. And I wish I could say I bought them with the little ones in mind but really they were bought for the big kids. I found a Candy Cane filled with Jelly Beans..all vegan! And a box of Mini Candy Canes which are a fruity flavour not peppermint! Odd! But they were cute so they were purchased too. lol. 

Christmas Candy Canes and a Candy Cane filled with Jellybeans for the big kids lol

The third treat was one I had been coveting since I originally saw them a couple of months ago when the Christmas merchandise was being put out. I cannot stand the way that the festive products are thrown at us in October...I find it really annoying. And never purchase then..ever. But I had seen my treat amongst the offerings in one shop and thought that if they still had them at Christmas...maybe I would buy them. And what do you know they still had some left and they were greatly reduced in price too! Very cool.

My 'treat'...Christmas Bauble Place Card Holders...I know..I know! I like them so hush! lol

Our Christmas colours are red and silver and always have been. Each year we buy one special little Christmas tree decoration...and we now have a tree every year that reminds us of special times. But this year we decided to get these instead. They were well within our budget and I know that they will be used forever more. I loved them on sight and left it in the hands of fate as to whether I got them...thank you fate! lol.

Whilst writing and uploading for this blog, we were surprised by a flying visit from my sister and her two little girls, who were very lovely and quickly got stuck into the bowl of clementines..lol. They were delivering our Christmas cards which were super. My sister has had a very worrying week with her son M who has had a very nasty lurgy and it's been a tough week for them all. M wasn't with her today but he was..in a very special way. My sister asked me to check out the back of the card the nephew & nieces had given us...and on the back it had his name and school on. 

M's Christmas Angel...proud of you little one! Hope you feel better very soon! x

M had designed the card and the school had chosen it as their Christmas card to raise funds for the school. So I apologetically share with you my nephew M's creation...I am a very proud Auntie indeed.  

See I wasn't fibbing...his name in print! lol

Phew! What an epic blog today...lol. So finally...the funny thing. My sisters partner..also an M..lol is celebrating his birthday today. M is a lovely bloke and he is a great Dad to the little ones but he is very much a Man's man. So when selecting his card this year we had to buy him this one after I had picked it up. We fell about laughing and it just seemed too funny not to! I know M will take this in good humour...

lol...so cool!

Happy Birthday M..Hope you have a great day lovely..xx

Do you know what? I think that's the end of this blog posting...no really...So I hope you are all having a great weekend out there. I am now away to wrap presents for loved ones and enjoy some festive cheer....before I no doubt revert back to my Bah Humbug ways...lol. 

Ho..Ho..Ho! 
~R~