The sun, the moon and some of the stuff in between

For one reason or another (illness and injury) there was less football this weekend. A total of just one hour's training. And it was wonderful. There was time. Time to read and draw and play and be with the little people without thinking about rushing off to the next thing. They do love their football, and I'm happy to do what it takes to get them there, but with every training session and every match at a different location, the weekends aren't particularly restful. There's a bit of a lull coming up though, and I'm really looking forward to it. Hurray for the festive season.

On Saturday afternoon we went along to a wonderful Christmas Fair at a local Steiner school for children with special needs. It's always a wonderful place to visit, very calming and in tune with nature and the seasons.

We spent quite a long time in a little wooded area by the fire, chatting with friends and watching the children having fun.

There's a lovely sensory garden there which the children loved, even in the depths of winter. It had a big wooden xylophone, bamboo rustling in the breeze and water trickling down into a pool.

When the sun dipped low we headed into town to pick up a couple of essentials. On the way out I looked up at the bare trees. I love seeing them stripped of leaves, stark against the sky, with big clusters of mistletoe.

In town the Christmas lights were lit and it all looked twinkly and festive.

This morning I spent some time helping the middle boy with his homework project, which is to build a model Anderson (air-raid) shelter. Plenty of glue, some felt, card and modelling clay and we're halfway there. I've managed to squeeze in a hint of crochet too. I taught him to make a chain, and after a few initial wobbles he got the hang of it, and after tea both him and his big brother sat side by side on the sofa completely engrossed in their crochet.

This afternoon I took the younger two to a park we don't visit very often. It's much improved since the last time we were there. It used to have brightly coloured plastic everywhere, now it's all rock, wood, ropes and sand. They had a really lovely time playing happy imaginative games together.

It was a beautiful day, lovely enough for the ice-cream man to turn up. Not lovely enough for me to buy any though. I wished I'd taken a flask of hot chocolate.