Au Revoir Christmas Jumpers …. And On With The New …..

It’s hard to believe,  but we’ve been wearing the PE Lady’s Mums Christmas jumpers now for 30 days,  without a break …. we’ve grown very attached to them (as they have us!!!)  ….. but as the Yuletide season ebbs rapidly away, it’s time to ring in the changes …… and welcome in 2013 in new attire.

We have had the new tops that Christopher sent us for Christmas (all the way from romantic Florida) waiting ready on hangers in the wings ….

….. as we thought that they would be perfect to wear for our New Year’s Eve celebration at our favourite local Indian restaurant with Granddad Colin.  I believe that I have, indeed, scrubbed up rather well ….

….. as has Darrell,  in his new hoodie of a rock and roll type nature.

Although Nigel agreed to change his jumper, he steadfastly refused to remove his new hat and scarf ….and even offered to do the washing of the aforementioned PE Lady’s Mums Christmas jumpers (which, to be honest,  were quite stiff and ponked a trifle too)  if we would stop nagging him…..

….. what is he like?

Anyway …..  can we wish ALL our followers a very happy and robust New Year and take the opportunity to say A MAHOOOSIVE THANK YOU for all the kindness you have shown us and your continued support of our every day story of every day folk???! A HUGE THANK YOU too to  everyone who has taken the time to leave us a comment during the year, especially Mr D, Dianne, Marc and Jan The Fan. Last year wasn’t a very happy one,  but we have much to look forward to in 2013, and no doubt, over our huge pile of poppadums and chicken tikka,  we will enjoy much robust and perhaps at times heated debate as to our forthcoming resolutions ……… HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Our Interpretation Of How A Good Rocky Road Should Be Made…..

Although we pride ourselves in our festive preparation,  Christmas seemed to catch up on us a little more quickly than we would have liked and as such the school term ended before we had had a chance to enter “our baked item” in the Great Inter Office Festive Bake Off …However, now with plenty of spare time at home, we decided to have a bake off of our own, but without the baking ……

Our chosen “dish”…… Rocky Road A La Everything But The Kitchen Sink …. which I started off by melting butter and golden syrup in a bowl over a pan of hot water …..

….. and then added all the chocolate we could find in the house to make a glorious culinary symphony of molten deliciousness.

Then Darrell and Nigel took over …. adding several chopped fingers of fudge ….. and chunks of Fry’s Turkish Delight ….

….. followed by whole Maltesers, mini marshmallows and crushed up digestive biscuits….

…… plus a very special secret ingredient …..!!!!

It took some very robust stirring …….

….. with Nigel and Darrell establishing a rota of five minute stints to get all the ingredients melded together ……

….. which they did with all due diligence …..

….. until, with aching arms, the mixture was ready to put into dishes to consolidate, set like concrete harden, so that it could be cut up (and then consumed)

All that was left to do then was to lick the bowl ….. with much nomming.

Now,  we have to confess to being very remiss in not taking any pictures of us all tucking into all our hard work, but unfortunately the tangible and palpable excitement got the better of us ….. and we just nommed, and nommed and nommed, until we realised our photographical faux pas as Nigel popped the very last morsel in his mouth!  We then had to lounge very stilly and carefully in the London style for several hours, keeping any movement minimal thus rendering it impossible to get the camera anyway

But, we can all safely vouch safe to it’s deliciousness, with our secret ingredient bringing everything together! Nom, nom, nom!!

A Babycham And Cherry B – Our Considered Opinion …….

Tom and the lovely Laura bought over some “retro” drinks during the festive period for our delectation, and to be honest, wanting our considered opinion,  as to their suitability as beverages to serve to their guests at their forthcoming nuptials in the summer.

We have to admit to never having tried a Babycham or Cherry B before, however, we found them very acceptable and easy on our discerning palates.  We thought that the Babycham to be a dainty and light drink,  with a subtle nose that evoked much laughter and robust merriment, very apt for a celebration of a matrimonial type nature, with bubbles that tickle the aforementioned (subtle) nose.  The Cherry B on the other hand had very strong notes of cough mixture with hot sticky jam overtones. Our advice to the betrothed Tom and The Lovely Laura would be to pour half a dozen of each into a large Tupperware jug with a smorgasbord of fruit e.g apples, lemons, limes, orange slices, and perhaps the odd sliver of cucumber and Bob would certainly be their Aunt Fanny!

Tom and Laura then rewarded our impressive connoisseurial critique with a small samplette of the chocolate orange and banana liqueurs they brought back from their holiday in St Lucia …

…… let us just say they were omnipresent omnipotent potent  strong…..

….. and therefore not at all suitable for any sort of celebration of a connubial type nature!!!

Xx Thank You Archie And Lynne xX

We tried to find a couple of  pictures of our friend Archie, who now lives in Moray,  (a very romantic sounding part of Scotland), in our archives, but unfortunately due to our various computer blips over the past couple of years,  they, along with a lot of other stuff  have sadly vanished into the ether!

….. But we still keep in touch, especially,  at this festive time of year. When Archie’s parcel arrived, no doubt after traversing many a mountain, glen, and loch …. we surmised that bells could possibly be involved, from the jingle jangle that came from within its midst, but we adhered robustly to the message on the tag “Not to be opened before 25th December”

But on Christmas morn ….  with Christmas paper flying in every direction,  we found that each small parcel contained a wondrous hand stitched holly leaf badge complete with a silver bell ….. we were totally overwhelmed in a jolly holly type way.

Nigel’s was pinned to his new bobble hat before you could say “Jingle Bells” 
….. and then he helped us pin ours on too.

What a lovely, lovely present …. and an extremly cunning one too, because we can now keep tight Yuletide tabs on Nigel as we can hear him wherever he goes …. which he hasn’t cottoned on to yet, he just thinks our Derek Acorah senses have been heightened since we watched A Christmas Carol over Christmas!!

“Thank you” so much Archie and Lynne …. for our “bonnie, bonnie” gifts, we LOVE them xxxxx

Three Mahoosive Thank You’s Of A Festive Type Nature To George …

The festive season is such an emotional time for us as we often hear from some of the monkeys that we helped find new families for after rescuing them from the deepest depths of e-bay …..

…. And so when we heard from George,  it made all our hearts sing like Christmas robins,  as he continues to be very happy,  perusing his robust culinary interests in the romantic sounding regions of Hampshire. He told us that he just moved house, but only round the corner, so the upheaval of a new social network/new neighbour type nature wasn’t really a problem. He did hope, however, that when the festive season was over that he would become reacquainted with his flan cases, as they had somehow gone missing between being put in the removal van and entering his new front door!

…. Anyway,  a MAHOOOOSIVE “Thank You” to George, for sending each of us a Yuletide bag of confectionary comestibles …..

What is he like?  But, as a precautionary measure, before consumption, Darrell and I have sent ours off to Tom the Scientist for  his crack team of Forensic Boffins to just double check their contents,   much as we admire a good  “Bush Tucker Trial” …. we are a little reticent to allow anything of a  “natural reindeer product” type nature to pass our lips without thorough investigative probing ….

There were no such caution needed for Nigel’s gift however, George had sent him a mahoooosive bag of the biggest vajazzles, (as Nigel likes to call them) we had ever seen, these, Nigel very generously shared with us, whilst we waited for ours to be analysed.  We shall naturally replicate  his kindness “if” ours are returned intact, and not sent for incineration for purpose's of health and safety!

xxxxxx THANK YOU again George, for your kind thoughts and a mahooosive festive chuckle xxxxxx

Presents From Christopher, Dianne And Doug In Romantic Florida.

We cannot believe how amazingly kind our readers are to us and how they have taken us to their proverbial bosoms,  over the past week or so several parcels have arrived addressed to us, that we have, admittedly, rattled and shaken robustly but have put unopened under our Christmas Tree

When a parcel arrived from romantic and warm Florida we knew it was from our friends Christopher Dianne and Doug, and so resisting it’s American mysteries and temptations was very, very hard …..

But,  on Christmas morning, once we had all regained our composure, we could at last open them. Nigel went first … he had been sent a festive tin suitcase which contained a hat and scarf,  which he has steadfastly refused to take off since,  even in the bath and at bedtime…… and a little cuddly pony called Stetson, a monkey money pouch and a Rudolph notebook and pencil …. “I am totally blessed in a Hello and OK Magazine type way” he sighed “I am so very, very robustly spoiled with so many wondrous presents, …. my new notebook shall be my Last Vegas planner, just like Monkeys!”

It was my turn to open my present from Florida and Christopher et al next …. it was a new stripy sweatshirt in my very favourite colours, I knew immediately that it would be my top of choice to wear on New Years Eve …. I too felt very blessed.

And finally, it was Darrell’s turn to reveal the contents of his parcel …. I could see the tears welling up once more in his eyes …. as he too felt very blessed …. he was totally overwhelmed by the fact that Christopher and Dianne knew him so well, even though none of us have ever met in real life, because they had sent him a hoodie covered with a  guitar pattern and two rock and roll badges, it was so him, so on trend and de rigueur, and so perfect to wear on New Years Eve too.  Poor Darrell is a martyr to his emotions and although he tried to hold them in …. he couldn’t help let out a few manly sobs and sniffs.

There was one final present left to open, a monkey nail brush …. much needed I’m afraid by Nigel …!!  What can we say but a robust and heartfelt THANK YOU from the UK to the USA ….. THANK YOU Christopher, Dianne and Doug, we LOVE you xxxxxx

It’s Christmas Morning …. He’s Been!!!

I got off relatively lightly this year in regards to when I was awoken this Christmas morn …. Darrell was up first to see if Santa had been at 4.45am …..

…. very closely followed by Nigel at 4.47am!

And,  it was Nigel who opened his presents from Santa first ….

The aforementioned Santa had indeed left Nigel his much dreamed about calculator and a stripy tea towel as a promise that next Christmas Nigel will be in a very special Nativity Play.

It was Darrell’s turn next, and yes, the aforementioned, aforementioned Santa had left him some Mudd facemask for Darrell’s waning complexion  …. and a pack of three assorted balls of string, Darrell had such a huge smile on his face …. I was sure that as he was so overjoyed “anything” else I could profer, would not meet such a mahooosive response of unbridled joy.

My heart was pounding as I unwrapped my presents from Santa …. a pack of kitchen utensils …. and a planner …. which obviously aroused Darrell’s and Nigel’s innate curiosity …. wanting to know what it was that I wanted to plan …… so I handed Darrell my first present ….

….. a pop up map of Las Vegas …..

I could see Darrell and Nigel were immediately puzzled by what seemed like a bit of a random gift ….

….. and even when I pointed out the Luxor Hotel saying “I bet that’s a wonderful place to stay”,  neither Darrell and Nigel caught on ….

….. so, I gave them another parcel containing the  “Days To Las Vegas” countdown board I had made ….. and then the Quality Street Toffee Penny finally dropped!

….. as I told to them that in the summer we would be taking the holiday of a lifetime to Las Vegas ….. staying at the Luxor Hotel …. and that Nigel now needed to use his Christmas calculator to work out precisely how many “Days ‘till Last Vegas” as he calls it,  there were.

Inevitably,  after such a wondrous revelation Darrell and Nigel were spurred into subjecting me to an in-depth,  probing and robust question and answer session,  with them wanting to know ALL the how's, whys, when’s  and wherefores of our trip.

And then ….. followed the tears ……  many, many tears ….

….. many, many …..  many, many tears ……and many, many many THANK YOU’s ……. with many many dreams to come true. 

We hope that your Christmas Day will be as WONDERFUL as ours and would like to Thank MAHOOOSIVELY everyone who sent us such lovely cards and presents …… if it is OK, due to the emotion of our day,  we would like to share the joy of opening them over the next day or two …… to make the magic last a little longer …. so for now,  can we send  very special Christmas  “THANKS YOU’s ”  to Dianne and Christopher in Florida, Lynne and Archie and last but not least George …… xxxx HAPPY CHRISTMAS and THANK YOU again ! xxxx

“Quelle merveilleuse journée”  as they say in France