This week my Word of the Week is: Surprises! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

On my meal planning post on Monday I said I thought this week was going to drag but it has flown over. I have kept myself busy and we've had a few surprises along the way. 

Over the weekend I wrapped the last of the presents and I am done now, I went on a wrapping strike and left Stu to wrap the last couple of things which were delivered and the extra things that we bought from town on Wednesday. Stu also got around to wrapping my presents and let me have a peek. I have got way more than I expected.

I got a phone call off a teacher at school during the week. The last time I spoke to this particular teacher it wasn't great news so hearing her say it was Mrs so and so ringing put me on edge but she had a lovely surprise for me. She said each year one kid is picked from each year group to receive a hamper/bag full of Christmas treats. When the teacher dropped it off I asked why Ellie and she said because she has made so much progress over the last year and has battled on despite the challenges she has had over the last year. I couldn't be prouder. It was such a lovely thing for the school to do and the treats are amazing. Mince pies, chocolates, crackers, biscuits, sweets and much more.

We were at the hospital on Wednesday for Ellie's hearing test. To check her good ear is still good and the deaf one is still deaf. All went well and we have made some progress. The doctor asked Ellie if she wanted to try a hearing aid and she said yes as long as she didn't have to have surgery and he said OK. He has suggested a CROS type hearing aids. The hearing aid in the deaf ear picks up sound and sends it to a hearing aid in the good ear. Ellie will be able to take the hearing aids out if she doesn't get on with them or they are just too much so that's a good thing as everything she has been offered in the past is permanent like cochlear implants. The doctor did say before the hearing aids are fitted they want to do a MRI scan just to see what the deal is with her hearing. I have always said no as it would be no benefit for Ellie it was always just to aid the hospitals research into Ellie's hearing loss but now it feels like they we're taking a step forward we have agreed to it. Ellie has been looking online about MRI scans and is excited about it. Hospital things have always interested her. Nothing is going to happen until next year and with Covid cases rising again goodness knows when she will have her appointments but thankfully there is no rush.

I have had a couple of exciting deliveries over the last week which I was not expecting. A surprise present from Anne who's better known as Raisie Bay and Jayne at Sticky Mud and Belly Laughs. When I started blogging I never imagined that I would make fantastic friends but here we are. I am also waiting for a package from another blogger, Chez Maximka. I won her amazing 12 days of chocolate giveaway which came as a huge surprise as there was so many entries.

I will still be writing a Word of the Week post next week but I will take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas.

The 25 biggest stresses of Christmas!

I love Christmas but it does stress me out. I do all of the present buying, wrapping the presents, arranging what we're doing over Christmas, the big food shop and of course cooking the Christmas dinner. Stu offers to help but I am such a control freak when it comes to Christmas, I won't let him. I know I bring all the stress on myself but that's just part of Christmas. lol

I am done with the stress of buying the perfect Christmas presents for people. I've bought presents, they might not be the most expensive or fancy but they are what they have said they have wanted over the past year and I am sure they will be happy with them. The hardest person to please is my dad. He has said again that he doesn't want me to spend any money on him and I haven't, much. He is getting things that I have reviewed over the past year and a Christmas cake that I have bought.

It's all worth it though, by 6pm on Christmas Eve I will be sat here with a glass of something thinking I have done a good job, everyone is happy and it was the best Christmas ever!

The 25 biggest stresses of Christmas are:

1. .Buying presents.
2. The amount of money that is spent on presents.
3. Pleasing everyone.
4. Doing the big food shop.
5. Having enough money to last you through December.
6. Wrapping presents.
7. Putting on weight.
8. Running out of time to do everything.
9. Cooking the dinner in general.
10. Saving enough money throughout the year to afford it all.
11. Getting timings of the Christmas dinner right.
12. Visiting family.
13. Hosting Christmas Day.
14. Juggling Christmas preparations with work.
15. Shops running out of food and drink.
16. Untangling the Christmas lights.
17. Putting up decorations.
18. Where to have Christmas dinner.
19. Keeping presents hidden from loved ones.
20. Making sure there is enough food for everyone.
21. Having to attend lots of social events.
22. Spending time with the in-laws.
23. The lack of exercise you do.
24. Remembering to send cards to loved ones.
25. Finding a place to hide presents.

I think the biggest stress of Christmas this year will be Becky and her girlfriend. When they don't see each other during the day in person they video chat and that is going to be awkward on Christmas day. Becky finished her night shift at 8am and will be opening presents with us and then going to bed. We will eat at about 4pm and then I want to spend a couple of hours together at least. She will want to spend this time video chatting before the good TV starts. I predict arguments. Eek!

What are your biggest stresses over the festive season?

Topped mince pies - Recipe.

Mince pies are one of my favourite treats over Christmas. We buy them ready made and we do love to make them too but this year we might be trying something different with a recipe that I was sent.

Be spoilt for choice with these incredible assorted mince pies including Frangipane and Clementine and Walnut Streusel toppings and add a new level of decadence to the much-loved mince pie.

To make basic mince pies:

Makes 12

300g plain flour

2 tbsp icing sugar

150g unsalted butter, cold and cubed

3 tbsp cold water

Jar of mincemeat

Method:

1. To make the pastry, combine the flour and icing sugar in a mixing bowl, add the butter and work in with your fingers until a crumb consistency is achieved.

2. Add in the water and bring together to form a dough. Wrap in cling film and pop in the fridge to rest for at least an hour.

3. Once the dough has rested, roll out to a 5mm thickness and cut out 9cm rounds.

4. Push the rounds into the cavities of a muffin or fairy cake tin, dock with a fork and then place back into the fridge for 15 minutes to chill. 

5. While the pastry cases are chilling, preheat your oven to 180°C.

6. Once chilled, remove the cases from the fridge, spoon a tablespoon of mincemeat into each, add your topping of choice (see below) and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden.

7. Remove and allow to cool.

8. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Toppings

Frangipane (makes enough for 12):

50g butter

50g caster sugar

75g ground almonds

1 egg 

2 tbsp plain flour

Flaked almonds, to decorate

You can also add a handful of dried cranberries & orange zest.

Method:

1. Combine all of the ingredients apart from the flaked almonds either by hand or with an electric mixer to form a smooth paste.

2. Spoon 2 tsp of the paste on top of each mincemeat filled pastry case and spread evenly. 

3. Top with flaked almonds (or more dried cranberries) and bake as directed above.

4. Allow to cool until just warm, dust with icing sugar and serve.

Clementine & Walnut Streusel (makes enough for 12):

50g plain flour

50g butter

50g chopped walnuts

75g light brown sugar

Zest of 1 clementine

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, rub the flour and butter together with your fingertips until a crumb consistency is achieved before gently working in the light brown sugar and chopped walnuts and clementine zest.

2. Spoon 2 tsp of streusel mixture on top of each mincemeat filled pastry case and bake as directed above.

3. Allow to cool until just warm, dust with icing sugar and serve.

Recipe shared belongs to Carr’s Flour, you can find out more information on their website. The full range is available to order from their online shop.

Finally! A parents evening!

The last time we had a proper parents evening for Ellie was at her old school at the end of year 7. She is in year 10 now and because of Covid we've not had one at all at her new school. The school have been amazing at keeping us informed about how Ellie is getting on but it's not the same as having a face to face conversation with her teachers.

Last week we had parents evening and it was a good one. The school had organised things well, giving everyone 5 minute appointments with each teacher but of course no one stuck to the plan, us included. We were supposed to see the head of year first but the science teacher was free and she called us over which then knocked us off all the timings with the rest of the appointments but we just snuck in to see the teachers when they were free.

Science.

Ellie is so doing so well at science, better than she has ever told us, she has always said she finds it hard. It turns out it's not the understanding that she finds hard it's the amount of writing that she has to do. She has always been lazy when it comes to writing but is thankfully starting to improve. She is expected to get 4's in science for her GCSE's which is an old school C. We were given a load of resources to help with revision which Ellie was not overjoyed about but she does know that revision has to be done.

Head of Year.

The head of year only had fantastic things to say about Ellie. She has a good group of friends, is kind, helpful and works hard. She said that the only worry she has that is she is sometimes so quiet but that has been the same throughout all of her school life, her sister was the same. 

The head of year said that as Ellie has struggled over the last couple of years because of being deaf in one ear with everyone wearing masks, it has impacted her learning. They are putting it to the powers that be with the exams that she needs extra time in her written exams when it comes to doing her GCSE's. She could potentially get an extra 15 minutes time for every hour in an exam which I think will be helpful for her.

Geography.

This is Ellie's least favourite subject and it really showed. The teacher is worried about her. The work she does in her exercise books is fantastic but when it comes to the assessments she is not doing so well. She knows the answers to the questions but just can't get them across on tests which is really confusing as in all of her other subjects she tests really well. It all came out that she doesn't feel comfortable sat where she is and with the people she is sat with. The class is full of big characters and Ellie is not a big character. The geography teacher is going to speak to the Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) teacher and see what they can do to help.

Engineering and Photography.

The engineering teacher wasn't there at parents evening which we were gutted about but the photography teacher had all of his notes to give us some feedback. It was all good and just what we expected as it's Ellie's favourite subject. For photography she is doing great but has to be more confident in the photos that she takes. She sometimes thinks they are rubbish but they're really not. She is heading towards C's or B's in those subjects if she really pushes herself which I think she will.

English.

We were so excited to meet Ellie's English teacher. Ellie raves about her. The teacher said she handpicked her class, those kids who weren't doing too well but had potential and she has made sure it was a tiny class with only about 12 kids in to get the most out of them and it's working. She showed us a couple of Ellie's exercise books and at the start of the school year her essays were a page long at the most now they are 3 verging on 4. We told the teacher how Ellie comes home and tells us what she has learned in English, how she's the best teacher and how good she feels because of these lessons and it made the teacher cry. She really is an amazing teacher. She was asking about how Ellie was getting on with other subjects and if there was anything that Ellie could take from English to use in other lessons and we talked about Geography so the English teacher is going to have words with her Geography teacher and see if they can make things easier. I totally get now why Ellie loves her English teacher, she is one of those people that you instantly feel at ease with.

Maths.

I was so keen to meet the maths teacher as Ellie had told me that he was only 23 years old. Oh my goodness, he looked like a teenager but he sounds like such a good teacher. At the start of the year Ellie really struggled and it showed on the assessment, she got 21% which wasn't great but on her latest assessment which she did last week she got 43% which is a massive jump and it's thanks to him. He said if she carries on the way she is she will easily be able to get a C for her GCSE's. She has always struggled with algebra but he said the whole class has so not to worry but she is doing great. He said the only time he has to raise her voice to Ellie is when she is arguing with the person who she sits next too, one of her best friends. The thing is 99% of the time they are arguing about the work they're doing and who's answer is right so he doesn't really want to tell them off, they just need to pipe down a little. He said Ellie needs to have more confidence in herself, it turns out Ellie will give the right answer to her friend to shout out instead of her shouting it out herself. lol

P.E.

I did not have good thoughts about P.E. I expected the teacher to say that Ellie turns up with the correct kit and not much else but it turns out she tries really hard in her lessons and told us after Christmas they will be doing trampolining which all the kids are very excited about.

Out of all of the parents evenings we've had for Ellie this has been the best one. We really did make the right decision moving house and changing Ellie's school. Every single teacher knew who Ellie was which didn't happen at her old school and they all were well aware of her hearing loss and have all made a point of checking that Ellie has heard everything when they are talking to the class. It seems like all of the teachers communicate with each other and really do care about the kids. Ellie is thriving and I really am starting to believe that she will do well in her GCSE's.

Have you had a parents evening recently? I hope it went well.