Winter Wonderland

People who know me, will know that barr for shopping, I’d happily hibernate for the winter if it was an option. I do NOT like the cold! I avoid going out in winter unless it’s absolutely necessary or there is mulled wine at the end of it! Once you have children though, it is important to drag your seasonally depressed, winter-phobic self out into the great outdoors. Not only should you go out – but you should embrace it for the children! So every year, just before Christmas, we go to our local bird and deer park, where they have a winter wonderland.

The whole park is decorated with a mass of fairy lights, which are reflected off the water to give a double glow. The colours and the ambience is fantastic and the twins faces lit up with wonder, like the lights. There is no other place that makes me feel so festive. Whilst it is quite difficult to see some of the birds and deer in the dark, they are still there and there’s something quite magical about wandering amongst animals in the dark.

This year however, was not my greatest trip… Jonny was at work, so I was on my own with the children. I was trying to juggle the twins, one which I was wearing in a carrier, and one which was in a single stroller I was borrowing from an awesome friend (my double buggy wouldn’t have been practical there). So whilst juggling bambinos, chatting to Bunny and attempting to take photos… I felt the camera slip out of my hands, heard the crunch of technology on gritty mud and then… Splash! Yes my camera had dived into the deep stream running alongside us. I instantly dropped to my knees and plunged my hand into the murky water. As I was past my elbows is weedy, muddy water, I was wondering if there were any fish or creatures in there. That freaked me out a bit. But by some miracle I managed to find the camera and fish it out before it sunk to the bottom. I was cold, wet and annoyed, but couldn’t let it show as I didn’t want to spoil Bunny’s fun! The camera worked for all of two minutes before dying completely.

We walked on through the maze of lights (and random eyes gazing at us through the darkness) – on to the little cottage where Santa Claus sits and waits for children to come and tell him their wishes. He always gives them a gift that lights up so you can see children all across the park holding their little light up wands.

After seeing Santa, we went to visit the Christmas fairy in her gypsy caravan. I think Bunny actually likes the fairy more than Santa, because she chats about girly things and gives her sweets. In fact Bunny was chatting so long she was completely oblivious to the fairy’s hints that she should probably go and look at something else!

We sat under a gazebo and got our faces painted with sparkly flowers (last year was reindeer antlers) and Bunny made a picture out of twigs, leaves, sequins, cotton wool and glitter. Then we went to see Rudolph. Seeing a real live reindeer, for me was the highlight of the trip and I couldn’t wait to take some awesome photographs on my phone (since the camera fail). This OBVIOUSLY… is the point where my mobile phone decided to continuously crash – so I couldn’t take any photos at all. I was gutted. I contacted the park about going back, but they informed me that naughty Rudolph decided to shed his antlers and now looks really stupid! I mean a reindeer… with no antlers?

So I am left only with a few blurry and watery photos of our trip, and no reindeer, which I am sad about. But we still had a great time, have some good memories and it has really put us in the festive mood.