Well Christmas is over for another year, but I can't help reflecting on the mountain of presents my kids received. Whether you are celebrating the birth of a baby circa 2000 years ago or see this as a mid winter festival the main drive where ever you look from October on is to buy stuff to show your love. Sadly these days kids seem to value that love in a monetary way as well. So how can we walk the line between the stereotypical "Eco family" who live in an unheated cottage and wear lots of jumpers and the "normal family" who spend all their disposable income on buying into the perfect life? In my experience there isn't a clear route, partly because this is all new and partly because there is more than one way of living a green life.
This year the kids got a present from the local charity shop, though this was only because I didn't see anything they wanted there. We also bought some pre-owned electonic games - this is a new venture for us. If they work then we have saved carbon and money - if they don't we'll have unhappy kids. I had an interesting conversation with the lady infront of me as we were waiting to pay. She had picked up a new game for £14.99 then saw a pre-owned one for £11.99, she found it difficult to decide between the two. What is great is by main stream shops selling pre-owned games and displaying them prominently we are at least slowing the throw away society.
Likewise this year we are looking to replace an old computer. Our son has been keen on an i Pad 2 but other than cost the issue of driving the consumer society raised it's head. Our daughter added to this requesting an iPod classic. Neither were present on Christmas morning but the dialogue was opened on buying refurbished ones from Apple. Again if they work then we have taken from the waste stream. We are still consuming, but for children there is a need to be mainstream enough and they need these skills for adult hood. A compromise, our compromise not everyones.
What this does make me realise is that despite our kids being exposed to minimal advertising it still has an effect on them. Research published this month from  WWF-UK and the Public Research Fund shows that advertising TRIPLES our buying! I'll leave you with that as a New Year thought. See you in 2012.

This will be my last posting before Christmas, not sure when the New Year one will be done. So preparations are well underway for the great day. The second section of under floor insulation is done, another marathon session but now all looks tidy for Christmas.
Meanwhile, with my husband at a loose end on Saturday, he put our ageing Fabia on Gumtree. He had 12 replies and one visit, who bought the car and drove it away yesterday. This leaves us as a one car family for the first time. I feel like I have lost my safety net but am sure I'll get used to it with time.
Friday night we went with the Scouts to the local Church of Scotland Kirk for a Christmas Carol service. It was lovely, the brass band played, their choir sung and the congregation sang loudly many Christmas Carols. A lovely start to Christmas week.
Saturday saw the kids bag packing to fundraise for the Scouts. My daughter did three hours straight. Not sure how much they raised yet.
The last bit of Scout Christmas is delivering the Scout post, which will do this week. Usually we get caught in a blizzard, hopefully the weather will be kinder to us this year.
So I hope you are all ready for Christmas and wish you a lovely time with friend's and family. For those of you separated from loved ones I hope you have a peaceful time.

Well the weather has definitely decided to be wintery. I have kept working under the floors and have managed to get the first section finished. That took 9 hours below floors and is only a quarter of the room! I then draft proofed all the way round and found another hatch! However, I'd finished by then. So this week it is section 2 which looks just as rough. Last week I managed to tear my overalls and was covered in bruises so we shall see how this goes.
Sunday the kids and I went down to Wiston Lodge http://www.wistonlodge.co.uk/ ( my husband was on-call). My daughter and I learnt to bake stollen, ginger biscuits, tuffles and rum balls for Christmas, a busy but great day. Meanwhile my son had the time of his life make Christmas decorations from willow, wood and all sorts of bits and pieces a great day out.
Sadly, today a more sobering day. My husband and I joined his family at the funeral of his cousin's husband aged 43. It certainly makes you look at your own values and priorities seeing his family now without him.
And finally, the chocolate lab is still on heat and wearing shorts for protection! She has become a master at slipping her shorts off at a minutes notice, so the day is spent catching her and putting them back on. Not very elegant but saves the floors. Hopefully she will have finished by next week.

Well up until Friday we were cycling to school and cutting hedges. Saturday we spent shreading the hedge cuttings so that we could get the car into the garage - we had put the cuttings in the garage to keep them dry. We were just in time it snowed on Saturday night and then again on Sunday night!
We did manage to walk in to school today a cold clear crisp morning but the bikes are firmly away.
As the garden is off limits other than cleaning and feeding the animals I'm off under the floors again. this time the livingroom so the house is a mess. Under the floor there is space but it is very rough ground with old bits of concrete, wood, nails etc so it is an unpleasant pass time, however, it needs done.