Sunday 11 December 2016

The Wanderer Returns

My gorgeous girl came home from university yesterday for the Christmas holidays. It's the first time she's been home since we dropped her off on the 23rd of September and I've missed her so much.

She's just been sitting end of term exams before she broke up so we're keeping our fingers crossed that she's done well. She's certainly loving her course and has done well in all her assessments so far.

Daniel's managed to get Christmas off work so I'm very excited that my family will all be together for Christmas and for an extended period afterwards too. His girlfriend will be celebrating with us, as she did last year, so they'll be arriving home, hopefully, on the 23rd.

Before we left Nottingham, we called in to the town centre to visit Winter Wonderland, Nottingham's Christmas market, ice rink, bars and food hall.


There's over fifty Tudor style cabins selling a good range of products, as well as traditional fairground rides for the children.





I was very tempted by the food stalls, they were selling all manner of delicious goodies, but I managed to resist.






My favourite part of any market are the craft stalls and there was a good range of products here.




These type of events certainly get me in the Christmas spirit and I feel that, having my girl back, I can start getting in the Christmas spirit even more now. The Christmas tree's going up today!

54 comments:

  1. How lovely to have all your family home for Christmas. I am sure you will have a wonderful time, it is good to have an extended period after Christmas as well, I always seem to enjoy that time where you can just relax and enjoy doing things together better than the manic build up. xx

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    1. I'm really looking forward to having all the family together at Christmas. Mick's always had the time between Christmas and New Year off work so it's a nice time for us to relax and take things easy at home.

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  2. I love the fairs but can not abide the crowds, I tend to go on the last day. It does mean that I may miss out on some of the spectacle of the first day but I can enjoy it without feeling trapped.

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    1. It was rather busy at the Christmas market but wasn't too bad. You can hardly move at the one in Leeds.

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  3. How lovely to have all the family together for Christmas,it will be magical x

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    1. I'm sure it will. It's nice having this time before the big day with Eleanor at home too.

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  4. It's a special time of year and families were possible should come together to celebrate as you will. The Christmas market looks delightful it must be hard to resist such temptation. Fingers crossed for excellent results.

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    1. Christmas for me is a time with family so I'm pleased that Daniel's managed to get some time off work. Eleanor's been putting lots of hard work in so we're keeping our fingers crossed that her results reflect this.

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  5. Our daughter flies in on the 19th and that's when Christmas really begins for me.

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    1. It will be nice having her home with you.

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  6. You do sound excited. There was a similar market when we visited Manchester last year and I also remember Edinburgh having something similar the last ytime we visited.

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    1. I'm excited to have the family all together again. These type of markets seem to have popped up all over the place now. Leeds has a lovely German market but the stalls always seem to be the same every year.

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  7. Christmas markets are wonderful aren't they? All that food is amazing and the beautiful crafts. So pleased you have your girl back. It must be lovely to have everyone home for Christmas. X

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    1. I love markets but the Christmas markets are always magical. I can't wait for everyone to be home again, it will be nice for all the family to be together for Christmas.

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  8. A nice post and good pictures. I'm surprised that you managed to resist. Flighty xx

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    1. I'm surprised too, the aromas drifting out of the stalls were very tempting indeed.

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  9. Hope you're having a lovely time putting the tree up! I love when family is able to travel home for the holidays.

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    1. To be honest, I usually leave as much of the decorating as I can to Mick. This is the first year that we haven't been sure we'd be spending Christmas together as a family so I'm pleased that it's worked out that we can.

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  10. isn't it lovely when they come home from uni.I used to love the feeling of the "nest"being full again and feeling really content.Enjoy it.

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    1. I've really missed Eleanor so it's lovely having her home again, I'm making the most of every minute she's here.

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  11. How lovely, I'm so glad you have your gorgeous girl back home with you xx

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    1. Me too. It's made me realise just how much I've missed her.

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  12. You sound very exited! I bet Eleanor was just as exited about being back home for Christmas. Wishing you a lovely week, catching up with your girl and doing lovely things together.

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    1. Eleanor's enjoyed her time at uni but she got really excited about coming home as the time got nearer. Her boyfriend isn't home from uni until next week so I've got her all to myself until then.

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  13. I love this post! It must be lovely having your girlie back home again! I can't decide when Christmas can officially start here... perhaps not til next Sunday & the Christmas carol service!

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    1. It's wonderful having Eleanor home again, it seems ages since she's been here. Christmas never starts too early here but it goes on long after the big day.

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  14. Wonderful news that you will all be together for the festive season, a wish that Santa has granted early for you.

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    1. It was touch and go whether Daniel would be able to get time of work, I'm so glad he managed it.

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  15. Those stalls at the Christmas market look fun, how lovely that you will have your family all together this Christmas time.

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    1. It was a lovely market, nice to see some different stalls this year as the ones in Leeds seem to be the same every year. I'm looking forward to Daniel coming home now so that the family is all together again.

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  16. How lovely to have Eleanor home, Jo. And for all of you to be able to be together at Christmas too. Fabulous! :o)

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    1. It's funny Eleanor being in the house again, I'm loving it though, and I'll love it even more when Daniel's home too.

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  17. It looks a lovely market. I'm so pleased you've got your little girl home, enjoy the next few weeks!

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    1. It was a very nice market. I'm sure the next few weeks will fly by so I shall be making the most of having my family home.

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  18. How lovely to have the whole family together for Christmas, just as it should be. I know you will have a great time.

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    1. I'm sure we will, just having everyone together will make Christmas special for me.

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  19. Glad to hear that your family will be with you for Xmas.
    Hope Eleanor gets the marks she has worked so hard for.
    Love the bauble photo, think they look like my favourite colour of pink. Pretty. Take care.

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    1. Eleanor will get the marks from her exams over Christmas so I hope they're good and don't spoil the mood for her. She's done really well in her assessments so we're keeping our fingers crossed that this carries through in to the exams. The stall with the baubles was lovely, so pretty.

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  20. I am thrilled for you Jo, there is nothing nicer than spending quality time with loved ones. Enjoy your special Christmas together. I am hanging my head in shame but I would not have been able to resit the food stalls, there is something about Christmas market food that I cannot resist.

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    1. I'm sure we'll have a wonderful Christmas with all the family being together. I don't know how I managed to resist all the lovely food, it was all very tempting.

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  21. It is so nice when they come home, makes everything more special. Enjoy!

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    1. I agree. It's lovely to have Eleanor's company again and I'm looking forward to Daniel coming home too.

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  22. How lovely your Christmas holidays will be - even more so because having both of your children at home is such a rare and special treat now. Those food stalls do look very tempting, especially the cheese - I doubt I would have been able to resist that :)

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    1. I'm definitely going to make the most of Christmas this year, I don't know when we'll see Daniel again once he goes back this time. I always head to cheese stalls at these type of events, very hard to resist.

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  23. oh wow looks like such a wonderful time.. glad you and your daughter got to spend some time together

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    1. It was lovely doing something fun as soon as we'd picked Eleanor up from uni, it got us straight in the Christmas spirit.

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  24. Oh Jo, so lovely to have all of your family home for Christmas, enjoy every moment ... I'm sure you will.

    So nice to see your photo's too, there are some great markets and Christmas Fayres on at the moment. It really is that time of year!

    May every day be merry and bright for you and yours ...

    All the best Jan

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    1. It's lovely having Eleanor home for a long holiday and it will be nice that Daniel's got an extended period at home after Christmas too. I love looking round Christmas markets, it really gets me in the Christmas spirit.

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  25. Oh, how lovely that you all get together for Christmas....glad Eleanor has settled and is enjoying the course and that you have your girl home for Christmas. Loved the markets.xxx

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    1. It's going to be a good Christmas with all the family home to celebrate, I'm so looking forward to it.

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  26. I'm glad to hear you'll have all your family with you over the Christmas holidays. Enjoy your time with your lovely girl - it must be so wonderful to have her home again! x

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    1. It is. I'm looking forward to Daniel coming home now and having the whole family back together.

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  27. I'm so pleased that things have worked out so that you can spend Christmas together. I know you'll enjoy it. KL will be here for a few days over Christmas, and we'll be seeing K and A too. A has just landed a new job, which means that he will have time off over Christmas with K, which we are all thrilled about. J's taken time off too, so it should be a lovely time for catching up as a family. Happy Christmas to all of you. Xx

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    1. It sounds like you're going to have a lovely family Christmas too with all your family around you. Mick always gets the time off in between Christmas and New Year so the festivities continue throughout but they'd have been a little lacklustre had Daniel had to work. Thank you, wishing you all a very merry Christmas too.

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