Rockin' Robin

This is not a paid post, I wasn't even asked to write about our forthcoming holiday at Potter's Leisure Resort. But sometimes, a spontaneous "Thank you, please keep doing what you do best!"  is needed. Just because.

I love Robins, we have a few tame ones here and they are really friendly. Too friendly in fact as our black panther cat managed to catch my husband's favourite last winter, much to his dismay! Robins do indeed "rock", they are wonderful birds but this post is more about the paper kind of "robin", that frequently enclosed in Christmas cards!

Photo courtesy of Jacob Spinks on Flickr Creative Commons 

We have received (and sent) fewer and fewer Christmas cards in recent years. Those I most enjoy receiving contain the "round robin" updates frequently sent to fill us in on last year's events. The modern version comes complete with colour photos, even the odd url to add detail. Those we receive are usually a lovely read,  I am always pleasantly surprised! Whilst I have been guilty of sending them myself in the past with everything pretty much online now I suspect friends see more than enough of my family the rest of the year, so I abstain. Anyway, to send one you need to write cards, and those left for me by the time the children have selected the best are barely worth sending!

Cartoon from Some eCards

The "round robin" reminds me of my childhood, of 1970s Christmases with appropriately sized Stockings, a meal that didn't break the bank and visits from neighbours to make the day special. We would spend Christmas Eve and Boxing Day with family friends, running riot with their children. I have memories of frenzied cheeseball fights and Twiglet fencing matches. Whilst they tasted pretty rank, there is little play value in Waitrose mini crostinis and filo tartlets.

But is it a good idea to hear all the high points from someone else's family I ask myself? Sometimes ignorance is indeed bliss.

A close friend from Cambridge days always sends fantastic letters, full of their activities over the year. Though one once made me wonder whether I had once again found evidence for some kind of parallel existence.....

CAMPING??? 
OMG? Where did they order their kids from? 

I have to admit the thought of camping makes me laugh hysterically...... the twins would have been up at 5am yelling and running around the campsite and H would be at full throttle until his meds kicked in.... and no-one would be able to eat the same thing! My lot seem incapable of amusing themselves without fighting for approximately half an hour right now. A shared cottage holiday would be interesting too, I suspect we'd probably end up with the place to ourselves after 24 hours!

Jealous, moi?!!!!

But we've now got holidays sussed.

A couple of years back we had a booking error with a holiday, and needed a last minute alternative. We ended up at Potter's Leisure Resort, with no idea what our short break would be like. That booking error was in fact THE most wonderful thing that has happened to us in many years.

Firstly, Potter's caters for my kids. For real. Nowhere else will provide three three-course meals every day with little notice for children on complex exclusion diets. And it's absolutely not an issue. Their staff are incredible, knowing the names of every child within a couple of hours (or maybe that's just mine because they are so loud??!) and there is non-stop all-inclusive entertainment for all ages.

So I'm not writing a Round Robin this year, and I've sent precious few cards. But this year we are once again off to Potter's for a mini break and I just can't wait.

But although there's no "Round Robin" from me, here's a real "Rockin' Robin Chicken"instead. A Christmas photo from last year,which always makes me smile! They say pictures speak a thousand words and this one certainly does, telling not one but several year's worth of news and progress in a single shot.

Happy Christmas!