Happiness Is A Sleepover .......

So, over the weekend, we finally got to have our annual Iris and Bertie New Year sleepover, all be it a day or two out of kilter.

Let's just say it was totally overflowing with love, emotion, awe and magic for words ..........

........when nothing, and I mean nothing, was out of limits for those little ones .......

....... such was our unbridled and unfettered joy of having our beloved niece and nephew with us at this time ............

......... to celebrate the epoch of a bright new year ..........

....... including demolishing, until then, Darrell's usually immaculately pristine bathroom!

However, what's two hours cleaning up, using almost a whole bottle of Mr Muscle, several trips backwards and forward with the mop and bucket, followed by some rampant buffing up and polishing of tiles, mirror and glass  ........

....... plus a fresh set of towels and bathmat for the pleasure afterwards, we still felt truly blessed in a Hello Magazine, Special New Year Edition type way.

And, there was more ....... when later we left a trail of battery operated tealights from The Towers down to and into "our" park.

....... as the moon and Venus shone resplendent in the sky .........

......... to add to the magic of our traditional "midnight walk", at around 5 o'clock, before our tea.   We all felt it was a sign of a very wonderous year ahead of us.

Once in the deepest depths of the unlit part of the park. Iris and Bertie pretended to be ghosts, trying to creep up and scare us witless in the pitch black, darkness ...........

 ....... followed by a huge pile of sparkler waving, before finally heading home, as the bitter cold finally bit, despite all our many layers.

It was the sleepover we'd pined and had to wait for, but it was well worth the wait with more childhood memories made and laid, to carry the little ones into years to come.  It was emotional, never to be forgotten and the perfect start to our New Year!