The night before Christmas

1

DAY TILL CHRISTMAS

Well, it’s Christmas Eve, the kids are super excited, though little man’s brain seems to have become somewhat over stimulated by the whole thing.

No children are yet in bed and if I hear the word Nerf or Monsters high again, I think I may go for a long, long…. walk to ‘No Man’s Land’.

Harley is now 2 and he understands that bit more, I love that he is excited and keeps saying “HO-HO-HO Merry Christmas” in a little deep tone, it’s just super cute.

I’m still baking Christmas cake and will be for the next two hours (bear in mind this mum is no domestic goddess, so here’s hoping it turns out Ok, well, edible at least)!

Have I even wrapped a single present out of the hundreds of gifts bursting to escape their designated hiding places (the wardrobe, airing cupboard and under the stairs) to name but a few!

Hell, no of course I haven’t!

I think it’s a little crazy, I’m the mother of a child on the autism spectrum, yet organisation and planning is like an unknown second language to me! Seriously, I think I spend so much time making sure all them little things that tip my little guy over the edge, are just right in-order to avoid the mighty meltdown! The end result means that all the bigger stuff is left for me to tackle at some crazy hour! Will I sleep tonight? I can see me and Santa having a glass of something stiff and a mince-pie together tonight, So… that says it all really!

There is one Christmas Tradition I don’t want to miss (but sadly I may have to).

Midnight Mass is an event that I like to see in Christmas with, I’m not overly religious but somehow I find myself sat in the church whenever I am down or I just need some place quite to reflect. I used to live in a beautiful area that had a huge heath with a church sat right in the middle, that’s where I used to go to attend Mass and it was totally magic.

The Children’s father has offered to be with the children so I can go, I just can’t see me having the time nor energy!

Our very purple Christmas tree replacing last years snowy white tree.

Regardless of the big Christmas rush I am really looking forward to watching the children rip open their gift, even if I know Little man will want to know what shop each was brought and the amount they cost (and there just the ones he didn’t google and point me too). Yes… I’ve kept all the receipts, not only in case of problems such as, toy failures or the need for returns, it’s also to give to the Little man to save me reeling of all the prices and shops from memory (Oh the joys of parenting a child with Aspergers)

Merry Christmas everyone

I hope you all have a truly amazing day.

Love all at A boy with Asperger’s

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Christmas Shopping onboard a P&O ferry

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Days till Christmas

Have you ever considered doing your Christmas Shopping on board a ferry? Well, I hadn’t, that was in-till I received an invitation to do just that!

 It’s not often you get an invite to come shopping on the P&O ferry is it? So myself and fellow mummy blogging friend ‘Romanianmum’ headed to Dover very early Sunday morning to catch a ferry to Calais. 

 The morning started off a very eventful one, as I raced to Victoria station to meet Romanianmum and catch the National express coach to Dover. I did make it, but only by the skin of my teeth and was most grateful for the sit down once on board. 

 After a 2 hour drive up the motorway we arrived in Dover and headed straight for the check in. We arrived rather early and found the service provided by the check-in team to be exceptional! They even offered to put us on the earlier ferry as we had arrived so early. We very politely declined, preferring to catch up over a coffee and a naughty ciggy instead. 

 When it was time to finally board, being foot-passengers we were taken by shuttle bus to the ferry via the normal passport and secretary procedures. The Ferry was huge and I have to admit to having a few butterflies given I’d never stepped foot on one before. 

 Once on board I was impressed at the sheer size of the ship, it was massive and could easily carry 1000 men or more. There was a gaming zone, loads of places to eat and drink from restaurants to smaller Costa Coffees. The ship was also really festive and you couldn’t miss there lovely Christmas tree. 

 I also noted that the ship had its own Bureau de change offering 24/7 foreign exchange onboard, meaning you don’t have to worry about currency exchange prior to boarding.

  P&O had so kindly upgraded us to club lounge which I guess made this a whole different travelling experience all together. Impressive really doesn’t seem to do it justice. The lounge is located at the front of the ship on the upper decks and you are surrounded by glass windows giving you a beautiful view out to sea. We were offered a host of treats from Champaign to some beautiful lunch time delights.  

  We also discovered that we could actually smoke on the upper deck (outside) which will delight all you smokers, I’m sure. However I actually only went for a smoke just twice as I was there for one thing and one thing only TO SHOP! 

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 I’d be lying if I didn’t mention that I was a tad sea sick and sadly so was romanianmum, so I’d strongly recommend if you are the type of person to suffer motion sickness then I’d  take something first as to not let it ruin your experience of shopping at sea. 

 Nonetheless, despite the fact we were a tad green, we had a pretty awesome time, we were child free (always a bonus) and ready for some serious shopping.

 The onboard shop was huge and stocked everything from all your finest perfumes to toys for the Children. There was large range of designer handbags and purses, some pretty awesome makeup and lots of lovely chocolate and alcoholic treats to be had. Of course you could also buy cigarette’s at a good reduced price. I loved that the P&O are now stocking products from the high-street chain Accessorize and so did Romanianmum who couldn’t resist the beautiful hat and mittens for her beautiful daughter.  

 There was up to 30 % of beers, wines and spirits and you could save as much as 40% on UK prices for fragrances, skin-care and cosmetics. The toys were also a bit cheaper than most UK retailers and when we travelled they had an awesome 3 for 2 deal running meaning it was even cheaper. I got some fantastic bargains and spent just £99 0n…

Nerf N-Strike

Cuddly George Pig

MR potato head

2x littlest pet shop Blythe’s

Style me up set

Disney Fairies

SEKONDA Watch

 We had decided to do a round trip meaning we would not depart the ship once at Calais which seemed logical considering we were foot passengers. This is the perfect idea for those who just want to come onboard and take advantage of the shopping facilities. P&O currently run some spectacular deals allowing you take this option which are really worth looking into. 

 We headed back down to the shop during the time the ship was docked at Calais and even-though we had plenty of time to shop while the ship was docked we somehow found ourselves still shopping on the way back to Dover and the shop was noticeably more busy. With this I would highly recommend that those doing such journey shop on the outbound journey as this was far less busy, with smaller queues. (We just couldn’t pull ourselves away from the fabulous club lounge).

 We really did have a great child free day aboard the P&O, despite being a little sea sick, the shopping and club lounge really made up for it!

 I have to admit that myself and romanianmum were a tad childish… Just check out the images below. 

 But to hell with it! We were there to enjoy ourselves and that’s exactly what we did. 

 If you fancy getting some last-minute shopping onboard the P&O then why not check out some of their awesome deals. 

 Oh… and before I forget P&O are running an almighty Christmas Competition over on their Facebook page, giving you the chance to win loads of awesome prizes. All you have to do is fill a virtual stocking with goodies from their online shop and then one winner will be picked at random to win the lot! Yes, its P&O’s way of wishing you all a very merry Christmas! Just Click HERE to enter 

Nerf Vortex Nitron Blaster the ultimate boy toy review!

As you all will know by now, we have all been very busy this November with the Santa’s Little Helpers feature, though it has been lots of fun its been non stop! So… Here is our latest review of another one of the top Christmas buys for 2011 and this time we are bringing it to you in association with the fabulous Debenhams

Little man has been on non-stop about the range of Nerf blasters, for a boy who was into nothing other than transport (and don’t get me wrong, his buses still come before anything else in this world) he isn’t doing to bad discovering new-found interest, which is really something given his limited interest, a characteristic of his Asperger’s syndrome.

I do feel that not only has our Santa’s Little Helpers feature played a massive part in this, but also the fact his now in school and around other children on a daily basis, which is a welcomed change from his days in mainstream that presented us with nothing but battles and weekly exclusion.

His new special school is where he first heard about the new Nerf range. So of course when Debenham’s joined our Christmas feature and offered me a choice from their top toy sellers to review, it had to be the new Nerf Vortex Nitron.

 Nerf is a collection of blasters (I tend not to like the word gun even if these are just toys) However these pretty much resemble water guns and come in a host of shapes and sizes, and of course prices!

The Nerf Vortex Nitron is one of the bigger blasters in it’s range and includes a 20 disc magazine, 20 disc and onboard storage for additional magazines to give you maximum firepower (additional magazines and disc can also be brought separately).

It is said that the Nerf Vortex Nitron is the ultimate innovation and technology. It has a really awesome feature which is it’s electronic scope that features targeting lights to help centre your aim. It also features XLR long-range disc technology to launch disc an extra long distance which little man was all so keen to demonstrate over and over again.

It would seem that all the boys want a piece of the Nerf and little man seems to be right on up there.

His eyes light up like balloons when he came home and found this large package on the desk. I don’t really like to alert him that these things are on the way otherwise like many kids do he has the tendency to drain away my brain with, “Has it come yet mum, has it?” So yes this made an awesome surprise at the end of a busy school day.

Little man waited for daddy and as soon as he stepped foot in the door little man put the Nerf Vortex Nitron right under his nose. It wasn’t that he wasn’t able to set this up alone, it was actually dead simple and he did this no problems at all (basically has one or two things to connect) he was just really excited and wanted to such this excitement with his father! This is when I see the big kid come out in his father though it was pretty awesome to watch father and son have some big kid fun!

Little man’s awarded score

I didn’t even get the chance to ask Little man what his overall score was because he beat me to it by stating, “Um, mum, before you ask… I give it a 5 star” Yes the top stars were award by the little man.

Parental perspective

I was happy for Little man to review the New Nerf blaster because like I’ve stated, his interest are rather limited so it’s nice to see them expanding a little. The Nerf did all that it claim to do, isn’t a noisy toy which is always a blessing in my book, and lastly it seems to appeal to the big boys as well as those younger ones (so be prepared to see the child return in your partners). Warning: This toy does require the use of 6x C batteries plus another 2 AAA batteries (I highly recommend the use of rechargeable batteries as that’s one hell of a lot of batteries for one toy). I also awarded the Nerf Vortex Nitron the full 5 ***** as it gave me a good few hours undisturbed soak in the bath so thank you Debenhams.

Once dispatched Debenhams provided super fast home delivery and throughout the customer service was Ace!

Nerf Vortex Nitron is available from Debenhams at
£45.00

So, there you have it, another great toy brought to you by Little man and Debenhams as part of the Santa’s Little helpers Christmas gift feature.

For more information or to order yours… Just click HERE

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