Sunday Sevens #115 24.12.17

Hello there and happy Christmas! We’ve finally reached Christmas Eve and whether you’re ready or not there’s no escaping the fact that the big day day’s tomorrow. I think I may finally be ready, but there’s always something I forget to do…. what will it be this year?!

Here’s this week’s edition of Sunday Sevens:

It’s Christmas!!!!

img_0473-1.jpg

Gibraltar is looking as festive as ever, the town centre looks lovely all lit up. I haven’t taken too many photos of the lights this year, but you can see last year’s light show here.

If in doubt stick a sunset picture in!

We had a lot of cloudy evenings of late and although we have had a few glimpses of the sun going down between the clouds, a proper sunset as it were has been pretty rare lately. This lovely one was last Sunday night.

Favourite church ceiling

Oh how I love the interior of Sacred Hearth Church here in Gibraltar. It has got to be one of the prettiest church ceilings around. I was lucky enough to be able to attend a service here this week and had loads of time to admire the stars and stained glass windows as beautiful Christmas carols were sung.

Wintery watercolour

At my last watercolour lesson of 2017, we painted some suitably wintery pictures. I love how the snow just ‘appeared’ after sprinkling some salt onto the wet painting – just magic!

Southwold comes to Gibraltar

As I walked along Main Street this week with Eldest, he spotted something I’d walked past several times without noticing (in fact it could have been there for months). Our favourite place for holidays (Southwold, in Suffolk) is featured on the side of Marks and Spencer in Gibraltar! The pictures in the photo shoot must have been taken on Southwold Pier and on the beach near by. You can read all about Southwold Pier here.

Star Wars

We had a trip to the cinema this week as schools closed for Christmas, to see the new Star Wars film. I really enjoyed it, not as much as Force Awakens, but it was still really good in my opinion and a great start to our Christmas holiday as a family.

Beautiful day at Catalan Bay

Yesterday, the last Saturday before Christmas, we decided to avoid the shops at all costs. We figured that if we didn’t have all we need by now, it was probably too late anyway (time will tell if I did forget anything after all). We headed round to the eastern side of the Rock and had a wander about in Catalan Bay. It was beautiful there – not a queue or harassed shopper in sight.

I have decide to include a couple of extra Catalan Bay pictures as it was just so beautiful there and there may be some people reading this who are in need of a dose of blue sky…

That’s all from me for Sunday Sevens this week. Where ever you are reading this, I hope you have a lovely Christmas with plenty to eat and surrounded by your loved ones. To those of you who find this time of year difficult, I hope you find peace and know that you are in my thoughts.

Happy Christmas! x

img_3333-1

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins.

Sunday Sevens #63 Christmas Day 25.12.16

Happy Christmas! The big day is here at last. I hope you are well and happy wherever you are reading this. I’m not sure how long I’ll last today – I was up with one super excited child until around 2am and the screams of “He’s been!” rang out at about 6:30am. I fear a post lunch nap may be in order!

Here’s my weekly look back at the past seven days…

Christmas lights 

Last Sunday evening I went out for a short drive with Eldest to take some photos of the Christmas lights around Gibraltar for my post on Wednesday. I do wonder what he thinks about his crazy mother and her wierd ways…. Still regardless of that, he was happy to tag along and put off bedtime slightly. I still love the magnificent lights at the Fire Station!

Christmas lights by Mother Nature

On Monday evening, we had this beautiful sunset. Anything we can do can be trumped by Mother Nature in a heartbeat – just stunning!

Lunch out

Tuesday lunchtime and I had a lovely meal out with a special young man plus my Mum & Dad. We had a really good meal at The Lounge in Queensway Quay and followed it with this rainbow of macarons to share – they were delicious!

Bye bye Bunny


Unexpectedly, on Wednesday morning, we lost the fluffiest member of the family. Bunny Postcard joined the family exactly 11 months ago to the day and fast became a well loved companion. She was our first non-goldfish pet and was so easy to have around. She could fairly munch her way through a fresh bag of spinach or kale and when given half the chance had a go at my IKEA seagrass storage boxes!

Bunny 🐰 will be sorely missed by us all but especially by the Little Postcards and her new friend Snowflake 🐇❄️️. As Mr Postcard said; “Prince and Bunny – 2016 has been a hard year, but they both had great hair”.

Churches at Christmas 


I have managed to go to three different churches so far this week. A succession of   Christmas services and school functions meant I got to spend three mornings getting well and truly into the Christmas spirit.

I had my first ever visit into St Joseph’s church for one of the services. I have walked past countless times without actually seeing the interior before. The roof above the altar is covered in this beautiful mural featuring saints traveling the rough seas of the Strait of Gibraltar with the Rock in the background.

Diamond Geezer!


Bunny left a big rabbit shaped hole in our family. We were all surprised by how much we missed her. Mr Postcard went Christmas shopping on Friday with Middle Postcard (who Bunny actually belonged to) and came home, not just with gifts but with this little chap.

This is Diamond. He’s the tiniest little fluff ball we ever did see. He’s a boy, so we’re not sure how that will work with Snowflake being a girl… hmm. We’ll have to be very careful. Hopefully they will become good friends – although not too good 😉. For now though, she’s acting a little bit aloof and pretending he’s not there! (Please leave entries for the caption competition in the comments 😝)

Happy Christmas!


I would like to wish you lovely people out there in cyberspace a really lovely peaceful Christmas. However you spend it, I hope it is a happy time for you.

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Thread & Bobbins.

Sunday Sevens #11 27.12.15

School Christmas Mass As Gibraltar is a predominantly Roman Catholic place, the schools are attached to churches and at the end of each term a Mass is held. At the start of the week my two youngest went to the Cathedral of St Mary the Crowned on Main Street for their annual Christmas Mass. It was lovely with the Year 2s acting out the Nativity with skipping shepherds, dancing angels and a miraculous baby doll in a wooden orange crate. The church was filled with the entire school and many parents and grandparents watching the proceedings along with one or two slightly bemused tourists who just wanted to come and look inside the church and got more than they bargained for!

Once I pop I just can’t stop! A DVD and a bowl of popcorn was just the bribery I needed to buy me enough time to get some secret wrapping done whilst locked in the bathroom! I used the excuse that I was cleaning it – thankfully they fell for it. When I was finished I came out and hoovered up what was left of the popcorn – I’m terrible when I start, I can’t stop. It’s just so moreish – I have to have the popcorn box taken off me at the cinema or it’s all gone by the end of the adverts and trailers!

Christmas Eve sunshine  On Christmas Eve we were treated to the most glorious weather. I resisted all temptations to put a few loads of washing in (I still have the English mentality of making the most of the sun even after 6+ years!) and did the necessary Christmas Eve jobs instead. We met Mr Postcard for a lovely lunch out and sat in the sunshine for a few moments before having an unexpected nap – must be my age 😉 or maybe the pint of San Miguel at lunchtime…

Christmas Day sunset 

At the end of a rather cloudy but really mild Christmas Day we were treated to a sliver of a sunset. What a calm serene view after all the chaos and build up to Christmas!

Goodbye Downton … sniff!  I shall not give away any spoilers for anyone yet to see the climax of the Downton Abbey story and therefore this photo doesn’t feature the latest episode  (mainly because I was too engrossed wanting to absorb every last bit of the final installment). It does however feature a very important part of my Downton experience, my  Attic 24 cosy stripe blanket . As I sat down on Christmas Day evening with a glass of wine to watch the show I realised there was something missing – crochet! For the past three years that I have watched the show (I came to it late), I have always had a crochet hook in my hand at the same time. First there was my Attic 24 granny stripe blanket (see a tiny bit of it in the photo below) and then my current cosy stripe. I only managed one stripe this time as my concentration was taken by the tv but it was fittingly the shade of Claret which was drunk by the cast in one of their dinner scenes! Oh how I’ll miss the show, it was truly fantastic.

It wasn’t me! I left the wool and scissors for 10 minutes to hang some washing out on Boxing Day (I couldn’t ignore the laundry basket any longer)… All three were within a metre of it. Apparently it could have been a ghost or a vampire who did it. No one saw anything hmmmm….

Boxing Day crochet  I may have failed to complete this WIP blanket in time for Christmas but I’m turning that negative into a positive – I’m now well ahead of schedule on this birthday gift!

I do hope that your Christmas has been happy, thank you for stopping by and for all the likes and comments – they are very much appreciated! 

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series linking up with Natalie from Threads & Bobbins.