It has been terribly quiet around here.

I am sinking in boxes. Everywhere I look there is a half packed box. Rich and I are both having moments where we cannot really believe we are moving, especially as we officially have no where to move to.

An hour before we were due to exchange on the new house in Dorset our solicitor was sent a 40 page planning history document.

On page 22 was an agreement which essentially restricts any form of development on the majority of the land surrounding the house.

In 10 minutes our dream of an idyllic life in the country with parties in the paddock and a new timber office for Rich to grow his new venture were shattered. 

So we are on the hunt again. Firstly for a rental house in Weston and secondly for a new dream house in the Dorset countryside.

This week all my best ones have been on hand, on the phone and on email. We have a place to stay at one of our best friends this weekend (if our sale completes on time on Friday) and I am not so secretly hoping the completion ticks over into the new year!

We know who we can count on in a crisis and I am so grateful for our family and friends.

I feel so sorry for the boys. Festive cheer has been distinctly lacking this year. We have no tree, no lights and everyone will be getting a voucher this year. Father Christmas did very well at an NCT sale last January so at least that is one thing I don't need to feel guilty about!

So we were thrilled to have spent last Saturday at Longleat. My cousin in law and her family took us for a day out as a thank you for the family photos I took of them a little while ago.

I couldn't recommend a day at Longleat more. The safari, the Santa train, the beautiful house. We could have easily spent 2 days there! Standing around the singing Christmas tree, watching Sammy and his cousin dance without a care in the world, made me smile, and for a few moments all the stress and worry disappeared.

Treasure the little moments, they help you get through the tricky ones.

Merry Christmas lovely readers. I will keep you posted on the house hunt.

I have a few Christmas posts from last year to remind you of later this week and next year I will attempt all the ideas that for now, will stay in my little blog notebook.

Linking up with Country Kids and Coombe Mill

I know it's easier to buy a chocolate advent calendar from the supermarket, but I also know that my boys will get so much more pleasure from a simple DIY Advent Calendar idea, which apart from a little effort and time, didn't cost a lot at all.

You will need:

• clear plastic bags (I bought a pack of 25 in The Range for just over £1)
• permanent pen or if you want to follow my design use chalkboard labels which you can buy in packets from a pound shop.
• paper bags (optional)
• play ideas and a few little sweets if you want to.
• sticky tape

I had some paper bags left over from Sammy's Circus Party which I used to hide some of the treats, but the reason I love using clear bags is my boys respond to praise and reward. So if they can see there is something lovely on offer, their behaviour improves!

I filled my bags with ideas for play from around the house. 

So each little toys is a prompt to do something together. 

Glasses for a dressing up session, binoculars for a walk on a high hill, a plastic lion as we have tickets to Longleat Safari (which is a surprise), a cowboy postcard for a play in the wigwam tent, left over party bag bubbles, a toy that comes from a favourite film which signals a family movie afternoon and a knitted egg which means a cooked breakfast!

I used an old frame to stick the bags to the wall in the lounge. And as the days go on, I will move the ones that didn't fit into the frame space! Patterned tape is great because it doesn't mark your walls and looks pretty. Although if you put slightly heavier things in like bubbles you may need a couple of layers of tape to keep them on the wall!

Last year I made the boys a Book Advent Calendar from a stack of story books I collected from charity shops. 

Are you making an advent calendar this year? I'd love to see your ideas!

hank you cards have been a long standing tradition in our family. My Mum always insisted we actually write thank you cards and it's a manner I am instilling in the boys. You don't have to make the children write a lot but enough to show someone their effort was appreciated. I love receiving them (my friends send cards for nice weekends and sometimes just for nothing at all) and Sammy was so proud to colour in the stamp area. I didn't have the heart to tell him it would be covered up when I went to the Post Office!

I found some great free printable designs like these ones from Today's Creative Blog which are perfect for little ones.

Download it here.

For an older child try this sweet style from Two Pooch Paperie. You can download it here.

For a modern style try this from She's Kind of Crafty, download the black and green version here, the red and green here and the mint and pink here.

Grown ups will love this traditional design from Sweet Muffin Suite, download it here.

But in the end I decided to use one of my Christmas presents! Ladybird Book Cover postcards. I found one which either suited the recipient or the present!

Granny gave them a playmobil airport (and masses of other things) so The Story of Flight postcard was perfect. My in laws bought an entire pirate playmobil set (both sets of grandparents did very well on eBay this year) so it was a pirates life for them! The African Mammals tied in brilliantly with our Safari Christmas theme for my Auntie.

I love photo cards too. I would use Photobox, Truprint, BonusPrint or Snapfish for affordable printed photo cards. Boots are offering 20% off at the moment too!

Did you get the children to write thank yous this year? I've seen some pictures of lovely photo cards on Twitter!