A little festive shopping.

After a relaxing morning catching up with things that needed doing, I went to collect Mum at 11.30am to take her over to Rushden Lakes. I wasn't looking forward to going as I imagined it would be busy with people shopping, but I wanted her to spend her voucher and she needed to get gifts for Dad. I took over a large box of Mum's Christmas decorations that we'd stored in the garage, as we'd planned on buying her a tree today.

We managed to park easily and walked over to M&S. It was a beautiful, but cold day with frost still coating the hedgerows and trees so we took it carefully on the paths! I did not want her falling over so near to Christmas!

We decided to have lunch first and there was a long queue for the café. It moved quite quickly though, and Mum chose a festive sandwich with turkey and bacon while I opted for a crispy chicken bap with garlic mayonnaise. Mum managed to grab a seat so that was one hurdle out of the way!

After we'd eaten we bought a lovely jumper and jogging bottoms for Dad and I even sneaked a little stocking filler for Sophie into the basket. That was all the shopping I did in M&S, and I tried to get my free hand cream from the advent calendar, but they were sold out, and they didn't even have any alternatives!

We went into the food shop to see if they were selling hampers, but they only had them online. I was beginning to feel like we weren't doing that well! We popped over to Next and I managed to buy Mum a new dressing gown, so success at last! 

By now we were both flagging a bit and needed a cup of tea. We drove to Tesco at Kettering, had a welcome drink and a small piece of cake and started again! I bought cards for my parents from us and the children, and Mum selected a little three-foot Christmas tree for their lounge. I bought a box of crackers for Christmas Day and some bird food for our hungry little feathered friends. They need all the help they can get at this time of year!

It was about 3.30pm now, so I drove Mum back and headed home in the gloom. The sun was going down and the sky was a deep orange. I will never tire of seeing the beautiful outlines of the trees silhouetted against the sky. I just wished I could have stopped and taken photographs!