08Dec07 - Saturday Highlights

On a cold, windy, rainy Saturday we decided to make an effort to start our Christmas shopping. Lucy and Josh were thrilled! I can't understand that even though people start talking about doing their Christmas shopping in June and July why it seems to get more and more manic at this time of year. We decided to risk the Ridings Shopping Centre in Wakefield. We quickly realised that it's lift facilities are completely inadequate. They only have one lift (that we could find) to service the three main floors and car park and there were queues at each floor. We ended up carrying Lucy in her chair up and down stairs all afternoon. After 2 hectic hours we had managed to all stay friends and buy a few presents as well which I guess is a pretty good result. Lucy was mesmerised by all the sparkly christmas lights and was happy and relaxed all afternoon. Typical girl, just loves shopping!!

We went to the "Big Switch On" at our friends house in the evening. Every year they decorate their house with Christmas lights to raise money for "The Sick Children's Trust" who provide home-from-home accommodation for the families of sick children in the grounds of hospitals. The money raised will be used for Eckersley House at St. James's Hospital, Leeds. We have known a few people who have used Eckersley House and it really is an excellent setup for families especially if they are a long way from home. Our friends Sam and Tony have also used the house when their daughter Bethany has been in St. James. They have set up a website for the annual event where people can donate online (Christmas lights of Mountain Road). Last year I think they raised about £600 and the target for this year is £1000. This year for the day they had arranged a Santa's grotto which was decorated with lots of little lights and tinsel. I think Lucy liked the grotto more than Santa but she went in and got her party bag anyway.Joshua got dressed up as an elf and spent the whole evening being Santa's little helper. There was also a tom-bola stall, buffet on a bus (Tony had arranged for a real bus so that everybody could get out of the cold and have something to eat in the bus) and name the moose! Unfortunately it was quite cold and rainy but even so there were plenty of people and it was a really good night. We had to get Lucy well wrapped up and she didn't complain about being out in the wind and rain, probably because she knew she was getting to stay up past her bed time. She also wanted to help Sam with the collecting. There was a big count down to the switch on so that all their neighbours could make a cup of tea before the surge in the national grid. The number of lights is pretty impressive and must have taken a lot of time and effort to put up.The event went extremely well and at the end of the night the total raised for this years donation had reached about £700 which is excellent. Their target is still £1000 so they will keep accepting donations on the website until the end of December. Sam and Tony's enthusiasm and energy are an inspiration and they should be very proud of what they have achieved.