niddler.com

Hey there!

Now you may be a bit miffed that a tiny piece of card is all you’ve got to show for your Christmassy greetings from Matthew, Anna & Lizzie, but if you factor in the fact that the card is 100% recycled and totally chlorine free, PLUS the trees that have been saved AND the extra bit of ‘cool’ that the little ‘moo‘ card provides, then hopefully you’ll find you’re not so hard done by!

For those of you who can’t figure out what we’re doing in the picture on the front of the card, we’d like to quote some of the feedback we’ve had on it so far:

• “tree-mendous”
• “star-tling”
• “A shining example to all Christmas Card producers everywhere”

If that’s not a big enough clue, then you’ll have to drop us an email to find out the answer (although we can’t seriously believe anyone will have to ask… but you know, better safe than sorry) using the following ‘just for you’ email address:
seriouslywhatswiththepictureonyourchristmascardsthisyear@niddler.com

So, what’s new?

Well, it’s quite a list:

January

Having been very nearly finished-off by working virtually every day in November and December on ensuring Skandia were ready for the Retail Distribution Review, Matthew had a week off to recover at the end of January (before having a proper family holiday at Center Parcs in February).

February

Matthew once again succumbed to the inevitable draw of being a permanent member of staff at Skandia, and accepted a job leading the Illustrations (mathematical projections, not drawing – good job too) team. We also went to see Die Hard 5 at the cinema, which was a special moment for us and our good friend Katie, who we met as a 1st year medical student and introduced her to the series, and she graduated as a doctor later in the year!

March

We put our house on the market, and were astonished to find it sold within 2 days of the sign going up in the front garden – for asking price too! As you’ll see it didn’t take long to make it all happen…

April

Lizzie’s birthday party was a rainbow/heart party, so we had a heart-shaped cake with rainbow colours inside it… plus several other Anna-Matthew creative collaborations to help the day along!

May

Another cinema trip (something else probably happened in May, but this is the first thing that jumped out when flicking back through the calendar) – this time to see Fast & Furious 6, also with Katie, on the day she finished her finals – we were very honoured to have her along to the cinema as an alternative to going out partying with her housemates.

June

We moved house – not very far from before, but with a lot more space and some lovely new neighbours who we’re gradually getting to know (and we’re not just saying that because we’re giving them Christmas cards!).

July

Lizzie graduated from preschool with a touching ceremony at the local church – there were a few tears and nervous goodbyes from some of the children who’d been together for a long time, she was mostly upset because we asked her to stop running up and down all the time!

August

Anna and Lizzie had their first school holiday to contend with – finding lots of different activities to do, including going away for a week to stay with Matthew’s Aunt and Uncle for a week of being spoiled rotten!

September

Lizzie started school – she’s been really enjoying it and although there’s a certain amount of adjustment required to her forcefully explaining to other children why she doesn’t fancy doing what they’ve suggested (bringing them to tears – which is the bit she might need to work on – we’re fine with her having her own mind!) she’s having a smashing time and loves role-playing school at home (usually with a long list of the names of her classmates being yelled at top volume to assign them to different groups or boss them around).

October

Matthew’s parents sold their house in Hastings and bought one in Southampton, reducing the average journey time to their residence from 2.25hrs in good traffic, to about 4 minutes in the car, 20 minutes on foot! We’re excited to have them close-by and have been helping out where we can with unpacking, moving things, and occasionally relieving them of furniture (which works quite nicely with having moved ourselves!). We know, we know, they moved in November, but then we wouldn’t be able to do this…

NoMo-vember

Matthew went a bit Victorian this year, raising £70 for charity and providing near-infinite amusement to his colleagues at work, and (nearing the end of the month) being stopped everywhere he went so people could admire his ‘tach. He was very glad to shave it off on 1st December.

December

Having moved house we’re still adjusting to life with space, and so after Anna made a space for our elderly 4ft Christmas Tree and we looked at it, sat on the floor looking ridiculous (used to be on top of a cabinet in a corner of our living room at our old house), so the next night Matthew took Lizzie to B&Q and picked up a 7’6″ tree, which now doesn’t look out of place!