Christmas Miracles - Merry Christmas from Birmingham!

We hope you are currently enjoying your lovely Christmas Eve's - what are you up to today?

We have just returned from caroling at our local church (hey, just because we aren't religious, doesn't mean we don't appreciate a good hymn) and we're setting up a gorgeous spread of cheese, salami, bread, chutneys, and Elf!

We are really happy to be spending our first Christmas in our new home together. We've decided not to do presents this year, as really a house is the best present we could get! So Christmas this year is all about quality time together, snuggling, and food.

Tomorrow Sarah's parents are coming up for dinner, and we will be Skyping with Laura's parents and grandparents throughout the day.

While we're settling in, thought we'd tell you about a few 'Christmas miracles' we've experienced this season.

1. Laura left her phone at the photo printing area at Tesco's today, and we didn't realise until we'd left the store. When she rushed back in, someone had left it at customer services, so we were able to get it back safe and sound. How often does that happen these days? THANK YOU to the person who turned it in!

2. Our boiler broke on Saturday morning, and our house is big and cold without it! Thankfully, we were able to get it temporarily repaired today, so are sitting in a toasty warm home. On Friday our friendly boiler man will come back with the part it needs. We are very relieved we'd sorted homecare cover for our boiler when we first got in!

3. The high winds in the UK meant our fence fell down this week! We've had a serious homeowner reality check this weekend. BUT luckily for us, it is the fence owned by our neighbour - it's not nice for them, but we simply couldn't afford to have a new one put up at the moment.

4. Finally, and maybe miracle-tastic of them all, we had a 'fake' Christmas day with Sarah's family on Saturday. We both cooked the whole thing, and kept Sarah's mum away from the kitchen so she didn't get stressed (she hates the cooking, but Laura loves it!) - so the family (Sarah's parents, us, and Sarah's sister and her boyfriend) had dinner, games, and little presents. It was great - and we think it was the perfect sendoff for Fiona to Kenya for the big day. Who would have thought this would be where we'd be this year?

Enjoy Christmas tomorrow! We'll finish off the evening with some Lauren-made pumpkin pie, and watching Santa visit all over the world on the NORAD tracker.