"Miracles can happen, even to those who are small, flammable, and dressed all in black."

Its a family tradition on Christmas eve before bed to read a new Christmas themed book together as a family, which tomorrow we will be enjoying together on our Christmas eve. Tonight though it would have felt wrong to not have read a festive book, despite the fact that Seth wasn't with us. So tonight, as we tucked Opeie up in bed we read my second favourite Christmas story.

THE LUMP OF COAL by Lemony Snicket isn't your average Christmas story, there are no happy elves and a clear lack of the usual cheer. The story though is beautifully written and is everything you want in a festive story, leaving you feeling all warm inside.

 the lump of coal wants nothing more than to be an artist and spend his days creating abstract art. If that's not possible though he would settle for helping out on a Barbeque, cooking vegetables and meat. This story is set in winter though and a good BBQ is hard to come by. Sadly the people that cross his path end up being quite rude and attempt to shatter his dreams until he has a chance meeting with a pharmacy hired Santa clause handing out coupons, who sends him on a new path.

 A present in the stocking of an naughty child doesn't sound like the best place for an artistic piece of coal to live out his days but that chance meeting sets him on the path to happiness and the Lump of coal fulfills all of his wildest dreams. The lump of coal has a great message and is a brimming with some of the magic which surrounds this exciting time of year.

Our bed time story added a little extra excitement for Opeie and we're all looking forward to the big day. Merry Christmas all.

"Life is either a great adventure or nothing."

For us there is adventure around every corner, its easy to initiate adventure though when you have young children. Everything is new and fun for them, i would love to be that innocent again. A couple of days back, before picking up Mrs M from work we drove to a random field and went for a walk. The next field over was filled with long grass so Seth was really excited about running about in there.

Seth was being the big scary monster and chasing after me and Opeie snarling and grunting. Opeie laughed and screamed all the way through the grass. We came out the other side and over the hill in front of us was an old derelict rail track. Seth was so excited he could barely catch his breath it was so cute. Seth did his usual and fired a barrage of questions at me which as a father I'm sure I'm supposed to be able to answer, sadly I'm a Birmingham boy and still not that clued in on Shropshire yet. Luckily I nearly always have my best friend Google to hand to save me from any embarrassment when it comes to Shropshire trivia.

I had told Seth that maybe it was for transporting coal (being big business here back in the day) and luckily my BFF Google confirmed I was correct, giving Seth faith that I continue to be the oracle of random information. We didn't have long to Investigate the area but now I know it's definitely derelict we will go for a walk along there in the holiday. The track was the topic of conversation for the remainder of the evening and I'm sure Seth is already planning what will be going in to his adventure backpack and what him and his little sidekick will be getting up to.