The Gallery: Sparkle – Carols by Candlelight

Darkness falls late in this part of the world at the moment, so catching some northern hemisphere traditional Christmas sparkle isn’t easy. The little’uns are going to bed later and later (but not lying in much in the morning to compensate), but rarely up late enough to see the twinkling lights on the Christmas tree.

Last night, with Alice asleep in my arms and her big sisters scooting around the house for the zillionth time at 7.30pm, I took a moment to scroll through the status updates on Facebook. My eyes were drawn to, ‘CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT‘! Seeing as the girls were still bounding with energy and the ‘sillies’ of the season I thought they might as well go and join the fun, but I wasn’t keen on bundling sleepy Alice off in the car – so Dan did the honours. He’s such a trooper 🙂

Before he had any chance to opt out he was being pushed towards the car by two excited girls. He’d barely got in from work, cycling up the hill and scoffing down his dinner. Charlotte kept asking if people would be dressed up. I didn’t realise at the time that she had a whole different picture in her mind of what ‘Carols by Candlelight’ would be like. She envisioned old fashioned carols – Victorian style – and was disappointed to have her senses smashed by a floodlit stage, blaring loud rock music. Bless her. I have promised to take her to our local church service to compensate. There are so many wonderful services on around our neighbourhood over the next week.

Meanwhile, Sophie and Dan loved it. They all got back about 9.30pm (didn’t manage to stay up late enough to actually see any candles lit against a night sky). Sophie was so hyped and came running into her bedroom, which she shares with Alice, carrying a Pohutukawa blossom for me and a reindeer crown. There was no point in asking her to be quiet. Thankfully Alice is used to sleeping through noise. I let her ramble on for ten minutes, telling me all about the concert in every detail, before she finally surrendered to sleep at 10.00pm!

‘Mummy, Mummy, they handed out jelly beans with the reindeer crowns!’

‘There was a stage and music. Daddy and I loved it Mummy, but Charlotte didn’t like it.’

‘Guess what Mummy?! There were lots of police too. They were there to catch the drunk people. I actually saw someone in hand-cuffs Mummy.’

‘There were so many helium balloons too, but we couldn’t find anyone selling them.’

‘Ooooo, and we had doughnuts!’

‘The big tree was there too Mummy, but sadly we didn’t stay to see the lights come on.’

And Charlotte, thick with hay-fever, and a little overwhelmed, didn’t get to sleep till gone 11.00pm! She slept downstairs, camped out with Dan, where it was a little cooler and dosed up on antihistamine. But she is all happy this morning. Staying home from school, but playing schools with Sophie.

So my little darlings didn’t quite manage to stay up late enough to catch some seasonal sparkle, but there’s plenty of glitter and magic still to come. Now I must away to construct the gingerbread house for Sophie’s Birthday party on Saturday… I was rolling out and cutting up the gingerbread dough this morning after breakfast!

Leaving with a parting shot that Dan took last night of the evening light against Te Papa museum… (all photos in this post are by him – thanks love! x).