The last 24 hours have been eventfull (in a good way for a change) My low mood of late lead to me not being able to face putting up the decorations. however it is important that they are up for Christmas. So the plan was yesterday we would put up the decorations....
The day started with the car being MOT'd. (yes on Christmas eve, dont ask, long story) I was a bit grumbly at the prospect of it however, we just had to get on with it. What it did mean was that we had 3 hours to spare near an out of town shopping area. LSP and I divided this time between 3 places. Mcdonalds for a 30 minute breakfast. Then 45 minutes in Curry's and 45 minutes in Laura Ashley. After Curry's where I mentally planned my entire new kitchen (which will not happen but its nice to dream) we then checked out the pre-Christmas sale at laura Ashley. lots of mooching and then, trying on of clothes and after much searching I found a lovely new skirt to wear to church that evening. It was bliss, having the time to shop unhurried as we had more time than we needed rather than less. for the first time in ages I felt relaxed. After the car passed it MOT (yay) we went to collect some fresh croissants and Stilton Cheese, grabbed a bite to eat for lunch then went to collect our Christmas Cake that our good friend had made for us. We sat and had tea and chatted then before i knew it it was 4pm. we headed home and I decorated the house in double quick time. 2 tree's... 3 garlands, lots of tinsel... oh and 300 baubles.....(pictures to follow) it was all done in time for us to go to church! Not without incident. Usually I take a long time to decorate the house I did not have the luxury of time. After throwing the baubles on the tree, the tree started to lean... I added balast in the form of tins of beans wrapped up in a bag to weight the back down. Again it started to list....It is now straight. how? it has a ribbon, tied to the trunk that is nailed to the wall. I will deal with the whole in the wall later!
Ok, so LSP had to drop me and SE and my older sister at church for the midnight Eucharist. (older daughter chose to spend the night with her boyfriend. when we were dropped off LSP had to go and collect YD from her Job and get to Church by 11.30. there was plenty of time....
at 11.29 I txt to ask if they were going to make it. only to receive a txt back saying on our way, you could not make it up, we have pictures. Halfway through O' little Town of Bethlehem. LSP and YD arrived. So what was the holdup??? a flock of sheep!!! yes a flock of sheep on the road they were able to persuade them to the side of the road and call the police to assist. So they arrived and fell into church. (yes) as you walk in the church there is a steep step and LSP forgot (we were only in the church the week before). The reason why the rest of us were dropped of first was to save a pew for us all to sit in. I miscounted and got us a pew for 4 when there were 5 of us. (3 of us are not small) so was a bit of a squash and I spent more time kneeling than sitting to fit in. My older sister knelt as well, however, this was not just to save room, but as she had drank half a bottle of red and a large sherry it was a bit of self preservation. my older sister vary rarely drinks so its a bit of a shock to see her merry especially as we were going to church. The rest of the service passed without major incident. A drunken group arrived during prayer's (they thought the midnight service started at midnight) The Vicar said he was going to light the Easter Candle instead of the Christmas one and a random ex colleague in the adjacent pew.
We went home via the sheep to check if they had gone home (they had). for some late cheese and crackers and waited ... for the children to go to bed so we could put the pressie's under the tree.
Today has been perfect.
yes really.
we rose this morning when OD arrived. an hour of opening presents before breakfast of fresh fruit and croissants, pancakes and brioche. The I disappear into the kitchen at 10 to start the cooking whilst listening to the Archer's then a very special desert island disks which was great. the family were examining their presents whilst watching finding nemo and Aladdin.
lunch was lovely. with no disaster's. (last year the christmas pudding boiled dry and we had a plastic molten mess in the bottom of a pan) roasties were great and we had plenty of lovely veggies.
After lunch...we had pudding, more cartoons and then games round the table. now sat with the soaps. and my books, feeling great, I am relaxed and contented for the first time in ages.
I am blessed to have the family I have . my partner is amazing and our daughter's are so wonderful.
Christmas is such a special time, a chance to celebrate, both the birth of Jesus and to celebrate what we have.
This past year has been pretty poor. However we need to keep going. I am still sad that we did not have another Christmas with my Grandmother. It was not meant to be. to be here on Christmas evening with my partner and daughters is wonderful.
hope you all have had a good Christmas as well.
(this was last year, this year it is far to warm to light the fire)
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