I got...

New docs:

A pretty top (a bit like this):

A chocolate Orange (it's NOT Terry's, it's MINE):

And some money:

And I've still got the Crazie party in a few days :)

How about you?

Christmas is here

The real meaning of Christmas - according to my kids anyway.

Aggie just said the stupidest thing ......

"just because they are there does not mean you need to eat them all"

Uh huh.

The doctor did it.

It was all going so well......

The presents were opened. We had made it to Nanny A's without mishap, and with the trifle, lemon merrangue and meat al in one piece and still hot/cold as required. The dinner was cookeed well, on time, and not in ridiculous amounts. The children had even eaten some real food:-)

More presents were opened when the adults were fully stuffed, and Mstr A was quietlplaying with his 20Q, LMB with her new DS and LMD with her bouncing tigger while the adults watched Shek2, Shaun the sheep and half of Nemo. why we watched the kids films is a good question - but we did. LMd was a little sick on all the sweets, but that is par for Xmas when you are 2:-) And i was only a litle.

I had intended to head home at about 5.30 to ensure we were home in time for Dr Who, but Grandad J was off to work just about that time, so we said we'd stay with Nanny A and watch Dr ho with her, then head home late, so the kids could sleep in the car. 6.45pm arrived, and we sent the girls pstairs to watch children's TV, and us older people settled down to the only really important viewing of the day.

Unfortunately, 10 minutes later, the girls reappeared. Beebies finishes at 7pm! Usually this is good. They sing "night night"and everyone goes to bed knowing they are missing nothing important. Today a 7pm finish was bad. Very Bad. "shhhhh. go play in the back room" I shushed quickly, fixated on the Titanic.

Bang. crash. Whinge. cry. cuddle. bang. argue. bang the door again. I watch Kylie break down in tears and suggest they shut up and play upstairs instead. Off they go. back they come. hey bounce in front of the TV a few times. "GO UPSTAIRS" I yell, and they scamper up to Nanny A's bedroom, where I leave them to their own devices and settle back down to the telly. All is well until 8pm. just as kylie is acting all eroic like, and the whole word is about to be destroyed there is an almighty thump and as I leap up in alarm, the first siren wail of real pain.

I get upstairs to find LMB crying her eyes out, while LMD looks on quite contentedly from where she has tucked herself up in bed. Eventually I get out of her that she hit her head on the radiator. It hurts "all over". Unable to confirm exactly how she did it, i calm her down with lots of cuddles, and have a good feel. I find a couple of large lumps, and cuddle hr some more. Finally Dr Who finishes and the others come up to see what happened. We move into the bathroom to give her some calpol, and I spot the blood:-(

We clean her up, and there is a 2cm cut. Quite deep. She must have hit the corner of the radiator. I put my professional head on, and decide there is not need to stitch it and she is showing no signs of concusion, so calpol and cuddles are all that is required. we bundle all the children up and head off home .

Not the finest end to Xmas day. But I blame the doctor for the whole thing. And I still don't know if the Earth surived!

Merry Christmas

It's gone quite well so far:-)

Mstr A ws the first awake at 6.30am, but he was content to come and watch some TV in our room until we got the girls up at 7am. They opened their stocking presents properly, with little fighting, actually looking at the presents (and stuffing as much cholcolate in their mouths as possible). We tend to buy useful stockng presents, so they got new toothbrushes (Mstr A had one of these things that plays music through your teeth! and LMB a fairy one), new wash mitts, and a leotard & ballet shoes for LMB, recorder and book for Mstr A and dressing up clothes for LMD. That was plenty to stuff into the rather large stockings we hng up.

Mstr A has spent the past few weeks telling all and sundry that santa isn't real and it's your mum and dad really, but this morning when he came down to see if santa had come, he said he tought he had as he had heard a "thump" on the roof and seen a big shadow walking past LMB's room:-)

Now we have managed to get them all to eat some proper(ish) breakfast, and get dressed with the promise of big presents to come. the pork is in the oven, the desserts are made. We're off to Nanny A's for dinner, so not a lot of work to do. And back in time for Dr who, so opefully not a late night:-)

oh, and Aggie's got another chest infection, so he's on antibiotics again, and ges to be my chauffeur all through the fesive period. shame.

But why?

LMD is very confused about this whole Christmas thing. She doesn't remember last year at all, but at nearly three she is able to vocalise and discuss it this year. And it's been a fairly long run up for a toddler.

She saw Santa a few weeks ago when we visiting my mum. While totally bemused by th whole thing, she went along with her brother, sister & cousin. He asked them what thy wanted, and they were all pretty mute tbh. Mstr A finally chatted a bit in his incoherent way, but all the girls just looked, accepted their present and left. LMD was ever so pleased with her hand puppet, and has shown it to everyone since.

So last week when we started talking about Christmas to her, she said she knew all about it. Santa gives her presents. Very nice, thanks ,and it all sounds great mum. I asked her what she wanted for her present from mummy & daddy, and she told me that she didn't want anything -she had everything she wanted. Which is, of course, true, as she has unbelievable amounts of toys!

Today, I was trying to explain that santa will come and leave some presents tomorrow night - and she pointed out that she had already got a present from Santa! wha would she need another one?

Perhaps we shoud all try looking at Christmas from a two-year-old's pov every now and then:-)

Bah Humbug

It's feeling positively Dickensian at the moment.

First, It's bloody freezing! Thick, thick frost everywhere, all day. brrrrrrrr. I know that it is December, and I know that other places are much colder, but last year I got quite used to the dea that Weston should not dip below freezing for more than the occasional 5 minutes. Bring back warm and wet. Global warming is welcome sometimes:-)

Also, There is no heating at work. It didn't come on when fired up last month, and they never got around to fixing it. Now we know why, so obviously it's not going to work all winter. I did make them cough up for a little electric heater for my office, cos I personally won't stand for that kindof behaviour from my employers, but it's not really man enough to heat up the whole ofice from below freezing every day - I was onl yexpecting it to be a "top p" for a couple of weeks! and every time I leave the office - to walk to the photocopier, toilet or front office, I freeze again.

On top of that, I just don't like the run up to Christmas. I like the real thing well enough. But all the preparation is just dull. I don't like decorating the tree/house, I hate wrapping, all the false good cheer drives me nuts and I just don't see hy I should have to spend twice as much time, effort and money to do normal things!

Bah humbug!