Better than a kick in the knickers with a winklepicker

God Bless you, Mister B at Christmastime, and Baby Jesus too,
If we were little pigs, we'd sing piggywiggywiggywiggywoo...

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We've got a plastic tree that I bought for a tenner from Woolies the first year me and hubs were living together (2001) - it's starting to smell a bit fusty now after being in the spooky cupboard under the stairs for a few years so we may possibly splash out on a new one either this year or next - doubtless from somewhere dead classy like Wilkos or Argos. Those are our only decs apart from cards (it's a squeeze fitting the tree into the front room as it is). We usually put the tree up either the 1st or 2nd weekend of December, and it comes down again on the 6th of Jan. It'll be nice to get Vi to help hang the baubles this year - and Santa's going to leave chocolates on the tree for her this Christmas Eve!

Stupidly, I stayed up to watch Peter Sarah-fanny-wedge last night, even though I was knackered. Luckily, it was great. The Brian Butterworth Christmas Pizza sketch isn't on the youtubes for me to share with you unfortunately, but here's an older clip - Ringo Starr doing Goldfinger. Brillaint.



Yaaaayyyy, Hubby's home from work! Me and Vi had a very boring morning this morning - this avo we can go for a little jaunt, then cook an early tea for her, then it's off to see Archbishy Badgerface and sing carols outside Tesco, as is our custom.

Happy Christmas!

It has become apparent today how much I rely on my various morning groups and activities in the week. We have no Mums & Toddlers today, and it's too grey and dismal for the park. Instead, we watched an awful lot of cartoons and then went to Sainsbury's to get the things that were either unavailable or really manky when we did the big Christmas grocery shop at Asda last night. Memo to self: Never go to a supermarket in the late morning two days before Christmas ever again. It was heaving, and worst of all... they didn't have any chocolate coins! None at all, eleventy! I got us all a chocolate orange and some jelly babies to share, we've got Toblerone and Vi's got loads of chocolate buttons, but it's not the same. Moop :(

Anyhoo, Vi nodded off at the tills and went to bed without any fuss as soon as we got in, so she's having a much earlier nap than usual, which means a longer afternoon. Oh well, maybe we can go out for a little walk this avo if it's still light enough; go to the Cathedral and point at the Baby Jeebs. And tomorrow I only have to entertain her alone for the morning (plus the Muppets are on, which might help) and then Daddy's home until the 6th of Jan!

Our PS3 is still dicked, but the nice people at Sony are sending us a new one. Unfortunately it won't get here til the 30th, so we won't be able to play with any Playstation based Christmas presents until then. We may be forced to actually talk to each other, by gumbo.

*To the tune of 'Rawhide'*

Baking, baking, baking,
Getting out my cake-tins,
Baking loads of loverly nosh,
I'm baking Hell for leather,
Like a more rotund Nigella,
Except that I'm not Jewish or posh.

Weigh 'em out, sieve 'em in, stir 'em round, boil 'em up,
Pour 'em out, let 'em cool, them cakes,
Mix 'em round, spoon 'em out, oven on, bake 'em up,
Turn 'em out, an behold MY CAAAAAAAAAAAKKKES!

Whee! Despite my feeling really crap today we have our 'decs' up - consisting of our tree and a bit of wire garland on the shelves to hang Christmas cards on... although I've just remembered that we have a holly bush in the garden so I might go out tomorrow and clip a few sprigs.

Our tree is starting to smell funny - for most of the year it lives in a box in the slightly damp cupboard under the stairs and has started to pick up a bit of a musty smell. Plus the top bit doesn't quite fit on properly these days. Might just get a new one next year. It's very pretty with all its baubles on though. Vi enjoyed hitting them so that they swung around, which is an improvement on last year when she just tried to eat them.

Plus I braved town this afternoon (Glahhhh! Too many people!) and got sis another Christmas pressie (since what she asked for cost all of a fiver) so now apart from getting stocking fillers, something else for Hubs and baking the cakes for the Mafia I think I'm done. And I've nearly finished writing the Chrimble cards. I might actually be ahead of schedule this year!

I haven't had an LJ comment notification in days now... I know Meg Mog's having the same trouble, I don't know if anyone else is... basically, if I haven't replied to something you've written I'm not necessarily being purposefully rude! I'm waiting for the day when I get a week's worth of comments all in one, inbox-clogging lump.

Anyway. I am feeling increasingly Christmassy at present, with Advent just around the corner. Getting very excited about it this year because it should be fun for Violet. She's got a Christmas party at her Toddler Group in a few weeks, we'll be having Nana Visits, which she'll love, and we intend to take her out to sing Carols with the Archbishy on Chrimble Eve. Touch wood she won't be poorly like she was last year!

Hubs bought The Snowman on a whim earlier this year, and Violet loves it. We watched it, at her request, both yesterday and the day before. As soon as the theme started and those scratchy, pencil crayon lines drew us down to a lonely country house deep in snow, I started to well up. Not necessarily just because I know the film has a sad ending, but because of something else - I feel that the film is deeply connected to my childhood. The images themselves have a faintly faded quality to them because of the way it was animated. I know the whole thing absolutely off by heart, and it really does take me back to childhood Christmases, when my Dad was alive and my parents were happy together, when my Grandparents were still alive and we'd get so excited about the long drive to visit them. Eating chocolate money in our pyjamas... playing Sardines at Nana & Grampy's with my cousins at New Year's Eve... the old plastic Christmas tree with the same baubles and tinsel as every year, and the Angel I'd made at Nursery school as the tree topper... The Snowman is the Ghost of Christmas Past to me. It makes me nostalgic for those simpler days, and it makes me sharply miss those people who I loved back then who are no longer with me, but it doesn't make me sad, watching it on our little sofa with my daughter on my lap, because it also reminds me that she has all the Christmases of childhood yet to come. Hopefully in 30 years or so, she'll be able to think back to being excited about seeing her Grandparents, and to happy, secure times with her mum and dad, and all those other things that I look back on now.

See, this is one of the big reasons that I love Christmas - it's such a Constant in our society. It's a real marker for you to reflect back on your life so far. I love it.

Boo.

Christmas sucks when your baby's sick :(

A day long temperature, grizzles, little appetite (her Christmas dinner has been put in the fridge in case she feels better tomorrow), a lovely big orange puke at afternoon snack time and the last hour trying to get her to bed. Doubtful that she'll remain there all night as well.

In the periods when she wasn't feeling grumpy, tired, nauseus or all three however, she seemed to really like the toy flip phone that Santa got her and clutching at her bag of chocolate buttons. Alas, feeding her three of said buttons may have been what caused the almighty vomit.

I got Heavenly Sword and a new all-singing all-dancing MP3/movie file player - a bit like a PSP but smaller and with no games. Hubs even uploaded the first episode of GBoEF onto it to check it worked. Bless. Reynolds in pants 1st thing on a Chrimble morning has to be a good thing.

Taping Who and Mister Harry, due to the long putting-to-bed.

Toblerone and chicken sarnies, I think.

Oh, why is it that at this time of Goodwill To All Men my fellow man must make this bloody difficult by becoming extra-specially obnoxious and shit? Mainly the dickless boy racer who pelted down the wrong side of the road at me, forcing me to reverse out of his way and not even slowing down for me to do that. Yes love. I get the point. You're sexually inadequate. No need to hammer it home, dear.

Mind you, doing the big Christmas Shop at Asda three days before Christmas isn't exactly the best way to get into the Christmas Spirit, packed as it was with fatties, thickies, ambling cattle-people with 18 children and one woman who looked like Amy Winehouse had aged 20 years and allowed Paris Hilton to dress her as part of some weird bet. Still. Lots of lovely Christmas nosh has now been bought, and since Mummy Dearest has finally taught me how to make gravy from scratch I can finally dispatch with the bleedin' Bisto. Fare thee well, lumpy, salty, hydroganised gloop!

Oh, and the Archbisy of Wales has come out with some frankly offensively ignorant and hysterical hyperbole about 'Atheist Fundamentalism' and how we all want to cancel Christmas http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7156783.stm Except that it's all a load of sweaty bollocks. All the 'cases' of nasty baby eating Atheists (or the oft-blamed, rarely-seen PC Brigade - pick an Elusive Villain Du Jour, they're all interchangable anyway) silencing the poor downtrodden Christian majority that he's clever enough to vaguely reference rather than going into any kind of detail about are actually urban legend and were debunked as such a whole year ago. http://www.guardian.co.uk/christmas2006/story/0,,1967367,00.html A Major Religion? Making shit up and selling it as fact to try to discredit any sort of challenge to their system? Whoda fuckin' thunk it, eh? Still. At least the Beeb were impartial enough to point this discrepancy out in their reasoned and dispassionate article. *Rolls eyes*.

Hey Ho. Another Festive Season, another Festive rant from Yrs Trly.

Back to Wales, in brief... apart from the funeral service turning out to be a full requiem mass, which Gramps hadn't wanted, that part all went well. Some smashing speeches, good turn out, Vi behaved impeccably and charmed the pants off everybody at the wake. The wake adjourned to Mum's house with the whole Mafia (including the French Contingent!) with the traditional Day Family Food & Booze Extravaganza. The planned internment... not so good. In fact, he is still un-interred. We all turned up at Nana's grave in our Widow's Weeds, only to find they'd dug up the wrong spot. D'oh! It had to be postponed. Still, I stuck to what I said then - it's not like he's getting any deader, we can all wait the extra few days to make sure he's in exactly the resting place that he wanted.

And Hubs has a cold. Poor Hubs. Have been feeding him Vitamin C and Reddy Brek.

Didn't do much of any use today - partially due to the fact that Vi decided she'd wake up at ten to midnight and stay awake til about quarter past 2, so we all needed a lie in. Have decided to bake for the extended rellies by way of their Chrimble pressies (since I'm seeing them all next week for the funeral anyway). Going to attempt gingerbread and mince pies at the weekend. Have never done pastry before. Should be interesting.

Need to check Vi still fits into the formal dress I got for Jools & Sylv's wedding blessing, for the funeral (OK so it's not black... it's dark purple cordoroy with little brown flowers and pink sleeves - formal, dark and muted) It was a bit of a tight squeeze at the blessing, if it doesn't fit her we'll have to get her a new frock - luckily I've seen some in grey, and even one in black around, so I can at least get something suitable. Her shoes'll clash, though. Did I mention, Vi now has proper shoes? They were from Clark's, little brown and pink velcro affairs, like trendy trainers, only £9 - bargain!

Bit of a boring post. Hey Ho.

Freezing out, innit?