We’ve had a fairly quiet start to the holidays so far. All I seem to be doing is tidying the house up for bloody inspections so the kids have been excellent, no problems in leaving the house while they’ve been happening. The agent has told me that she’ll give me 24 hours notice but of course when she calls and says she’s got somebody who wants to see it today I feel like we might miss out on a sale if I say no. She had somebody today and luckily I thought that if I just tidied up big time this morning then I would be ready if it happened. It was pyjama day so Beth and Bridie got in the car with their jammies still on. (Bill’s a bit more reserved and felt that he couldn’t do that, he had to get dressed.) They were so good, we weren’t meant to be doing anything today, but off we went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house again. They weren’t even home so we sat in their back yard for half an hour until they got back from shopping! If we didn’t have the dog with us I could take them to the movies or something but the whole lot has to be out of the house. Oh well, the end result will be good so it’ll be worth it in the end.
Paul took all the kids Christmas shopping yesterday for my Christmas presents. He’s brave, I always buy his myself and let them choose which one they’ll give him. For mine, I usually take one of the kids with me and show them what I like, then they take Paul along and tell him. Bill is a good one to take, he even chooses my clothes for me and bought me a lovely handbag for my birthday. Don’t worry, I picked it out beforehand with him! Paul said he ended up getting a trolley just so that they could all hold onto it because it was so busy he was scared of losing somebody. He tells me that Beth picked my present out herself and that she wouldn’t waver and insisted on getting it. He said he doesn’t know if it’s more for her or me so I’m tipping it’s probably something Mr Men or even High School Musical! I love it when the kids pick from their hearts, they get so excited watching me open my presents.
While they were gone I finished wrapping their presents. They are all under the tree and, fingers crossed, they’ll stay wrapped. Beth has been so good this year with the presents, I’m so proud of her as it’s always been such a challenge. I remember even getting her to help me to wrap presents for others so that she would know what was inside. She still couldn’t help herself, just in case it had changed into what she wanted it to be! There’s something special about wrapped presents. I remember the rustling of paper at the end of my bed, signalling that mum had put my presents there. Such excitement! I still get a little shiver if I have a paper on the bed or something that I don’t realise is there, it takes me way back to childhood, to the excitement of Christmas mornings. It’s a bit sad really that the bags have overtaken the wrapping of presents. I must admit I am guilty of using them myself, but try with kids to always wrap presents in paper.
I’m trying to get away from too many toys this year. We’ve got so many sets of things in cupboards, they make such a mess, then if a piece is missing then it’s useless. Of course it may not be played with for a year but as soon as you chuck it out it gets asked for. We had a HAGS fundraising afternoon and I donated a couple of Bill’s old toys as he hadn’t played with them for so long. At the end of the day they still hadn’t sold and the kids came with Paul to pick me up. Bill was so excited when he saw a Superman like his, he wanted to go home right away and find it! We ended up taking both toys home again, now he has a fear that I’ll get rid of his toys, he’s not letting anything out of his sight!
Beth has asked Santa for a cd player this year so I got her a compilation cd. I also got her the dvd of the Pink concert that we went to see. I found a Mr Men annual online which I was most excited about. I got annuals every year for Christmas, usually a Rupert the Bear one and I have lovely memories of pouring over them. I also got her an aqua doodle. She’s been asking for one for ages and, rather than the mat being full of water which worried me, it’s the pen that has water in it. At least if the mat gets ripped, it’ll still work.
I’m off to dinner with the HAGS tomorrow night, last one for the year so I’m looking forward to it. We’re going Indian as Clare can’t be there and she doesn’t like Indian that much! Not sure if it’s because she’s married to one, maybe she’s just indian fooded out! Will keep you posted. Stay sane! (easier said than done in the holidays)
