Christmas Prep - how's it going?

This will be the quietest Christmas that I can remember. We are going to DS and family for Christmas Day and Boxing Day - staying over-night and other than that it's just the two of us. My DD and her family are going to Costa Rica for 2 weeks on 20 December so we are out for a meal (and presents) with them on 19th.

Now I've got used to the idea, I am looking forward to a less stressful time with MUCH less cooking!

Finished making cards yesterday despite starting in January! None written. About 2/3of presents bought. Cake made. No wrapping paper bought. Decorating a tree for Church festival tomorrow - having made all the decoration by hand with my craft group & then was going to do ours over weekend but now DHC are coming to stay & NO they CANNOT help! They can help DH do outside lights though.
Every year I start well & then it all goes to pot. I think I must actually thrive on last minute panic or I'd be more organised.

I love it when it gets here though. Family coming to us on Boxing day this year so Christmas day will be lovely & peaceful & I can do all the preparation for the next day with a nice glass of bubbly or 3 before having a nice but not too huge dinner with DH. I don't mind which day they all come to us as long as they do! With 6 DGC plus parents it is a very hectic day when they all come together. Hooray!! Last year the 2 eldest boys got Nerff guns & all the children had running battles upstairs & had a great time. HAPPY DAYS.

Cards written, presents wrapped, decs down from the loft, turkey, Christmas pud, sausages in bacon, enough fizz to float a battleship, bought. Why? Retired. Nothing better to do. Lovin' Christmas.

As a teacher I would be marking mocks scripts, calming excited children, finishing learning modules, in short, running down my energy until I limped to the end of term too exhausted to care or cope.

Retirement. The gift that goes on giving.

Not doing it. Not at all. Last week we were in Derbyshire because the husband of a friend of ours died very suddenly. We were there for her. Next week we're going to his cremation followed by wake. Not looking forward to it at all.

Year on year the whole razzmatazz increases and we get it pushed at us from all angles. Year on year I feel less and less like doing it. This year, not at all.

We've been to Advent services at church and will go on Christmas morning. That will be it, for us.

Today it's not going too well. I have spent most of the morning looking for a pair of shorts pj's for DD2 with hedgehogs on them. Unsuccessfully.

Why do I get so hung up about these things? Once I get an idea I can't just leave it!

This is was my jobs list for the day:

Ironing
Make chutney
Marzipan cake
Wrap all pressies.

Done none of it.

Perhaps you have the right idea magrete.

r (sorry)

Been hunting for sacks/bags to put the GCs Christmas presents in. Either too big (they're not getting THAT many presents from me), to flimsy or too expensive (£5 each p!).

Just found the perfect bag; cool bags from Sainsburys, £1.50 each, strong, big enough in a pretty shade of blue with penguins wearing sun glasses on them.

Job done!

Now must get ready to see GS1's nativity where he is playing the part of the policeman ?

Well, the chutney is ponging the house out simmering nicely.

Lidl had some large Christmassy bags (£1) should last until we get to their house, I hope

He wasn't joking he was a policeman!

Erm......not organised at all this year! No lists! About half the presents ordered bought, half the cards sent, no food organised. I blame the puppy who follows me everywhere, chewing everything she can get her very sharp teeth into and demanding to be played with all the time.

We have 6 family birthdays in December before Christmas, including DDs1&2 40th on 14th and DGS1 on Christmas Eve.

Going to DD3s for Christmas Day but probably cooking. Then full invasion from England on 28th for New Year. 10 extras with all sorts of food fads!

Roll on January!

Outside lights up, tree down from loft to be done on Friday, around half the presents bought and have discovered where the cards were hiding. ( in a safe place so I'd know where they were....hah!) Not bad considering that until yesterday nothing was done at all. I have three birthdays as well this month-DH on 4th, dd2 on 18th and ds on 29th. Didn't plan that very well did I?

Very very little done here. Cards found and list done but no incentive to do more until this morning when I received a card from a neighbour from our first home. She will be 96 in April and said she had fallen during the year and had a hip replacement and is making a slow but sure improvement with the help of wonderful family and carers. I felt ashamed of my negative attitude and got my son round to go in my loft and get my decs out. He and GS 2 will come at the weekend to help get the outside lights up. I went to see GS4 age 4 as a shepherd in his Nativity this morning and it all renewed my joy in the season and I will now pull my finger out. It is 45 years since I went to my first infant Nativity and it never loses its magic and tissue use.

The Post Office had no second class stamps at 11 o'clock today!
He said, with surprise, that there had been a lot of people in buying them earlier this morning - what do they expect just before Christmas?

All presents bought and mostly wrapped (bagged - much easier!) cards written but not posted, decs nearly done but as usual house is a tip with boxes everywhere and carpets covered in bits of 'stuff' and no thought of food. After 40 years of doing Christmas dinner for us all and having big family parties on Boxing Day we're now reduced to just the two of us so resort to a good old M&S for two dinner. With parents passed on, son no 2 in NZ and no 1 living two hours away we feel a bit bereft and bah humbug about it really. I do wonder why I bother with the decorations as we're the only ones to see them but then I think how lucky I am to still be able to do them and always vowed I would put a tree up even if it was just for me so carry on regardless :-) We are going to son 2 on Boxing Day and for the first time ever are planning on doing the sales with them - a decision I think we might regret!! Have a great holiday Galen - being terrified of the sea a cruise sounds like a nightmare to me but I'm sure you'll have a great time :-)

All done here apart from having hair and nails done next week. Waitrose will deliver Christmas on 23rd Dec!! I'm thinking about summer holidays now.

Wow, Teetime - so cool, calm and collected! I'm just wondering if I can persuade DH to get the decs and the tree out of the garage so I can sort them all out. He's suffering from a touch of Bah-Humbug today, so probably not!

PS, Yes, of course I could get them myself (I know what you are thinking) but then I'll be in trouble for 'messing things up'. Messing things up? You should see the state of our garage.

You all mostly seem on top of things. :-)

Here, I'm not doing badly. Good job I started pressie buying early as a load of work suddenly came in, which has meant cancelled shopping trips! Thank goodness for online shopping!

But cards all written and most of them posted, just some to hand-deliver. Pressies almost all got, just one I'm keen to sort out this weekend; I wanted to cycle up to the relevant shop and get it but the weather has been so evil I haven't been able to. I'm hoping we can drive up there Sat now. (This is a gift for my lovely neighbour, who has baked me an Xmas cake!) I've started pressie wrapping but face running out of paper; that's another panic in the making......

Still lacking get up and go, 6 birthdays still between today and Christmas Day
Working flat out upto 5pm Christmas Eve too.

Cards waiting to be written and still haven't compiled presents list. As for food..........
Oh dear!

I don't feel that special magic feeling about Christmas any more I have'nt done for a few years now. I shall be glad when it is all over. I've always wanted to go away for Christmas so this year I am to Scotland on the 23rd & back on the 27th. Roll on Spring!

Today I attended 5-year old GS3's 'Christmas Production' and at last I've got that magical feeling that's been missing until now.

It wasn't just that it was superb, thought it was.

It wasn't all the colourful costumes and Christmas carols and songs. Though they sang beautifully.

It was their faces. Their joy in 'performing' their smiles and their excitement at the whole Christmas thing. Nothing like seeing Christmas through the eyes of a 5-year old to capture that magic I actually had tears in my eyes and I there's me thinking I'm hard!