Christmas 2015 been and gone already. As mentioned in a thread about Christmas his nibs and me did start ours by staying overnight Christmas Eve at my youngest son’s so that we could enjoy Christmas morning with our two young granddaughters (8 and 5).
Margaret, you said previously you didn’t want to be wakened before 8 a.m., well try 5 a.m.! Still it was by a very excited 8-year-old Lucy so good excuse. (Have to say I was already awake as I was a wee bit excited myself – is that because I am a child at heart or am now in my second childhood!).
We managed to keep things quiet for an hour or so as the younger one was still in the Land of Nod – that child certainly enjoys her sleep, but eventually decided to rouse her.
Lots of excitement with present unwrapping. Children really do make Christmas. Of course there always has to be one thing that doesn’t work, just happened to be something we had bought – so that will have to go back to the shop and be replaced. Very annoying. No worries though as lots of other presents for the girls to enjoy, including the much mentioned and wished for Dino the Dinosaur (‘Grandma, how did you know that’s what I wanted?’ – right!) but which seems to be a voraciously hungry beast needing to be recharged for longer than it roars and performs.
His nibs was very happy receiving DVDs of the Old Country, which he will watch no doubt through misty eyes while remembering youthful adventures and days of yore, and will suffer a bout of homesickness (yes, even after 58 years!).
My oldest daughter’s place (about a 2 hours drive away) and where we were all going to celebrate Christmas Day, is in an area where there is the risk of bushfires. As the temperature was expected to reach 37 C with predicted high winds to follow my daughter had to make a decision re the day but decided to go ahead with it as planned and gave us instructions what to do in case of…….which was mainly that if there was a bushfire then to get the !*#* out of there!
It was a good decision to go ahead because although it did get quite hot (she had a small marquee erected so plenty of shade) it got very cold later.
Although not all the family could make it, there were still 14 of us and as we were all staying over that night we could enjoy ourselves without the worry of driving home later and enjoy it we did! Floor space, blow-up mattresses and a tent, amply provided the sleeping arrangements, although the old couple got a proper bed in deference to our acquired years – there are some benefits of aging.
Not sure who gave the girls those water pistols though….and the voice-changing foghorn…..
…and not very happy to get home and find that his nibs had left the door to an outside room wide open with the light left on, which meant that the light had been on continuously for some 60 hours!
Now back in the real world having spent those couple of days selfishly enjoying myself with little or no thought to the outside world.
He has a bad back, I’m trying to shake off a chill I caught which plummeted my temperature almost to hyperthermia regions (and which he’s sure to get) and at the same time I’m fighting a losing battle with my washing machine. This machine is about as uncooperative as the robotic kitten that has to be returned which at the time of purchase looked like an exciting toy that promised to do all sorts of things but couldn’t even raise a ‘meow’ on Christmas Day. Hopefully will be exchanged for a Star Wars radio-controlled something-or-other.
However, this all fades into insignificance against the terrible bushfire which has been raging through parts of Victoria and the shocking flooding in Lancashire and Yorkshire. My thoughts go out to all those poor people who have been affected. Certainly makes my 'real world' problems trivial.
Margaret, you said previously you didn’t want to be wakened before 8 a.m., well try 5 a.m.! Still it was by a very excited 8-year-old Lucy so good excuse. (Have to say I was already awake as I was a wee bit excited myself – is that because I am a child at heart or am now in my second childhood!).
We managed to keep things quiet for an hour or so as the younger one was still in the Land of Nod – that child certainly enjoys her sleep, but eventually decided to rouse her.
Lots of excitement with present unwrapping. Children really do make Christmas. Of course there always has to be one thing that doesn’t work, just happened to be something we had bought – so that will have to go back to the shop and be replaced. Very annoying. No worries though as lots of other presents for the girls to enjoy, including the much mentioned and wished for Dino the Dinosaur (‘Grandma, how did you know that’s what I wanted?’ – right!) but which seems to be a voraciously hungry beast needing to be recharged for longer than it roars and performs.
His nibs was very happy receiving DVDs of the Old Country, which he will watch no doubt through misty eyes while remembering youthful adventures and days of yore, and will suffer a bout of homesickness (yes, even after 58 years!).
My oldest daughter’s place (about a 2 hours drive away) and where we were all going to celebrate Christmas Day, is in an area where there is the risk of bushfires. As the temperature was expected to reach 37 C with predicted high winds to follow my daughter had to make a decision re the day but decided to go ahead with it as planned and gave us instructions what to do in case of…….which was mainly that if there was a bushfire then to get the !*#* out of there!
It was a good decision to go ahead because although it did get quite hot (she had a small marquee erected so plenty of shade) it got very cold later.
Although not all the family could make it, there were still 14 of us and as we were all staying over that night we could enjoy ourselves without the worry of driving home later and enjoy it we did! Floor space, blow-up mattresses and a tent, amply provided the sleeping arrangements, although the old couple got a proper bed in deference to our acquired years – there are some benefits of aging.
Not sure who gave the girls those water pistols though….and the voice-changing foghorn…..
…and not very happy to get home and find that his nibs had left the door to an outside room wide open with the light left on, which meant that the light had been on continuously for some 60 hours!
Now back in the real world having spent those couple of days selfishly enjoying myself with little or no thought to the outside world.
He has a bad back, I’m trying to shake off a chill I caught which plummeted my temperature almost to hyperthermia regions (and which he’s sure to get) and at the same time I’m fighting a losing battle with my washing machine. This machine is about as uncooperative as the robotic kitten that has to be returned which at the time of purchase looked like an exciting toy that promised to do all sorts of things but couldn’t even raise a ‘meow’ on Christmas Day. Hopefully will be exchanged for a Star Wars radio-controlled something-or-other.
However, this all fades into insignificance against the terrible bushfire which has been raging through parts of Victoria and the shocking flooding in Lancashire and Yorkshire. My thoughts go out to all those poor people who have been affected. Certainly makes my 'real world' problems trivial.