Happy Christmas!

Because it is Christmas (and because who doesn’t love special effects?) below is a bonus photo in which my little tree appears to be on fire. A roaring fire and a Christmas tree rolled into one!

Oh Crikey, It’s Nearly...

No sooner am I released from prison ;) than the shops start opening until midnight. Christmas is well and truly upon us, overpowering us, seizing our minds, our money and our time.


I have very mixed feelings about Christmas. I love the ideal: snow, sleigh bells, twinkling lights, crisp air, carol singers, roaring fires, games of charades, tidings of comfort and joy. But the reality (aside from my allergy to roaring fires) of the preparations slightly overwhelms the event.

By the time I've done the cards and the presents (posted and wrapped), I have to admit, I feel I’ve done Christmas. The day itself lies ahead in my mind all wrapped-up in a sense of foreboding.

Each and every year, I think about escaping. But something stops me. Perhaps I would feel I’d bottled-out. And perhaps, if I did run away, despite all my griping, I might actually find I’d missed out ... on the annual frisson of fear, panic and, okay (I’m sure it WILL be okay), fun and laughter and joy. :)


EDIT: After re-reading this post, I realised that a couple of sentences, meant in jest, didn’t quite work. I’ve now deleted the paragraph that made me sound worse than Scrooge!!!

Christmas Crackers

Oh, the pain!

Day after day of talking and socialising has taken its toll. If my family were smaller, or had less time off work, or if they didn’t throw themselves so completely into Christmas…

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day were fantastic. But then it went on…

It feels like I’ve toured the whole of Northern England. A car sped through a red light and almost ploughed into the side of my car. I drove through a flood that appeared without warning in the dark on a country road. It continued for quarter of a mile! I’ve taken crowded trains to shopping centres on the outskirts of soulless industrial towns. (That was just one trip, but it felt plural!)

I haven’t read anything (apart from a two chapter sampler of The Hard Way by Lee Child), and that’s now all I want to do. After I’ve watched J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life, which starts in five minutes, on ITV.

And tomorrow -- is New Year’s Eve! Will I be a party-pooper? Probably not, but it is a nice thought.

Happy Christmas!

I succeeded in Saturday’s Christmas shopping challenge!!!

Trees sell-out more quickly than I thought. I did find one. It’s just a little small -- and artificial. But it’s very cute, and took next to no time to decorate!

I have a few presents still to wrap, and then I’m done. Or should that be… READY! 

Happy Christmas to everyone!

Cheers!

Peace and Joy.

Christmas Countdown

Can you believe it? I still have eight presents, wrapping paper, a tree, wine and food (to take to my sister’s for Christmas lunch) to buy!!!

My brother leaves all his Christmas shopping until Christmas Eve. But he has that skill -- he’s a boy!

This is the first time I’ve been soooo LATE.

Will I succeed…?

*****
I’ve just opened the post. Inside my latest delivery from DVD rental service LOVEFiLM, is a little book: a sampler of The Hard Way by Lee Child. It measures 10 x 14.1cm, and contains 20 pages, the first two chapters. The quality is nice. A smart piece of marketing, indeed!