Merry christmas

Just a quick post to say merry Christmas to every one that reads this blog. That's not many of you, but thanks for looking.

So I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year. I hope Santa is kind to you all again this yearn

Christmas travel.

So, living on an island strikes again and all carefully laid plans are obliterated in a blink of an eye. Ok, bit dramatic, it was more of a text and an internet search, but you get the picture. The plan for a nice little family Christmas on the Friday, before flying down to the inlaws turned in to a mad panic night of packing and a frantic dash around the house in the morning tiding and sorting. All because mother nature decided to throw this at us;

Yep, nice and windy. There are many superpowers in the world that you wouldn't want to mess with, but there's only one that you CAN'T mess with and that's mother nature.

Anyway, after an early morning phone call (0830) and a couple of hours of running around like headless chickens, we were all at the terminal, checked in by half eleven, ready for our half 12 flight. At 1315 we finally loaded on to the plane and after sitting in various locations around the airport, we took off at 1450. So just over an hour and a half sitting on a plane before the hour and a half flight! And then we had the 2 hour car journey from the airport to the inlaws! The kids were great though! We had a few tears when we thought we were heading back to the terminal, but we did a quick 180 back to the end of the run way and shot off in to the sky, a rather wobbly take off but the pilot was grabbing a drop in the wind (below 35 knots) to get us off! It wasn't quite the start to the holiday I was hoping for, but we made it, tired but in one piece.

All this has messed with the plans, as we had to abandon the Christmas at home, we'll have to do that when we get back. So that will be nice for the kids, as they will still get all their Christmas' just in a different order. It also means that all of the present to each other are at home, so nothing to give the wife on Christmas day itself, not even a card, as that's at home too!

Hopefully the journey back will be plain sailing compare to getting down and we'll all be able to enjoy the our last Christmas celebrations of the year.

Presents

Its less than 2 weeks till the big day, Christmas day that is, and for many the pressure is mounting. It always seems that every year Christmas shopping is the most stressful thing a person can do! By ive never understood why? Why is it so stressful?

For some I know its about keeping up with the Jones, as they say, for others its about not dissapointing anyone or worse, getting the same gift as someone else! For others I know it can be just the very act of shopping, crowded streets and tired feet, but in this world of internet shopping, that can be avoided. Although this brings its own problems, as the worry is about whether it will arrive on time, in what condition and will it be the right size! Ive had to return one item this year already as it was the wrong size, I even had to show the wife to check, which kind of spoils the surprise! Hopefully the new, bigger one will arrive in time, oh and it was for the horse, so Im allow to get the size wrong, repercussion free!

For me, present shopping has always been a trouble free affair. Personally I couldn't give a monkeys about the Jones, they want to spend 80 quid on a pair of Nike trainers for their little princess who can't even crawl, let alone walk, then they can. Im not! Clarke's sales all the way. I also am not to bothered by what people think of their gifts, its the thought that counts, something g that works both ways. Im not worried about what I get, Im just grateful someone took the time to buy me something. Ive also got the distinct advantage that I don't buy many presents, just ones for the wife, either from me or from the kids, the wife deals with the rest! I do help with suggestions, but the wife is definitely better at the present buying than I am.

As for the kids presents, most are picked up in various sales through out the year and stored till Christmas. Others are bough off the local 2nd hand stuff site, the local ebay as it were. I know a lot of people will be shocked at the thought of giving 2nd hand toys for Christmas, but I really don't see the issue, as long as they are in good condition and work as they should, why not? The bairns don't care if things come in their original box, it never lasts long even anyway! Its all about what's in the box and not the box itself. We've done this the last couple of years and the little mans been thrilled with his presents, plus it means that we can get more stuff for the same money, a win win situation all round.

For some people its about the cost of something, for others its about how much you get, but for me its about the reaction it gets from the bairns, that the important thing. The mother-in-law has commented a few time that as the kids get older the boxes get smaller and more expensive! Kids like big boxes, it doesn't matter about the cost, they have no understanding of cost anyway. This year the in-laws have decided that big boxes are the way to go, as last year the little man was less than impressed with the soft presents, to the point he just picked them up and handed them to mummy, saying for you, before moving on to the next hard box!

It will be interesting to see how they react this year as they are both old enough to know what's happening, last year it took a while for the young lady to figure it out. Hopefully, it'll all be plain sailing!

Christmas tree and other decorations

I know were almost half way through December and pretty much half way till Christmas, I thought I'd post up our tree.

Our tree was decorated by the bairns, hence the slightly patchy and bottom heavy decorations! Our tree actually went up in November, much to horror! Im defiantly one of those people who believe that Christmas doesn't start till the 1st and that no decorations should appear before then, however, it was the weekend and only2a couple of days early so I let it slide this year.

The bairns were really excite putting the tree up, which lead to many incidents of decorations going on and off and on again, as they both tried to decorate the tree how they wanted! Somehow there were no tears though!

I remember putting the tree up when was little, it was the start of Christmas and as we got older the responsibility for the decorations fell to us kids, usually my sister took the tree and I had the rest, as I could reach the ceiling and pictures without the need of a step!

One thing that hasn't changed from my childhood to now is the cats! My cat use to take a keen interest in the baubles and now ours are too! You can see one of them half under the tree in the picture above.

I know that for some Christmas isn't the magical time it should be, but I have fond memories of my Christmas' and I intend to make my bairns Christmas's as magical as I can!