so, that was Christmas

I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas holiday period? I had a really nice day yesterday...although it started a lot earlier than I'd have liked. I had Chelsea to sleep over on Christmas Eve, as has become our Christmas tradition in recent years, but she was on a major hype plus not entirely well and we forgot to pack her melatonin tablets and as a result of all of this she absolutely could not get off to sleep, which meant that I wasn't allowed to sleep either. We finally managed to drop off at some point in the early hours...only for Chel to be wide awake and jumping on my bed to make sure I was awake too by 5am!!! She has never, ever woken up that early in her life, not even when she was little enough to be excited about Santa! We've always had to wake her up on Christmas morning! Not this year. By 7am we were washed, dressed, breakfasted and off for a damp and chilly walk to our parents' house. The sun wasn't even up at that point! So, running off only a couple of hours sleep, I was rather brain-dead all day. We did our usual Christmas thing where we all sit around the lounge drinking tea and watching each other opening our gifts. I got some quality loot. Then Mum's stepbrother, Nigel, arrived to drop off Nanna, who was spending the day with us, and we all headed off to the Christmas service at our chapel. We always have a lovely little Christmas Day service - it's only short, lots of carols and a short message, and there's a five minute slot in the middle of the service for everyone to get up and go around the church greeting each other with hugs and kisses, which you'd never get away with in a big church, but because ours is tiny and everyone knows and loves each other, it all adds to the spirit of togetherness and community and we love it. Then it was back to my parents' house to help cook the roast dinner, which was yummy. Chelsea slept all afternoon, lucky her. I kept myself awake by taking the dog for a walk around the park. Then Nigel returned to collect Nanna, after which I gathered up my loot and took myself home, just in time to settle in front of the telly to watch the Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing and Downton Abbey Christmas specials - four hours in front of the idiot box without moving, cats piled on top of me in a heap. Perfect!

I think my favourite part of the Doctor Who Christmas special was ( spoilers behind the cut )

Then this morning we were meant to be joining a bunch of Dad's family at Cosmeston for a Boxing Day walk around the lake, but Dad's car is very, very poorly so we couldn't make it. The others are going to call in at my parents' after the walk, instead. So as a result of this change of plans, this morning has been wonderfully lazy and leisurely before I head off into the next round of family togetherness!

I've got Deb, Ray and hopefully Shanei arriving on Thursday for a few days - depending on whether or not Nei can get away from her mother, who she is reluctantly staying with for Christmas. It's all been kicking off in Cornwall again, surprise surprise. We'll just have to make sure they have a lovely time when they get here, then, since things aren't going so well down there.

so, that was Christmas

I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas holiday period? I had a really nice day yesterday...although it started a lot earlier than I'd have liked. I had Chelsea to sleep over on Christmas Eve, as has become our Christmas tradition in recent years, but she was on a major hype plus not entirely well and we forgot to pack her melatonin tablets and as a result of all of this she absolutely could not get off to sleep, which meant that I wasn't allowed to sleep either. We finally managed to drop off at some point in the early hours...only for Chel to be wide awake and jumping on my bed to make sure I was awake too by 5am!!! She has never, ever woken up that early in her life, not even when she was little enough to be excited about Santa! We've always had to wake her up on Christmas morning! Not this year. By 7am we were washed, dressed, breakfasted and off for a damp and chilly walk to our parents' house. The sun wasn't even up at that point! So, running off only a couple of hours sleep, I was rather brain-dead all day. We did our usual Christmas thing where we all sit around the lounge drinking tea and watching each other opening our gifts. I got some quality loot. Then Mum's stepbrother, Nigel, arrived to drop off Nanna, who was spending the day with us, and we all headed off to the Christmas service at our chapel. We always have a lovely little Christmas Day service - it's only short, lots of carols and a short message, and there's a five minute slot in the middle of the service for everyone to get up and go around the church greeting each other with hugs and kisses, which you'd never get away with in a big church, but because ours is tiny and everyone knows and loves each other, it all adds to the spirit of togetherness and community and we love it. Then it was back to my parents' house to help cook the roast dinner, which was yummy. Chelsea slept all afternoon, lucky her. I kept myself awake by taking the dog for a walk around the park. Then Nigel returned to collect Nanna, after which I gathered up my loot and took myself home, just in time to settle in front of the telly to watch the Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing and Downton Abbey Christmas specials - four hours in front of the idiot box without moving, cats piled on top of me in a heap. Perfect!

I think my favourite part of the Doctor Who Christmas special was ( spoilers behind the cut )

Then this morning we were meant to be joining a bunch of Dad's family at Cosmeston for a Boxing Day walk around the lake, but Dad's car is very, very poorly so we couldn't make it. The others are going to call in at my parents' after the walk, instead. So as a result of this change of plans, this morning has been wonderfully lazy and leisurely before I head off into the next round of family togetherness!

I've got Deb, Ray and hopefully Shanei arriving on Thursday for a few days - depending on whether or not Nei can get away from her mother, who she is reluctantly staying with for Christmas. It's all been kicking off in Cornwall again, surprise surprise. We'll just have to make sure they have a lovely time when they get here, then, since things aren't going so well down there.