One word? When seven would do…

I’ve concluded today that I can be just as irrational as my parents regarding Christmas. Which doesn’t excuse them but doesn’t make me look great either…

Davies and Scarlett woke before 5am and arrived in our bedroom with stockings. They sat on our bed and opened them and were suitably pleased with everything. It was then barely past 5am and as Ady and I hadn’t got to sleep til nearly 2am and I knew they had a fairly small amount of gifts to open anyway I could see everything being over by 530am with a very, very long day stretching ahead in which I would be unable to function from tiredness. So I said no one could go into the lounge until 6am and they could either go back to bed until then or stay quietly in our room. Davies got a bit upset at this which I took to mean he should probably go back to bed but Ady took pity on him and decided meant I was horrible! The compromise was some youtube clips on Ady’s phone of something Christmassy until 6am while Ady and I dozed.

At 6am we four went into the lounge and the kids opened their presents. They both had a sledge with all their gifts loaded on. Davies got a reconditioned DS lite, a Little Howard book, several DVDs, a couple of books, a PSP game, a memory card for his PSP, socks. Scarlett got her hamster and cage with very basic kit (the plan being we’ll take her to the pet shop next week to get all the additional stuff out of her own money as we knew she’d want to buy stuff for him anyway), a Playmobil set, some books. They both got new sketch books, decent felt tip pens and a tub of plasticine each.

We’d hidden the hamster behind the sofa and so Scarlett had opened all her presents including a book about hamsters without actually knowing she had him. I said with a straight face that as soon as we were in a position to get her a pet we would and that was why we’d got her that and then called her over for a cuddle, knowing that over my shoulder she’d see the cage 🙂 She was so happy 🙂 🙂 🙂

Of course she ignored all warnings and managed to get nipped on the end of her finger which bled copiously but that was not enough to diffuse her joy. She has spent the day on an absolute high, utterly pinching herself that she has her very own pet. It’s been everything I hoped to give her and more :). She named him Humphrey on sight, after the books about the hamster, which had been my second guess of name once I knew he was a boy, after Fluffy, which I hadn’t put past her, or indeed Hamstery 😆

I had a quick shower and the four of us sat around eating chocolate and watching the sleeping hamster til everyone else got up.

Mum and Dad gave the kids their gifts which were birthday and Christmas combined – a Lego Black Pearl (from PotC) for Davies and a camera for Scarlett. This year both Mum & Dad and Frazer had got us to do the actual choosing and shopping for the kids which makes for a much less random gift selection although it can be slightly tough seeing someone else get all the credit for something you knew the kids would love and put loads of effort into selecting. Particularly Davies’ lego as that took loads of chasing to actually get delivered. The main thing is the kids got what they wanted though and I spent some time sitting with Davies setting that up while Ady sat with Tarly doing the Playmobil (inbetween getting hassled by my Mum to help with the dinner despite her having my Dad offering to help). I can’t abide the fuss about a roast dinner taking precedence over spending time with the children.

We had some mince pies and then Frazer reappeared having dropped Kat home (she came back later in the evening) and gave everyone his gifts – Angry Birds tops for the kids, an Animatazz kit for Davies and a model dolphin kit for Tarly again bought and wrapped by us. They were both really chuffed with these gifts 🙂 🙂

A fairly sedentry day of drinking, watching TV, watching the hamster (who Scarlett is now feeding by hand very happily but is understandably slightly nervous of putting her hand too near incase of another nip) and of course eating. Frazer sat with us for dinner and then we exchanged small ‘table presents’. We’d got Mum and Dad a bar of chocolate each, along with a CD of a radio show dad used to listen to as a boy and was fondly reminsicing about a few weeks ago so I managed to get hold of and a nice bottle of wine and a wine holder for Mum. Small and inexpensive gifts (less than £20 in total but with plenty of thought). Mum got Ady a pack of socks that are the wrong size and a book for me that she’d got Ady to choose and give to her. I have to confess to being slightly put out by that, particularly when Scarlett asked about a pile of three or four elaborately wrapped presents left over which Mum said were for Kat (and I later heard Kat effusively thanking Mum for…). I don’t want something expensive but even a passing thought towards something for one of the four of us that she had actually got herself would have been nice…

Dinner was nice, but too much as usual. I felt really sluggish afterwards so headed off for a brisk walk before it got properly dark. Ady was too tired and Davies too busy with lego but Scarlett came with me and her and I had a lovely half an hour or so pounding the pavements chatting, mostly about hamsters :).

Back at the house I had a lie down for half an hour or so as I felt rubbish but I had so many visitors that I gave up and got up again. Kat and Frazer came and sat with us for a bit and I tried really hard to strike up some sort of conversation but she gave nothing back and I started to feel as though I was interviewing her for a job so gave up. Particularly when a comment meant to be a compliment was taken the wrong way and needed explaining. :rolls: Family eh?!

We watched Doctor Who and then Coronation Street or something similar was put on at which point I removed myself as I can’t bear soaps so I went to sit with my latop in the kitchen. Ady came to join me and the kids went up to bed. Scarlett managed to fall down the last third of the stairs (running as usual) and really scraped her legs but ran past my parents in tears as they berated her for making a big thud rather than asking if she was okay so I stropped at them about that which resulted in Mum going off in a huff. Two more weeks with time away inbetween is going to be more than enough here, I am really struggling with it now, Willow looked very tempting yesterday.

But the kids have had a fab day, extra money from parents and brother has meant they got way more gifts that we could have afforded and as we got to choose for them they ended up with stuff they loved. Scarlett is calling this the Best Christmas Ever and actually my parents probably have me in tears for some reason every single Christmas so this has been one of the better ones really.

Tomorrow, we’re off for a walk, fresh air, exercise and time away from the crazies.