Christmas with Katie

I always think that Christmas is a very sneaky time of year.  There’s oodles of preparation for it; the shops are full of mince pies in September, the radio stations start playing festive songs as soon as Hallowe’en is over and people start asking you what your plans are before the month of November has reached its last day.

And then … poof! … it’s over.  Where did the month of December go?

Father Christmas loved me (again) this year.  He left me copious amounts of presents to unwrap.  These included such lovely things as Little Big Planet for the PS3 (WooHoo!), a Sigma 70-300mm lens for my DSLR, Dogma on Blu-ray, Police Squad! on DVD, some Chanel No. 5, clothes, a slow cooker cook book, a couple of photo frames and a couple of decorative perfume bottles. 

Gosh, I love Christmas! 

We entertained Mumsy and The Baby Brother, who arrived on Christmas Eve.  Having bought the last copy of Buzz! (special edition) from a local shop, it was only right that we play it.  And play it we did.  We even played against Erroll online.  If you ever play against Erroll online be sure not to pick anything scientific or technological or food related.  S/he is very very very good at those topics.  Obviously we still won.  I don’t win when we’re not playing online.  My reflexes are so slow that I may as well have been born a snail.  Plus my head doesn’t work.  *sigh*

We ate out on Christmas Day … expensive, but worth it simply because there’s no washing up that needs doing afterwards.  We had turkey and gammon.  On Boxing Day my MiL cooked lamb.  On Saturday we spent the day at Mumsy’s (with the Naughty Nephews) and had succulent beef. 

I’m happy not to be a vegetarian.  I make no apologies for this. 

Some snapshots …

Mumsy waits patiently for her Christmas din-dins.

Mmmm, flakey chocolates.

A toddler contemplates.

A boy with his Star Wars annual.

An older boy reflects on a wonderful day spent with his fantabulous auntie.

I hope you were all as blessed as me! 

please God, thanks xxx Elsabeth

My Christmas.

I was an exceedingly Good Girl during 2007.  I know this because Father Christmas popped by and left me oodles of smashingly wonderful presents [radley bag radley purse bissell vacuum cleaner chanel no. 5 davidoff scented stuff wine mr benn figurine recipe book perfume bottle sexy nightie a london experience (of our choice, from 6 different things) postsecret book knickers gorgeous trinket box chocolate fondue set hmv vouchers … ] to open and gasp at.

I am truly blessed with wonderful family and friends who really know me and buy accordingly.

Yay!

We were away for most of Christmas.  As soon as Lemony Snicket finished on Christmas Eve we headed off to my MiL’s where we feasted on Chinese take-away and got slightly tipsy before crashing into bed.  The day itself wasn’t as bad as we feared, what with it being the first Christmas without my FiL.  The four of us went for a meal in a rather nicely refurbished pub nearby, where the food was abundant and the alcohol of the flowing variety.  They all laughed at me when the alcohol made me forget my words.

EastEnders finished the day off nicely.

On Boxing Day we braved the empty roads again, this time heading for the village of my childhood near Gip, where the petrol is about five pence cheaper than it is here near maC.  Tsk.  We filled the car up and then spent the day being spat on by a two-year-old nephew whilst his teeth-missing brothers were excitedly pesky, as children are wont to be at Christmas time. 

The phrases of the day were: Let me see! and: Hello! …

Our new camera [a Canon Digital SLR, or something – happily brought from profits made on The Blokey’s eBay account, which incidentally have also paid for our new (very expensive, would have nearly paid for a new house) tellybox due to arrive sometime in January, please don’t burgle my house] was put to good use, although I still need quite a bit of practice. 

Wills and Fang.

A pre-tired Tobes.

And the obligatory Wills and Uncle Stevie B&W Silly Xmas Shot.

Or is this one better?

And now Christmas is over for another year.  Huz.  Zah.

please God bless the end of this horrid year xxx Elsabeth

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Yesterday the batteries in my watch stopped.  Dead.  Kaput. I feel silly for wearing it still because it does nothing except tell me that the time is 2 o’clock, and I can’t even be sure if that’s 2 o’clock in the morning or 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

Well, take it off!
I can’t.
For goodness sake, why not?
Because I’ll feel naked without it. Naked! 

And I will, truly.  I feel naked if I don’t have my rings on, or I run out of concealer.  Naked is good, just not when it comes to particular things.  Still, I may as well be naked the amount of times I’ve looked at my watch today and gone d’oh!

Ah, at least Christmas is but days away and I have a funny feeling that one of the presents under the tree is a Fossil of some variety. 

*breathes a sigh of relief*

And that’s all I have to say. 

I was going to write about the presents I finally made for my nephews as a thank you for being such superb pageboys.  I was also going to mention that chap who was charged this evening with the murders of the five women in Gip, and how uncanny it had been reading about the case in such obscure places as the Los Angeles Times and the New Zealand Herald.  The area the man lives is the catchment area of both the school where I worked before moving to The Shire and the school where I spent two years studying for my A’Levels.  I was going to write about how it’s just really odd to see it on the international news. There’s even a whole page devoted to it over at wikipedia.com. Then I was going to write about the weird and wonderful way my brain told me something earlier.  And how tomorrow we shall be fighting the crowds of people in Tesco.  How I can’t stop buying decorations for my tree.  How much Tabatha-Cat hates the new shaggy rug in my lounge.

But I shan’t write about any of that.

*runs off to play*

please God bless my dead batteries and keep them safe in battery heaven xxx Elsabeth