RANDOM JOTTINGS

A blog about music, sports, theatre and rants

Long time blogger just moved to wordpress. Love music, theatre, movies, sport (tennis and cricket) and cooking. Two great daughters, two great granddaughters.

Random in Recovery Mode

All is quiet today and we are now in the lull between Christmas and the next burst of jollilty, New Year and I, for one, am enjoying being peaceful at home,

Had a lovely Christmas with the family, but Beatrice not caring that it was Christmas, decided to start teething and Christmas Eve night had her parents on the hop through the small hours as she yelled the place down.  I was due to drive up on Christmas day morning, probably a wise decision so I was fairly alert when I got there to be met by pyjama clad goggle eyed mum and dad.   All got a bit behind and we ended up having our turkey at around 4 pm, not that it mattered in the slightest.

Drive up was a tad scarey.   Hit the A12 and the sky darkened and down came the rain and boy did it rain! Windscreen wipers working double time, totally inadequate and could barely see where I was going, road flooded in places.  Throughout all this I was staggered at how the traffic on my right tore past at the rate of knots and chucked up enough water and gunge to totally blind me on several occasions.  I seriously thought of turning back at one stage but soldiered on and made it in one piece.

As you all know by now, I am not a huge fan of Christmas.  I find the rampant commercialism of it all and the frenetic shopping and rushing around not to my taste.   When I was at home with husband and two children all the work and tasks fell to me and I was usually worn out by the Day itself.   Both my girls have happy memories of our Christmasses together as children so obviously I managed to hide my feelings well and now I am a happy viewer as others do it all for me.   

I did not buy Florence or Beatrice anything hugely big or expensive as Beatrice is too young (she did get a Teddy Bear from grandma though, every child should have one), and Florence received a new nightie, a puzzle, sticker book and a wooden hair brush, specially ordered, with her name on it.   She simply loved this and straight away wanted to brush her hair and she kept an eye out for it all day amid the debris and wrapping paper.   Next year when Beatrice is bigger I intend to order a toy box for her with her name on which I did last year for her sister.   Lovely piece of work from the Posh Box Company and then both she and Florence will have these boxes all their lives.

Came home on Boxing Day morning as the hives resurfaced and not feeling too good.  Beatrice also up all night and Florence wakeful so the breakfast table that morning had three haggard adults and two children who, having kept everyone up for hours, were now full of joy and happiness.   Best part of being a grandmother is that I could leave and go to bed, unlike Mum and Dad who had to get through the day while feeling like zombies.   A feeling I remember very well.

Florence came bursting in to see me in the morning and was chatting away and when I asked her which was her favourite present, there was no hesitation: "Oh grandma, it was the Winnie the Pooh toothbrush Father Christmas put in my stocking"

I rest my case………

Au reservoir

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11 responses to “Random in Recovery Mode”

  1. Margaret Powling Avatar
    Margaret Powling

    Roy Stong has described Chrismas as Janus-faced, as we look back to past Christmases with friends and family and forward to the expectation of the new year … but, sadly, as I grow older, I find the backward-looking face more prevalent, looking back to when we were eight for Christmas, but a different eight from the eight we had this Christmas – gone are my parents, my dear uncle, and my mother in law, but in their places, sons, their partners, and one partner’s parents. I am so grateful to have a lovely family still, albeit a different one from years ago. But this is how life should be, is it not? We move ever forward and I’m glad to say that I look back with great pleasure on so many lovely Christmases both as a child, a teenager and a young married woman, even if memories are tinged with nostalgia, with thoughts of when our now middle aged sons were little ones, opening their train sets and scooters and Action Man toys!
    Hives are for bees, Elaine. May yours depart quickly!

    Reply
  2. Susan Avatar
    Susan

    We made a point of being very quiet this year, no big family dinner, no one staying over, and I have to confess that both I and my husband are so relaxed and enjoying it this year. Christmas just for us……that said, if grandparents lived closer (on both sides live far away), I would expect them to be here.
    I laughed at your description of the gifts to your granddaughters and how the favourite is the specialized box, and brush!! That’s how it is with kids, they like their own things, marked for them. And the description of the sleepless parents and teething. I’m so thankful my youngest is 8 now. All the young stuff is over!
    Happy Holidays Elaine, and I hope the rest of your rash disappears completely very shortly.

    Reply
  3. Jane Avatar
    Jane

    Glad you know the source of the trouble. Hope it works its way out of your system soon.

    Reply
  4. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    daughter in Oz was in a house full of ex pats and those away from their family and she sounded as if she was having a good time but when she spoke to us later Kathryn got vry tearful. She is planning on coming home for Christmas next year which will be WONDERFUL. Yes glad to be home and nice and quiet

    Reply
  5. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Love it!!

    Reply
  6. Pam - Travellin' Penguin Avatar
    Pam – Travellin’ Penguin

    With all of our family overseas I find Christmas is a host of lost memories and I have to work very hard to not become very sad. But this year it was a simple summer lunch at home, weather a bit variable and we had good friends over. All of the “orphans” from other countries hang out together on days like this. Enjoyed reading about your day but sounds exhausting. No wonder you’re happy to be back in your quiet little cave again at home. Sounds cozy.

    Reply
  7. susan Avatar
    susan

    Lovely lovely for you to spend Christmas morning with the wee ones. I’m currently basking in the utter utter joy of Christmas mornings with the grandsons, the oldest now being 8.
    Yes, the toothbrush as the favourite present. That’s so telling, isn’t it?
    The present most loved by the 5-year-old and played with the entire morning? A cheesy little something (no idea what to call it) about the size of a flattened lime which, when you push the buttons, you get a line from Star Wars (6 lines in all). This is a movie released when his mother was 2 years old. But oh, the attraction of “Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.” Or, “We’re doomed” played 100 times in succession.

    Reply
  8. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    Jane – a week ago I was given a tin of scented talcum powder by a friend of mine who was given it and did not want it. I use talc a lot, but usually stick with baby powder. Within seven hours of using this powder liberally it started, the itching, the burning sensation and the hives. I am taking anti histamines and it is now almost gone. It has taken a while because with the talc I feel the powder permeated my skin and may have gone into my bloodstream hence the severity of the attack.
    It has not quite gone, I can feel an incipient itch lurking but another few days should see it off, hopefullu.
    the talc has gone and am back to Johnsons!!

    Reply
  9. Elaine Avatar
    Elaine

    I think when you have young children it is all too much expectation and the parents want to make it perfect and with that comes anxiety and worry. We sat round the table with a lovely lunch, which James cooked to perfection, Beatrice chuckling in her bouncy chair, Florence tucking into the stuffing which she loved (was amazed at how much she put away) and it was wonderful.
    I have lost an uncle and two close friends this year so I thought of them on the Day and wished they were still with us.
    The visit to FC sounds lovely. We had a more commercial visit at the Westfield centre at Stratford but the staff there went to great lengths to organise it and was done well and Florence loved it.

    Reply
  10. Jane Avatar
    Jane

    A thought: are the hives related to London, be it stress on the drive, or different washing powder on sheets?

    Reply
  11. ctussaud Avatar
    ctussaud

    I remember the bitter exhaustion well! Only in recent years have I begun to enjoy Christmas again, probably because I can now choreograph it the way I think it should be. Central, for me, is the gathering of family and friends around the table. This Christmas we had sadly lost one of our number, who had been coming since 1997. Jim, we miss you.
    Bonnie came and helped me decorate the tree, and the next day we went and saw Father Christmas in Kew. It was done so well, and simply; a storeroom (I assume) under the Princess of Wales Conservatory had been turned into the grotto, and we went in in large groups with the children sitting on the floor in front of the mummies. FC talked about coming to see them all at Christmas, and about his reindeer, and we all sang Rudolph the RNRD. There was no charge for this, it was nice that the children went in groups and not one at a time to sit on a strange person’s lap, and the Kew staff had gone to great lengths to make the grotto and its approach really attractive. I hope we can make this tree decorating/Kew visit a regular thing in the lead-up to Christmas.

    Reply

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