Christmas and New Year
Dec. 31st, 2004 11:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deborah_c... mostly in summary for the hard-of-thinking, which this evening definitely includes me!
Christmas Eve spent doing last minute shopping, wrapping presents, playing with over-excited children and with Liz diving out to a counselling appointment. My parents arrived late-ish on Christmas Eve to stay. We'd spent a fairly pleasant evening making final preparations, getting some of the cooking sorted out for the morning and watching (most of) Chocolat; once they arrived we caught up with each other's news for a while before I went out to Midnight Mass at LSM...
... which was utterly wonderful. The church was packed, the atmosphere magical. I had been in two minds as to whether to go -- feeling very tired and with a busy day ahead -- but I'm so glad I went. An oasis of calm, a wonderful start to Christmas proper, and a salutary reminder as to what it's really about. Came home, stuffed turkey, and fell into bed, to sleep very soundly
... if briefly. Bounced on by even more excited children at 7am, opened stockings (I had some nice body lotion and a satsuma from Father Christmas), put the dinner in the oven, and out to the local church (where the rest of the family go) as a family for the first time. A rather less sedate service, which the children particularly enjoyed; we saw and wished Happy Christmas to lots of friends from the village, which was lovely. It was good to see so many people streaming through the village, walking to church there as well.
Back home for lunch (roast turkey, sausages, stuffing, brussels in riesling, carrots, roast potatoes, parsnips unfortunately completely forgotten!) which was only about half an hour later than I'd planned, slightly to my surprise. Played pictionary with children and did a quiz on children's books with them until we were ready to open presents. Children at fever pitch by this point, and apparently delighted with their presents (profuse, mostly due to my parents!); I got an origami calendar from a friend, which I'm looking forward to using shortly, and a nice new skirt and a pewter brooch from mum and dad. Then a quiet evening in talking and gently grazing on leftovers...
Out to Milton Country Park on Boxing Day morning, for a walk with some friends, who also happen to be the children's godparents. Lovely to see them -- the parents live in Cambridge, but we haven't seen much of them particularly since we left our old church (where they also go), and their daughter now lives in Leeds, so it's difficult to see her and her husband terribly often. Mum and Dad stayed for lunch and then headed home to get ready for visitors the following day.
The remainder of the holiday's been mostly spent in and around the house. We ventured out for a book-shopping trip, since the children had book tokens to spend, returning with an enormous pile which they've now mostly read. I succumbed to temptation and bought Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norris, although I haven't yet started it, which is most unlike me. We've had the great pleasure of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
daemongirl's company for the last day; a lovely time chatting into the middle of the night last night, watching Muppet Treasure Island (in which Polly the Lobster scared her) and The Matrix (in which I squeaked a lot and hid in return). Liz had another counselling appointment this afternoon, so Rachel and I took the girls to spend pocket money at Boots, raided the makeup counters, and then wandered back past Lush, into which we inadvertently fell in... She headed off a little later to oedipamaas49's party, while I returned home where Liz's mum has been with us for the evening. I've been generally looking after them this evening, and getting a few bits and pieces done, so not been out, but I hope to be able to get to the tail of one of the several parties to which I've been asked in a little while, once Liz and her mum head for bed :-)
So: a wonderful New Year to you all. It's been a generally amazing year for me, if something of an emotional rollercoaster, and I hope next year is at least as good at the last, for us, and for all of you!
Christmas Eve spent doing last minute shopping, wrapping presents, playing with over-excited children and with Liz diving out to a counselling appointment. My parents arrived late-ish on Christmas Eve to stay. We'd spent a fairly pleasant evening making final preparations, getting some of the cooking sorted out for the morning and watching (most of) Chocolat; once they arrived we caught up with each other's news for a while before I went out to Midnight Mass at LSM...
... which was utterly wonderful. The church was packed, the atmosphere magical. I had been in two minds as to whether to go -- feeling very tired and with a busy day ahead -- but I'm so glad I went. An oasis of calm, a wonderful start to Christmas proper, and a salutary reminder as to what it's really about. Came home, stuffed turkey, and fell into bed, to sleep very soundly
... if briefly. Bounced on by even more excited children at 7am, opened stockings (I had some nice body lotion and a satsuma from Father Christmas), put the dinner in the oven, and out to the local church (where the rest of the family go) as a family for the first time. A rather less sedate service, which the children particularly enjoyed; we saw and wished Happy Christmas to lots of friends from the village, which was lovely. It was good to see so many people streaming through the village, walking to church there as well.
Back home for lunch (roast turkey, sausages, stuffing, brussels in riesling, carrots, roast potatoes, parsnips unfortunately completely forgotten!) which was only about half an hour later than I'd planned, slightly to my surprise. Played pictionary with children and did a quiz on children's books with them until we were ready to open presents. Children at fever pitch by this point, and apparently delighted with their presents (profuse, mostly due to my parents!); I got an origami calendar from a friend, which I'm looking forward to using shortly, and a nice new skirt and a pewter brooch from mum and dad. Then a quiet evening in talking and gently grazing on leftovers...
Out to Milton Country Park on Boxing Day morning, for a walk with some friends, who also happen to be the children's godparents. Lovely to see them -- the parents live in Cambridge, but we haven't seen much of them particularly since we left our old church (where they also go), and their daughter now lives in Leeds, so it's difficult to see her and her husband terribly often. Mum and Dad stayed for lunch and then headed home to get ready for visitors the following day.
The remainder of the holiday's been mostly spent in and around the house. We ventured out for a book-shopping trip, since the children had book tokens to spend, returning with an enormous pile which they've now mostly read. I succumbed to temptation and bought Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norris, although I haven't yet started it, which is most unlike me. We've had the great pleasure of
daemongirl's company for the last day; a lovely time chatting into the middle of the night last night, watching Muppet Treasure Island (in which Polly the Lobster scared her) and The Matrix (in which I squeaked a lot and hid in return). Liz had another counselling appointment this afternoon, so Rachel and I took the girls to spend pocket money at Boots, raided the makeup counters, and then wandered back past Lush, into which we inadvertently fell in... She headed off a little later to oedipamaas49's party, while I returned home where Liz's mum has been with us for the evening. I've been generally looking after them this evening, and getting a few bits and pieces done, so not been out, but I hope to be able to get to the tail of one of the several parties to which I've been asked in a little while, once Liz and her mum head for bed :-)So: a wonderful New Year to you all. It's been a generally amazing year for me, if something of an emotional rollercoaster, and I hope next year is at least as good at the last, for us, and for all of you!
