How'd it go for you? Was it all you wanted with family and friends all round you (including the ones you can't get rid of no matter how hard you try?) or playing with new gifts or eating too much or sleeping in front of the telly? Or all of the above?

Yea, me too.

It would be too boring for words if I were to launch in to a blow by blow account of what all happened. Suffice to say we had too much food prepared on Christmas Day despite me not cooking the FOURTH type of stuffing that was provided and us still having enough left-overs in the fridge to feed a small country for a week.

I always feel cheated at Christmas after all the tv advertising of wonderful programs which are going to be shown but which I never seem to get to see due to the timing of them all. Christmas films may as well not be aired, as far as I am concerned, until well in to January as there are too many people visiting or people to visit for me to see them . . . Some day Santa will bring Sky Plus.

I have been able to stay up really late at night to catch Band of Brothers which I had never seen before and which I am loving.

The big news of the holidays was the surprise last minute purchase of two Guinea Pigs as presents for the children. I think my words to Iain before he went off in search of *beasties* were "Get a hamster or something but not rats and not guinea pigs cos I hate them.* He came back with two male (brothers) guinea pigs and within 3 minutes of holding them, I have to say they are good fun. They certainly have kept Jessica's attention for a long while but Bailey has been so thrown off by them he stands to attention at their cage with his nose flat to the wire watching every single breath they take. Poor wee man.

We went to a couple of pet shops yesterday and picked up a larger cage for them and a few accessories like pockets for them to cuddle up in on your lap. Jessica's one (Chocolate) loves to climb up on to my shoulder and snuggle under my hair. David's one (Fudge) is much more forward than his brother and is always the first to go investigating when something new happens. He was much easier to pick up at the beginning and likes to lick and gently nibble your fingers to see what you taste like.

Yes, I hear myself. I never ever thought I would ever be interested enough in guinea pigs to be able to wax lyrical about them. Remind me to tell you the story about the ones I had when I was David's age. . . . They ARE cute though.

I have two frustrating pieces of news too.

I cant find my mobile phone. Haven't seen it for days - of course I didn't need it for a long time as I was at home doing family things but now I know it is missing it is annoying me. It WILL be here somewhere - it wont be totally lost but I kinda need it sometime!

The other one is the state of the internet in the house. It started playing up two weeks ago when the BT router refused to go online at all. We went on to our second router from work and it seemed a little better. A call to the broadband supplier indicated that it could be because the router was next to the Christmas Tree lights so we moved things around but finally ended up following their advice of taking the face plate off the primary BT socket and using the test socket. Internally that socket seemed quite corroded so Iain cleaned it up as best he could and put it back together. That fixed the internet but wouldn't allow the phones to work . . . . and on and on it went. We were like this for a good two weeks until it finally came to a head this morning and I logged a complaint online and then phoned it through for good measure.

The BT guy on the phone refused to send anyone out without me jumping through a few hoops which I promised we would do later.

At 14.50 the door bell rang and there was a BT repair guy standing there. Blink. Blink. Blink. By 15.10 he was gone and the problem was solved by replacing the corroded socket and the downstairs socket. He gave us a digital face plate this time which means we no longer need to use the dsl filters on any of the phones in the house.

I think it is all fixed now. Keep your fingers crossed.

That's about all for now I think. I am going back to now to sit with Jessica and play with the guinea pigs for another wee while.

See you when this bloated feeling has passed a little.

Tags: Christmas

I am soooo not meant to send any Christmas cards this year. Usually I DO get round to it sooner or later but this year there is a conspiracy working against me.

I ordered some lovely cards from moo.com and they duly arrived in plenty of time. YAY.

Running late the other night I took the box with me to the dinner meaning to write them for a couple of people there before arriving at the restaurant. I didn't get time to write them and they lay unwritten but not forgotten. (That is a great name for a memoirs blog innit? Unwritten But Not Forgotten . . . )

After the dinner I managed to write a card for Geraldine but yesterday got a text from her to say that I had left the rest of the box at her house. There is no way to get that from her in time so last night I went shopping and bought loads more to bring in to work with me today to write and send.

Yup. You've guessed it. They are still sitting on the kitchen table.

Sigh.

Tags: Christmas

Nanna and I attended the school concert this morning. It was called The Grumpy Sheep. We waited in our primary-school size chairs for the children to file on to the stage, expectantly watching for Jessica (David wasn't involved).

She marched in with everyone else and stood to attention looking straight ahead. Then. Just out of the corner of her eye. . . just ever so slightly . . . you could just make out that she was sliding her eyes around ever-so-slowly to scan the audience for us. Finally she noticed the two eejits waving frantically and managed to give a half hearted watery smile that really said "I am SO not with you two."

The concert was good in a "P1 to P4" way. Even better when the minister (he is on the Board of Governors) managed to keep the prayers down to 2 but he did do a list of Thank Yous, the length of which would have made you fall asleep.

Nanna and I were commenting on how non-plussed Jessica can be. She is very self-contained. That is what everyone says about her. She is happy in her own company. When I was brushing her hair this morning I told her I would see her in a few minutes at school. She had completely forgotten we would be there and had no need to make sure we had remembered. David, on the other hand, would have been checking every few minutes and would have stuck our tickets to the front door so we wouldn't forget them.

Jessica's laid-back approach to life is in complete contrast to the (very same) young lady who can scream blue murder if things she cares about go wrong. This would be the likes of me reaching her the wrong coloured plastic cup from the cupboard. Brushing her hair with the wrong brush. Using the wrong shampoo. Calling out her spellings in the wrong order. Not sharpening her favourite pencil quickly enough. Not waiting long enough for her to put her seat belt on (I draw the line at 15 minutes!). Actually the seat belt one is the most frequent one. And handing her clothes to put on in the WRONG. ORDER.

BAA BAA GRUMPY SHEEP!

In other news. . . It is Ikea day today. YAY. (I have taken the countdown off now as it is HERE.) Seemingly it arrived with typical Northern Ireland fever. Not much road chaos and not many in the queue. Long may it continue Most of the blogs I have read about it are scathing of the popularity of the chain. We'll see. . . .

Today I sit in front of you confident in the knowledge that I have not bought one Christmas present nor sent one card. Or bought the cards to send. Same ol' same ol' I'm going to be a busy girl next week huh?

It hasn't been a great day.

BAA BAA GRUMPY SHEEP.

Tags: Christmas, School, Concert, Jessica