Anyone else's Christmas been "fleurgh"?

[piskieinboots]

........Poached egg on crumpet is a new one to me.

with marmite - uuummmmmm

[Glutton4...]

Awww, sorry so many Grapes have had a bad or sad festive break, or no break at all

There I was feeling sorry for myself (we don't 'do' prezzies, which is fine till I don't get any LOL and I usually buy myself sommat I've wanted, but can't afford it this year), and I read this thread and find loads of sad people that are missing lost Rellies and others are having to put up with Rellies they'd rather not see! So, thank you all for putting things into perspective, it's easy to get melancholy when all the 'hype' gets thrust upon us this time of year.

Why do the nice Rellies 'leave' us and the old &%£$*@'s live forever!

Plus, I rehomed a load of Chookies that were destined for the pot - so that's my bestest prezzie - even though I had to pay for it myself!

Here's to a fantastic 2010 - Cheers!

[SlugLobber]

Ooh Glutton, we saved a Bronze and White Turkey on Christmas Eve. Very close...apparently Chris was dreading picking the lucky one out, but this little girlie came up and pecked his shoes and practically jumped into the cage. She's VERY cute and chirpy!

lol at the 'Visitor'. I had a visitor arrive too. Humph!

[pigletwillie]

We had a cracker, 16 round the table and a proper craic. I wish I had more than 3 days off.

[BarleySugar]

Sorry for all those who were ill, or who had ill rellies. I know what it's like, especially if you've put a lot of planning in place. As many have said, Bean won't remember, it's the later ones that will be the milestones for him, though maybe not so important for you.

OH said it was the best Christmas Day he'd had for ages. The kids (17, 19 and 21) were all quietly occupied playing yugio cards or painting Warhammer models, he listened to DVDs and I planned a gardening project. Dinner went like clockwork, I said we'd eat at 3, it was on the table for 2.58, and I didn't forget anything.

We'd visited Mum on Christmas Eve, she was happy to see us, remembered everyone, although was down at being in the nursing home for Christmas. Son No1 was a bit reluctant as he was worried about what changes he'd see since he went off back to uni, but he came. Afterwards we spent the evening with my brother and his wife, a good time catching up on all the news.
My 2 sisters went to see Mum on Christmas Day, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. At the morning visit they brought round sherry for everyone, and my sister was invited to stay for dinner. If my nephew had managed to get himself out of bed to visit his Gran, they could have had dinner with her. My sister is a JW so doesn't do Christmas as such, but would have been happy to stay with Mum a bit longer.

When I visited on Sunday it coincided with my eldest brother, who lives a way away so can't get there very often. Mum was in fine form, told us all that had happened, bemoaning they only gave one sherry but couldn't remember our names . Tis the way it goes, but it was such a relief she'd had a good time and that she remembered.

Now I'm feeling a bit low, Son No1 has gone back, to be with mates for New Year, and everyone else is still in bed. I intended to get on with marking and prep for next week, instead I'm on the vine Must make more effort to work!

[lettucegrow!]

Great christmas day here, although very tired with all the run up to it.Quick visit to BIL in the morning and then swift few in the local with our grown up kids. Meat cooked the night before and all veg prepared. Just had to cook veg. while we all opened pressies together. Didn't eat till 5.30 but by then everyone was really hungry. I can't do times on christmas day- it's ready when it's on the table!
Now we're just doing nothing! OH just wants to veg. no conversation,no moving about! I'm going down the garden centre to see if there's any bargains.

[Rhona]

Soz...I'm catching up a bit. Really sorry to hear you had a 'flat' one. That's so disappointing for you all, especially when you're been all excited about it. I really hope you're feeling better fizzickly, and consoled a bit by the fact that Hayden will not have been at all affected by the whole thing, except that Daddy's been around instead of at silly old work, and that'll have been his bestest Christmas pressie of all...

[janeyo]

Sorry to hear that HW but am sure it can only get better. Especially toywise as my OH sys they get better as the boys get older. The 5 yr old had loads of playmobil and a scalextric this year!

Ours was quiet, had 10 for dinner instead of 12. I had so much stress a few years ago when I used to do dinner for 1pm and then a buffet in the evening. I hated not being able to enjoy watching the children open all their things. So last year I changed things - shock horror! and we now have people arrive from 3pm, and they muck in (well my mum does anyway lol), and dinner is at 5ish. Nobody needs anything later to eat but I have cheese and biscuits and xmas cake ready just in case.

This year everyone had gone by 10pm as mum has a big 'do' on Boxing day and had loads to do for it. So I was a bit deflated when they had gone. And thos 'dead' days around now are always a bit odd!

To be honest I find new Year more deflating as I can never quite see what I am meant to be celebrating - one year over and the start of another exactly the same...

[julesapple]

For years & years, we used to stress ourselves to high do, with huge amounts of Christmas shopping, starting in October, loads of visitors (we're the only ones with enough space) and enough food to feed an army, with enough cooking to match. Stress trying to make sure visitors were fed/comfy/amused/satisfied etc etc.

Then, one year, for lots of reasons, we didn't have visitors. Oh. What do we do? How do we play this new situation? I was incredibly depressed - everything was going to be awful. Just horrible.

But no. It was the best day ever. We threw the Christmas dinner open to suggestions - steak BBQ was settled on and is now de rigeur. No messy cooking, hardly any dishes and everyone is happy. It's all very relaxed, don't have to stress over guests, the kids are older and we just do whatever the heck we feel like. It's fabulous, I love it.

This Christmas I was a bit stressed because we cut down drastically on the kids' pressies spending - we had no choice, there's a recession on. That aside, they are all getting a bit too old to expect half of Santa's Workshop. I need not have worried, they were great about it. Silly me.

Another new thing was buying some sky lanterns from ebay and setting them off on the beach at midnight on Christmas Eve. It was a bitingly cold night, crisp and clear. We took flasks and choccies, and had a great time - the kids even forgot to argue, how cool is that?!

This year we have been married a long long time, and we're going to do the sky lantern thing for our wedding anniversary in February. One day, in years to come, I hope we can share it with our grandchildren.

Jules

PS Next Christmas Bean will have more idea what it's about - it'll be tonnes better...just you wait and see. Make sure you read The Polar Express (the original version) to him.

[kirsty b]

Jules- those sky lanterns sound fab and have just given me a brilliant idea.....

Christmas was a bit flat for the whole family due to recent events, so we all chose to stay in our own homes this year and all have a quiet day. Money was tight, which is always a bit stressy but the kids were all happy with what they were given.
Got home from work, opened pressies then fell asleep in the bath, so turkey was a bit overdone, but no disasters thankfully.

I'm ready to make 2010 a good year, by concentrating on happy, not heartbreaking memories and looking forward to the good times to come.

[julesapple]

Kirsty, the sky lanterns are truly magical - even my far-too-grown-up-to-be-doing-this-but-I'm-humouring-you 24 year old loved them!

I bought these;

20 x SKY LANTERNS NIGHT LIGHTS KHOOM FAY UFO BALLOONS on eBay (end time 03-Jan-10 14:40:39 GMT)

'scuse the huge link!

Have fun!

Jules

[Two_Sheds]

those sky lanterns sound fab

Better buy them before they're banned: they've been associated with deaths of animals (by swallowing the wires) and even people, in fires started by them

[Newbie]

Sorry to hear you all have not had the Christmas you wanted for whatever reason, seems like we've all had our fill of it over the festive period. I too expected great things this year as i was 30 the week before & had a lovely party at home for friends & neighbours which was a huge success, many of the neighbours hadn't had the chance to meet each other before properly.

The following day my Dad had a heart attack though & i had to call an ambulance out for him (M&D normally live 200miles away & were staying over the xmas period) so the week upto Christmas was spent visiting him in hospital every day. He was released however on Christmas eve afternoon having had an angio & 2 stents put in the day before.

So although he's not out of the woods yet & will take a good few weeks to get back up to health, he was able to spend Christmas with us all & that was the best gift ever.

[kirsty b]

Better buy them before they're banned: they've been associated with deaths of animals (by swallowing the wires) and even people, in fires started by them

Not good. Will have a re-think.

[julesapple]

Not good. Will have a re-think.

In a reply to the Guardian article, someone suggested tethering them with thread. We still have quite a few of our boxful to use, so I'm going to try this out, then maybe I can control where they go and dispose of the waste sensibly.

Providing the debris can be collected, then there is still some fun to be had. Otherwise the Guardianistas will have every scrap of fun from our lives.

I've just shown the article to my OH. He thinks the two wire cross pieces can easily be relaced using bamboo skewers, so we'll try one after supper. Maybe that'll be a greener, safer option?

Jules