Due to the current economic climate

the light at the end of the end of the tunnel

has been switched off!

Merry Christmas to everyone out there! And a happy boxing day! Anyone else feel that although Christmas is great, it seems an awful lot of organisation, hassle and flying around tryng to shop for world and his uncle, for one single day that is over in an instant? Don't get me wrong I love Christmas and we had a good day, but I am so exhausted that my body gave up and I am now suffering from the yearly horror that is 'THE COLD'. Yes, despite plying myself with Vitamin C, echinachea, and evening primrose oil; and consuming mountains of clementines; I am snotting right, left and centre, coughing, spluttering and have severely congested sinuses - not pretty (good job D made Christmas dinner!)

So far we have played 'Elefun'; with the fairy wonderland; with the 'Jungle in my Pocket'; on the 'V-Tech V-Smile'; with the Dora stickers; the craft sets; have watched Tinkerbell and Sleeping Beauty DVD; worn the Cinderella pyjamas and the matching skirt and top from NZ; we have eaten chocolates and turkey in excess, but not together; listened to Ali's kids CD player with sing along microphones - which was interesting - Ali did an encouragable version of 'Henrietta the Dancing Hippopotamus which cracked us all up; we have made things with pipe-cleaners; read Dora books; cuddled soft toys in abundance; listened to Christmas music; spoken to friends and family; and now, with Ali asleep in bed, we are all completely exhausted and have collapsed on the sofa - unmovable.

I simply cant wait to be well again to hit the sales - however inevitably everything descent will be gone again by the time I get anywhere near the shopping centre. Illness, all work and no play is making Jen a very dull girl.........

Christmas-ness and parenting politics!

So - yesterday afternoon on collecting my daughter from nursery, among all the 'art work' and letters I was given to take home, there was a list of all the children in her class. One can only assume that this means she is supposed to give out Christmas cards - at 3 and 1/2???? She has received some already, but this year I was considering giving to charity rather than distributing Christmas cards. Never mind, I am sure Ali will love it - choosing them and trying to write her name in them. It's whether I have the patience however, as cards are not my most favourite part of the 'festive season'. But the very cheek of it. Is it now expected of me? If I don't will Ali be thought less of? Will I forever be known as the 'incompetent parent'? The 'politics of parenting', they should teach this in school as part of 'Personal and social education' I think. And I thought that actually physically taking care of children would be the hardest part of parenting.

So lets see...I have a grand total of 7 days to organise these Christmas cards; in amongst working full time; organising this tip that is my home - while D works all hours trying to keep the leisure centre cafe afloat; completing the practical and essay for my 'Facilitating learning in practice' course; and of course organising a talk/presentation about being a midwife to 2 classes of 25+ GCSE students (a favour called in from a colleague of my mothers who once tutored me at no cost). Damn, I really am pushing it this time. Too much in such a short space of time. I have a sneaky feeling I will be one of the people rushing around the metro centre the weekend before Christmas trying to finish of my Xmas shopping - a little last minute.

Last night we bought and dressed our Christmas tree. Another real one because I just love the smell, although this one is not in a pot so may die before we even get to Christmas knowing my track record with plants. I bought a stand for it that will hold water - just have to be on the ball and water it now. My touch of OCD shone through as Ali was putting on the decorations and I was moving them about to ensure they were all spread out enough. And of course certain decorations had to be in certain places. I think I am getting worse each year. Myself and D are like ships that pass in the night again too. He comes in at 7pm and I got out to work at 7.30pm. Maybe this is the secret to maintaining a relationship - never seeing each other! We both have the day off Saturday so we will have to make the most of it.

It's pretty - but will mess with your life and your mind!

I hate the snow! My nerves are in tatters following a very traumatic day of simply trying to go about my business among the 6+ inches of snow plaguing my world. Why are we always so unprepared to deal with the snow? Even though I knew there was six inches of snow on my driveway, and that the path my fiance had cleared for my car to pull out into was now very much none existent; I still left no extra time when I needed to get Ali to her school Christmas performance. A wealth of curses I didn't even know I could say and a multitude of aggressive screams ensued, as I lept from the car and started frantically digging my car a clearing to follow. Having advanced no more than half a metre I had to make a hard right in reverse to get my car from its car parking space. First challenge over I slowly reversed down the drive repeating D's parting words of that morning 'reverse out of the driveway onto the main road, do not try and turn to come out forwards, you will get stuck'. I'm reversing, I'm reversing, slowly reversing, almost at the main road.......car skids, does 180, bonnet heading for neighbours wall - shit shit shit, braking not working, lump of snow halts and saves my car, about 4cm from wall - literally. Breath, breath, breath, stop swearing, stop swearing, Ali listening. After a moment to allow my pulse rate to triple, the reversing began again and it was 50-50 whether I would actually go backwards or continue forwards into the wall. By some miracle or guardian angel we made it out onto the main road and to school. Sliding, almost, into a space in the school ice-rink...er I mean car park...I made an executive decision to then abandon my car and go on foot into town for a hot chocolate while waiting for the school performance to begin. There is only so much 'car on ice skates' I can take.

Christmas play. Very cute. Ali was a donkey - as was the rest of her class???? So approximately 26 donkeys took Mary to Bethlehem, where they inhabited a stable and baby Jesus was born - to have one of the 3 kings throw Mur at him. Ha ha, I love the unpredictability of kids. Ali looked exhausted after yet another night of terrors haunting us all, but she joined in and did her part just fabulously. Yes, my daughter was an excellent donkey. (Sporting the various shades of grey clothing cobbled together from Primark so as not to break the bank - why would little girls have grey clothes? I could have easily done white angel, or tea towel clad Shepard. Nope it was grey donkey, of which they informed me two days prior to the performance - what?).

Other challenges which currently have me stumped include cropping the photos to go into the calenders I am compiling as family Christmas presents (last year all my photos were 'landscape' anyway so fit the calenders perfectly, this year they all seem to be 'portrait' and are laughing incessantly at me chanting "figure this one out, and quickly, because its nearly Christmas, and you have probably already missed to final post date to family in NZ"). Also having made no start to either the work required for my mentorship course or the presentation on 'being a midwife' I am doing for some high school kids for a friend (yes you heard that right - they are going to shoot me down), I am now panicking as the clock ticks away to the deadline for both. And of course there is the small matter of Christmas shopping of which I have completed about 1% (ie. Ali's presents). Christmas of course is followed promptly by D's 50th - any ideas will be greatly received. And who the hell told me that being cold burns calories - because I am bloody freezing and putting on more sodding weight. Ground swallow me up.