Waiting for Santa

We are staying in Himself's old home tonight, and my internet connection is a little bit confused about the change. So I'm a bit worried about trying to post this, but I'll try anyway!
I was told on Tuesday, that I'd be working today. Thankfully I was in for only four hours, so I had time to finish off my shopping and wrapping before work. I ran around the town like a headless chicken, but managed to get everything done.



Himself is the head wrapper in our family.
Another masterpiece of present-wrapping is on the way!

All done! Winnie The Pooh -paper was obviously picked by me.

The Jaffa Cakes are for my adopted son, who loves everything sweet with chocolate. (There's a little label on the packet and everything... ) We got him some proper presents as well, don't worry!

The Christmas tree in all it's glory in Himself's homeplace.
Someone must have been good this year!
I can't wait to see what Santa brought me. Naughty or nice, that is the question... :)

Hope you all have a great Christmas!

It's not easy to be Santa's little helper...

I stayed up too late again last night.

Somehow I hadn't really realised what date it was, until yesterday. I looked at a poster of an upcoming gig on the wall of our local chipper and started frantically counting with my fingers. (This was about five minutes after I woke up and before my first cup of tea, so my brain wasn't working at all) Himself then gently confirmed that it was indeed two days to Christmas Eve.

What is a girl to do? Instead of finishing up my shopping or wrapping the last presents, I went to the cinema with my friend, who I hadn't seen in a while. I wanted to do something with her before we'd all start spending some family time.
After that we had a bite to eat and obviously had to talk about the movie. (Verdict: Not impressed.)

And suddenly it was 12.30. She went home, I turned on my computer. Then I noticed I want to wash my hair. Then I got an idea and started to do some Secret Santa Business. (Can't go into detail, in case Himself reads this before he gets his presents...) Then it was 2.30. And I went to bed.

And woke up at around 8 to find the other side of the bed empty. Himself had been gigging again on the previous night, and I was expecting him home around 3. So you can imagine my panic! (Irish people can't deal with frost on the roads while driving, the roads are just horrible, etc.) I checked my phone, ran into the sitting room... And found Himself sleeping on the sofa.
Moved him to the bedroom, and as per usual, he fell asleep straight away. I stayed awake.

When I finally drifted into sleep, the pub next door started rolling beer kegs in. So loudly, that the door, windows and the mirror next to our bed were rattling. And then my Father called. He still hasn't grasped the meaning of time difference and keeps calling on random times, almost always before I'm even close to waking up.

So maybe I've learned something from this and will do my preparations earlier next year. Or maybe I'll just start turning off my phone before I go to bed!

Christmas party

The party is over and it went well. At the end we got 11 guests, which in our case means a full house. We had people sitting on a beanbag, fold-up chairs and empty crates. And the sofa and armchairs were quite full indeed. Himself went overboard with the fire, so we had to open the windows and even the door.

I woke up nice and early in the morning, to give myself time to prepare everything. But I ended up enjoying my cup of tea and Himself wanted to watch "just a few more minutes" of Runaway jury. Then he got a call from his former teacher, who wanted to show a painting he had just finished after years of work.

At the end we got everything done. I have to admit that I cheated a bit with the party foods... I made some pastries with rice mix, tuna and soft cheese with garlic and herbs. I don't have any pictures of them, because they weren't that pretty looking. They tasted lovely though! :) The rest of the food was unfortunately shop-bought, but went down well anyway.

My lovely Polish friend came in before the crowds arrived, and I made us some mulled wine. We had a lovely and relaxing time, good chat and a bit of music in the background.





Brian came in with a big bag of Christmas crackers. I was so excited, since it was the first time I ever got to pull one! I got a tiny motorbike from mine. And of course the bad jokes found from the crackers had to be read aloud!






More Christmas cracker surprises. Cara making a jigsaw, her glass of wine forgotten.




After the puzzle was done, Cara started looking for new challenges. She found a pen, and set up a improvised "tattoo-station". She does all sorts of designs for living, so we had a professional using our skins as her canvas.






And this is the result, signed by the artist. My arm is in full bloom. :)












The last guests left at five in the morning, so I'm a little bit tired today. But it was definitely worth it!

Season of colds and busy better halves

Himself dug up the Christmas records again. A few weeks ago. He says it's because he needs to re-learn the songs for gigs, but I think he secretly likes them. A particular favourite of his is the one with Tom Jones and your one going on about the weather outside.
The only Christmas-related song I like is Fairytale of New York, mainly because it's not really a Christmas song at all. It's refreshing to hear a bit of strong language and drama to balance out all the talk about nicely behaved children, Santa and his little helpers.

So, you probably already figured out I'm not the biggest fan of this season. When I tell this to people, they look at me as if I just told them I like throwing rotten eggs at little old ladies.
There is a reason for my dislike. For me, the idea of this time of the year stopped being pleasant when I was about 5. Christmas was about having to choose between parents, causing stress and guilt. Later I had to try to explain to various relatives, why I did things a certain way. And so on.

My best Christmas so far was few years back, when due to work reasons I didn't have to see any lights, trees or decorations. Then I met himself, and suddenly Crimbo came back into my life. See, my better half is quite traditional. He considers the idea of spending Christmas abroad strange and actually likes putting up a tree. So, last Christmas I gave it a go. And, unfortunately, still didn't like it.

Himself is in his element, busy gigging and playing Christmas songs to drunken and very, very merry people.
I, on the other hand, am busy blowing my nose, looking for my woolly socks and making tea.
And soon it's time for me to decorate myself with the biggest fake smile and a look of polite interest.

Or I could always get a few drinks into myself and sing The Pogues. Now there's an idea.

All together now: "It's Chrrrristmas eeeeeve babe, in the drunk tank...".