Monday, December 18, 2006

That goose must be a bloater by now...

You know the one:

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat,
Please put a penny in the old man's hat.
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do.
If you haven't got a ha'penny then God bless you.

Well, Christmas must be coming. It was Ciara's eighth birthday yesterday, so * today the Christmas decorations went up. The children all came in from school and said, "Ah, isn't it pretty!", including the two little girls I 'borrow' most days, which was nice, but I think I exert too much control even over the decorating of the house.

Like, noone helps.

They're not allowed to.

They might make it look a mess.

Then I realised it's a bit formal. And Christmas only appears to be in the lounge.

Might have to loosen up a bit.

* I like Ciara to have her birthday with no Christmas intrusions, then on the 18th December, she can put her cards in her bedroom and Christmas decends upon the household. Well, in the lounge apparently.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You see, you're a step ahead of me on the learning curve. I still have "good ideas" about things a good mummy would do with her 4-year-old... except when it's me doing them it involves an awful lot of shouting because he doesn't do it "right"... Just accepting from the start that I should do it all myself would be a big step forwards!

Ruth said...

I echo Anne - Michael was very eager to help decorate. I had visions of a relaxing afternoon with my children, spent gaily decking the halls with bows of holly - Kings College Cambridge singing in the background. What we had instead was just lots of shouting! (Isabel was expelled from the living room within seconds)!

And if they 're-decorate' the tree one more time, it's coming down!

Where do your children stand in relation to father Christmas (if you see what I mean)?

Louise said...

You mean, do they 'know' about Father Christmas?

Rhiannon has several friends with older siblings who 'know', so she does too. I think she also 'let slip' to Ciara, who told Aedan, so there's just Conall and I don't think he's in on the secret. Yet.

Still, won't be long before I'll be able to do the wrapping before Christmas Eve, (because I'll remember to do them/not find the ones I hid too well at the last minute...) throw them under the tree well in advance and get to bed before midnight, hurrah! Can't wait till I've had a good night's sleep and am in a good enough mood to actually enjoy Christmas.

Amusing moment last year when 'Santa' must have 'dropped a present on the way in'. I knew Rhiannon should have had a CD, but it hadn't been unwrapped. A quick check behind the freezer in the garage and there it was. Ooops.

"Father Christmas comes in through the garage because he won't fit down the gas fire flue."

Good thinking, daddy. No magic Santas here!

Ruth said...

Chuckle!

I did a bit of Christmas shopping way back in the summer as a local toy store was closing down and everything was half price. I came to do some wrapping the other evening and realised that I have purchased the same game twice and the same book twice!

Never mind - they'll do as birthday presents for someone during the year ahead..... and I am blond. (Should blond have an 'e' on the end of it....?!!!)

Louise said...

As a blonde woman, yes, but I am a tad pedantic!

I was wrapping yesterday and discovered a few more under the bed that I'd forgotten about. Thank goodness I bought extra paper this year!

Christmas has started to look a shade dodgy in our house, David dear appears to have a touch of gastroenteritis, (don't usually get tummy bugs in this house, new one on me) but I have cast iron guts, so maybe I'll get a turkey to myself while everyone else suffers. Ooo, champagne too. Yum.