Plugging in the Christmas Machine.

In actual fact all my concerns this year about making Christmas something different were unnecessary. Throw in a pile of germs, mix them around four different people and hey presto you have unplugged the Christmas machine. Some of it I could still weep over. Our little girl missed being an angel in the school nativity. She had been so excited about her part and had learned all the song words. On the day of the performances she lay listless on the sofa, hacking her little lungs, not caring one tiny jot. Now however back to her normal self she is giving us impromptu performances and trying to understand that it has all been and gone.
Two days before Christmas the kids and I made a mad dash round the charity shops to pick up a few wee openers for folks. I did not have the energy to hit the big stores even if we wanted to. The kids actually got into the swing of it hunting for "treasure" and ticking off a list, not to be overly organised just because Mum's brain was still too fuddled to cope with any level of remembering. Fortunately the family were very understanding about the treasure. It makes me feel good that all our shopping was donating to important causes. And I do have to say that we gave out six copies of "Change the world for a fiver"! Great book.
I had been determined to wrap our presents in a good ol' eco way this year and germs or no germs I remained determined. Tough to find affordable nice recycled wrapping paper. So I saw this great idea in a book I had been browsing thru. Classic brown paper with some string and other Christmassy stuff. Well, thanks to Sarah and Andrea, who are both "no sooner said than done" people I nearly ended up with enough brown paper to wrap everything for my entire life. Some pine cones from St Andrew's which I painted gold and a fantastic deal on ribbon, green and gold from the Shelter shop. Our gifts looked fab and that is no word of a lie! I am now on the hunt to build up a supply of ribbon and buttons. I may become a professional wrapper.
I guess best of all this Christmas was Christmas itself, starting with the Christmas Eve Carol service. Remembering that God chose to send his son to be born in a stable, God all powerful, chose to have his son live with the ordinary folks, and chose to announce the extraordinary message in an extraordinary way to some shepherds, yet more ordinary folks. God cares. He chose not to be distant then and not to be distant now.
And our children just loved all their presents. There was no disappointment at the lack of Santa bringing a Nintendo there was just real excitement.
And we played and we ate. We enjoyed family and friends, and we have needed many naps since.

A dilema!

OK I know you probably want to read about all things Christmassy but that is just not where we are at just now. Our house is currently under quarantine. We are flying the Jolly Plague flag. Each one of us has been real unwell this week And the littler boy has just started us off, please no, on round two.
So can house which has seen it's fair share of vomit, an unbelievable amount of snot and other such matters, be cleaned with soap, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar? Why does everything in me want to reach for the bleach and the antibacterial spray?

We have some serious work to do but we are trying.

"Mummy, I wrote a letter to Santa today"

"Oh, did you?"

"Yes, Mummy. I have asked him for a Nintendo DS."

"Ohhhhh. Well I'm not sure that Santa will think that a Nintendo DS is a good thing for a little girl to have"

"Well, Mummy it is not up to you. It's between Santa and me and I am not talking to you about it anymore."

OUCH!!

We are working hard to unplug the Christmas machine but I am really happy to say that our house looks like a serious Christmas throw up! We put our tree up today (artificial so I do not have the tension of chopping down something that is living and breathing altho I love a real tree.) and so much junky good stuff. We have the Santa Homer, it is a big favourite. We have the singing reindeer, the whole orchestra of Carol singing animals and so much more. The kids had an enormous time.
We have not yet bought any presents yet. We will be shopping soon. We have trimmed our lists and cut our budgets and we feel good about that. We plan to spend some serious time enjoying the whole Christmas season. And today, please do not tell anyone, we did not go the the school Christmas Fayre. I just figured that it would be spending money on other peoples junk which would become ours in order to give money to a school which is already so well supported. I loved staying at home and spending the time with the kids, just us.