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Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Friday, 26 December 2008

Been and gone......



Well, Christmas Day has been and gone, how was your's?

Our's was just perfect!

I was up at 8 a.m. to set the table, finish the trifle, make the starter, get all the crockery out for dinner.   I had prepared all the veg the day before, the turkey, ham and pork were cooked already.   I had to do all this before hand because Christmas morning at the Akelamalu house is manic!

My Dad comes on Christmas Eve to stay until Boxing Day and we take him out for a drink or two.  He was still fast asleep at 10.30 a.m. but I had to wake him up because we were expecting everyone to arrive by 11 a.m.   

Right on cue my eldest son arrived with his three children, all wanting to know if Santa had been here.  Of course he had and our lounge became a flurry of flying wrapping paper as they tore open their presents.  As we were busy picking up the wrapping my eldest brother arrived with his three children - I say children they range in age from 15 - 21.  By this time we were bringing dining chairs into the lounge so everyone had a seat.  Ten minutes later our youngest son arrived with his two boys  - more flying wrapping paper!      This enjoyable mayhem lasted until 12.30 when my brother and his family left, and our sons and the grandchildren set off to visit Granny's house (MIL's).

MWM and I rushed round to tidy up after the whirlwhind of the children and I started cooking whilst he went to pick up MIL & FIL.    Within an hour of their arrival we were sitting down to Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings.  We finished off with Christmas Pudding & Brandy Sauce, Sherry Trifle, Mince pies and cream all washed down with copious amounts of wine.     We passed a couple of hours at the dinner table before the parents retired to the lounge leaving MWM and I to stack the dishwasher (twice!) then we all had a relaxing time talking about the festivities and the children.

By 7 p.m. MIL & FIL were tired out so MWM took them home, my Dad had fallen asleep on the sofa -a result of too much food and excitement I think.      Once MWM got home we sat and watched the television until midnight then retired for the night exhausted!

This morning I took my Dad home and MWM and I have spent the day just chilling with him watching telly and me blogging.

So that was our Christmas.    What did you do?

Thursday, 25 December 2008

It's HERE!!!........






 MERRY CHRISTMAS

and a

HAPPY NEW YEAR

to all my readers


Here's some of my grandchildren getting in the mood for Christmas.

Tuesday, 23 December 2008

Christmas Eve....





Last year Mimi (Mimi Writes) asked bloggers to post a Christmas Peace Globe, I'm taking the liberty of posting it again this year with the same heartfelt message.

Christmas Eve has always been a busy day for me.  When the boys were young I always got up especially early to start baking mince pies and clean the house from top to bottom.     Once these chores were finished I sat down to watch my favourite film, one that was always on on Christmas Eve afternoon - Lassie!    When my youngest son was still maleable young enough to appreciate Lassie he would watch it with me.   We'd sit with a hot drink and a mince pie (or chocolate for him) and a box of tissues bcause Lassie films were always sad with a happy ending, so we cried all the way through them!

At bedtime, the boys would put out two mince pies and a small glass of whisky for Father Christmas and a carrot for Rudolph.    MWM and I were always really lucky that MIL was always willing to babysit for us on Christmas and New Year's Eve, so we could go out to celebrate.  We couldn't have too much to drink because when we got home we had to gather all the Christmas presents from their hiding places and put them under the tree ready for morning, all the time praying the boys wouldn't wake up and catch us.

On Christmas morning the boys would be awake at the crack of sparrowfart, at some ungodly hour, like all kids, but they were under strict instructions that no way should they enter the lounge before MWM and I, on pain of all their presents disappearing.   Good boys, as they were, they took what we said to heart and waited until we dragged ourselves out of bed after telling them to go back to bed at least four times at a reasonable time, so that MWM could go into the lounge to set the video camera up to capture their faces as they walked in make sure Father Christmas had left their presents before I let them in.  They always checked that the whisky, mince pies and carrots had gone so they were sure Father Christmas and Rudolph were fortified.   It was such a joy to watch their faces as they opened their presents.     We didn't have a lot of money in those days but we tried to make Christmas good for them.

We always had Christmas Dinner at home then we'd go visit the grandparents, first my parents then MWM's mother and grandmother.    Christmas Day was always fun wherever we went.

Once the boys and the grandparents got older the Christmas Day routine changed, the grandparents came to us for Christmas dinner.    That is the pattern today - the grandparents come to us and the boys come to visit us with the grandchildren then go home and have their Christmas dinner.     

What goes round comes round!

Do you have a routine at Christmas or is every one different?

Monday, 22 December 2008

HANGOVER RATINGS..........





These hangover descriptions may prove invaluable to you over the festive period to distinguish just how hungover you are and whether you really should be back in work!     All courtesy of a friend who emailed them to me thinking I might need to know.   CHEEK!


1 star hangover


No pain. no real feeling of illness. You slept in your own bed and when you woke up there were no traffic cones in there with you.


You are still able to function relatively well on the energy stored up from all those vodka redbulls.


However, you can drink 10 bottles of water and still feel as parched as the Sahara.


Even vegetarians are craving a Cheeseburger and a bag of fries.


2 star hangover


No pain, but something is definitely amiss.


You may look okay but you have the attention span and mental capacity of a stapler.


The coffee you hug to try and remain focused is only exacerbating your rumbling gut, which is craving a full English breakfast.


Although you have a nice demeanour about the office, you are costing your employer valuable money because all you really can handle is some light filing, followed by aimlessly surfing the net and writing junk e-mails.


3 star hangover


Slight headache, stomach feels crap. You are definitely a space cadet and not so productive.


Anytime a girl or lad walks by you gag because the perfume/aftershave reminds you of the random gin shots you did with your alcoholic friends after the bouncer kicked you out at 1:45 am.


Life would be better right now if you were in your bed with a dozen doughnuts and a litre of coke watching daytime TV.


You've had 4 cups of coffee, a gallon of water, 2 Sausage Rolls and a litre of diet coke yet you haven't peed once.


4 star hangover


You have lost the will to live. Your head is throbbing and you can't speak too quickly or else you might spew.


Your boss has already lambasted you for being late and has given you a lecture for reeking of booze.


You wore nice clothes, but you smell of socks, and you can't hide the fact that you either missed an oh-so crucial spot shaving or it looks like you put your make-up on while riding the dodgems (depending on your gender).


Your teeth have their own individual sweaters. Your eyes look like one big vein and your hairstyle makes you look like a reject from a second-grade class circa 1976.


You would give a weeks pay for one of the following - home time, a doughnut and somewhere to be alone, or a Time Machine so you could go back and NOT have gone out the night before.


You scare small children in the street just by walking past them.


5 star hangover


You have a second heartbeat in your head, which is actually annoying the employee who sits next to you.


Vodka vapour is seeping out of every pore and making you dizzy.


You still have toothpaste crust in the corners of your mouth from brushing your teeth.


Your body has lost the ability to generate saliva, so your tongue is suffocating you.


You'd cry but that would take the last drop of moisture left in your body.


Death seems pretty good right now.


Your boss doesn't even get mad at you and your co-workers think that your dog just died because you look so pathetic.


You should have called in sick because, let's face it, all you can manage to do is breathe ..... very gently.


6 star hangover


You arrive home and climb into bed.Sleep comes instantly, as you were fighting it all the way home in the taxi.


You get about 2 hours sleep until the noises inside your head wake you up.


You notice that your bed has been cleared for take off and is flying relentlessly around the room.


No matter what you do you now, you're going to chuck.


You stumble out of bed and now find that your room is in a yacht under full sail.


After walking along the skirting boards on alternating walls knocking off all the pictures, you find the toilet.If you are lucky you will remember to lift the lid before you spontaneously explode and wake the whole house up with your impersonation of walrus mating calls.


You sit there on the floor in your undies, cuddling the only friend in the world you have left (the toilet), randomly continuing to make the walrus noises, spitting, and farting. Help usually comes at this stage, even if it is short lived.


Tears stream down your face and your abdomen hurts. Help now turns into abuse and he/she usually goes back to bed leaving you there in the dark.


With your stomach totally empty, your spontaneous eruptions have died back to 15-minute intervals, but your body won't relent.You are convinced that you are starting to turn yourself inside out and swear that you saw your tonsils shoot out of your mouth on the last occasion.


It is now dawn and you pass your disgusted partner getting up for the day as you try to climb into bed. She/he abuses you again for trying to get into bed with lumpy bits of dried vomit in your hair.


You reluctantly accept their advice and have a shower in exchange for them driving you to the hospital.Work is not an option.


The whole day is spent trying to avoid anything that might make you sick again, like moving.


You vow never to touch a drop again and who knows for the next two or three hours at least you might even succeed.


Which one(s) do you recognise?