Easter Eggs and Summer Holidays

This morning I found myself asking the cat what the world is coming to. He didn't answer, he was probably lost for words. I have to admit that every year I become a little bit more like my grandmother. As far as I know she didn't talk to cats, but she often told me that the world was going mad - I wonder what she would make of the way things are now. 

The reasons for my frustration were Easter Eggs and summer holidays. Our local co-op had Easter eggs on display on 27th December and I think the media began bombarding us with adverts for summer holidays at about the same time. Surely they could have waited until we had taken the Christmas decorations down! After all the hard work and expense of Christmas all I want is a bit of normality, with some peace and quiet. I don't even want to think about Easter or summer holidays for a while.

On the subject of Christmas decorations, we will be taking them down tomorrow and guess what everyone is too busy to help! After several weeks of decorations it is nice to see the room looking less cluttered, but I always have mixed emotions about packing away the decorations. Christmas is behind us,  another year has begun and I can't help wondering what sort of challenges the months ahead have in store for us. 

We have a large collection of Christmas decorations, some date back to my childhood and the children have their own decorations, I have bought them one every year since they were born and marked it with the year and a few words about milestones for that year. They make up a very special store of memories. Every year before the tree goes up there is a lot of debate about whose angel will go on top of the tree. My angel hasn't been anywhere near a Christmas Tree for years, but she still looks good despite her advancing age. When I was a little girl my mum used to help me to make a new dress and new wings for the angel every year. We made it from crepe paper, scraps of tinsel and foil and she looked just as good as the expensive shop bought angels that have taken her place. It is little things like that which make Christmas special, it doesn't have to cost a fortune to create happy memories.

About Time

We took the decorations down today, so Christmas is well and truly over. It feels very bare without the decorations but it will feel a lot less cluttered when all the boxes are safely back in the loft. Robbie must have caught me in a mellow moment because I let him put that clock up, you remember, the birthday clock with the hideous pattern. Our lounge is painted in coffee and cream colours, the clock has every colour except those two! If I manage to tolerate it for a week I think I will have done very well. Maybe I will make him take it to work to terrorise his colleagues, if not I suppose there is always ebay. Anyway I have added a picture of the clock so you will be able to decide how attractive it is for yourself.

So Frustrated!

I am so frustrated!! On Friday my asthma started to get really bad, I couldn't breathe I just kept coughing and coughing until I choked, it was horrible. As the weekend went on it got worse, I can't sleep because of the coughing, and not being able to breathe is scary, it is even a struggle to talk. I don't go to the doctors very often, but after a difficult weekend it was starting to feel out of control and I was worried that it could be bronchitis, so I really needed to get it checked out. I have to take Sam to school so Robbie rang the doctor for me as soon as the appointment line opened at 8am. He was put into the queueing system and when his call was answered there were no appointments left. In the end I had to have an appointment as an emergency and even then it is with the prescribing nurse not with a doctor. It never used to be this difficult to see a doctor, we just had to ring and we got an appointment the same day, then Tony Blair imposed some targets to make the system work better and surprise surprise, it has been a disaster ever since!

So, I am sitting at home waiting to go to the doctors and wondering how to stop the cat from climbing up the Christmas tree!

'Small' Mistakes 13.12.07

Robbie still manages to surprise me occasionally. While I was cooking yesterday evening he was sitting on the floor sorting out the load of washing that had just come out of the tumble dryer. He is much better than I am at pairing up socks and sorting out underwear ready to be delivered to each member of the family. He commented on the make of a pair of pants that belonged to one of the girls. I had never heard of the brand he mentioned and I suggested that he knew far too much about women's underwear. He was unfazed and he went on to tell me he knew because an acquaintance of his wears that brand! He seemed genuinely surprised that I should object to such intimate knowledge of someone he doesn't know particularly well, he just shrugged his shoulders and said that they were chatting about underwear one day. I have often said that Robbie would talk to anyone about anything - here's the proof! I guess it makes a change from talking about trains!!

I put the Christmas tree up yesterday, it is a longer and more complicated job than you would imagine. Finally the tree was up and ready to decorate, I leave that to the children because there is always an argument about how the decoration should be arranged and in particular whose angel should take pride of place on top of the tree. Each year since the children were born I have bought a Christmas tree decoration for each child, nothing too expensive, just something pretty (and not too delicate). I used a coloured DVD marker to write a the year, the child's name and a little message on the base or the back of the decoration. The message usually comments on a milestone or achievement that year, e.g. starting school, able to read, learning an instrument, favourite pop group, etc. I always added 'love from mum and dad'. Now the children each have their own box for their decorations and they read through all the old messages each year as they decorate the tree, the memories and the messages have become very special and the decorations provide little 'snapshots' of their childhood.

When Oreo walked into the lounge and saw the tree his eyes lit up, he was delighted to find that someone had thoughtfully provided him with an indoor climbing frame! He was distracted by a long piece of tinsel that he encountered on his way to the tree. He couldn't be sure if it was alive or dead, so he pounced on it, chased it all around the room and killed it (just to be certain it was dead). Unfortunately the tinsel got caught in Oreo's collar during the struggle and when he realised that he was being followed by a gold sparkly snake, he was seriously spooked. He leapt in the air - and so did the tinsel, he rased around the house as if the devil was on his shoulder and he was closely pursued by the tinsel, eventually I liberated him by stepping on the end of the tinsel. By this time he was too exhausted to climb the tree, but it is only a matter of time before he does. Perhaps this year we will start a new tradition instead of an angel we will have a cat at the top of the christmas tree!

Christmas is Coming 02.12.07

On Friday evening I was driving in the car with Laura and Sam when we spotted an illuminated Christmas Tree apparently floating high in the sky. Despite the dark, Sam knew exactly what it was and he said "look mum, there is a Christmas tree on top of the lighthouse". Northampton is one of the furthest places from the sea so you may wonder why we have a lighthouse. It was really a 127m lift testing tower, but it is now redundant as the company that built it in 1980 has closed and the area has been redeveloped. The tower is a listed building and it is a much loved local landmark, you always know you are nearly home when you see the lighthouse. It got it's nickname from Terry Wogan who used to refer to it as the Northampton lighthouse on his radio show. Anyway the Christmas tree on top of the tower is a sure sign that Christmas is drawing near. Sam informed me that the tower is the highest point in a straight line from here to Mexico, I have no idea if he is correct or not, but Laura said he was right. Robbie will have to look out, Sam is almost as good as Robbie at producing totally random snippets of information.