'God bless us, every one...'

It's Boxing Day, and I feel as if I have nothing to say.  Other than 'one more wafer-mint M. Creosote'?  Also, I am at my parents and struggling with the Apple Mac which, since I am not used to it, is giving me a REALLY HARD TIME and refusing to show me where the hash key is, how to cut and paste, and quite simply not being very friendly, so apologies in advance for the rubbish quality of this post...

Instead of anything interesting then, I bring you a couple of lists, because that is all I feel capable of...

1.  Things you don't want to happen on Christmas Eve...

For Father Christmas to forget to deliver the pillow-cases full of gifts to the foot of your sons' beds.  (This didn't happen - she remembered, but only just).

To find that the time honoured family tradition of posting letters to Santa up the chimney is a no-go due to the new flue above the fire-place fitted by your parents (this was dealt with by leaving the letter on the tree for him to see when he picked up his cookies and carrot for the reindeer).

To spend the 2 hour journey to your parents drawing up a mental list of all the things you forgot to pack: Boy *1's pyjama's.  Your glasses.  The potty.  The fancy-schmancy chocolates you bought for your parents.  The video of Boy *1's school play (actually, I think that was a Freudian slip).  Your vitamins.  The dvd's you were relying on to keep your sons happy when the shine wore off the presents.  Your sons' wellington boots (my parents live in the country).  Your wellington boots (so long, new shoes).  And so on...

To spend an hour and a half on Christmas Eve evening at the Childrens' Service in your parents' parish church, be gathering up your things to leave after the longest Christmas mass you can remember, and then have the priest say:  "The older members of our congregation may remember the custom of having an additional gospel at the end of the Vigil service.  I thought this was a good time to reintroduce it..." and have him launch into it when your kids are dead on their feet and frankly, cross-eyed with boredom.  Pretty much as you are yourself...  

To have your husband, still half-asleep, watching your boys open the pillow-case from Father Christmas, say "I think you might have bought the wrong DVD - I'm not sure that's the right one."  And then, when you say in shock and disbelief "I'm sorry.  What are you talking about?" because of course you didn't buy anything, Santa did, have him repeat himself.   Before you were forced to kill him to stop him saying it a third time, he then caught on and rescued the situation by talking about the dvd you had bought your brother. Luckily Boys *1 and *2 were so wrapped up in breaking into their chocolate (before breakfast!  Hurrah!)  I think we got a way with it - though only time will tell if we actually did...

2.  Things you do want to happen at Christmas

To see your sons wide-eyed excitement when they creep downstairs first thing in the morning to tell you there has been a delivery of mysterious looking pillow cases to the end of their beds.

To watch them empty the pillow-case out on your bed and sift through the contents in amazement.

To be able to watch your older Boy's face light up with wonder when he finds the plate full of cookie crumbs, a chewed stump of carrot, and a reindeer footprint left on the letter he wrote to Father Christmas all next to the present-laden tree.

To spend time with your family enjoying childish jokes and shared reminiscences.

To know just how lucky you are to be able to experience and enjoy all of this.

And then to sit, practically wetting yourself, watching this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5qyJpAn2Wc