And just like that, another year comes hurtling at us.
To me, life becomes a bit of a blurry mess of stress in December.
It brings Christmas activities in abundance and constant use of the bank card from November.
December comes and goes in the blink of an eye, only noted by the constant checking of who's going to be on strike when you need to post something, be somewhere using the railways or someone in your household falls ill, and potentially may require medical intervention.
All in all, I was the most unorganised that I've ever been, this Christmas, and the frantic searching for the six (yes, six, god love us) elves that miraculously turn up on 1st December, followed by the sudden realisation and panic that I'd forgotten to buy the advent calendars that said elves bring with them, was the sign of things to come.
Yes, a middle of the night trip to the supermarket in search of the chocolate delights wasn't in vain, when I found three, nut free (only one nut allergy amongst our rascals), dairy free, lactose free...and yes, it was confirmed...taste free (the elves were berated for bringing substandard choccy calendars this year)
The little elves also brought a note that explained the reason for them not having hats, was because of the strong winds as they passed over Iceland (the country, not the supermarket - apologies, Icelandic citizens, but our rascals would like you to pass on the hats to Santa if you come across them).
Anyway, as I said, the supermarket search for advent delights, also produced some Prime! Dear lord, my adrenaline was pumping so hard that my body thought I'd done a boot camp workout!
So, happy rascals, I had!
Well, having peeled and chopped and cooked and cleaned my way through December, with some added 'We wish you a merry Christmas" in various educational establishments, fighting my overheated self and two rascals through Christmas markets in school halls packed to the rafters with excitable kids, eating their way through e-numbers galore, disguised in candy floss, multicoloured popcorn, god knows what colour milkshakes. Of course, not forgetting purchasing my weight in porridge and glitter, otherwise known as reindeer dust and dodging parents trying to caffeinate themselves to be able to do round two, Christmas eve was upon us.
The frantic chopping became more frantic, the peeling more urgent, the cooking never stopped...the energy suppliers were having a field day watching my meters spinning.
Then came the sleepless night for the rascals, closely followed by the big day itself.
No sooner had my husband and I shut our eyes, they were prised open by our youngest rascal, who was sure...absolutely sure Santa had been, and really, really needed to check, but he really, really needed the other two rascals to check too.
Good morning it was, so up with the larks, on with the oven, the bin bag was out, and by the wee small hours of the morning, the toys were being played with, the turkey was in and I was trying to make my absolutely exhausted self look remotely presentable to our guests....that's our mothers.
Now, don't get me wrong, I do love a nice soppy Christmas movie, a glass of mulled wine and a big bucket of choccies. Christmas songs playing while we decorate the tree as a family and take nice selfies to share on social media. It's the perfect Christmas!
However, the lurgy hit the kids, they couldn't be bothered, we couldn't find half the decorations, we had the wrong plug for the fibre optic tree and the husband isn't awfully keen on mulled wine.
So, not one movie was watched, the mulled wine is still in the cupboard, the trees have now been put away, along with the dud plug (see next years post for a repetition of stress) I'm sick of the sight of mince pies and we have so many, even if we have one a day, it should see us through to September next year (best before dates permitting of course).
And it's the New Year...what happened to the bit between Christmas and New Year? I seemed to have lost it somewhere!
So...happy New Year everyone, we wish you the very best of health, wealth and happiness for 2023!
From us both and our three rascals x
