Tis The Season To Be Jolly
I should be wrapping presents instead of writing this but just can’t be arsed. Such is my festive spirit.
It’ll be all last minute tomorrow as usual but it’ll get done. Always does. I’ll be glad when Wednesday comes though.
Strange thing in ASDA this morning. Got an older lady in the checkout when I went through – looked in her sixties or thereabouts and she was getting help from a supervisor with coupons or vouchers or something for the customers who were 2 in front of me. It looked a complicated business and took forever but finally it was done and she started serving the older gentleman next to me who wasn’t the chatty sort so there was none of that inane drivel ‘Been busy today?’ ‘Is it still raining outside?’ ‘Oh these are lovely aren’t they?’ which they have to ask but actually couldn’t care less about.
Anyway when it came to my turn she didn’t do it with me either for which I was immensely grateful especially as she was apparently on a mission to put my shopping through at the rate of noughts, going so far as actually handing me several items at the end as though to say ‘try and keep up’.
Suddenly as she gave me my receipt, she said ‘Nice day?’ which threw me for a second and I automatically clicked into weather mode because it’s been raining non-stop here for 3 days and that’s all anyone can talk about.
I started woffling along the lines of ‘well I think the rain’s back on now’ or something similar when I was severely cut off in mid-flow by a very definite ‘Oh no it’s a LOVELY day. After what I went through yesterday it’s an absolutely lovely day. Now.’ And she started pulling through the next customer’s shopping leaving me standing there open-mouthed, lamely replying ‘Oh. Ok then’ frantically trying to put my purse away and get my bags out of the road. I was left in no doubt that there was NO further discussion on this. Yesterday must have been hell.
I was soooooooooo tempted to dump the shopping in the car, go back in, get something else and go through the same checkout just so that I could ask her ‘What on earth happened to you yesterday? TELL me!’
And if it hadn’t been well past lunchtime and the place hadn’t been absolutely heaving I may well have done.
Things have stepped up on the Jane (Joel’s mum) front. After my last entry a meeting was arranged for today and Nikki, Joel and Lily went over to her house this afternoon. It went okay as far as I can gather. There was no mention of what had gone before, she was delighted with Lily, showered her with expensive designer clothes (Ralph Lauren) and oddly made Nikki open all her presents while there.
So the ice is broken now and she has declared herself to be Nana Jane.
This naming of everyone is a flipping major headache. I’ve got the honour of the Granny title, Boyd is Grandpa, Bev is Grandma Bev, Mum is great-granny, Joel’s granny is great-granny Smart, Jane is Nana Jane, Jed (Joel’s step-father) is Papa Jed and I have been forbidden to have a partner in the future because it’ll just complicate matters!
Fair enough.
Tomorrow we have 3 separate visits from folk wanting to deliver presents, we have one visit to make ourselves, last minute supermarket shopping to do, a bathroom to clean and a pile of ironing to tackle because if I don’t it’ll walk out the door in disgust. Oh and Trooper might get a look in there somewhere!
This is, of course, what I’ll look like on Christmas morning.
Not.
Joel’s coming round to help us open Lily’s presents (he’s staying overnight tomorrow night so that he can see her when she wakes up) then we’ll head over to Jenny and Kevin’s (niece and husband) for the meal. They have a very cute 2 year old in the shape of Rosie so that should be fun.
everybody when the day comes. I hope it will be free of family dramas, obnoxious relatives, overstuffing, overdrinking, overtired kids and dreadful telly.
And I hope you all get what you want in your stocking!
See you on the other side.o watch Downton Abbey which I’ve just got into recently. I had all Season 3’s episodes taped but could never get a chance to watch them and when I was babysitting Lily last weekend, I took the chance of getting through a few of them and got hooked on it. Just watched the last episode last night which was good timing as there’s a Christmas Special apparently on Christmas Day and the new season starts on the 6th of January. It’s very similar to Upstairs Downstairs really.
ALl the very best – the Nanna with the deep purse sounds a bit of a control freak, but hey – the captive grandchld is a wonderful sweetener for family harmony, I’ve found. I probably still wouldn’t talking to my mother if I hadn’t given birth to her 1st GC in 1973.
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Lol, many years ago I decided I wanted my grandchildren to call me Papa John, in honor of the great-grandfather I was named for. Then, they opened a chain of pizza parlors by that name. Now I’m Grandpa. It’s SO generic, but that’s okay, the grands don’t seem to mind. Merry Christmas, and I’ll be thinking of you as I wrap presents tomorrow also.
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You too! I only *wish* there were no family dramas, but I’m sadly anticipating one as my brother has texted me and said my mother is already having issues (he just got here yesterday and we’re celebrating Xmas Day at her house). RYN RMN: I’m sorry, I thought Nikki had moved in with you for financial reasons and for some reason I thought she was not employed? I’m hoping I didn’t offend youby making that mistake, I certainly didn’t mean to imply anything. I did think, perhaps, that he and she might get together, but you make it seem certain that won’t happen. And I agree that simply having a child together is a lousy reason to get together. I’m glad though, that his family is interested in Lily and that they will be a part of her life. That’s the really important thing. I hope you have a nice holiday. How fun to have little Lily. She’ll be ever *more* fun next year and the next!
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Merry Christmas to you too! I have only one plan for the next couple of days…to slowly and steadily drink enough to *be* the annoying drunk relative 😀 I’m off work from lunchtime tomorrow until the 2nd so I I don’t see anything wrong with this plan at all. Have a good one hen – and try to get some rest *hugs* xx
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I recognized you in that stocking right away! Merry Christmas…and have a few shots of whatever you need to help get you through the day cheerfully.
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Merry Christmas. I’m sure you’ll help make the day wonderful.
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Have a great day. I’m grandma…we all have been on my side of the family; Ele’s mum is nana.
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I am grandma too.and all that love is amazing.Miriam Stoppard was in the paper the other day and gave loving grandchildren as a big reason for looking young and beautiful in her 70s.
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Merry Christmas, Marg!
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Having had a great afternoon in Stonehaven in August we were so sorry to see the devastation – not a happy Christmas there – still, it is a family festival (!!!) and it looks like Lily’s family is complete ( apart from a Grandpa to go with Marg) – still I am sure you will cope. Have a great time.
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I’m dying to know what happened to the poor cashier too! Maybe you should drop by after the Chistmas madness and get her line again and ask her. That might be a little creepy, though. I hope you have a wonderful and totally drama- free Christmas. That is sweet that Joel wants to be there for Lilly’s first one. And that his mom is getting over her it. Funny all the various namesthat are involved in extended and mixed families – good job with all those! My SIL has always been Nana to the grand kids – my brother is Da to the kids and the grands. No idea where they got Da and I actually just realized he doesn’t have a separate Grandfather name. Weird…
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Hahahahaha!!!! Sorry, am typing slooooooly on iPad and when i started to leave another note to say I meant “glad she was getting over it”, OD oddly opened the first note again so I thought I could edit it… Nope, duplicated. Oooops!
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RYN: yeah, long story which I’ll relate one day if you don’t run fast enough, but we lived apart (kind of) for about 10 years … with varying degrees of civility, and then in late 2000 got back together. Son always disputes how ong we have been married, but as I point out, we WERE married all that time … just not on a geographical basis. 🙂
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I am so glad to hear that your granddaughter now has her other grandmother in the picture. How can anyone not love a baby? I get to be Grandma (my choice). Aren’t grandchildren just wonderful?
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Just thought I”d ask, what dates in PF shuld I look for? Thelast one there was 13 October.
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I’m wondering what happened to the check out girl now as well! Annette and I are both granny at the moment. Amellia has three great grandparents but will rarely see them. David is granddad, and Areasha’s dad is so far gone into alcoholism that I don’t know if he’s even aware that Amellia exists.
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your writing skills are impeccable. I was standing right alongside you at that check out with my mouth open and I wanted to go back in and tackle her too. Shall you and I plan something, just for us. Maybe a holiday for you in NZ at my house. Or better still lets go to Mexico. Yes Mexico. It will be better I assure you. love and hugs
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Yeah, can see how it all just gets too much. It’s supposed to be fun but if we don’t have Fun then we’re almost made to feel like failures. Happy post Xmas relaxation!
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Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. I remember they were a lot more fun when there were babies or kids to share with.
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were both getting good at this being prepared for things 🙂 we had wrapped and done our thing around 2 weeks ago 🙂
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Hope you had an amazing xmas, children make it such a happy time. I think granny Marg should have an honorary grandpa at some time in the near future lol . You look sooo young in your xmas photo, bound to find a grandpa looking like that xx
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RYN: I looked it up – I’d originally read “Expectations are resentments waiting to happen” and I suppose the meaning is that if you allow yourself to cherish expectations, someone will inevitably not meet them, and you’ll feel resentment. I suppose it’s a matter of working out what are reasonable expectations, and deciding whether you can live with it if the other parties don’t, for whatever reason, follow through. Resentments/anger aren’t necessarily bad things, as I see it: just deciding how many expectations to set up so that you realise you are possibly setting yourself up for resentments/anger with it. I expect Husband to be loyal to me, and would, I feel rightly, be resentful if he were not. I might also set up an expectation — I did this in the past — about his thought-reading. I resented it when he could not psychically work out what I was thinking. I don’t do that now. But doing it was unhelpful, since I’d set myself up to feel resentment/anger. This may make n sense – I am not so very good at this stuff.
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RYN: We don’t have a tradition of smaller Christmas dinners or whatnot, it just turned out that way.
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I hope things go well with Joel’s family. I so dislike all that expensive designer clothes for babies and kids and even for myself. I like moderate nice clothing. It is just as pretty and will last, just doesn’t have that name on it. Love your Santa, hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas. I got to see Emily and James (sleeping) on ichat and Emily had gotten a bike from Santa, it was their Christmas Day morning and our Christmas Eve evening so we had our Christmas after we finished the ichat as that is when we have ours.
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RYN: This was a story that Rand herself related and it may not be exactly true, but either way it says something about her character. Hope you had a great Christmas.
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happy belated christmas. been busy crocheting scarves for grand kids almost every waking moment. got them done in time. now my fingers are gnarled!
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ryn I have watched him in action – the interesting bit is the reaction of the partners of the women who are normally taken aback by him seeming to touch parts they have not touched in years!!!
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IF you DO find out, please share! Do you suppose it was Hell like Busy or Hell like ‘my daughter ran off with a biker?” We’ll all be wondering. / Good grief, family Name Tags sound in order. A partner would gladly accept, “Nameless,” I would think. Great fun.
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