Merry Christmas 2008

We're off tomorrow to some parts north of here to spend Christmas with my family. We're all very excited but the stress of getting there is already taking its toll. There's packing to do and no one wants to do it. Mainly because there is inevitably an argument and confusion while everyone (me) makes sure they've got what they need. We've got the tent which will be our backyard home for a few days, then comes bedding, clothing, presents etc. It's all got to fit in the car and then we've got to squash ourselves in with it. Fortunately it's only a three hour trip.

Tuesday there is a special day in store for me. We'll be backtracking just a small distance south again to meet with a friend I haven't seen in years. She's had twins during that time; babies she tried years to make. She doesn't know I'm coming and the surprise will surely get me in the festive mood.

There will be kids galore around on Christmas day and that is what makes Christmas special. The joy on their faces Christmas morning when they wake to excitedly dig through their stockings is priceless.

So to you all, Merry Christmas. We hope it's festive and merry and that santa brings you all you wish for whatever it may be.

Star Jumping

New addition to the family

We now have 5 guitars in our family. The latest addition being a bass guitar. Am I happy? Sort of. Bass guitars are generally noisy and I'm hoping my peace will not be destroyed. I'm thinking that my ears might just explode with the sounds of happiness that guitar is going to bring to my daughter and husband.

Thanks Owen!

Dear Owen
Thank you so much for that lovely drawing you sent to me. I really like it. I hope Santa brings you some lovely presents. I hope he brings me some lovely presents too.

Merry Christmas

Love
Henry
xoxox

I can't believe how well I feel this morning considering that I must have drunk the equivalent of 16 bottles of champagne yesterday while playing a few rounds of putt-putt golf. It was Ben's xmas party; the booze was free and we only had a few hours in which to play golf, drink booze and eat a lot of food so we did it all at a harried pace in the heat of the day. Luckily the champagne and beer was icy cold and we were able to quench our thirst - a lot.

Anyway the lead up to Xmas this year has been fun for Henry. He's counting down the days until Santa comes and "brings him a whole lot of presents at once". He's tired of daycare and each day asks me how many more days he needs to go before we can go on holiday. Fortunately for him he'll have two weeks off and we'll spend most of that up north, camping in my sister's vast backyard.

The toy catalogues are thoroughly read as they arrive in our mail box - a mental list is made in his head and then he asks me to transfer that mental list to note paper so Santa will know exactly what it is he wants. The list is rather long and I've had to explain to him that Santa can't possibly bring everything he asks for because he has so many other things in his sack that not everything will fit. That answer doesn't really seem to be cutting the mustard though and either Henry will wake up terribly disappointed on Christmas Day or he will be so excited he will have forgotten about all the things he asked for but didn't get.

I think he's found his calling

And we ate in celebration...

Happy Birthday Maya

Maya is celebrating a significant milestone today. Well she would be if she was even out of bed yet. I decided not to wake her too early because when you're 16 and precious you need all the sleep you can get so as not to make life hell for your parents.

So we're totally going to be eating a whole lot of food today because that's how we celebrate in this house. We're out to breakfast first and then she's going off to do something with her friends before we head out to eat some more food tonight at this joint. It's been there for a long, long time. I know this because I used to frequent it when I was about her age but back then, in the 80's, it was totally swinging with magicians and they sometimes even served alcohol to underage drinkers - or perhaps we were already underage drunk before we got there.

So a great big fat happy birthday to my first born!