Tuesday 17 December 2013

Christmas

Before I launch into this, I just want to say, that my children are actually alright. I know this to be true, as the husband and I had pretty much this conversation, after some exceptionally fine wine, last Friday, as we sat down to his birthday supper;

"They're alright, aren't they?"
"Oh yes, they are."
"Eldest is a bit needy born from insecurity and youngest is a bit of a brat when feeling insecure, but in the main they're not bad. Except when they have to sit down to eat!"
"Shall we open the second bottle now?"
"Oh yes, we're great parents, and it's your birthday, I think we deserve it!"

That's all we need, self affirmation that our children's insecurities make them sometimes, revolting, everything else is all good.

We're in the run up to Christmas, my eldest will be 6 this Friday, SIX, SIX whole years of age. That's not a child anymore, if we were in India she'd have been working for about 2 years. Very proud parents we are, we wish her well and hope that her 6th year is even better than her 5th.

But, the run up to Christmas. The girls have asked for various things, we've not really got any of them, we've got them a Karry Oh Key machine. They have one present between them this year, because they're really good at sharing. Like last night for instance, youngest wanted to listen to their school's Christmas CD, nothing better on the market so far, I can absolutely say that. So she ran off to get CD player and CD to play it to me, having just finished reading me Marian Keyes This Charming Man. CD player ignited and then there was what I can only describe as a cats fighting soundtrack, as her sister and her pulled and pushed and scratched at each other to try and gain control of the pink CD player. Husband got upset and shouted at one, I got upset and shouted at the other and the whole thing was curtailed and children were sent to bed. This is how sharing goes in our house, so we're looking forward to Christmas day when they have to share the Japanese recreational toy... Fingers crossed.

We have most of our family coming to stay, we're also having turkey this year as we're trying to build on tradition. We have no traditions, so we're trying to etch things in the children's brains so that they'll know how to make things miserable for their families when the time comes. Presents are under the tree, no one can agree on what to buy who and how much money to spend. We have no choice, we've bankrupted ourselves, as we do every year, just because choice is too hard.

This year we're not having a party on Boxing Day though, so that means we can walk about the place asking each other what we think we should eat next and wonder how we can get out of the house so that the children stop bouncing off the walls, this is why we have a dog, you HAVE to go out every day so that he can stretch his legs and then we have to drag the children out with us, although this year, I have a feeling people will try and stay behind so that they can perfect their version of Eminem's Lose yourself, I know I will.

The point is, Christmas is the only time of year that we all have to bow down to the god of Christmas. Children love it and that's why it's there. I am sweating about the fact that Father Christmas has the same wrapping paper as me, we have so much "happy birthday" wrapping paper I can't bear to buy anymore. But I sort of still believe in Father Christmas, even though I have a feeling there are other things at play. Good luck to everyone, if we can't do it at Christmas, when the hell can we do it?

No comments:

Post a Comment