Christmas Eve! Again!

09:08: Yay, it's here!

We've just got back from our traditional Christmas eve christmas food shopping.
Having gone to bed at about 00:00, not feeling too great, I was fortunate enough to wake to the luxury of a warm bed and no reason why I had to get out of it.
Of course, 6:15 rolled around and it was time to get ready to go out.

On the way there, it turned out that we hadn't made any arrangements to meet my sister there, it seems that the whole idea of us going christmas food shopping as a family - as we have done for the past 20 years - has suddenly been dropped as unfashionable. I was amazed that no one seemed to be bothered about the fact that without my sis and nephew, this wouldn't be a family christmas shopping trip, it'd be me, at Morrisons, with mum and dad.

We got to Morrisons, noting that the place wasn't even open and already there was a sizeable queue outside, and the place hadn't even opened yet, but my enthusiasm wasn't really there.

But, my mum emphatically started saying hi to someone, and I looked around to see...
...a grinning beaming very happy looking ickle nephew (in a cute little hat). And his mum. They had come after all! :-). Apparently my nephew leapt out of bed this morning, he was so enthused about coming.
For my part, I was very happy to see them both. A family christmas afterall.

We were about to take my nephew on his little routine round the travelators, but the store actually opened early, and as the shutters went up, the crowd moved in. There's only so many ways to describe two hours of shopping for christmas food - I noticed we got about a quarter of the food we used to - but then another thing which has become fashionable in our family, is replacing everything as it gets eaten, so we didn't actually have a huge load to buy.

But my ickle nephew seemed to enjoy wandering around with me, looking at all sorts of things, and generally being sweet and cute.

After what felt like an hour in the canteen, It was time to go home and get the stuff unpacked, and so here we are.
The turkey's in the bedroom for some reason (the reasoning is it won't get as hot in there (eh?)).
And I'm here in mine, absolutely shattered, looking forward to having a little nap :).

Later folks!

15:27 Right, I've had my little nap and now feel a bit better, save for a headache and sore throat/nose. Time to get on with the xmas eve tasls (changing bed etc)

Yay! As part of getting my room sparkly and ready for Christmas, my dad has afforded me the privilege of using our new vacuum cleaner. Woopdedoo! Mind you, he did warn me to "go steady" with it. I'm not sure how you can NOT go steady with a vaccum cleaner, maybe if you run small rodents over, or accidentally vacuum up some diamonds or something like that, that would be NOT going steady, but other than that, I think my choices for misbehaving with the cleaner are a bit limited.

I remember last christmas, from somewhere, we managed to come into possession of a toy Dyson, that as you pushed it along, rattled all the beads inside it. I thought it was pretty funny and quirky and cute, and as I remember it was a Christmas pressie for my nephew.
I think I saved it from the bin at one point.

16:31 Well, tis nearly time for santa to come round on his van to distribute sweets to all the cute lil kids.
Dad's giong off on one about the violations of sovereignty of the back bedroom, who's sanctity must not be disturbed on pain of having a stupid unreasonable rant directed at you.
Still, I'm gonna leave them lot going off on one downstairs, me and my ickle nephew are gonna play Zoo Tycoon 2 :).

22:52: I don't know what my mum puts in her quiches but they're incredible.
My nephjew and I played Zoo Tycoon for a short time, even as the queues to see Santa mounted up. Eventually though, time rolled round, and it was off out to see him, so my nephew, my mum, and my sis all went out.

I'd been worried about doing this, as my shift at work started at half five. Now before I start getting paid, I have to get in, unlock the bike container, get out a bike, lock the bike container, do a bike safety checklist, get changed, and get my cash ready. Before I get paid. This takes about 20 minutes.
Now Father Christmas visiting our street is something I've gone to every year since I can even remember, and though the time was getting on a little, I was determined that I was not going to miss it.

Before long, he comes rolling down the street in his sleigh (for further details about this whole thing see last year's xmas eve blog here), much to the excitement of the local kids, especially one kid who was absolutely amazed.

Surprisingly the queue moved fairly quickly, and my nephew got his choccy bar from Santa. I got the whole thing on video which is nice, and then it was time to leave.

I got to work in a stinking mood, which as the evening wore on and the tips mounted up, improved considerably. Money can't buy you happiness, but it can pay the angst to lay low for a while. Out on my rounds, it was nice seeing all the houses with their decorations, and one of the local churches was even having a carol service, giving the whole place a very nice atmosphere.

I was amazed by how many people were out and about though, every single pub was full to overflowing, there was music in all the streets, and working tirelessly to protect and aid those who had fallen foul of the beer (why get pissed before Christmas, it just means you have a hangover on the big day, surely?) are legions of police officers, paramedics and ambulance drivers. I hope those guys have a merry christmas too, they've worked bloody hard tonight from what I can see.

I got back, not very long ago, to find my entire cousins' side of the family here, as they are each christmas eve, and we chatted for a while, before they too had to get on with their christmas preparations, and went.

And so here I am. I'm surrounded by bare blankets and uncovered quilts/pillows (the covers being in the wash as I type). Definite Article's on the TV, and I'm feeling rather headachey.
But hey, it's christmas soon :).

I think I'm going to nick another quiche :-D.