Christmas, the summary

What can I say except that it was great. To see my family so happy makes it all worth the effort. Jermaine seemed quite tired but I am sure will have eventually woken up to enjoy his gifts.

On the subject of gifts I got some amazing ones!

In no particular order I am now the proud owner of three robo whatsits. I have plenty of books to enjoy. There is a model of the first expensive car I ever bought in the colours it was finally after an expensive repaint ... just before a thief wrote it off. I have this ever so sexy new keyboard and mouse.My joystick can't wait to be held and I know I shall have lots of fun with it.FlightSim has been upgraded and I am looking forward to giving that a bash. There is this fantastic Disney Villains Snow Globe and along with my fun water feature and my crystal light changer, I am a little lost where they are going to go but they will be somewhere special eventually. I was up too late this morning to have Lucky Charms but that doesn't mean I can't have some for supper :-) I now have a roll up keyboard to take around with me. It's fairly basic as would be expected from a keyboard which can be rolled but it knocks out a tune and will be great when I go on holiday. Oh, and I almost forgot because I have slept since I last saw it, I got one of those Stingray vehicles (SPV I think) which now sits alongside a ship and an Eagle from Space 1999.

I only hope everyone else had as good a Christmas as we did. A huge thank you to all those who were here in person, here in spirit or in some other way contributed to the happiness.

In short, there was nothing I was disappointed about.

We have to believe for something to exist

You know, even with all the amazing things there are to do, people had to go and invent boredom!

With these kittens it is easy to believe that we all have suicidal tendencies or have become Emo because of the marks we have on our arms ... I suppose we have failed in teaching them at Christmas they have to be good and kind and not take chunks out of us!

In just half an hour it will be Christmas 2007 and it only seems like 365 days ago I was thinking that very thought.

This particular Santa has sorted all the gifts into neatly named piles ready for the big day. I was surprised just how many there are and, to be honest, can't remember the last time my own stack was as huge as it is this year.

We have an unusually early start tomorrow aiming to leave here by 08:30 to go visit Jermaine who could well still be in bed when we get there! Because of that, I should really be tucked up in bed myself rather than sitting here drinking a rather nice bourbon.

To anyone and everyone who reads this, a very merry Christmas and especially to my dear friends, a huge heartfelt thank you.

x

Ouch!

Earlier on today I thought I'd best put my shoes on ... as I leant down, BANG! I hit my head on the wall safe ... perhaps 'safe' is not the best word?

Spent much of today Christmas shopping which was a little more challenging than I thought and, as always, finding the right thing is never the problem, finding it at the right price always is so I overspent as usual :-(

Decided to go a little seasonal with the blog, it will change again as we leave winter behind.

My back is still aching - again with the 'ouch'.

Missing Matt

A New Start

Matt moved out today and it feels very weird indeed. I can't get to grips with never asking him what time he is going to be home or whether Anne is staying or not. It's actually quite emotional as now 50% of my babies have flown the nest, I am half way there to being redundant.

The first major move around happened at home today as well with the office getting a face lift. It needs painting but that can wait. Matt's old room needs painting too and that'll get priority. Of course, I may just not bother painting either but rather just use some tasteful pictures instead, it'll certainly be a lot quicker.

Tomorrow we have loads of stuff to take over to the tip an desk to go to Nick. Both Deej and me feel quite crap. Him because he has a cold and me as I done my back a mischief yesterday. Most certainly a lot of the work tomorrow will be done by Matt and the girls!

History

I was going through an old CD earlier dating back to 1999. It was actually containing back-up of much older content from when I first started using a PC in 1995 and even then, from some time in the 60's and a digitized few tracks of my family. My uncles, my nan and grandad and my mum and dad.

It was weird hearing them again. My uncle Colin is always fresh in my mind and so distinctive. Hearing my granddad was most touching as he has been dead since 1968. Clearly I could not have known much about the man but I do remember bits and pieces of him. He loved to play jokes on us kids often scaring the shit out of us or chasing us about. He played the harmonica really well too. God Bless the Prince of Wales is popping into my mind but I can't for the life of me remember what it sounded like! He also settles as a very patient man in my mind for the times he spent, possibly hours, piecing together Lego models for myself and my sister. In some ways, and this is the first time this has crossed my mind, he reminds me of how my dad is now but then, he was my dads uncle so I suppose there have to be traits there.

There were times during the audio when I thought I heard my mum. I can't be certain as I still have no real memory of what she sounded like but I'd like to think it was her. For certain it sounded like they were having the sort of fun we just don't have any more. Can we imagine just sitting around the piano and knocking out a tune with the whole family singing along because the whole family knew the same sort of music? There are so few songs around any more that lend themselves to that sort of thing.

I did some editing on those tracks and cleaned them up to the point where I could hear the reel to reel tape recorder in the background! Amazingly, on hearing it I found I could also smell it. It's strange how our memory works at times!

This was probably a pointless exercise but I sent a copy on CD to my uncle Colin, he's the only one of the three kids that my nan had that is still alive. My mum died back in 1986 and my uncle Alf just a few months back. I have no expectations of getting anything by way of return but thought he may appreciate it. I also included all the old pictures I managed to get hold of but there really were not very many. I didn't inherit much by way of sentimentality, my sister took anything worth having and I don't mean in financial terms. I mean simple things which would have reminded me of family. One of the things which did that I managed to hold onto but it was stolen during a burglary in 1994. It was a stupid thing, a cross on a chair and was worthless, probably got chucked by the thief but it meant a lot to me and was the only loss I cried over.

----------------

Went to see Jermaine today and he has settled really well into his newly refurbished room. All the colourful new lights we have placed in there must surely help and he seemed very relaxed on his new sofa.