Well it's come and gone in a blink of an eye, and very soon another year will be over. Every one seems to go quicker than the last.
Christmas this year was distinctly average as Simon Cowell would say! Usually we all go round Mum's for the day but as Tina and Dave were having lunch guests round their's this time, the day was rearranged. We still gathered at Mum's but earlier than usual (about mid morning) so that everyone could give Dave Tina and the kids their presents before they left. I also had pre-arranged a treasure hunt of the two girls. John and I then went home and we were gonna cook the Christmas dinner this year. Mum and Dad would join us later, together with John's brother Chris, his wife Sandy and their two young children. More presents were exchanged. Unfortunately, the children were quite unsettled and Chris and Sandy were busy most the time attending to them in turn. In fact, I've never seen Chris quite so tired and stressed, so much so that he hardly touched his dinner, which is very unusual! Jennifer is just 3 months old and screams through the night; Joey is 15 months and is into everything! He had the peanuts all over the floor at one point and also the hula hoops and has to touch everything. It's not his fault, he's just at that age where he's exploring and learning.
John bought a Nintendo Wii for Christmas for everyone to have fun with and it is really good. If you've never seen it advertised, it's a new computer game that involves you holding the handset (called the Wii) and having to do the exact actions as if you were doing that particular sport. It includes ten pin bowling, golf, baseball, boxing and tennis. Usually I hate computer games but this is so different; at least it gets you out of your seat and moving around, the boxing is particularly strenuous. A good buy I'd say! "Johnny Moneybags" also bought Buzz on Playstation 2 and we had the Who Wants to be a Millionaire game.
Boxing Day is usually at ours but this year it was at my Mum and Dad's. Unfortunately my brother had to work so he was missing. Ebony is always at her Dad's on Boxing Day so it was just the seven of us. Of course, after a lovely lunch the Wii came out again, and we also tried out the interactive dvds such as Family Fortunes, British Hit Singles and the Eamonn Holmes Spell game.
John was back at work on Wednesday. I had nothing planned except to visit Nan in the afternoon with Mum and Dad. We'd already visited her Christmas Eve to deliver her presents because she was going round my Auntie's for Christmas Day, so this was just a normal social call! She's doing really well lately except for her vertigo which she has to take daily tablets for. Nan's had a new carpet laid already so she well and truly settled in.
On Thursday afternoon, Mum and I took Kasey and Ebony to see The Wizard of Oz at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff (see pic above). At 10 years old, Ebony is a tad old for pantomimes and we tried to convince her that this was definitely not a pantomime. You can imagine how much Mum and me cringed when they started the old "It's behind you" and "Oh yes it is". However, it wasn't like that all the way through; they'd simply added the panto banter to interact with the smaller kids. I've got to say, that for a local theatre performance, it was really quite good. The scenery and costumes were extremely colourful, the acting was pretty good, some of the singing was average but it didn't seem to matter that much. I enjoyed myself anyway, joining in with the songs and clapping along. The only cons were that it was like a sauna in there and we were seated in the rear circle which was literally right at the back and as high as the ceiling.
Later that evening, John's brother Paul and his two girls Ellis and Yasmin came to visit us and stay overnight. Paul is no longer married to Hazel (it was the divorce from hell) and he now lives with girlfriend Nicola and her two children in Derbyshire (not far from Sheffield). Paul's two live with Hazel in Hook, Hampshire, so there's a lot of mileage between them. Another opportunity to get the Nintendo Wii out!! Once again, it was a hit! Mid-morning today, they left to pay visits to the rest of the family.
Today, we had John and Maria (our friends who live opposite us) over to ours from 4pm onwards for Christmas dinner and games. Yes, you can guess it- everyone wants to Wii! Bowling was very popular tonight and we're becoming pretty darn good at it. It wasn't a late night as John has to be at work at 4am to meet a delivery. Good news though - he should be home by 6am and then has a week off.
New Year's Eve, we've invited the family to ours. Poor Dave has to go to work the next day so he won't be able to see in 2007. But hey, it's not important - it's not like we usually make a celebration out of it. We'll just have a buffet tea and probably more Wii-ing!!!
So, a premature Happy New Year to everyone - hope 2007 is a good'n!
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