This is more of a whinge than anything else, sorry! I just can't wait to finish work for Christmas and get a proper rest. I work full time and commute into London; luckily my colleagues and bosses are great and let me work shorter hours in order to get my dd to and from nursery/her grandparents. I'm originally from the south-east and moved back down here in Feb last year to get some help, and although I'm starting to make some good friends it takes a while and I miss my mates from up north. I know they're on the end of a phone, but most nights I work once dd is in bed to make up my hours, and what with redundancies etc at work it's been a very hard year and the pressure's been on to keep up. ex DH and I split in July and fortunately we get on much better apart than we did together and have sorted everything out amicably so no major worries on that score. Just can't wait till he gets his own place so he can have DD and give me a bit of a break; she is utterly gorgeous but has decided that she'd better get all her terrible two tantrums in during the last two months before she is 3, and sometimes I can cope and other times they leave me feeling absolutely drained. DD is definitely a mummy's girl, and her tantrums can be so violent quite often the best/safest place for her to be is in her bedroom, so we've not yet tried her spending time alone with her daddy at his new place just yet.
Anyway, once I complete my last day in work tomorrow I'm off till early January and that's what's keeping me going! I'm at my parents' on Christmas and Boxing Day nights so I can have a break and a few glasses of wine both nights once dd's in bed, I've got plans to meet up with some friends, I can finally catch up with others by phone/email, and rather than working each night I have a pile of library books to read. I hope you all have a good Christmas and don't find it too draining, best wishes to you all for 2010 :-)