Walking in a Crepey Wonderland!

[MrsSchadenfreude]

I couldn't see that anyone else had started a new thread, after Stropps carelessly finished the old one without starting a new one, so here you are.

Rudy, missed your post - have you been round - she may just not have her phone on, etc? Or is she too far away?

Happy Boxing Day, Crepeys! Hope you are home and dry soon, BD. MI, hope you are feeling better today and can face the goose.
We made it through the floods to Dm's house, so had a big family Christmas lunch. Everyone was very well-behaved and dd has been especially delightful. Dh and I elected not to get each other any presents this year and we spent the money on the dcs instead, so they got much more lavish presents than usual. Which is possibly why dd is being so nice. She got these and a Uniqlo down jacket, which she was wearing yesterday with a teeny tartan skirt (this is the girl who never wears anything other than black leggings) and she looked amazing. I also got her tickets for McBusted and said I would taxi her and her friend to Bournemouth and back. Ds got an xbox 360 and as we have never had a games console before, he is v. happy.

The dog has finally recovered from his various ailments (what I suspected was a skin tumour turned out to be a False Widow bite) and been the jolliest and most badly-behaved I have seen him for sometime. He goes quite unhinged with excitement when the Christmas tree goes up and immediately goes in search of his presents. My db always gives our dog a big bag of presents (db would clearly love a dog but sil and the dns are allergic)

Back off on the trek to Dm's again today, as her db and sil are coming for lunch. It's pretty impressive that at 83 she does a full-on Christmas lunch + veggie option for 9 one day and follows that with a 3-course lunch for 11 the next day. Db helps and does most of the veggie stuff, but still. I offered to host Boxing Day, but live too far out of the way for everyone and also it would have to be a buffet as we don't have any space for seating more than 6 or 7 and no one fancied that, apparently. Dh is looking forward to staying at home tomorrow..

I had a dream last night that Beachy made us all go to church.

oops, x-posts. Bit slow today, I am.

No wonder your DD was so delightful Stropps
And your mum sounds really onto it - not like mine who went into a panic when my uncle didn't show up at the time she thought he was and had already eaten...

How weird (in a nice way) that we are all dreaming about each other!

I can add to the dream weirdness - I dreamed I was on holiday by the sea with mrs S, in a maiden aunt kind of way, that we were sharing a bed, and that she was snoring like a train. In fact, it was DP making the racket.

Were we anywhere nice, Herbs? I have a blocked nose at the moment, so do purr gently in my sleep.

We had a lovely day at my cousin's. We ate far too much, her father, who has dementia (and a host of other problems) was on excellent form and much better than we thought he would be, given that it is only months since his wife died. He was genuinely delighted with his large haul of Hungarian salamis/smoked sausages. My mother started on a list of Everything You Have Done in Your Life That Upset Your Father (who has been dead for 15 years) but I had had enough to drink and told her to shut it, which she, surprisingly, did. My cousin asked her if she was proud of what I had achieved in my career, and she shrugged her shoulders and looked the other way.

Oh gosh Rudy, fingers crossed.

@MrsS!

Am enjoying a very relaxing day.
They have all gone out to watch the footy and I have had a leisurely bath and have my feet up before our friends arrive

Happy Christmas Crepeys! Glad to hear that one way and another we have all survived the festivities... Yesterday we managed to have a low key but enjoyable day, just us and my dad who is no trouble at all if rather quiet. Had a lovely walk in Highgate Woods with bil, sil and niece in the morning followed by lots of food and too many presents. No one got cross and grumpy before bedtime which is always a bonus.
Today we've decamped to Suffolk which is cold , wet and muddy but lovely. Have already managed a long walk with the dog and a sherry in the pub...
Happy holidays to everyone. X

MrsS, I feel I recognise your mother from somewhere...

Mine would have mentioned that it's hardly remarkable that I became a clencher's bogle-man (so to speak) because, of course, her brother was a distinguished clencher's bogle-man.

Just back from dragging them all (even DM) out for a walk. DH and I have cleared the demolished section of fence and shored up what's left. DSis, nephew & his gf are coming early, ie today, to avoid weather warnings, so I'm washing, ironing and cleaning.

DM vibrates with hostility at the mention of gf's name.

Herbs and MI, get well soon

Today's been a bit of a damp squib. Originally we were going to visit DP's parents. Then it turned out neither of his sisters were going to be there, so we deferred it to 29th.

So, we arranged to see friends. They cried off at 11 saying they had colds. Never mind, we thought, let's go to the park and Sam can ride his bike. But couldn't undo nut - even with WD40 – to put on stabilisers and he won't consider riding it without. So we went to Halfords to ask them to do it, but even they couldn't budge the nut.

Never mind, we thought, we'll go to the park then local pub for lunch. But it was bloody freezing, deserted, and all the pubs are shut.

Never mind, we'll settle down en famille to watch a film. DS has never watched anything for more than 10 minutes, and Alice in Wonderland wasn't about to change his mind.

Never mind, the neighbours are coming round later. DP receives text saying their plans are going wrong.... FFS sake you set of total BASTARDS.

So now I'm draughtproofing the bathroom window.

Oh, and Mrs S. Our seaside holiday was somewhere with lots of steps down to the sea, so somewhere like Fowey, but set in the Edwardian era.

And MI, I don't think his monocular vision is impairing his balance - it certainly doesn't seem any worse than his two-eyed contemporaries. Hope your innards are better. I get all sorts of internal issues when I eat large amounts of food. It's the main reason I don't like having people to stay - the morning after the night before is generally spent on the lav, and as there's only one, and it's in the only bathroom, it can cause 'issues'.

Arf at making you all go to church!

Rudy, hope your friend turns up soon - Christmas can crystallise so many things .

EVERYONE HAS GONE - and left me with about a thousand potatoes and sprouts in the fridge. The submerged bird tasted lovely, although caused some concern when dh went into carve and discovered I'd cooked it upside down, so no breasts on show. Still we flipped her/him over and cracked on!

Got lots of lovely CD's and a hands free thingy for my car, which will be very useful. Lovely walk today and awaiting the second storm wave, although it is lovely and calm here now.

More friends down tomorrow and I'm hoping a curry take away will suffice.

Off to finish the Wizard of Oz with dd2, who hasn't paused for breath since Christmas Eve

I am off on a round of relatives tomorrow. Stand by to await posts ...

Crepeys, I hold you all responsible for my decline and fall. I have not drunk any spirits for 20 years. Until I went out with you lot and drank cocktails. And have since discovered a taste for all sorts of things I previously steered clear of. Which is why this evening finds me quaffing Baileys over ice. A drink I have previously declined to even have in the house on the grounds of naffness and decadence. It's all your fault.

Another relaxed lunch today with no outbreaks of hostilities. Dd and ds more or less angelic. Dh stayed awake. The dog got a large helping of ham offcuts (after turkey, bacon and salmon yesterday) for lunch and then was showered with playtime attention by db, the nephews and my uncle. The upshot of this was that the dog refused to get in the car to come home. He is small, so I just lifted him up and stuffed him in his travel box, much to his chagrin. He then howled mournfully as we left dm's village. Like he has such a bad life here, the spoiled little arse.

ps: I may have done dd a slight disservice with my post from this morning: she was actually even being lovely, kind and polite BEFORE she got her presents. She did make an effort with getting people presents this year, which has not been the case for the last 2 years. Please someone remind me of this when things all go tits-up again next term.

My lovely Oxford contemporary Rebecca Front is Mrs Bennett in Death Comes to Pemberley..Creperama!

I would like to watch Death Comes to Pemberley with someone who has watched and/or read Pride and Prejudice and not have to draw out the friggin' family tree on a piece of paper!

Delayed Christmas Day meal here with family - lovely but tinged with sadness - sil has been told months and hopeful years, but the implication is she won't make old bones - it's shite whatever......

(Her maternal grandmother died of cancer very young, so could be genetic)

Still processing it...

Well, Beachy, if you hadn't forced us all to go to church we might have watched it with you

Oh, BD, how terribly sad. I am so sorry.

BD, that is horrible news

Oh heavens. What a blow.

Oh, BD, what sad news for you.

A dull Boxing Day here; we packed off the remaining overnighters and spent the day clearing up after the festivities, frantically scoffing leftovers and packing for our trip tomorrow. The blasted tree shed every single one of its remaining needles as we dragged it outside. I found one in my ear this evening.

The Digibox has get worse; now the only channel available is the Preview channel. The DCs are less than impressed. So I've ordered a TiVo box. Of course, we turned out to be on one of those "legacy" deals with Virgin, which means that we will be getting a much better deal, with faster broadband, but paying considerably less. I'm just annoyed we didn't complain sooner.

Unfortunately the forecasts were correct and the storm has come back. Our 1.50pm ferry is already showing as "delayed", so I am prepared for a long wait in a windswept car park at Holyhead. And I've just heard another fence panel come down.