Crepeys say Bah Humbug, (it's not Christmas yet)

[beachyhead]

Here we go

WTF is that website, MrsS?!

On the subject of Secret Santa, are we bringing gifts on Friday or will it all be "postal"?

Will you be sporting a bra? On your head of course?

It won't be very secret if we bring then and not all of us are there?!

Shall we set a date for posting (ish) of beginning of next week?

I think we are going to level 35 of the Shard, but I think the full height is about 50? I'll take pictures.

My dog has discovered how to break out of the garden. Sunday morning found three members of the Beachy family patrolling the fields behind the village looking for the idiot dog...found him, happy as Larry, running free

Sorry to hear about your DN, Herbs. I hope that they can do something to help her.

I love Christmas - drum roll - this year we are going to DD's and her DH is cooking. This will be the first time I haven't cooked since the DC were small, ie well over 30 years. We will probably take the DGC to a carol service on Christmas Eve, then go to our favourite Italian for an early evening meal. The family are all coming to us on Boxing Day for a buffet and then I think we're all going to the theatre a couple of days later to see a seasonal "play".

I have just started buying presents and we will exchange gifts with my DSis when we have a couple of nights away with them later on.

I must admit, Hatty, that I would only have shared an Advent calendar with my DSis under protest. Go and get DS some choccies as a substitute.

I have mislaid my SS present. It can't be far...

Is going up the Shard as much fun as going up the Oxo Tower, Beachy? I remember a thread on here about the hotel rooms and someone complaining that if you had one on an upper level, it was quite small!

Crepeys, what can I do for my 50th? I don't want to be fifty, I don't want a party, but I feel I should mark the occasion somehow. The options I am considering so far are dinner with DH at the Cinnamon Club and a weekend in Paris with DH, and dinner at my favourite restaurant there, possibly with a couple of my Paris friends and one who will come from West Africa for the meal and my company. I have also considered going back to Poland for a bit, but think that might be depressing. I would have to take the family and have to do all of the translating and ordering food etc etc which gets quite wearing, particularly as my Polish is quite rusty. What else? I have friends in Rio, so could go there for a week, on my own, or with a friend from my youth, which might be quite fun. Or I could go somewhere I've never been - maybe Miami? I am also feeling quite restless at the moment, which is not good, as it usually signals a period of seriously bad behaviour. Which is not exactly fitting at my age.

Do it all! Spread it over the year! Invite us to join you at every location with gifts....

I've FB'd that Abe Books link to ds, MrsS. He will appreciate it.

MrsS - I highly recommend Miami for an escape. The deco hotels on South Beach and in the streets nearby are fabulous and the people watching is great. I'm not much of a beach person, so the sand and stuff is meh, as far as I am concerned, but S. Beach is a bit more hippie than you might expect, very relaxed glamour and lots of hotels have a pool to lounge by, with pool boys and cocktails and all the things you need on your 50th. And then you can recharge with breakfast here.

That Abe Books page is bliss, btw - I really want Holy Housewifery . And we definitely had the dead cat book when I was younger.

I was very disappointed that they have sold out of Holy Housewifery, Wilbur.

I have been to bed and am back up again as I can't breathe.
There is a couple of reasons I get ill frequently. I am immuno- compromised as I'm taking immuno suppressants.
And I work with The General Public , so being ill a lot is a dead cert. Handling notes of £ is a filthy business- germ city. The slipped discs are just bad luck and genes I suppose.
Sounds like the same thing as you Herbs. Feel better soon.

Christmas is fraught with too high expectations and umbrage. Yes going away sounds like a great plan but; my mother is currently barely speaking to my sister because they are all of to Chamonix en famille for the duration.
We will have dd home and m&d
Who are not backward about being forward in telling my poor sister how lucky they are that I am having them for Xmas.
Dad just says Christmas Shistmas. I'm with him there

Poor you, Crem. November is a shit month for getting ill, I think. This is the first November, ever, in DD1's life (apart from her very first one) where she hasn't either been admitted to hospital or had a hefty dose of steroids and antibiotics for asthma/chest infection/pneumonia/bronchitis. I hope you feel better soon.

Granny Doom has already told me that she is planning on spending next Christmas with us as well (and presumably every one after that, until she ends her days) as she never wants to spend it in a hotel again. Her selective memory tells her that she has done this more often than spending Christmas with us, which is completely false - she claims to have spent the first Christmas after my Dad died on her own in a hotel, but I have photos of her sitting at our table enjoying Christmas dinner (or eating it, anyway) with DD1 next to her. I feel quiet despair - my mother said she always felt sorry for her sister and BIL as they had my gran every Christmas and couldn't go away or spend it with anyone else. I am beginning to feel as if I am in exactly that situation, and if I point out that she went to my aunt because my mother wouldn't have her as she wouldn't "fit in" with her smart friends, my mother would deny it vehemently, and say that my gran didn't want to travel.

Beachy, that must be one of the restaurants/bars. The view from there is good too, though obviously not as far-reaching as the top. Enjoy!

You could get "How to sharpen a pencil" or "How to poo on a date" though!

I hope I won't become a Christmas Grinch when my DC are grown, expecting them to give up their plans to accommodate me.

I've got mixed feelings about Christmas. I do like it when it goes well but it is one of those times you remember what happened in previous years, which is not always a good thing in families I think. My father's last Christmas was particularly grim - decades ago now, but I still think of it. Bah Humbug.

Crem, you poor love. When do you get dd back? Mine is very excited about coming home but I suspect within a few days we will be back to normal....

Abe books page, fantastic. How long do we think "C is for Chafing" is? or indeed "How to avoid large ships", a constant concern I find. "How to be Danish" might find a modern market though.

I've cunningly volunteered for the end of the school fair on Saturday.....

Can I put a request in for: "How to Poo on a Date", "How to be Pope" and "Teach your wife to be a widow"......

Seriously!! - made me smile though......

I have bought NO Christmas presents apart from a few small things from India (I did give the girls and DP some presents on my return); we have many Indian things donated by my mum after visits over the years already....I have suggested that on Saturday DP and I sit down with some lists, divide them up with ruthless efficiency, and get on with it. This usually works.

We will have to go and see my parents (sigh) which will be presumably even more sad/fraught than usual (double sigh) and DP's aged rellies whom he loves dearly but I secretly find a bit stressful (more sighing) and NOT go up to NU's neck of the woods to see my sister's lot because the Inferiorettes moan it is Too Far and Why Can't They Come Here (answer: because they live in GREAT BIG HOUSE and we can go and WALK ON THE BEACH, dammit - I do see that poor old DD2 associates the journey with quite violent vomiting so it's not much fun for her, though). The kids are being firm that they would like Christmas day Just Here Just Us, which is nice.

Having been worried about No Work I am now worried about Too Much Work. Don't suppose any of you I haven't already seized on would be prepared to be another Supermarket Mag Victim, would you? It's on how 'kids spoil the romance'. You'd only have to agree, as I have found the one demented friend who actually feels that her Love is Enhanced by the experience of children...

Kids spoil the Romance

Sorry to hear that Xmas arrangements are causing stress - I probably shouldn't complain about the jumper decree, since otherwise our Crimbo is very nice, whether it's a zillion of dh's rellies at MIL's, or just the 5 of us at home. I also hope that I don't turn into "who will have me for Xmas?" burden mother - we always had my dad's mum for Xmas and I do think that Mum and Da would have liked to go away at Xmas more. After Granny died, they started house swapping and did a month in the Caribbean one Xmas. At the time I was a bit miffed as it left me with nowhere to go for Xmas Day (I threw myself on the mercy of a friend whose mum was a fabulous cook ), but now I think it's brilliant that they did that.

Glad dh is home Rudy...

Not much chance of a view today from the Shard, I don't think! The top third is clothed in clouds

Boo Beachy, typical. !! What a shame.
I am cocooned in a teddy blanket moaning softly to myself.
Rudy sorry to hear about your cold.
Hope it doesn't last too long.
I'm planning to go back to work tomorrow because of various meetings that can't be avoided re the office move. Boke.

Lalsy , the student returns on the 21st and I'm so looking forward to seeing my girl. Have the duvet and bed made up in anticipation. Have requested the green hair might be dyed before then to stop ddad having a conniption , but this will no doubt fall on deaf ears. I have said we will decorate her hair like a Christmas tree , if it stays green.

I have also bought nothing. Feel exhausted thinking about it tbh.

Felicitations to poorly Crepeys. Glad to hear that DH is safely home, Rudy.

DGS1 has just asked me why the black and white bird in the garden has a stick pushed up his bottom so I have been engaged with talking about flying. I will never look at a magpie in the same light again.

MI, I hope you get someone for your magazine piece. DDil has been receiving messages on Facebook asking if it is her MiL in the mag - fame at last. I am very lucky with her, as she is very family orientated and seems to like being with us (or she is a good actress). I do try not to interfere and did comment that I wouldn't just drop in when they moved closer - she said she was looking forward to seeing more of us.

It's a shame that you haven't got our weather in London for the Shard visit: it's lovely here.

Oh, Cremo I do wish you well…and Rudy. What can you do other than stay in doors with blankets, hot drinks and other comforts, and raid the bathroom cabinet for pills?

MrsS how about a travel celebration and also a bit of shindig with best friends? i must admit to having been very depressed on my 50th…we had a big function a few days later (DS2's birthday and mine are a few days apart) and mine got lost in all the hullabaloo. i'm a bit of a party animal at heart and regretted I'd done nothing. You go for it, big time. Don't end up bitter and twisted like me!

I feel for all you Crepeys with family angst at Christmas. Having solved what to do about DParents inadvertently (DSis dropped a very heavy hint that DBro should invite them for once) I sat around hoping for an invitation… once...just once. I've hosted and catered the extended family Xmas lunch for decades. Not a Dickie bird. So we had a family council a couple of weeks ago, and decided it's just the five of us either at home or preferably (but weather permitting), in Sussex. Booked in to a restaurant for Xmas Eve and the Beach Cafe brunch for Boxing Day.

Just had 3 hours writing with ConS. Quite good progress although the theatre is pissing us about something rotten.

Kids spoil EVERYTHING

ps All I ever wanted as a child was tinsel and an advent calendar with chocolates. We weren't allowed. If someone buys me the latter, I will love them forever.

Beachy, the day we went was cloudy and drizzly like today and we still had fabulous views from the very top - fingers crossed it is the same for you

for you poor Cremo.

Rose, Sussex for Christmas sounds lovely. Similarly for you QQ in Suffolk.

MrsS, what do you mean, you don't want a party? How about lots of smaller drinking/eating events with different groups of friends/family?

We are doing both sets of parents on the weekend of 20th and then heading home to hole up on the hill for the festive season. I think the village is planning a series of drinks/food between 17th and New Year...

MrsS I vote for lots of different things - I have a friend who takes the whole of November for her birthday, you should do likewise. (parties are not my thing either)

Mrs S - we just went out for a nice meal for my 50th and then went to Venice for 4 days - I didn't want a party either.

How come you're a crepey and not yet 50 - who else has not yet past that milestone?

Commiserations to those with colds - I have to say I don't even like going to the Doctors at the moment as it's full of sniffly, snotty kids. I have so far been spared but have my frozen shoulder to moan about instead.