In the bleak midwinter, frosty Crepes may moan

[Collymollypuff]

Earth stood hard as iron, my heart like a stone.

Mrs W - I thought the same thing many years ago about the Portuguese - or at least their royal family

Cocoa - thinking of you today and hoping all goes well

Fingers crossed that you don't have to dash, MI, and also good observation about DHs sometimes seeming not to like the very qualities they were attracted to

Crem, love your Christmas goat

Haven't got Christmas carol service sorted yet - any suggestions welcome

Woodlouse Colly? :)

Cocoa sending strength and support for today.

Cocoa (that is a mug of cocoa not tea)

Dearest cocoa, sending you much love and strength for today. I will be thinking of you xxxx

Sorry so many crepeys feel their other haves barely tolerate them because they are normal too loud. Send them to our house atm - argument and drama city. And that's not between DH and I!

Cocoa, hope it goes well today - thinking of you.

Cocoa, thinking of you.

MI, I get a bit of that too. But it isn't anything to do with me - it is when dh is stressed.

Been awake since 4. Hope I manage not to say or do anything too daft today.

BTM, sorry to hear that. How is dd doing with it all?

ds has two uni offers - glad he has heard before they shut down for Christmas so he can throw himself into holiday homework.

For Cocoa

Thinking of you today Cocoa

MI oh gosh that's all you need. I hope Ddad makes a quick recovery for all of your sakes.

I'm so glad you had a nice time MrsW and I had to chuckle about your observations on the indigenous beauty or rather lack of it..... . I feel as though I come from such a group too....I remember as a child, a neighbour had "married out" to this wonderful EastEnder who, whilst she was so integrated you'd never have known....nevertheless was certainly not of the clan. Whenever there was a huge gathering, she used to look around and say "ain't we an ugly lot! " and she was right....

lalsy yay for the Uni offers....

herbs lovely to get good feedback!

I am seriously worried that the gifts I ordered from Not on the High Street have not appeared....this includes the intended SS. At this rate I'll be delivering it personally ...

I am going to my ex tutorial group's Xmas lunch today. We have been meeting monthly since we all qualified which must be about 10 years now! Then back to prep final class of 2016. I'm not sorry...looks like we could all do with a break. Remember Crepeys, we are close to the shortest day...guaranteed to put everyone in a bad humour. Better things must be coming our way xx

Lalsy great that your DS has got some offers - what is he wanting to study? I'm sure you must have said
DD is really struggling. It's a combination of being a natural stress bunny, end of term (and timed essays, etc), looming mocks after Christmas and all the DS stuff. I think she may be off sick v soon. At least she can revise at home at her own speed.

Off to the Moomins. Apparently dad had decent night and I've told his GP...

BTM, history. Not sure it is right for him though. Poor old dd. When does term end? It is a long old tough one, even with a following wind I think.

MrsW .

Yes this term is the worst. Her school finishes next Wed.

History - both my two love(d) it, but A'level history has put DD off studying it at uni! DS is hoping to take it for A'level. Apparently at Parents Eve last night, the French teacher asked if he was planning to take French at A'level - they take positivity to new levels!

DD1 is on for A level history. Along with politics and drama

Cocoa, thinking of you today xxx

DD2 has been remarkably pragmatic about her mocks, saying that at least she now knows what she has to study.

Cocoa, hope it all goes OK today.

MI, sorry to hear your df is so poorly, but I'm glad he had a good night. Hope he is better soon.

Herbs, WELL DONE!

BTM, I'm very sorry to hear about the ongoing stress and general crapness. Hopefully there will be some respite once dd's term is over. Although having mocks after Christmas.. urgh. Guess the schools can't win on that one. Having them at the end of this term doesn't work well either.

Dd was a bit shocked last night, as she found out someone from her year at school died a couple of days ago on his gap year travels. That's the second person in her age group to to die this year. Those poor, poor parents.

I hope that's all it was, Mrs S. Sometimes, once it's been spelled out to them, they just crack on as they 'get it'......
Ds has been a bit revitalised by receiving great sheets of paper with revision topics on them. Today, and I mean right now, he says he's going to get up at 8am through the holidays and do three hours work every day

I will report back.

Thoughts with cocoa today.

Another cockle-warming throng about my learners. One of them, who never went to secondary school, was c bright but kept making the same errors with her writing. I gently kept correcting her. In her written exam she didn't make ANY of the mistakes, and passed with flying colours. I could have cried.

Here I am putting in a plan of action for ds's less than Stella maths performance - advantage of a village? My maths tutor query resulted in 4 responses within 5 minutes!!

Thinking of you Cocoa.

Lalsy, that's great ds has options and offers before Christmas. Dd didn't get any offers except the one she didn't really want , until January. Mini Yay for ds!

BTM, sorry to hear dd is in a bad way. At home will be better for all sorts of reasons. I often think that when the screaming and shouting is over, things are at least out there, instead of not dealt with , and simmering. We used to be a hub of heated discussion here, but now it's a miracle if one or both of us has not passed out with exhaustion on the sofa.
We have 7 pantos this weekend, 6 big Christmas shows and then Van the man on Sunday night. I will be on a gurney by then. Then last stretch to Christmas Eve .
I would love an echoing church , candle light and softly sung carols. Some hope.no hope Bob Hope.

Rose I always wanted to look like more of our kind, but the Norse / Scots blood runs thick in me and dsis ( Red of hair) I think it is beautiful not ugly at all. Certainly not on an Austrian level.

Beachy good on ds for the determined revision schedule. If he achieves a quarter of that I'll be impressed, considering the last few months. I hope the gf is being a good influence and they are not both studying for an A* in snogging. ( do people snog anymore?)

Yes, BD, dh would like me to be a woodlouse. Small, grey, bumbling, silently clearing up rubbish from the floor with never a thought for herself; with a hide like a rhinoceros. Easily crushed underfoot. Most people don't know what a woodlouse looks like. That's me, that is.

Not the Leo I was born to be...

I think dh would also like me to 'just leave him along to deconstruct a norton motorbike in the living room' and his would be quite reasonable to him. He can't stand it when we are out and I know lots of people and shout across rooms. Also a Leo, Molly.

But only allowed to be this:

When you say "leave him alone" I bet you mean: provide all meals, nursing care, a clean household, etc etc. Yes, yes, to shouting across rooms. And yet he says it's that extroversion which he finds so attractive.

I think it is alluring from afar, the sociability, and then (allegedly) hard to live with. Mr Inferior would quite like it if I left him alone a lot.