T'was the Night before Christmas…

“… and all through the house, All the siblings were stirring, And the parents were soused.”

Another day of familiar traditions; tracking Santa on the NORAD site from Midday onwards being a particular favourite. Narrowly avoided turning this into a Geography lesson as i was hit by a sudden overwhelming desire to print out maps for them to plot him on, with stick on inflated maps of the featured countries and a pin chart on the wall to keep us up to date. Settled for just using the globe and embarrassed myself by not knowing which way the world turned! 😆

I had to do some final flying about this morning for some bits and bobs we needed; took blooming ages to find some kernals of corn suitable for popping. 🙄

This afternoon we went over to Max’s Aunt’s where Maddy collapsed in suitably seasonal fashion over a present, thereby completely embarrassing me and Max for apparent ungratefulness for a really lovely present. She just got overwhelmed really by needing something to do instantly and couldn’t hold it in; irony was it was a lovely set of posters to colour and she’ll adore doing it but she had a bit of a moment and cried, because Fran and Amelie had instantly accessible pink stuff. I was really cross with her, though Auntie S was very lovely about it, saved the day with a Teddy and Maddy pulled herself together remarkably quickly, realised her gaff and went overboard trying to put it right by enthusing about the posters. I forget she’s only 5 at times, but at other times i know i musn’t let her away with things just “because”. Ho hum.

Went to the Blessing of the Crib service at our local church (where we do our MuddlePuddle group) which was lovely as usual. It’s a very welcoming church and i do love carolling and familiar ritual; wish there was more of it really. came home, had a nice tea together, set up mince pie, carrot, milk (?) and stockings by the fire and then read a Nativity story to them. Ever since i was little, i’ve been struck by how much of that story isn’t told. Really, you could write a novel about the story of Jesus’s birth; there is so much untold, so much that has been lost to time, editing, lost scripts, whatever. It has so many fascinating holes, so much imagery and hidden meaning where the stories aren’t finished. Who were the wisemen? What happened to the gifts? Why did they come? What did Mary feel like during all that desperate time, when they were all in so much danger? Just so much dying to be told but lost forever. The historian in me aches for all those lost narratives and sources.

Finished off with The Night before Christmas, which i do love. Max and i feel like we need to detox already. Must get out and walk tomorrow!

Have a really lovely Christmas everyone; Amanda, i hope the babe comes soon. It’s bad enough going into a different month being overdue, a different year would just suck! Carolyn, hope K continues to improve. Everyone else, have a lovely one 🙂