I'm down to the nitty gritty of my pre-christmas prep now and this is the nicest bit, I think. It's the bit where hubby is home, I don't need to tackle the crowds in the shops because all of that's finished and I've just done and dusted my last market for 2010. Ultimately it's time to cosy up with the fam and have some quality quiet time together.
On the schedule this week (which has been carefully outlined in a very concise list complete with tick boxes-yes, nuts I know) is some gingerbread Rudolph making, complete with raspberry lolly noses to guide that sleigh.
There's also a session of white Christmas making. Sounds fancy, but I think I can manage melting some white chocolate and stirring in some cranberry and marshmallow bits.
Santa has sent a large pile of presents to us to wrap for the kids, too. Seems he's a bit snowed in (get it?!) this year and is outsourcing the wrapping. But hey, you know how much I love that bit.
Then there will be the traditional Christmas lights tour followed by some screen time absorbing the cheesiness that is Carols by Candlelight. That should see my boxes rightfully ticked with nothing more to do than wait for the arrival of the fat man.
On a slightly different note, I just wanted to get another popular media gripe off my chest. Every morning we get a couple of plastic wrapped newspapers thrown at our house. Now mostly, I enjoy flicking through them, reading the first two lines of the articles (I've got to keep thoroughly abreast of those current affairs), then checking the local one for any one's face I recognise or a court report on some dodgy character I may know from school. But a smattering of a very seasonally specific breed of article has sprung up of late. The gift giving guide.
I love giving and getting gifts, but please don't tell me there's an etiquette to it. These articles tell you what not to get certain people. No household appliances for Mum's, no jocks and socks for Dad's and no bottle of brandy for your alcoholic Great Aunt. Now, perhaps with the exception of the last one, I don't think there should be a "wrong" gift. Even if someone gives me something which, upon opening, I stare puzzling at the contents, I would never be so ungrateful as to criticize, or worse request the receipt. One article suggested doing just that.
To me, Christmas is about showing your loved ones you care and that you think about them. The gift giving part is a concrete way to do this. I love you Mum, here's some jewellery. I love you kids, here's 4000 kilos of toys you don't need. But probably, most of all, I love you everyone so lets get together, share food, chat, laugh then get stuck in to the pressies. I don't really care what's inside, I'm rapt that you thought enough of me to give me a gift in the first place and I will treasure it. Even if I never use it.
So, as a note to all those folk agonising over getting the right gift for someone. Stop asking them what they want and just get them something you think they'd like, because after all, it really is the thought that counts (and if they have the nerve to complain, blow them a big raspberry!)
Now, as I mentioned the 2010 market train pulled in to the station Saturday night at the end of a very cheery and festive Twilight Daylesford Makers Market. It was great to tie off the year amongst the great people I've gotten to know over the last few months and I look forward to being a part of this happy little market community next year. It's nice to find like minds... hi there to the Mummy Makers and the caravan lovers!
With some champagne chilling in the fridge and a pile of pressies waiting patiently under the tree, I envisage buntyandsars feeling a touch neglected over the next little while. So, instead of getting the guilts about not paying her enough attention (I think buntyandsars is a girl) I've decided to give us both a couple of weeks annual leave.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
P.S. A jellycopter.
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