The Day After Christmas ’08
Added at 9:48pm and filed under Offline, awesome, family, gaming
HAPPY CHRISTMAS!
What do you mean I’m late?
You know, I’ve barely even looked at my Mac these last few days, let alone attempted to sit down and write anything on it. When I jumped on this morning I had over 400 accounts to review at CodeGrrl and nearly 50 accounts to approve at SHHF, and I don’t think that the numbers ever reached that high even when I went to NYC, or Spain for a week. It’s weird because I never felt all that busy even though I clearly have been. I finished work on the 19th and besides making mince pies with S (yum) sometime that weekend, I don’t recall what the hell I did until the 23rd arrived, bringing along our friends from France with it. They stayed overnight – drink! Chinese food! Playing games! Yay! – and then Christmas Eve we went to my parents for Christmas dinner which was lovely, even though the goose-fat potatoes and gravy kicked off a gallstone attack at half five Christmas morning. We left around six that evening, came home, and then I realised that I hadn’t wrapped three boxes worth of gifts in the garage. I wrapped presents for what felt like a gazillion years and then – fuck me – it was Christmas Day. How did that happen?
We’ve had a good break though and as always, it was pretty low key. This year it was just the three of us, as our in-laws had been pre-booked to go to M’s sister’s for the day, and so we enjoyed a small but perfect lunch squeezed around our tiny dining table, spruced up with festive linen and crowned with the bunch of flowers S insisted on buying me – bless. :) The lounge, however, was a different story. It looked as though David Tennant had thrown up everywhere, the entire room littered with figures and games and stickers and props and toiletries all along the Doctor Who theme. For example: my parents bought him this insane remote control Dalek, which – when it’s not careering into your shins or smashing into your coffee table – tells you that you’ll make a good Dalek before, as contrary as a WAG on Rodeo Drive, it turns and tries to exterminate you. Awesome.
‘We’ bought S the Leapfrog Tag Reading pen, which he loves. I’m so, so chuffed. There’s very little about me that I think should be passed on to other, mouldable human beings, but my love of books is probably the one thing I hope he inherits and takes into adulthood. We bought three books to go along with it – SpongeBob, Cars and the Kung-Fu Panda – and he’s lapping them up, reading them utterly unprompted and unassisted and periodically throughout the day. Yay. Other than that, mostly everyone gave him Doctor Who goodies, which means I have had to clear out one of the trays from his toy unit in the lounge solely to house his DW figure collection which – and I wish I was making this up – sports NINE Tenth Doctor figures. That’s right – nine. And of those nine, six are IDENTICAL! I’m just so relieved that I bought him two Nightmare Before Christmas playsets to balance it out. :)
As for me? Amidst the wonderful plethora of books (Hornby, King, Tropper), CDs (Take That – woot! – and Snow Patrol) and DVDs (Blackadder Collection – although even though he lives in the same house of me and has done so for twelve years, M didn’t know I’d already had it) I had GHD straighteners – which I’ve been coveting like a fat girl in a cake shop for ages – and a new hairdryer which puts my current circa-1987 one to SHAME. I also received Lips, which I’m enjoying in a this-is-fun-but-serves-no-purpose kind of way that makes Guitar Hero look like a Mensa entry exam. Coupled with family gifts – which includes my early XBox 360 guitar, a mic stand and a guitar tree – it looks like a recording studio in here. A bad one, admittedly, but a studio all the same. And now that I can wield the axe and sing the lyrics at the same time, I know you’re jealous of my awesomeness.
Oh, and before I forget – special love and kisses to Claire, Raq and Sharon who never fail to make me feel loved and appreciated this time of year. You guys are just as awesome as I am. Seriously.
Of course – and as always – about 2.4 seconds after S unwrapped his final gift I suffered crippling post-Christmas spending guilt. It’s a cliche but CHRIST I feel bad when I see the excess of paper and wrapping and food. I started out so well, too; because of the current climate, and me not knowing if I’m going to have a job in six months’ time (fixed-term contract expires – bummer), we had strict spending limits on S and on each other, but then as M’s total crept up – which was probably because the total for my gifts did first – and then I felt bad for S, who by mid-December we’d spent the least on, and kept adding to his pile, too. So in the end we spent a gazillion pounds on things that, whilst lovely, seem silly and overpriced. It’s hard to regret it when your kid is beaming and I know we can kind of afford it but … meh. You know, it’s just as well I’m utterly faithless: I think if I did believe in God and Jesus and the whole nativity thing, I’d be devastated at what a fucking mess Christmas has become.
Anyway. Shall I move on?
To summarise: Christmas was good. Kinda quiet, but good. Between you and me I’m still a little badgunkified, but all that’s going to be regurgitated within the safe confines of a password-protected entry in the next few weeks. It’s just me being me: a miserable, moany misanthropist who probably needs to learn how to calm the fuck down and unclench. Heh. In the meantime, make me feel better. Talk to me! Tell me your best present and worst of the year and the readers of FA.com can vote for the best and crappiest gifts of 2008!
Hope your Christmas break – no matter how/ if you celebrate it – was peaceful and fun. May your 2009 be all you deserve it to be. :)
Comments: (6)
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On 28 December, 2008 at 10:29 pm, Ashley said:
Sounds like you had a lovely Christmas! I’m glad it seems that S likes books. A child can never read too much, I don’t think. :D
As for my Christmas… my best present has been my guitar my boyfriend is getting me, and also my new webcam bought with the money my parents gave me for Christmas (they can’t really buy me a gift because they live across the country now, so they just transfer money into my bank account). Overall I’ve had a very nice Christmas.
Worst gift? I don’t really get those… the worst gifts I’ve ever gotten were because I already had them to start with. :p So yeah, no bad gifts this year.
On 29 December, 2008 at 2:32 pm, Vixx said:
Oooh – a real guitar? Fancy!
Merry Christmas, Ashley. :) Glad you had a nice time.
V xx
On 29 December, 2008 at 10:21 pm, Charmarie said:
You know one thing I love about my son is that he is smitten by books as much as I am and that makes me so thrilled. I was wondering how Lips was I may have to get it now.
I’ve seen you online a few times, however my son signs me out so he can sign into his profile ;)
I am glad your Christmas was low key, so was ours.
On 30 December, 2008 at 8:22 pm, Melissa said:
You can never have too many Doctor Who figures. I believe my 24 year old boyfriend has 12 Ten figures.. and 4 Roses.
Oh, and remote control Daleks are amazing. We have the battle set ones. Too much fun.
On 30 December, 2008 at 8:37 pm, Vixx said:
I’ve been obsessed with Rock Band again, Char – am trying to complete on Hard. Am nearly there! :D
Melissa – well, clearly you’ve put my five-year-old into perspective! And it’s true … I think I love his Dalek more than he does …
V xx
On 1 January, 2009 at 8:30 pm, Claire said:
Glad you liked your pressie – and thankies once again for mine ;)
My best pressies would have to be my two new camera lenses (Lensbaby Composer and 60mm Macro lens)… and my new EMU boots that K got me (these particular ones are like gold-dust and I’d been searching high and low online for MONTHS for them).