Then one bloggy Christmas eve(ning)

I wondered if there was something a bit sad about posting on Christmas Day. But I decided that there isn't (although Blogger is down, so I've had a frustrating time trying to read posts and leave comments, and who knows if this will make it onto my blog). The children are asleep upstairs, my parents-in-law and sister-in-law are retiring to bed downstairs in the basement, and it's as if I have the house to myself. There's a quietness and a stillness that I'm enjoying in contrast to the noise and excitement of the past 16 hours.

Husband has just wandered down in a t-shirt that is as old as our relationship (15 years), which has a picture of me on the front of it. It was made by some friends for him when we got engaged. In those days, printing a photo onto a garment was a real novelty. It wasn't like today, when you can't move for smiling children on mouse mats and household pets on key fobs. The t-shirt is Husband's garment of choice for nightwear. I rather like the picture of me on it, actually. Young, carefree, smiling, looking over one shoulder at the camera and pretending I didn't know I was about to be photographed. Having been through the wash regularly over 15 years hasn't done much for me, it must be said, and I'm very faded, but still smiling.

"Are you coming to bed?" Husband asked.

"Soon", I replied. "I'm just needing some me time."

I'm probably less tired than him, as this afternoon I slept through the entire length of Mr Bean's Christmas Special - the movie that was drawn out of the hat, winning over Snow Buddies and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I imagine I would have slept through either of those too.

Today I have:

Woken up at 4.45am and remembered that I hadn't put the dishwasher on, crept downstairs, decided that putting it on might wake sleeping visitors (it's a very noisy dishwasher), and crept upstairs again,

Read aloud a note by the fireplace which said "Yum yum, thank you very much. Love, Santa Claus", while knowing that the cookies (which 5-yo iced at her Kindergarten party, and which have been in a ziploc bag in her backpack for a week) were in the kitchen bin,

Laundered a bath mat (don't ask, it was a puzzle to me too),

Cooked salmon for eight,

Finished a 1,000 piece jigsaw with no picture to copy from (group effort, that one, not me personally),

Wondered how to get a big, bright pink stain out of woodwork, left by 5-yo's Glitter Lava Ice craft kit,

Cut a chunk of hair out of 5-yo's head, right above her forehead, as the only way of removing a large glob of Glitter Lava Ice,

Wondered who on earth thought up the name Glitter Lava Ice, surely a contradiction in terms,

Skyped and phoned family in Britain, and heard all about the snow there,

Boasted back about our Midwestern snow: "Oh, it'll be here for ages - the forecast says it won't get above freezing for several days",

Unwrapped some lovely presents, including ones bought proudly by my two sons with their own money,

Created merriment by saying that the little Santas we have as a table centre, gathered round a battery-powered nightlight, looked as if they were huddling together and warming themselves round a brassiere.

I hope you have had as happy a day as I have. Perhaps you've even managed to sneak some me time in there too, even if at 11.30 at night. But now I'm tired, and I will wend my way upstairs (after putting on the dishwasher this time), and join the faded, crumpled, eternally youthful version of myself already in bed with Shadowy Santa.

To all, a good night.

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