My old man's coming over on the 21st then flying out to see my sister in Australia on boxing day for 3 weeks before a stop off at mine again then going back to the isle of man. Looking forward to seeing him tbh
You know once he flies out to oz we are closing our borders to all and revoking all returnee priviledges until we get our numbers down Hope you have a great time with him though sucky!
I'm all for it. I'd take a wild guess Australia is a far better place to live than Douglas anyway We've been on a fair few planes together and he always asks me not to smuggle drugs and I always do, so planning on sending him a text just before he boards to tell him I've left a small present in his suitcase. He"ll Deffo have heart palpitations over it
The shop has been done, bar fresh. Two shifts, Mrs Chief this morning did the main stuff when I was playing golf. We then did the heavy stuff of booze, pop and mixers etc. this afternoon on the revisit. Amazing it's done this early. Just the turkey, cheese and pate on the 23rd. She even manged to wrap the kids and our presents last night. **** knows what we'll do next week.
Wife noticed my choice of tree topper and complained immediately. (Topper was from a white elephant exchange... No, I didn't spend money on it... I don't think it's meant to be a tree topper, but he had a hollow butt) (Tree too tall, we had higher ceilings in the old house)
Christmas The Red Hand Files. How will you spend Christmas day? Do you like listening to Christmas songs? CHRISTA, KORB, GERMANY Dear Christa, My plan this Christmas Day is to get up early, jump into the cold English sea, meditate, and then go to church.By the time I get home the household will be awake. My son, Luke, will be there with his wife, Sasha, and my little grandson, Roman - it’s his first Christmas - and so will Earl and his partner, Yustyna. Susie’s family will arrive late morning, and our friend Andrew Dominik will also join us. After opening presents we will have lunch - some will eat the chicken that Susie will cook, and some of us will work our way through a despairing slice of nut roast. Some will have a drink and some will not, and over the plum pudding there will be conversations, agreeable and disagreeable. Later, we’ll walk on the beach, and when we return to the house there will be more eating and drinking and laughter and conversation, which, no doubt, will be considerably less agreeable. Someone might try to play The Little Drummer Boy on the piano, and someone else, Silent Night. Some will fall asleep, some, like me, will stay awake and watch others demolish a bottle of port and a pile of mince pies. We’ll all watch A Charlie Brown Christmas, with Vince Guaraldi’s peerless Christmas score, and I’ll hold Susie’s hand because Arthur is not there. And somewhere, amid the feasting and joyful human messiness - this beautiful, this happy, this sorrowful estate - I will acknowledge how extraordinarily fortunate my family and I are to have this good Christmas Day. I will remember, too, amongst all the making and the doing, the energising principle around which this day revolves that speaks so eloquently of rebirth and renewal, and the end to waiting - that of a mother bearing a child in a stable, revitalising the world for all eternity. I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful New Year. Love, Nick
