All that work for just one day! I'm absolutely cream crackered and know that two weeks away somewhere nice with a couple of good books, (on my own) would be just the tonic I need to be able to get back to some semblance of normality....but that ain't about to happen!
Apart from not getting to sleep until 4 am and being woken by Mimi at 4.15 am asking if it was "morning yet?", I felt quite on top of everything, when I woke yesterday morning. The Christmas preparation list all ticked off, the kids presents all ready to be dumped in their rooms, the stockings filled, the crackers made (I impress myself on occasions!), the napkins folded, and the seating arrangements organised. Ma was cooking the Turkey and sis was making the deserts so all that was left to me was arranging the table, cook the vegetables and make sure that there was enough wine and champagne to take away the pain of it all.
The lack of sleep the night before was because each time I crept into the kids room to put up their stockings one of them would be looking at me with one eye open! I wasn't sure if they were asleep, or if they had developed the clever method of sleeping with one eye open, but I wasn't going to take a chance of them catching me in the act and blabbing to one of the others! By the time it reached 2 am, BH had had enough and went to bed. Me? I'm the idiot who wants them to believe in Santa...at all costs it seems!
The funny thing is, was that I thought I had it all under control. I very soon realised that the input from BH scuppered every single one of my carefully laid out plans. I'm not a control freak, but I could have cheerfully stabbed him with the vegetable knife each time he came near me with his ideas for the table laying. He is a bit slapdash at times, but I didn't realise just how far we are apart when it comes to the idea of perfection. I'd asked to him to "do" the apples for the apple sauce.
By the time I'd finished peeling the sprouts he'd got through most of the apples, peeling off the skin along with half the apple, all that was remaining were the stem and a core! It wasn't as if he was unwilling as he kept asking what he should do! He then volunteered to peel the potatoes. I declined, but halfway through, I thought better of it (as he was hovering behind so that each time I stepped back I collided with him and he was beginning to irritate me!). On inspecting them, half were the softly rounded shapes of the potato, the others were square!! He must have to work really hard to get square potatoes and I'm sure he only did it to annoy me!!
Whilst I had gone to look at the kids (Miraim was still lying in her pit, eating the contents of her stocking and watching repeats of the Hills!), he decided to hack at the cabbage. He had discarded the outer leaves (to his credit), but had somehow managed to leave in most of the stalk!
By this time I was getting a bit anxious. 2 hours to go and I hadn't laid the table and there was no way I was leaving it to him. I'd asked him to go and watch the kids kill each other so I could get on in peace! While I was tackling the deformed vegetables, the panic was beginning to set in and with the very sharp knife some how managed to slice off the top of my finger! The blood began gushing (ok, seeping) luckily missing the the vegetables, but the pain was excruciating! I screamed and writhed on the floor a bit, but as no one came to my aid, I picked myself up and proceeded to wrap it in a tissue, and carry on!
By the time I'd finished peeling the sprouts he'd got through most of the apples, peeling off the skin along with half the apple, all that was remaining were the stem and a core! It wasn't as if he was unwilling as he kept asking what he should do! He then volunteered to peel the potatoes. I declined, but halfway through, I thought better of it (as he was hovering behind so that each time I stepped back I collided with him and he was beginning to irritate me!). On inspecting them, half were the softly rounded shapes of the potato, the others were square!! He must have to work really hard to get square potatoes and I'm sure he only did it to annoy me!!
Whilst I had gone to look at the kids (Miraim was still lying in her pit, eating the contents of her stocking and watching repeats of the Hills!), he decided to hack at the cabbage. He had discarded the outer leaves (to his credit), but had somehow managed to leave in most of the stalk!
By this time I was getting a bit anxious. 2 hours to go and I hadn't laid the table and there was no way I was leaving it to him. I'd asked him to go and watch the kids kill each other so I could get on in peace! While I was tackling the deformed vegetables, the panic was beginning to set in and with the very sharp knife some how managed to slice off the top of my finger! The blood began gushing (ok, seeping) luckily missing the the vegetables, but the pain was excruciating! I screamed and writhed on the floor a bit, but as no one came to my aid, I picked myself up and proceeded to wrap it in a tissue, and carry on!
The day was long but lovely. Family and friends all in one place. The clearing up undertaken by many, making the job so much easier. The kids were amazing, and ate too much chocolate. Ma brought Pedro the spaniel so Chubba and Peewee had a great time. We played Twister, and Giant Jenga and there were no breakages for a change!
Today my hand is ensconced in a blue plastic glove so that I don't get the plaster wet. It still hurts like buggery, but Mimi has painted red nails on it so that it doesn't look like a "dead" hand.
Bart has found some sequins and wants to glue them on, so that it looks like Michael Jackson's glove!
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