“I hope you have a big car for all
of this” she said
“Don’t worry I’ve got a sleigh and some
reindeer” I replied.
This was the conversation between
the Till Lady at Sainsbury’s and me when she seen the amount of stuff I had in
my shopping trolley. I can assure you
that the bill certainly lived up to it aswell.
Yes you’ve guessed it! I have
decided to join the rest of the planet and enjoy the seasonal festivities. After much reticence on my part I have taken
the plunge and thrown myself right into the deep end. I was a bit apprehensive about Christmas due
to the drubbing of my emotions and pulling of my heart strings this time last
year. Especially when being bombarded
with Christmas songs from yesteryear triggering memories of happier times. Whereas up until recently I felt much more
numb about the whole period. A bit nonplus. Take it or leave it. However, that’s enough of that “bah humbug”, “the
holidays are coming”.
First task on the list is the
Christmas shopping. I have gone for it
but in my own way ie no planning and no idea.
I may have said before that I liken wandering around shops looking for
gifts for other people to trekking through a jungle with no map and no
destination in mind. I find myself either
completely blind to anything on offer as there is just too much choice or all the
items on the shelves are trying to lure me into buying them and take them home. This is now sounding a bit weird. First law in life is never be called “weird”.
On Saturday I trekked around The Mall,
Cribbs Causeway. Once I had “emptied” their
shelves I had gathered sufficient momentum to take me to Cabot Circus, Bristol. I was on a roll. So much so I even bought presents for myself
to put under the tree. I can tell you
now I will even act surprise when I open them on Christmas Day. Is this still weird? Finally I ended up in Sainsbury supermarket. The lady on the till could not believe her eyes
when she seen my shopping trolley overflowing with kids presents and groceries…
A full 9 hours shopping and I’ve
still got more to do!
Actually I felt relieved to have
made a start. Not only did I know that it
had to be done even if only for the kids, I had to make sure that emotionally I
didn’t slip back into that “dark place”.
Much more than that I did actually enjoy my trek on the wild side. A bit of retail therapy didn’t do anyone any
harm! Lots of sales and bargains out
there so you can get plenty of return for your buck. Obviously can’t spell out here what I bought as
you never know who might read this blog.
Next step is to complete the
shopping and then wrap the gifts which is definitely a very technically stressful
exercise. Then for me the most painful
part of Christmas. Writing the Christmas
cards. There is still no way I can even
contemplate signing a card off without including Caroline’s name. Not sure what I’m going to do: “The Watsons”
or just leave it blank. I will always
put “x x x x”.
Now that the photographer has taken
photos of the house for the Christmas Day launch the Christmas decoration and
tree will be brought down from the attic and put up making the house look very
beautiful. Putting the decorations on
the tree was always a special occasion for us as a family especially when the kids
were small. We always had this Disney
Christmas Song video playing. The kids
would be wearing Santa hats dressing the tree.
Avery special occasion. However,
as son as the kids were put to bed Caroline would completely re-decorate the tree
in her own style! Actually I may have to
take all the Pringle tubes off the ceiling when Joe goes to bed.
So gradually getting ourselves organised
and ready “but there’s ages to before Christmas Day yet”. I feel that in the past three months I have
made great steps. Lots of pieces in my
live are coming together which makes me feel stronger. Christmas is just another test which I’ve
started to enjoy. However, still on travelling on my journey.
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