Magic Christmas.

Hi Friends.

Well it is all over bar the shouting. How did it go for you?

We had a fabulous time, after a bit of a drama Christmas Eve going into Christmas Day. We spent Christmas Eve watching films and bedtime was at 10 pm, after all we needed to give Santa time to squeeze down our flue. Around 11.45 am, I woke to hear Keith moaning and groaning and even though I tried to ignore it I could not, so I put the light on to find him sitting up in bed. He had chest pain around his Sternum and yes I know the first thought is always heart, but knowing Keith as I do, there was no panic. Because Keith does not have a Gallbladder, he can have issues with acid and so I gave him his Omeprazole, we tried one at first. After about 15 minutes he said that it was settling down and so I got him up and sat him in the saloon. I gave him another Omeprazole and made a cup of tea. By 1 am he was feeling better and so we went back to bed, but sleeping by this time had passed us by and we did not really get much sleep. Christmas Day was with us and we could only presume Santa had made his way down our flue, when we were not looking, because presents had been delivered, not even Paddy or Marmite stirred.
8 am we were up and I was up with Paddy and unlocking the gates on the site. It was then time for mog and dogs breakfast, then Keith and I had toast, before I riddled the fire, got rid of the ash and then made the fire back up. After all of the boat jobs, I washed my hair and got changed for the day, because we were going to our friend Jack's for lunch along with Maria and Tony. Hair washed, we opened our presents and our Christmas day had begun.
11.45 am Maria text to say she was ready to go, so we collected up our bits and set off to Jack's. Poor Maria was playing a taxi service, because Tony had broken down, so she had to collect him as well once she dropped us at Jack's.
Jack cooked us an amazing Christmas lunch, Turkey with all the trimmings. Pudding we had a choice of Christmas pudding, Lemon pudding or Trifle. The Lemon pudding was to die for and the Christmas pudding was scrummy. All this was washed down with Jack's homemade Damson Gin, and some bubbly which we took along to celebrate the occasion. Presents were handed out and then we played a game of Charades, which was hugely funny. An amazing day was had and all to soon it had to end, because we needed to get home to let Paddy out and feed both him and Marmite. Back home, the fire was stoked, animals fed because Marmite was making sure we knew she was unhappy at being left home with Paddy all day. Coffee was made and the TV was switched on as we wanted to watch Maigret at 9 pm on ITV. Rowan Atkinson is brilliant in the role of Maigret. 11pm we crawled into bed and I did not hear another thing until 8 am and so we were into Boxing Day.
You can only imagine my shock, horror on turning on the BBC 1 news to hear that George Michael had passed away at the age of 53 years of age. What a dreadful year we have had for the passing of some wonderful people?
I grew up with George's music and still love his music. Another sad loss to the world of entertainment. Christmas Day we also heard that Rick Parfitt had died, so Status Quo will never be the same. Yep like so many others in the 70's and 80's I used to headband to Rocking All Over The World. It makes you realize that as we grow older those around us are passing away. With George being 53 years old, he is actually a year younger than me, so it seems very scary.
Despite waking at 8 am, Paddy was not stirring, so I made Keith and I a cuppa and we watched the news, before finally crawling out of bed at 9 am. Paddy was then up and ready for his walk, whilst all's Marmite could think about was food. With us both still feeling full, we did have some toast for breakfast. I then got on with doing the stove and getting rid of the ash. The plan for the day was, there was no plan. Just as well we had no plan, because I spent most of my day doing my family tree and finding out some wonderful things, including a photograph of a relative. It is always nice to put names to faces, sadly he died in World War I.

Albert William Cosser.

The evening was taken up with watching Tom Hanks in 'Captain Phillips'. OMG it was brilliant and really gripping. As always Tom Hanks was brilliant.
Holiday Tuesday morning got off to a late start for me, I did not wake until 8 am, after a fabulous nights sleep. The news was on and a cuppa was made and with much sadness we heard of the death of the lovely Liz Smith. I loved her in The Vicar of Dibley.
Up and about, Paddy walked and jobs all done. We walked into town to get my glasses repaired at Vision Express first and then a saunter around the town, which was really quiet. Not many of the shops bothered to open.
Our afternoon was taken up by watching films, eating Quality Street and watching more films.
Christmas for us is now done and dusted, but we always leave the decorations up until the 12th night, mainly because we do not want any bad luck.
So I guess I will see you all in the New Year, if not before.