Xmas Is Coming!
It's starting to feel very Christmas-y round here - we got the decorations out on Saturday and freaked out the cat by a) constructing a tree ("so that's where trees come from? :o") and b) moving furniture around so there was space for the new tree. He's only seen us put the tree up 7 years or so, hardly any time for a cat to get the hang of this ;) No pics of the tree yet, I'm waiting for my new camera (less than a week!!).
Presents are all bought and mostly here (or in the post to where they need to be). Thankfully the bulk of them arrived on Saturday, I was starting to get a bit concerned - the large amazon order had left Glasgow on Weds, but didn't seem to have got anywhere else. But all was well *phew*. There's still one bit to arrive, but the person that is for has something else as well, so if one bit's delayed that's not too bad. Assuming, of course, that we actually make it to either of our post-Xmas destinations to exchange presents ... The posted pressies went off on Friday morning, should be enough time for first class even with the weather, I hope. Plus two things going direct to giftee from Orkney, keeping my fingers crossed for them to arrive ...
And we've had all the rest of our Christmas-type parties this weekend too. Started early for J - he had a work pub crawl on Thursday, kinda amusing. He and his colleague Gareth were both dubious and saying things like "oh, I'll just stop for a couple of hours, not all evening" as they headed for the pub at 1pm. I even had some stuff in to cook for dinner coz J was sure he'd be home ... but I got a text at 6pm (preceeded by an empty one ...) saying he was staying out for food. So I went and got myself some Chinese takeaway & had that and a G&T as a little "work xmas do" of my very own :) And J rolled in around half-eleven, rather merry! Best to draw a veil over J's Friday, I think ... he was late up, and early to bed and felt so much better on Saturday ;)
Then on Saturday it was Gareth's party for his birthday (which is a bit later this week). It managed to start snowing about an hour or two before we had to go out & kept going during our walk. So we arrived looking a bit like walking snowmen! Good party tho, worth braving the weather for :) And last night was the karate club xmas dinner - went to Arlingtons, an Ipswich restaurant I didn't even know was there. Reminded me a bit of Browns (in Oxford and in Cambridge) in style & feel. Food was good, and so was the company :)
And now it's less than a week till Christmas itself, and I think all I have to do/buy is food related stuff. And a pair of decent boots to walk in the snow with - I didn't bother last year, coz that was a "once in a lifetime" amount of snow. Which we've had again this year, and if we do make it north to J's folks then I think I'm gonna want something better than my trainers (which aren't waterproof) or various high-heeled shoes.
Presents are all bought and mostly here (or in the post to where they need to be). Thankfully the bulk of them arrived on Saturday, I was starting to get a bit concerned - the large amazon order had left Glasgow on Weds, but didn't seem to have got anywhere else. But all was well *phew*. There's still one bit to arrive, but the person that is for has something else as well, so if one bit's delayed that's not too bad. Assuming, of course, that we actually make it to either of our post-Xmas destinations to exchange presents ... The posted pressies went off on Friday morning, should be enough time for first class even with the weather, I hope. Plus two things going direct to giftee from Orkney, keeping my fingers crossed for them to arrive ...
And we've had all the rest of our Christmas-type parties this weekend too. Started early for J - he had a work pub crawl on Thursday, kinda amusing. He and his colleague Gareth were both dubious and saying things like "oh, I'll just stop for a couple of hours, not all evening" as they headed for the pub at 1pm. I even had some stuff in to cook for dinner coz J was sure he'd be home ... but I got a text at 6pm (preceeded by an empty one ...) saying he was staying out for food. So I went and got myself some Chinese takeaway & had that and a G&T as a little "work xmas do" of my very own :) And J rolled in around half-eleven, rather merry! Best to draw a veil over J's Friday, I think ... he was late up, and early to bed and felt so much better on Saturday ;)
Then on Saturday it was Gareth's party for his birthday (which is a bit later this week). It managed to start snowing about an hour or two before we had to go out & kept going during our walk. So we arrived looking a bit like walking snowmen! Good party tho, worth braving the weather for :) And last night was the karate club xmas dinner - went to Arlingtons, an Ipswich restaurant I didn't even know was there. Reminded me a bit of Browns (in Oxford and in Cambridge) in style & feel. Food was good, and so was the company :)
And now it's less than a week till Christmas itself, and I think all I have to do/buy is food related stuff. And a pair of decent boots to walk in the snow with - I didn't bother last year, coz that was a "once in a lifetime" amount of snow. Which we've had again this year, and if we do make it north to J's folks then I think I'm gonna want something better than my trainers (which aren't waterproof) or various high-heeled shoes.