The Goose is Getting Fat

Recreate in your mind's eye, if you will, that stylish Gallic amant, Pepe le Pew: ever calm and suave, he gambols, skips and caracoles gently, lightly and with seeming effortlessness through life, relentlessly if charmingly pursuing his chere amie, the cat.

In contrast, the cat, in increasing desperation, losing sanity and hope by visibly tormented degrees, zooms around frantically to escape Pepe's unwanted, malodorous attentions: eventually, exhausted by her frenzied despair, she succumbs to him.

In my mind, Christmas is Pepe, and I am the cat.

It started on Thursday, when I attended DD's school nativity play, 'Oopsy Daisy Angel' - I can tell you that she was the Best, Prettiest Shepherdess; after that, she and her class went to see the pantomime 'Aladdin'. Friday was a friend's birthday party; Saturday was dancing for her, her best friend and DS. While they were safely out of the way, we whizzed to ToysRUs in search of anything with Ben10 printed on it. Breathless with the hurry, we made it back just in time to pick them all up. We then tootled into town in the afternoon to pick up the things that Asda had managed to omit from our delivery, donating generously to the Sally Army band at the request of the kids.

Saturday night I babysat for one of my neighbors, which meant I didn't get home til after 2:15 a.m. It did mean that I untangled the mess that was my James C. Brett Baby Bliss DK; the way it is wound into a 'ball' means it just falls apart into an irritating, frustrating timesucker, very disappointing for an acrylic yarn, that is otherwise lovely, as far as color and texture go.

This morning I finished the accumulation of ironing, which, if I hadn't done it, would have meant both children and DH would have gone nekkid this week. While I was thus occupied, DH and DS made up a raiding party to my Dad's, for a Christmas tree, baking trays, and aniseed. After that, we made special Xmas cookies to go in gift bags for the children's teachers - I did the cookie dough, the kids cut the shapes out, DH made the icing. Their sense of color is .....different.

Having cleared up the aftermath that was the kitchen, we let the kids decorate the tree; there was a long, heated discussion over what should top the tree this year: the star, the china fairy, or the pink fairy. The star won; you can't quite see it in the photo, needless to say.

So here I am with my cup of Horlicks and a bag of pfeffernusse, absolutely shattered, with a week of school left to go (it's not school I mind, it's the cumulative 3 hours of walking to and from each day that I resent) and 12 days til Xmas Day itself. How will I endure til then ? It's like swirling around the edge of a maelstrom, the sense of inevitable destruction hanging over one like vultures hang over carrion. Well, in the absence of prescription drugs, I'll share Momma's li'l secret with you - caffeine, nicotine and sugar; we don't admit to the alcohol just yet.

And just because, I'll share with you my favorite carol, in a fabulous version by a marvellous group, Angelis: