I may say my Christmas day was brilliant but, not everything went perfectly. Here is a small selection of it’s less than wonderful moments.
The night before…
Son,,, Mum, I wouldn’t like to be asking you this tomorrow but…
Me… What? Spit it out.
Son… Okay, so if I am looking for receipts for anything you’ve bought me where should I look?
Me, (quietly in my head)… I might just kill you now
Christmas morning all went better than planned, with our eldest setting her clock for 5 am, so she could plant an extra two filled Santa stockings as a surprise for myself and himself from herself and her three siblings. I was more than a little impressed.
9 am… I try to pre set the oven to go on for 10.30 am, as we were going to the Xmas day swim for Daniel.
9.10.. Still standing in front of the oven, pressing buttons in no particular order.
9.15… Running out of vocabulary to express my frustration at the timer.
9.20… Brave son approaches to ask can he help?
9.21… Brave son runs away.
9.25…Panic overwhelms me as I roar at the oven and I might even have kicked it.
9.30…Son returns for a second time, but inbuilt survival skills kick in and he runs again.
9.35… I take a deep breath and remember the turkey is not even stuffed yet. I shovel the stuffing into the cavity, ignoring all health and safety advice telling me we will all die of salmonella if I do so. I then return to the feckin oven once more.
9.40…Try one last time to figure out the timer and hey presto it works. Now I have five minutes to put on as many layers of clothing as possible and leave for the Christmas day swim.
In car on way to the swim.
Me… Oh dear, I’ve just read that the road is closed due to flooding.
Himself… It’ll be grand.
Phone rings and my daughter tells us she had to turn back due to flooding.
Himself…I suppose we better go the other way so.
Moments later.
Me… Do you know the other way?
Himself turning to glare at me… What sort of an eejit do you think I am? Of course I do. You think I know nothing.
Me… Sorry I didn’t realise you knew these roads.
I ring my mother and we chat Happy Christmas talk for five minutes. Hanging up I look at the very unfamiliar boreen (Irish expression for tiny road a car 
would barely fit on) we are travelling on. The floods are very bad and water is rushing around us.
Me… Where are we?
Himself… I’m not quite sure.
Me…What! I thought you knew the detour.
Son… FFS
Me… I think we are heading to Kinsale!
Himself… Don’t worry, we’ll be there shortly.
Son.. I’m putting on google maps.
Himself and myself groan.
Son… Oh my God it is 47 minutes away.
Me… Don’t be ridiculous.
Son… Dad we are way off. Take the next right.
Me… We are not listening to that feckin google maps. She hasn’t a clue. Turn it off.
Son… Oh wait it’s only six minutes away, forty seven minutes if we were walking.
Me… I can’t believe I believed you when you said you knew the way.
Himself… Will you stop, sure we are nearly there now.
We continued in silence and you’ll be happy to note we arrived in time.
So you are now up to date with the first few hours of our Christmas. If I get a chance over the next day or so I’ll fill you in on the rest of the days moments, but remember if you hear me say, ‘We had a fantastic Christmas’, I am mostly telling the truth, but it also had it’s moments.
photo credit: Brian_Kellett via photopin cc
photo credit: River Kennett in flood, Packhorse Bridge, Moulton, Suffolk via photopin (license)
My thoughts on a page. 
Tric it’s always like a breath of fresh air when I read your posts! I love your chronological account of Christmas what an adventure for you! Sweet lovely daughter surprising you like that. Happy St.Stephen’s day from my house to yours. 😃🌟🌟
Thank you so much. I’m glad you enjoyed it, just a bit of reality to soothe others who had a less than perfect day! Happy rest of the holidays to you and every good wish for the new year.
It really does my Christmas was magical due to the fact that I didn’t leave the house for anything or anyone! Our usual Christmas past time is traveling so to stay home is a blessing. Guitar hero competition is live in our household while watching Canada versus the U.S. 2-2 in the third period. It’s a happy Boxing Day in my corner of the world. 😃
Our central heating stopped working Christmas Eve. Does that count?!
But manly husband did manly things at a valve today and got it working. So we only had Christmas Day to work around.
I was fine. I got a bear onesie as a present 😉
haha. Between the lack of heating and the onsie your Christmas day outfit was sorted. Lucky you for having a manly husband, we’d probably have had to freeze until the new year.
Yup, I swear I was warmer that day than after the heating was fixed!
And credit has to be given to my dad who told manly husband over the phone which manly valve to waggle, manfully.
Okay. I am EXTREMELY impressed with myself on knowing what FFS meant!!!! 😀
I hope you got it right, remember the ‘feck’ word?
HAHAHAHAHA~ I absolutely did!!!!! 😀
I’m sorry to hear you are having flooding. I’m beginning to wonder if there is anywhere in the world that isn’t having weird weather.
Thanks Joanne. It’s been rotten here for weeks. So bad we are nearly getting used to it.
😦
i’m glad it all turned out in the end, but somehow it’s never easy ) merry christmas, tric )
It’s a bit of a marathon alright but well worth the effort… in hindsight. Now for the New Year. 🙂
Sounds like fun and games at your house. The most impressive thing for me was your daughter giving you all extra presents. There is zero chance of my eldest son ever doing anything like that. (Strictly speaking, there is a very slight mathematical possibility, but I think we can safely round it down to zero.)
Yes it was really overwhelming to be on the receiving end for a change. I couldn’t believe it. She’s a keeper for sure. I’m not sure boys/men are pre programmed in the same way, even though I thought I’d never hear myself say such a thing. I do, however think you improve greatly with age. 🙂
Yes, we’re like fine wines. 🙂
Merry Christmas, Tric…a few days late. What would life be without a few bumps in the road, or flooding, or an oven that won’t cooperate? Rather boring, right? LOL
I stayed home by myself, and nothing went wrong at all. Great having a family. Yes?
I have no doubt that a similar version (perhaps without the swim!) played out in many homes this Christmas! My day got off to a great start…. by sleeping it out!! Me, who has spent the WHOLE YEAR struggling with sleep!! Ah well, a great day was had by all. Mostly 😉 Happy New Year to you and yours Tric x
“We continued in silence”
Seriously impressed, tric.
Oh what a start at your day 😀
I hope the rain will stop again for you.
Merry Christmas (belated) Tric, glad the oven thingy worked…hope you are not too flooded out tonight. We were bound for Star Wars in Mahon Point but had to turn back, so have opened the popcorn, chocolates, and of course the wine!
Thanks Joan. Happy New year to you and yours.
If it all went perfectly, where would be the fun in that?! It’s moments like those that are a blogger’s dream and you recount them so well.
Nah! Look out Dublin. Two auld farts are coming at ye! Can you tell I’m excited? Haven’t been on a feckin’ plane since the year before we got married. : D
Most impressed with your daughter. My own crew clubbed together for me and their dad – two passports, two flights and a weekend in Donegal! I nearly dropped my drink along with my jaw. They might just have felt sorry for the two auld farts whose passports were so out of date what with never being able to afford to take the whole gang abroad. Now that they’re gallivanting all over the world I think they felt guilty. I don’t care! I’m just so excited that they’ve alluded to Groupon deals for every anniversary/birthday/Christmas/Hannukah. And promised to mind the youngers! I just hope I’m not riddled with guilt come the time.
Wow. I take it you are flying into Dublin! That is a fantastic present. I can imagine you feeling guilty for at least a nano second as you fly out.
Enjoy. Dublin is a great place for a visit and plenty craic to be had there. Let me know if you need advice on anything? Here’s to 2016.
That would be great, Tric. Hubs was there years ago but I imagine it’s changed significantly since he was a lad! I have no idea of places to visit although I daresay an online search would throw up some recommendations. But, personal ones, from folk who know, are always more trustworthy. Can’t wait. 🙂
Donegal? Dublin? Definitely Dublin. I think. Jeez, I don’t know where I’m going!