Monday 22 December 2008

I have winners! (And another Christmas Cracker...)

So we finally got the Christmas tree into the house on Friday evening and all of us girlies waited around interminably while He manhandled it into place and performed some drastic tree surgery to make it fit into our very low ceilinged sitting room. (When Christmas tree buying time comes around I always slip into a state of blissful optimism and temporarily delude myself that we live in a house called The Old Rectory.) The good new is we'll have plenty of pine logs to last us through the festive period. The bad news is the Christmas tree now looks like the victim of a savage attack by a homicidal maniac, and there's only so much damage you can conceal with baubles and tinsel.

Further bad news was to follow, involving fairy lights. I won't go into details, but suffice it to say that once we'd found candles and torches, located the fuse box, got the lights back on in the house and re-started the computer it seemed like a good idea to open a bottle of calming fizz, all of which is all a long, complicated and improbable excuse for why I didn't draw competition winners on Friday night as promised. However, I did get the daughters to do it yesterday, putting the names into daughter #1's Christmas stocking which had been newly unearthed from the Christmas box along with all the decorations. The first name picked out was Brigitte, who wins the necklace I want to keep for myself and a signed copy of Taken for Revenge, Bedded for Pleasure. Katie S and Karen were picked out next, so I'll be sending books to them too.

Today I'm going to be braving the supermarket for the first time in ages, having discovered yesterday that all the online shopping delivery slots were booked up. This is a shock to the system, because it involves getting dressed properly (ie in something other than pyjama trousers and my favourite grey polo necked jumper, stolen from Him circa 1998...) and probably even putting on mascara. Actually, this perfectly encapsulates my whole Christmas holiday clothes dilemma: I secretly feel that over Christmas I should be wearing posh clothes-- perferably grown-up dresses teamed with high heels and sparkly jewellery, but what tends to happen here is that once we return from church on Christmas eve we don't actually leave the house again for days and I never seem to get very far from the pyjama and favourite jumper look. It's all a far cry from the M&S advert fantasy (which even features formal evening wear. Saints preserve us!)

Anyway, here's another Christmas cracker. I love this clip, but why in the name of mince pies does she take so long to get down the stairs and kiss him??? This is Colin Firth for pity's sake. I'd have thrown myself over the railing.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Brigitte, Katie S. and Karen!

Oh, India, I loved that part of the movie! My absolute favorite part, and yes, I would have risked two broken ankles to leap over that railing as soon as I set eyes on the man!

Happy shopping at the market!

Hugs,

xxxTrenda

Anonymous said...

Oooer, good luck with the shopping,India! Don't bother looking for vacuum packed chestnuts,semolina,Terrys chocolate orange segments or chocolate coins. They've all gone-take it from someone who knows!

Wibble.Wibble

Lots of love,

Rach.
XXXXX

Unknown said...

It was on again last night! Hurrah for the plethora of festive totty (and there were some great ones who didn't get a look in as Christmas Crackers... Hugh, Alan and the rest) that made the late-night present wrapping marathon more fun! I'd forgotten the lovely bit where he says 'Taking you home is the best part of my day...'in English, and she says in Portugese 'Leaving you is the saddest part of my day...' Ahhhh....

Rachel, who wants semolina for Christmas?? Is it an essential domestic-goddess ingredient for something that I don't know about? Or a punishment for children who have overindulged in the chocolate coins?

Didn't fare too badly with my own list, but found smoked salmon was in very short supply. Oh well, tuna sandwiches will have to do instead...

Anonymous said...

Ohhh, I too had forgotten that lovely bit from the movie. Must, must, must watch it again as soon as possible!

So glad your shopping was successful!

Anonymous said...

Hi India
Sorry to have taken so long to reply, computer on the blink! DARN.
Never mind, Christmas happened last week, yes it did, I remember frantically making sausage rolls and cheese scones, don't we all love it?
Well, Rupert arrived on the couch with me last night, wasn't he blissful? That girl was so lucky, could you imagine sharing a room with him? Oh yes I could, quite easily. And it just shows he is a total piece of gorgeous totty, and a gentleman at that, he turned her down! SIGH!!
Thanks for your lovely e-mail, it came on a day where nothing is going right, it really helped. Oh, and my review on Amazon, was from the heart, I meant every word. I adored the book. I'll be the first of many fan's of Oliver, you watch.
Thank the girls for picking my name for the competition, speak to you soon.
Love and best wishes for the New Year.
xx Karen