Well, it’s been a year since I last thought seriously about using the Guided Bus to do some Chistmas shopping, again I have been disappointed. It looked, back in late spring early summer, that the Council & BAM Nutall might actually come to an agreement a get the defects on the route fixed in 2010. In early Autumn we heard that this would now not happen until early 2011, déjà vu anyone?
Even without the guided bus I have managed to do about half my Christmas shopping before December, this is probably the first time that I will have had all my shopping done in good time. It does make for a much more relaxed & enjoyable holiday season.
I am always reminded how lucky I am to have such a great Christmas, I get a long break from work and spend Christmas eve & morning with my friends (Mark & Family) where I not only get woken up very early by the kids but am treated (in some respects) as a child & a member of the family. I get a stocking and have to open it with the kids on the bed before being allowed into the living room where there is a mad scramble for presents, being filmed all the while for prosperity. I was recently reminded of this when being shown a video from a few years ago, eek.
This year looks as though this is unlikely to change, Christmas eve will consist of a lovely pub lunch at the Pig & Abbot in Abington Piggots with my parents and brother, back to my parents for the afternoon, drop of all the presents and off to Marks.
Christmas Eve at Marks is now a tradition where we will of course watch “Ground Hog Day”, “Trapped in Paradise”, one of the “Santa Clause” films, “Miracle on 34th Street” and anything else that we feel fits the evening, all coupled with probably way too much too eat. At about midnight-ish I will be called to go and collect the eldest daughter, Leanne, from whichever pub she has ended up in, which is a fairly new tradition that I seem to have acquired due to my giving up alcohol a few years ago. Generally around this time, we also see what appears to be Santa or Mrs Claus on their rounds, I think they give up waiting for us to go to bed, depositing goodie bags as they go. We consider going to bed.
Morning arrives, a little too early for my liking, with the sounds of girls footsteps in the hallway. I’m awoken by the sound of “Are you awake?”, “No” comes the response, we start to open our stockings.
A queue outside the living room door marks the start of the chaos of Christmas morning, ordered by height I used to be second from the back (Mark being 6’3″) but now having moved up a spot because his younger brother, Paul, outgrew me. Itching to go we wait for the door to open..
I never quite know which is more exciting, the opening of presents, watching others open their presents, watching Chico go bananas, being amused at Sheila attempting to open my wrapping or the inevitable wrapping paper fight – it all makes me smile.
By the way, I’m 36 and love Christmas Morning.
Maybe I’ll be a little more relaxed in the days before and be able to try the Guided Bus (if it opens) into Cambridge to avoid trying to park!