I am feeling so nicely relaxed already. I woke up a couple of times during the night (as my body clearly didn’t get the memo about changing time-zones) but managed to doze off again each time.
We’ve just had a breakfast of wholewheat pancakes with pecans served with sausages and bacon and maple syrup. Yum! Nothing on the agenda now until Kevin (Brett’s younger brother) arrives with his son Carter around lunchtime.
This evening we’re all going over to Susan’s (Brett’s sister’s) house for the family Christmas Eve. This is the ‘present-fest’ for all the children (and adults.) Both Brett and Chris (Kevin’s partner) have dropped dark hints about the chaos that ensues at these events and I can kind of see what they are talking about. As well as the three brothers and a sister, there are children and grand-children aplenty. The tree here looks like an idealised Christmas advertisement, it is so stacked around with presents – and this is apparently less than half of the full complement; there are at least as many already around the tree at Susan’s and more yet to come.
I am quite looking forward to it; coming from a comparatively small family I have never seen a real tree with quite so many gifts beneath it and I think I’m going to enjoy the glee that I’m sure will ensue when the youngsters finally get let at them. The fact that I won’t have to clear up the mess or deal with the fall-out of over-tired, over-excited toddlers probably gives me a more positive outlook though…
Driving around last night to and from the restaurant I’m surprised at how many of the houses are so decorated. It seems almost de rigeur to have at least a cascade of white lights from your eaves and bedecking your garden shrubbery. The keener households have reindeer, snowmen and Santa Claus constructed out of fairy lights too, not to mention the many illuminated garlands and trees to be seen. I’d be curious to see how domestic electricity consumption figures for the Christmas period compare with, say, January when the decorations have gone. It does feel slightly strange though to see all these references to cold, snowy, wintery times when the temperature is in the twenties!
In other news:
Last night I noticed in the branch of Target (it’s a superstore; think of the larger Sainsbury’s and Tesco branches but reverse the percentage of floor-space given over to groceries vs. ‘other stuff’) that they had a ‘British Aisle’ (sic!) displaying Boots’ cosmetics. Kind of nice to see some of our brands making it out here, even if they do have to use dreadful puns.
Both Brett and I were up early this morning and Brett ended up flicking through the TV channels looking for something decent to watch. We surfed into an advert promoting a treatment for genital herpes. Talk about surprising the naïve Brit! I think maybe I’m more conservative sometimes than I realise; I’ve always felt the adverts we get for thrush medication and sanitary towels to be more intimate than I care for, so to hear people talking about genital infections on TV in the country that went into a convulsion of censorship following the sight of a female nipple, seemed a little incongruous.
Finally, I came across this article via Mark Maness’ blog and felt all the better for having brought my kilt for the New Year party we’re going to. ”Land of my heart forever,
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