Lenora, you seem to be taking to all of this like a duck to water and still have a life left at the end of the day. Where on earth am I going wrong!?! I'm happy to see you're having so much fun with it though. The kids are bound to get caught up in your enthusiasm.

As for me... I spent most of yesterday in tears and today I get to wait at home for a while before going out in the cold and wet to watch DS8 in a school carol concert at a nearby church (not that near though!). He's apparently been chosen to read something as well. I have no idea how long it's supposed to last though and I'm struggling to get hold of my ops guy to tell him I won't be in till later - I forgot yesterday, he's not answering calls and his phone is switched off!

I've got dozens of errands piling up and never any time to do them in. DH has been away more than he's been home the last few weeks because of Harrods and my SIL is arriving in less than two weeks, which gives me just one weekend to get it together a bit, including getting her bedding from my mother. My grandmother had an angiogram yesterday and was promptly moved from her nice private room into the cardiac ICU ward she was in before, before being moved to another hospital entirely for angioplasty (that's the balloon in the artery thingy). All things considered, if I get through Christmas without having a nervous breakdown (increasingly unlikely after yesterday) then I shall consider myself to have done extremely well.

Lenora, I don't know if it helps but I found my mother a vase in the same pattern as her tableware - if I could've found a nice serving dish in the same pattern I'd probably have chosen that instead, but it was an antiques type place, and her pattern was discontinued. For my dad I've got a free sample of an electric corkscrew thing, plus various other things all related to alcohol, like Christmas Pudding ale! Maybe he'll take the hint that he's drinking more and more!

keep sane and keep looking for the magic everyone...

Kerri.