Christmas Shopping Complete
Today was really just about buying bits and pieces that were not on lists. A family board game to play, stocking fillers, and so on. I had planned on going out yesterday, but forgot all about the War Horse trip.
Going shopping on Christmas Eve was always going to be entertaining for the wrong reasons. It started with an old lady telling us we were standing in the way of her seeing the bus coming at the bus stop this morning. You know – the same bus everybody was waiting for. I was somewhat taken aback, but laughed into my sleeve a little later in the day when I spotted her at the back of the queue to get on the bus home – no doubt chewing wasps about all the younger people who were not getting out of her way to let her on the bus first.
The shops were rammed with people doing last minute shopping. For the first time in years I didn’t see any children being dragged along the floor, or being threatened by exasperated parents. Everybody seemed calm. Even the teenage girl waiting for the bus, who exclaimed to her friends “my face looks too big, right?”. I don’t know how I didn’t laugh out loud. Our eldest daughter nearly spat fizzy drink everywhere.
Anyway. It is done. We got home in one piece. From this point out, Christmas is mostly downhill – time to relax into it, have a drink, and try to switch off. If I vanish off the internet for the next couple of days, I’ll probably be watching terrible movies with the children, or trying to understand the rules of various board games.
Merry Christmas to you and yours – wherever you may be. With a little luck I’ll catch up with you at some point over the next few days.