I was going to call this entry The Christmas Grinch, but then I realised that a grinch is a person who denies pleasure to others, and that’s not quite what I am, so grump it is. In the past, around this time of year I’ve complained to Kim about the crowded shops, parking, the stress of finding appropriate gifts, the sheer number of gifts, the growing amount of kids on our list, the expectations of parents, returning of duplicate items, plastic trees half crushed from last year, broken lights, and why we need a tree when there are no kids in our household. Despite this, she soldiers on each year, and GETS THE JOB DONE. She loves this time of year. But there are no excuses this time around. All the presents were bought in November, and just need to be wrapped. We have new lights – yes they did fail and don’t blink properly but lets not go through that 10 minutes of hell again. The tree is up, though the weight of the star on top has curved the spike into a wonky Leunig-like laughing stock. The dogs have new $2 Shop toys which were shredded in a few minutes. There is nothing left to do except attend the functions. And then it hit me. I hate the functions most of all. There’s 3 functions for my work and two for Kim’s. Then the immediate family ones. Then the extended family ones. You could go to more if you love that sort of thing – I’m talking the “mandatory ones or else people will hate you” events. One of the nicest things about Bagshot was being able to escape from all that, and wake up on Christmas Day with nothing to do at all. I’d think about all the sad old sacks driving from one end of town to the other in heavy traffic – visiting people for 3 hours and then rushing off, the loads of plastic and paper going into bins the next day and all that food going to waste, and I wouldn’t miss it at all. I’d pour a second glass of Sparkling Shiraz and listen to the birds flitter around. So, now that’s off my chest, I hope we have a fun time down at the pub in Newry this year. It will be nice to spend a few days with Kim’s family. 
Chloe wishes you a merry Christmas