Shop ‘Til You Drop

Dear O'H dear and Lovely Tea Jenny,

I decided to bite the bullet today and take the Youngest Mini Princess to Livingston shopping centre to exchange a Christmas present.

If I am being honest, this excursion filled me with dread. Youngest Mini Princess and I do not share shopping genes. She loves it. I hate it. She is interested in fashion and clothes. The last time I was aware of fashion, corkscrew perms and ra-ra skirts were all the rage. She can tell me which celebrities are rocking the latest looks. I don’t even know who she is talking about. I work in IT for God’s sake. Half of the guys wear ‘funny’ Star Wars t-shirts on dress down days.

The trip ended up being a roaring success. She was like a whirlwind. She was completely focussed and before I knew what had happened, she had exchanged her stuff and amassed another carrier bag of ‘stuff’. I was very happy as I bought a waterproof jacket for walking the dog. That’s my idea of good clothing!

We chatted lots about things that are going on in her world and about some of the insecurities that come with the growing up package. I feel very lucky that both of my daughters still share things with me. I hope that continues.

For the first time in the evening, we left the Mini Princesses to have a mini night out. We went to Wahaca for dinner with Kitty Cat and Marsh as their children were both on sleepovers. This is the first time this has happened for them and they were VERY excited. The mini night out was extended as they came back to ours for a few after dinner drinks. I had a brilliant evening. The four of us used to socialise a lot together before kids but due to the practicalities of organising babysitters, the boys and girls tend to catch up separately. It felt like the old days!

C