Presents

I think the combination of paracetamol, ibuprofen, too much tea (yes, you can have too much) and an ill-advised splash of red wine has affected me today. I am still determinedly calling my illness 'just a cold' in the hope that mocking it will make it run away and hide. But the hot and cold flushes, aching joints and throbbing headache tell a different tale...

Much losing of items today that were on my various lists for packing. This trip is complicated: a three centre UK trip (freezing house in Scotland, super-heated parents house then smart gear for London) needs to be squeezed into hand luggage; then leaving in the car all that is required for a skiing trip on the way home: bedding, towels, food, ski gear, large presents for our second Christmas celebration on 2nd January). So currently there are large piles of stuff dotted around, and I keep wandering about - glowering at an item and moving it between piles from time to time as I try to make my befuddled brain concentrate on which pile is for where and when.

Happily we don't have to leave until mid-morning, so tomorrow when this 'cold' has gone (please please please) I can concentrate on getting it right, whilst repeating the constant travellers motto "tickets, money, passport" - since everything else can be sorted on arrival if necessary.

Anyway, the kids caught me at a weak moment (when I'd just looked through their school reports) and asked if they could open all the rest of the doors on their advent calendars. Of course I said yes, and was delighted to see this Yoda Santa emerge. And that's blip. Save for this joke it made me think of, which Katherine loved and Conor didn't get despite our (in hysterics by the end) explanations. In the end he said he got it but it just wasn't very funny. Ah well:

Darth Vader: Luke, I know what you've got for Christmas.

Luke: How do you know?

DV: Because I can feel your presents.