It came upon a midnight clear...

Tonight, it happened.

A heady mix of last day at work, and tinsel and bokeh, a second showing of "The Santa Claus"... A growing pile of Christmas presents under the tree, and a spontaneous show of affection from Beloved with a big bunch of Daffodils.

I drove past Lido tonight, where Toolibelle was meeting with her school pals partaking in a bit of eating and coiffing of the cocktails... and I felt a pang for days of old, when Christmas started with the bank closed at 3.30 and we brought the bucket up from the kitchen which was filled with our assortment of alcoholic beverages to make a "punch".

We would swap secret santa presents, mine inevitably involved teabags and sugar; drank the punch, played charades and got roaring drunk. One such episode ended with me being caught by the Bus Inspector trying to sit on the drivers knee to help "drive". Luckily for me the Bus Inspector knew me, and encouraged me to a seat, where he sat with me til I got home.

I got off lucky... one of my colleagues, went home and relaxed in a bath, and woke up two hours later and threw up, in the bath, while she was still in it.

Aw. Those were the days.