Christmas Eve

'Twas the night before Christmas,
And all through the house,
Nobody stirred,
Except for the two parents struggling to assemble a 3 foot square model playset of the Tardis Interior...

Only took an hour and a half to assemble. Decided to do it now rather than have impatient boys waiting for it tomorrow. (OK, so we wanted to play with it first!)

I've just enjoyed some chestnuts roasted on an open fire. Delicious, coupled with the Jack Daniels that is enhancing my enjoyment of Pirates of the Caribbean, which is currently showing on the box.

Unfortunately I'm not sure how clean or clear our chimney is. I swept it myself yesterday, but the other rooms that adjoin the same chimney breast all smell a bit smokey.

Posted the last of the Christmas cards to the neighbours this morning. Noted that once more I missed the last post abroad - only 1 card ever goes that way, if I ever remember in time. Nipped out to the shops, picked up a couple of bags of smokeless fuel. Then spent the rest of the day cleaning, hoovering and tidying, whilst the hobbits dragged out all of their current toys to make a pre-Christmas mess.

Boys were bathed, and had new pyjamas hand delivered to them by Father Christmas on the start of his rounds. Samwise wasn't fooled by my outfit, but I threw doubt on his convictions when I denied it later, claiming to have just seen a sleigh going up the street. Their both fast asleep now, waiting for the real chap to show up.

Goose is defrosting in the kitchen. A few more pressies to wrap later, or rather clad in a loose formation of Christmas paper and sticky tape.

2 months of preparation finished - all ready for tomorrow. It'll be over before we know it.

Merry Christmas Everybody!