It may be cat heaven but

Christmas was all I hoped it would be. Perfect and tasty traditional fare prepared and cooked at a relaxed pace , a huge pile of chocolates to get through (I’m still working on that one, although you can keep all the coffee flavoured ones, what IS the point of those damn things?), phone calls with family including the charming one with my seven year old nephew telling me very seriously that of course Father Christmas knew exactly which songs  were his favourites to put on his new i-pod befor he wrapped it; visits to the  pub with friends, playing Trivial Pursuits (Yay, I won, which was even more astounding since my man reckons he has never, not ever, at all, lost a game of Trivial Pursuits, well you have this time, fella), played cards – including and especially my favourite all time game, the one I used to play as a child in fits of giggles, and found that even this time, with adults who ought to know better, and two of them who had never heard of the game, “Cheat”,  it was still a game of giggles, fun, wicked laughter and endless and addictive silliness! Yay!

The joy of unexpected surprises, as my man went out on a small errand and come back with the most gorgeous bunch of pale cream roses and white lillies, delighted at my smiling reaction to them as I found a suitable large vase to display them in and hugged him tight.

And also the joy of giving, and being with close and much loved friends.

And over the long weekend, relaxed hours happily blobbing infront of the telly, as Shrek and friends visit faraway technicolourlands and my favourite Pixar film Ratatouille, seen a few times but still fun to watch rats becoming chefs cooking haute cuisine, natch, in high class Paris kitchens.  Watching Mock the Week, QI, and a seemingly endless supply of Carry-On films, still making me smile at their naughty innuendos forty years or more after their creation. Relaxed times…….with jollity and laughter…..

 ……and today an unexpected but most welcome present arrived on the doorstep from far far away (nothing to do with Shrek this one). Thanking the giver for their kindness by email and receiving a reply almost immediately even with the time differences in our lands.

But, today was back to normal, cleaning up the house after the festive visitors, washing glasses, and taking out the many clunking glass bottles to the recyling. Did we reeeealllly drink THAT much wine?

And enjoying every minute of all of the Christmas break, but ready to concentrate again on the work in hand. Because, much as I love the traditions of Christmas what it does do is take time, huge, endless loads of chunks of time. Time to make the fruit cake, buy the presents, wrap the presents, keep the cat off the wrapping paper, decorate the house, clean the house, vacuum the cat, prepare the food, keep the cat off the baubles, write the cards, wrap tinsel around the turkey, stuff the fairy, keep the cat off the Christmas tree, keep the cat off the shiny round easily tappable and oh so tempting decorations, keep the cat’s paws off the cards that I’m writing, make flaming brandy stuffing, and sage and onion pudding, keep the cat off the tree the minute my back is turned, make mincemeat cats and keep the pies off the tree, cook the turkey, keep the cat off the turkey, flame the cat, and make sandwiches of cold sprouts.  

 

But, now that that is all over. I can think again of the imminent jobs a head, a lovely commission to do for Stuart who is as itching as I am to get it started, plus some new walls in a fabulous place to fill with sensual art work, and three of my own paintings to finish. Oh, I’m hungry for it.