I’ll carry on with my Christmas tale….

Boxing Day’s shopping expedition was a raging success. We went to Bicester village where I got some wonderful designer bargains;

• A Karen Millen Skirt,
• A Burberry Blouse,
• Another Burberry Blouse
• A Burberry Silk Scarf
• A Jimmy Choo purse
• Penhaligons perfume
• An FCUK top for Peter.

I returned home to Peter late, tired and shopped out. I was so excited about my purchases though, and then we head off to bed for another early night, it was Bicester again on the 27th…. Hardcore shopping is an artform!

We woke up early that morning to head to Bicester, (you have to go early or you don’t get a parking space)! Peter hadn’t been before, a Bicester virgin, so he was looking forward to it, he couldn’t have anticipated the bounty which lay before him! In the very first shop we went into (Mulberry) Peter bought himself an absolute bargain of a beautiful shirt. We bought a whole suite of luggage from Aquascutum, that is so stylish… and Peter bought me an early Valentines present (I can’t have them until February… but they are there and that is all that matters)… a pair of Jimmy Choo’s…. I am now officially following in the choo steps of my role model, Carrie Bradshaw :o)

I have been thinking today how much your priorities and beliefs change as you grow up. When I was a teenager, I always anticipated that I would be a driver (which indeed I am) and my dream car that I always set my heart on, the car I was definitely going to have when I was old enough to hold a license, was a Suzuki Vitara… You know the sort, like the one Cher had in Clueless, a little 4x4 with a convertible hood and high up driving position, something I could play my dance tunes loud out of as I cruised along. However, before I became a driver, I started gaining a greater awareness of gas guzzling 4x4s, of the damage they do to people when they hit them in accidents (the sad loss of a friend taught me this one), of the damage they do to the planet through their carbon emissions, and just frankly, how annoying they are because they are so huge. I joined alliance against urban 4x4s, and now, although I still think that the suzui vitara is an attractive car, my principles simply couldn’t allow me to drive one… and so isn’t it funny how your beliefs change as you grow into a young woman or man?

Hmm, not sure what went on with the photograph which I tried to post, although I am probably grateful in hindsight that it didn’t work, it’s a very red eyed photograph of me at a Christmas party!

I have such a long (and overdue) blog to write, thank you for all waiting so patiently, I hope it is worth it. I’m going to try to get it all done today and post it as soon as I can!

I didn’t finish working until the 23rd of December, but thankfully our bosses took pity and allowed us to leave early. Having been out partying the night before I had the most atrocious hangover, my head was truly pounding, but somehow I managed to hold up while we had a little ‘team party’ in the nearby meeting room. I won’t deny however, I was grateful to be leaving during the early afternoon to head off into town; I was hoping a restful time was ahead of me… (just an aside, on the previous night at the Christmas party I managed to split the seam in my vintage 1950s dress, Peter had to find needle and thread during the night so I could be sewn back into it in the ladies toilets… time to diet methinks). Anyway, back to that last Friday before Christmas… I head off into town and straight to the new smoothie bar for a hangover blitzer, the natural way. It was a beautiful smoothie, if a little pricy! I had been intending to get my 50s style curled bob trimmed for sometime, and so the next stop was the hairdressers… However while I was waiting there, I saw a lovely bob on a photograph… sitting in the hair dressers chair I made the impromptu decision that I wanted that one… so I did, and very nice it is too!

The following day, Christmas Eve, was probably one of my most emotional days of 2006. You see, I was moving in with Peter. I had been taking things over to his house bit by bit the preceding month and so I didn’t have to pack en masse and haul everything over, which was a bonus. I know it should have been a really happy time, living with my lover… however, I’ve never lived away from home you see, it’s always been my mum and I ( and Bailey too in recent months). I was fine all day on Christmas Eve, and then mum suggested I should get ready to go, and then the tears started falling like waterfalls down skin tone canyons! I was feeling a mixture of guilt (for leaving mum) and sadness (for leaving home), I said goodbye to her and to Bailey (we had already agreed that she wanted to keep Bailey for company) and then made the 15 minute drive, with poor visibility due to fog and tears, to the other side of the city and my new home. By the time Peter was greeting me at the back door, my cheeks were burning like acid and my eyes were flooding like a river which had broken its banks. Peter was expecting this! I couldn’t eat, I just kept crying for the whole night. Peter kept trying to take my mind off it by searching for churches which were holding midnight mass, and every time I called my mum I tried not to start crying again. We took the dog (Pru) for a really long walk, and truly it was only then that I managed to stop the tears. They had still stopped long enough for us to walk up to a lovely church in nearby Allsley Village, for midnight mass. With a bad cold and having been crying all night, singing hymns was not my speciality, but I prayed for a good year ahead for us all!

Christmas morning, I was awake fairly early to begin cooking the dinner. Liz and Colin came round early (Peter’s mum and partner) bearing gifts, so we gave them champagne, while we tried to tidy up a little and at 1pm the little people arrived. There seemed to be hundreds of presents under the tree, I swear I have never seen so many presents wrapped and ready to be opened on Christmas day, it was like being rich or something. We all sat round opening our presents, and it was wonderful! Although truth be known, I still had moments where I was battling back the salt water tears, thinking about my mum. I had some lovely presents, I’ll try to list them, but no doubt I will forget something… sorry if I do!

• I got this Radley Picture bag, called retail therapy
• A book called ‘It’s vintage darling’ all about buying vintage clothes,
• A National Geographic camera bag to hold my kit when I am out and about,
• A silver bracelet with enormous topaz’s in different colours set in it,
• A sexy black baby doll night dress,
• Toiletries,
• A leather desk set,
• An evening bag,
• A talking radio with lips which move,
• A new Ruby and Millie makeup bag,
• An interior design book,
• A silver amethyst cross,
• Gone with the Wind special edition box set DVD

I think that’s it… lots isn’t it? I hope I haven’t forgotten anything.

Anyway, I spent Christmas day trying to make the perfect roast gammon and steamed vegetables. Somehow despite my disposition on Christmas Eve I had still managed to prepare 4 individual trifles for us as puddings. I soldiered on cooking after Liz and Colin had gone to Peter’s brothers for dinner, and eventually it was time to dish up. Dinner was:

Starter:

Pate with toast

Main:

Cranberry glazed roasted gammon with vegetables

Pudding:

Trifle

All washed down with champagne, not bad for someone who can’t cook hey? It turned out wonderfully, and after dinner I head over to mums house!

I was glad to be back at mums, there is no way in a million years I could leave her to be totally alone on Christmas day! It was far quieter here than it had been at Peter’s, but mum was pleased with her Christmas presents, and Bailey was playing with his! I ate another dinner with mum, roast turkey, and it was beautiful, I’ll never be able to cook like that! Then we settled down to watch TV… interrupted only long enough to take Bailey for a walk! It was a really peaceful evening, and really nice. We laughed huge belly laughs at the vicar of Dibley, and plotted our shopping trip to Bicester the following day… we ate plates of pickles and meats, and generally just had a really nice time… mum also decided she would take some pictures of Bailey on her new digital camera, not realising that without a memory card, the most it would take was 2! Nonetheless I was glad she was enjoying her gifts… we went off to bed, full and contented and looking ahead to our Boxing Day shopping expedition!

What have I learned in 2006?

1. People who you think the world of will not necessarily think the world of eachother.
2. You cannot analyse why a person behaves the way that they do, only they know it and you will just give yourself a headache trying to figure it out.
3. You cannot change the way people act.
4. £2.99 red nail varnish works exactly as good as £16 Chanel nail varnish.
5. Semi-permanent black hairdye is never semi permanent
6. People will always notice when you do something wrong, but not necessarily when you do it right.
7. 49 fake designer bags does not make a real one… even if you sell them all on ebay and pool the money into a real one, it won’t even buy you the buckle… all you will have are lots of broken bags and no money!
8. Champagne will always get you drunk, but rarely make you sick
9. If you are trying to attach a new bolt to a gate, it’s always useful to have the correct size drill bit for the job.
10. Chocolate does not give you spots.