We went to York Tuesday afternoon to Friday morning. Tuesday evening me and Joel went to the Pantomime with my parents and brothers. We’ve been going to the same pantomime for over 20 years. It’s the same actors, the same jokes, the same story line, they just change the title!! And they make enough money off the 2 months the pantomime runs to keep the theatre open for the rest of the year. Joel enjoyed it and fell asleep towards the end but it was definitely worth taking him. And I enjoyed it as ever, it’s part of Christmas!
Wednesday we went to a friend of mine’s for lunch, it was lovely to see her and catch up. Wednesday evening we had Christmas dinner as there were 8 of us and there was only 4 of them on Christmas day.
Thursday I took Joel to Water World near my parent’s house. I couldn’t take Esther because Paul didn’t want to come and I can’t take Joel on the water slides if I have Esther as well. So I just took Joel and he loved it. He went on 2 out of the 3 water slides a few times, on the lazy river / rapids and in the pool when the wave machine was on. We had a great time. In the evening, my parents babysat, Me and Paul went out for pizza, then I went to the pub with some school friends.
Well with one school friend and a group of friends that used to be in my year but that I was never particularly friends with. I love how I see these people once a year and we chat and have adult conversations, when at school some of them bullied me and to others I wasn’t worth talking to. I like how they’ve grown up and turned out ok in the end, lol. Most of them have high flying jobs in London though. 2 work in the Houses of Parliament, 2 work for the foreign office, 1 works for PayPal, 1 is a Social worker, another is a teacher in Scotland. There’s a couple that still live in York. But they’re just as much in awe of me as a pretty much full time mum with 2 children as I am of them with their high flying jobs in London. Most of them don’t have much experience of children and don’t know what to do with them.
So York was good, helped by my mum still being at work, so we only saw her in the mornings and evenings. Friday we went home. We went to some friend’s house for lunch, it was good to catch up with them properly as you never get to have decent conversations with people on Sunday mornings. Then we went to the Crib Service at St. Peter’s in town but only 10 people turned up and we were 4 of them!! After that we went to GPJ’s to say hello and so the children could get their Christmas presents.
When we got home and put the children to bed I was so glad that we did all the present wrapping and organising on Monday before we went to York. We had washing to do as we need to wash and repack.
Christmas day the children opened presents then we went to church. Church was good, love church at Christmas, it’s Jesus’ birthday, stuff the secular things about Christmas. Nice to see friends on Christmas day and wish them a happy Christmas. We then had a big roast dinner as a late lunch, opened the rest of our presents and started to watch the Nativity on iplayer. We went to DM’s for tea on Christmas day. Good to spend the time with her as she has no local family and we decided this year that we were spending Christmas with friends instead of family. After the children were in bed we watched the rest of the Nativity. Paul made bread in my new bread maker while I was making the Christmas dinner so we had that for supper. So all in all we had a good day. I banned Paul from his computer games today. He just annoyed me because we were late for church because he was playing with one of Joel’s Christmas presents!
There was no church on Boxing Day and we had a lazy morning then went to NT’s for lunch, she has no local family either and she’s such a great cook. :) Second we went to CMD’s open house for an hour or so again good to catch up with them properly as you never get to have decent conversations with people on Sunday mornings. Thirdly we went to the pastor and his wife’s house of our old church, they had a Christmas party for their children and grandchildren, us and 2 polish families they’ve become friends with. That was good as 3 out of the 4 of their children were home. Number two child now has 4 children so it was good to meet their new addition who is a month old. They are Paul’s surrogate / second parents so uwe’re quite close to them although we don’t see a lot of them these days. Their first child who is also one of Paul’s best friends we hope to see at New Year. So all in all a different Christmas, but good to do something different and spend time with friends instead of family.
On Monday we repacked and headed to Bournemouth. It took 5 hours instead if the usual 3 ½, this was due to traffic rather than the weather or any accidents. We just spent time with Paul’s, and step mum and the three kids (15, 11 and 21 months) Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Paul’s dad and step mum like having us around I think but they don’t really talk to us, ask how we are or what we’ve done / been up to since we last saw them (nearly 4 months ago).
Tuesday afternoon we started doing the rounds of Paul’s extended family. We went to his Gran’s and his step mum’s parents. This morning again we didn’t do a lot, just stayed in and went to his great aunties in the afternoon. She’s great great aunty to our two little ones but she’s not as old as she sounds, lol. There’s a just a big age gap between Paul’s Gran and his great aunty. She is lovely and actually takes time to ask how you are and what’s new with you.
Paul’s dad doesn’t seem well at all. I think he’s had a bad cold or flu recently but he’s also had a bad foot as long as I’ve known him which is coming up 9 ½ years. He had an operation just before our wedding so about 8 ½ years ago which was unsuccessful and he’s not had another one since as far as I know. I don’t really know what the problem is, if I’ve been told, I don’t remember. But he’s always in pain, has mobility problems and more recently gets disability living allowance.
I’m moaning again, but more things that bug me about the in-laws. They are always telling and implying that the 15 year old is fat and lazy. She is not, she is an average teenager. She does the dishwasher and other things when asked to and has a paper round. She also looks after and babysits for the 21 month old when asked to. She’s clever and appears to work reasonably hard at school. She did GCSE maths 2 years early and her parents were saying she didn’t do very well as she only got a D. However they were missing the point, doing GCSE maths 2 years early is an achievement in itself. Yet despite all this she is fat and lazy. I mean I’m surprised she’s doesn’t have an eating disorder or something the way she’s treated.
Also Paul’s dad does the cooking and the 15 and 11 year old do the dishwasher. Looking after the 21 months old is a joint effort as is looking after and walking the dog. I guess Paul’s step mum does the washing but it always comes across as the others do more than her. Paul’s dad and step mum spend a good part of everyday watching kids TV and playing computer games. It just all seems like such a waste of time to me.
Anyway my bed is calling again. The first night we were here it took 45 mins to get the children to sleep then Esther woke up at 4 and came in bed with me and I slept badly with her in bed. Last night it took 30 mins to get them to sleep but they both more or less slept through, Esther stirred before I went to sleep but I managed to settle her keeping her in the cot. Joel stirred a couple of times but he’s sleeping with me anyway so I settled him. I still didn’t sleep very well though. It took an hour to get them to sleep this evening and I just get annoyed with them. Hopefully they’ll sleep through now though, I’m tired!
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