It's the most wonderful time of the year.

So, grandpa is leaving L.A tonight and arrives tomorrow, H is catching the 5.45am bus to London and will spend a few hours wandering and enjoying the city before meeting his dad and getting the bus back down to dear old Devon, he has cleaned and scrubbed and rearranged, all 3 boys are in the same bedroom ( that's FUN! ) Seth's room is all grandpa ready and we are all excited for him to get here safe and sound. I am so impressed with him, 74 and still doing that 11 hour arduous flight to spend time with us, every year he gets so poorly and yet he still comes.
It is SO cold and we are told that the weather is set to freeze. I am such a grumpy cold weather person. I can cope with cold and dry, nice bright chilly weather is lovely. Snow...oh I hate snow, I like to see a pretty picture, taken in a whole other country but I don't like it anywhere near ME. Thankyouverymuch.
They ( who ARE 'they?') say that by thursday it will be snowing, now I hope that 'they' will stay true to form, you know, the way 'they' told us that we were in for a long, hot summer....and got that totally wrong... here's hoping that the snow thing is way off the mark too. Please.
I know I will wish we still had the big old Toyota while grandpa is here because we won't all fit in our little Renault, unless 2 boys share a seat belt which scares me.....we have 4 days before the boys break up for the Christmas holidays, so we plan on dragging poor jet lagged grandpa out every day to do all the last moment bits and bobs, then the fun begins.
I am trying not to accept that the boys appear to be getting poorly again, just as the last sick one gets better, Isaac was sent home from school, Eli came home at 3.30 and fell asleep, didn't want to eat and said he had tummy ache, both were feverish too. Oh dear! NO TIME!!
I am almost ready for Christmas, just the last minute shopping to do and we're all set.
Jordan is getting us a Turkey from the butcher he orders from for the restaurant, 20lb fresh turkey, boned and rolled, how very grand! I bought a huge ham joint today, I will bake that with honey and cloves. I love cooking christmas dinner, heh I often tell myself how impressive it is that I can cook so well and then I realise that I am a grandma, I ought to be able to cook well, I wonder if I will ever accept that I am not young anymore. Being older has so many advantages and eevery time I think of them I am yet again overwhelmed that I am this old!

I dyed my hair again this week, my natural colour is now totally white, if I stopped colouring it I would have a head of white hair...that is so scary to me! I am not ready to stop colouring my hair and can't imagine a time when I will feel ready ( especially with having relatively young children) the thing is, more and more I am reacting to the dye, this time I have blisters all over my scalp, it hurts so much and the itching is unbearable, I won't use that particular dye again, shame as it only takes 10 minutes to work.
That has nothing to do with anything does it? Anyhoo, back to Christmas...people keep asking me what I would like and so I began to think about it, tough one as I have most everything I need, much of what I like and so to come up with ideas takes time.
I told H that I saw a mirror I would love, on sale. Now, mirrors and I don't get on at all, I avoid them as much as is possible but I do need a good one to do those things that must be done ( in whispering voice as I look about to make sure no-one is listening in) plucking of facial hair, dear life is that isn't a longer job every time I undertake it. I obsessively check every day and go to bed thinking I have it all under control and then, when I am out, perhaps sitting in the car reading outside the school, I will touch my face and feel a wire poking out of my chin, a quick check in the rear view mirror and there, to my absolute horror, will be a black chin hair at least half an inch long! WTH? How does that happen? How can I spring a hair, overnight, that looks a though it ha taken at least 6 months to get that long?
Anyway, quite obviously I NEED a good mirror, one that has a light with it, that can pivot and twist and show me every stray chin hair so I can pluck and free myself from hirsute horrors.
So, I told him and he then spent 20 minutes asking me questions about it.
Where will I keep it? How big is it? Does it fold? Have I thought whether I REALLY want it? Hmmmmm, hmmmmmm.
*sigh*
Now I feel like I will shove the damn thing where the fitted light won't work if I get it on Christmas morning AND now I can't suggest to anyone else that asks that they pop along to 'Boots' and buy it for me, it is reduced from £49.99 to £19.99 which..BARGAIN! In case he does buy it, even though he quite clearly thinks I haven't thought it through and really, why do I want it? Hard work, isn't it? Can you imagine if I came up with a totally impractical and frivolous request?
Yes, indeed, it is the few days a month where H loses his grip and can't help but be annoying, I am gritting my teeth and hoping I manage to keep my patience, I am such a stalwart aren't I?