I adore Christmas. I love all the preparation, the excitement of getting presents. The stores full of Christmas stuff, and today was no exception. I've had my very old friends from Abingdon staying with me, as in I've known them a long time, not that they are just old!!
We have been to Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. It's the place that Mr Darcy lived in the latest Pride and Prejudice film starring Keira Knightly. It is a glorious place about an hour from where I live.
It is the place where Debo Mitford married the Duke of Devonshire and became a Duchess. Her son is now the Duke of Devonshire and she lives in the Dower House.
So not only has it history that is immortalised in film from hundreds of years ago it also encapsulates modern day history with the scandalous Mitford sisters.
I digress, today I went there with Wendy and Mike. I first met Wendy 24 years ago when I'd been to a jewellery party at her house and she came round to mine on the 22nd of December to deliver the jewellery I'd brought.
It was a red letter day. In that earlier that evening I'd had a phone call from my then husband to say he'd be home on leave before Christmas. Then Father Christmas had come down the road where I lived on the back of a truck, with carols playing, collecting money for charity. Then Wendy had turned up.
We sat in my living room with me being so excited, firstly cause I'd seen Father Christmas, second Howard was coming home and third I was making a new friend.
Now 24 years later I still have Wendy, she is someone I love to bits and because of our busy lives we don't see each other as much as we used to. But that doesn't matter cause we know we are there for each other through thick and thin. And over the last 24 years there has been lots of both of those for both of us. I really don't think I would have survived this long if it wasn't for her. Even though at times we haven't been so close. I know without a doubt that if I was in need that she would drop everything to help me, as I hope she knows I would do the same for her.
Back to today! We were at Chatsworth mooching around the Christmas store in the garden centre. It was just lovely, loads of shiny decorations; baubles, tinsel, stars, fairy lights, everything that anyone needed to make Christmas sparkly.I was in heaven, I just love the whole decoration thing. So I brought myself an Advent Calender.
Now I have brought the boys one of those their entire lives up until last year. And the ones I have got have never had chocolate behind the date as I think that is sacrilege. Advent calenders have little pictures behind them. And the one I have got today, which is for me is just wonderfully old fashioned in it's picture of Father Christmas riding across the sky with his reindeer and it's covered in glitter just like the ones I had as a child.
For me Christmas is about two things nostalgia and family and I work at getting both those things to happen. As in this year I will be cooking Christmas lunch for my boys and my sister, her husband and my utterly gorgeous niece and nephew.
This is possibly the last Christmas I will have like this, cause it is my intention when I move to give my time at Christmas to those that don't have the support network I have at Christmas, it will be time to give something back big time.
In the meantime I'll just continue to be as daft as a brush over Christmas, and hide my head in a bucket when it's New Year to get it over with as soon as possible. Which means there will be lots more coming about Christmas as I get more and more excited..... Not surprising I was once known as the Christmas Pixie, the way I carry on!!!!
