You could still do Christmas if you wanted to...

Merry Chrismas!

It can get very disconcerting when your eldest (9) decides that you need to get a grip but that is what he did today.
Him: Are we going to have a Christmas then?
Me peering at him from the depths of my dog-ridden death bed: Urgh????
Him: ARE. WE. GOING. TO. HAVE. A. CHRISTMAS!!!!????
Me: Imberrydill
Him: But you could still do Christmas if you wanted to.
Yes of course I could if I wanted to but I'm ill see. I've got a cough which would make a 40-a-dayer jealous. I have a permanent headache and can hardly breath - I don't want Christmas anytime soon and certainly NOT at 7am in the morning.
I look at him through slitted eyes and snort. I would have sniffed but when you have a very heavy cold it is never a ladylike sniff its a full blown snort which then makes me feel queasy when I think what has just happened - it's no wonder I have lost my appetite.
Him expectantly: well?
I know that if I don't give him the right answer he's going to plague me ALL day and I'll never get any rest.
Me grumpily in a Bah-Humbug way: OK I'll do Christmas!
Him: Brill Mum you're the best.
He says that so chirpily I want to throttle him but he's off and down the stairs before I can shift the dozy pile of whippets off the end of  my bed. They do love it when people are ill because it means that they can stay in bed as 24-hour hot water bottles all day. Whippets love beds.
I'd like to say I stomped down the stairs and was very grumpy but6 when three whippets decide it's time to get up there's no time to waste for if I linger longer than they then I get the jolly job of having to clean up after them - dog owners of the world know just what that means. So with my lovely carpets in mind I shoot down the stairs and let the pack out and make my way to the kitchen where I am handed a cup of tea and told to sit down to breakfast by my boys who have clearly decided mum needs a bit of a hand.
You would have almost thought they planned it...
And from here on in it has been a whirlwind of a day.
Decorations up, cards hung, spare rooms cleaned and beds made in preparation, the dining room laid out all for Christmas Day and now as I contemplate a week of festivities ahead I find that my headache has gone, I can breath and it only sounds as if I smoke 20 a day - and that can't be a bad thing, can it?

Merry Christmas one and all!