They think it's all over...

...it is now - well for another year.

I hope you've all enjoyed Christmas as much as I have this year. Its been great having the whole family together for the first time in ages and everybody seemed genuinely pleased with their presents.

This year I opted for a "sensible version" by cutting down my usual festive alcohol intake. Thursday 23rd was a bit of a night - I'm sure the beer I drank accounts for a missing battleship somewhere, before we hit the annual tradition of Guinness with Tia Maria (I know it sounds disgusting, but try it sometime) and of course a contribution from our friend Mr Daniels (no, not Paul). Although by some miracle I was fighting fit the next morning, I thought I would give Christmas Eve a miss as I really didn't want to be steamed when the kiddies arrived that afternoon. Everybody arrived safe and sound, decorations just up in the nick of time and they were met by the smell of roast turkey wafting around the house.

Congratulations to little Sis. Firstly she's started her own blog but I promised I wouldn't post a link until she had a few more postings on there. Secondly, Mum, my sister and I had a bet back in October as to who could lose the most weight between then and Christmas Eve. I thought I'd done OK at losing 9lbs but she beat me by losing a further 7. There goes fifty quid then.
Bloody stupid time for a diet anyway.

Christmas morning, I got to play Santa this year handing out all of the presents and although it's a bit of an honour in our family, it is always a logistical nightmare. I always like to make sure everybody has a present to open at the same time but it's difficult to judge when there are five adults with three presents each and two kiddies with about three hundred each (one of which was more interested in chewing the wrapping paper than examining the contents but hey, he is only 7 months old)

To add to the festive fun, we thought the oven had packed in - always good for a laugh and sure to relieve the tension of a Christmas Day. Then we momentarily thought we'd run short of potatoes to roast, but thankfully not. To be honest, Mum did us all proud as usual turning out a fantastic dinner although next year, we'll probably have less than 7 veg to choose from just to reduce the stress a little!

Dinner was accompanied by a couple of fine bottles of wine (one glass of red being my only drink for the day) and was followed by the other tradition of the whole family falling asleep.

Boxing Day arrived and we'd promised my niece that we would take her across to the pub to see the Morris Men perform their Christmas display. Well that was my breaking point - I've always enjoyed watching these strangely dressed folks dancing and bashing each other with sticks, but I've equally never witnessed the event sober - this year was to be no different. Fair play to the guys though, it was bloody freezing out there and they always raise a good few quid for charity.

Yesterday was another day spent with the family before they set off last night.

Today I've read one of my Christmas presents cover to cover. XS All Areas is a fantastic behind the scenes look at the story of Status Quo. I know it isn't the first biography on the group but this is an autobiography and is a real "warts 'n all" account. It is quite frank in some places but also offers some good defences against the "three-chord-wonders" and "oh no, not another covers album" criticisms. (Just in case the other fan is reading this and is just as sick of the remarks as I am!)

Somewhere in the meantime, it looks like the Bunnyhero Labs website hit problems over the last few days so I've had to remove "Mog" from my blog. I might get round to putting him back, but then I always thought it took up a bit too much space.

And that folks, was my Christmas. I don't usually do New Year's Eve - I can't see the point. I can use any night of the week as an excuse to drink twice my bodyweight in real ale because the date is changing at midnight.

Come to think of it, twice my bodyweight is a bit of an exaggeration, perhaps I was closer with the "sinking a battleship" analogy...