A Magic Rise Oven
An Air Swimmer
Aqua Beads
A Box of Shocks
Elefun
Smash Putatoes (sic)
Squinkie Adventure
Lollypop Maker
Disney Snow Globe Maker
Dino Bites
I suspect that the majority of this list has been suggested by Molly, who in turn appears to have drawn her inspiration from a single advert break on Boomerang. As far as I am aware Daisy has not previously expressed any interest in any of the toys on her list (with the notable exception of the Air Swimmer - but more about that later). Neither, come to think of it, has she expressed any enthusiasm for the present that she is in fact going to receive this year. Colin and I have decided that Harry Potter Lego is the way forward and we are very much looking forward to building it on Christmas morning.
I am confident that Daisy will not have time to dwell upon her disappointment at not receiving Smash Putatoes on Christmas day. She will be too busy cowering behind the sofa as she is menaced by a giant, helium-filled, radio-controlled clown fish. Courtesy of Auntie Jane we have already taken delivery of a disappointingly flat Air Swimmer. Initially I had planned to make a Christmas Eve excursion to our local party emporium to have the fish filled with helium, but have now decided that this is simply asking for trouble. It would be hard to explain to Molly and Daisy that their present had simply swum away. Also, assuming I did make it home safely with my floating aquatic friend, I cannot think of anywhere we could hide a six-foot clown fish overnight.
I decided instead to procure our very own canister of helium, thus enabling us to secretly fill the fish after bedtime, refill him as required and of course to inhale helium to our hearts content. I do enjoy a shopping challenge and I have to confess that it was not only a quest for Airmiles that led me to my rather expensive accident on Tesco's forecourt a couple of weeks ago. I was secretly checking out the price of helium at the party shop next to Tesco under the pretext of a trip to buy fuel. I suspect that a head filled with thoughts of bargain helium may have contributed to my otherwise inexplicable decision to fill my diesel car with £60 of unleaded petrol. Although I have subsequently found and ordered cheaper helium online, the £3.50 I have saved, does not make up for the gut wrenchingly enormous cost of having my tank emptied, cleaned and refilled.
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| The Peacock of Doom |
Like a giant inflatable fish, Christmas is looming. I am surprisingly well prepared this year. Although I have once again failed to procure Heston's Christmas pudding, the tree is up, the presents have been purchased (largely online and also on credit - but think of the airmiles!) cards have been bought, though admittedly not yet written. I have overcome my horror at the small fortune demanded in exchange for three books of second class stamps. I have bought tasteful yet economical wrapping paper and a make-your-own crackers kit. I am not sure if Father Christmas will be requiring his own secret wrapping paper this year, but I suspect he probably still will.
I have already received one (disappointingly short) round robin letter. I love them. Each year I plan to write one myself, maybe this year I will. We always get a splendid one from the parents of one of Colin's friends in America and I very much look forward to my annual update on the lives of Bob and Marie. Although I have never met them I really enjoy reading about their ups and downs. Their sincere gratitude for their blessings in life is genuinely heartwarming. I really do like Christmas. I don't think I could make it through the winter without it. I delight in tinsel and fairy lights, I enjoy a carol, I relish a mince pie. The Festive Season is a time for traditions and second only to a theme, my next favourite thing is a tradition. This year as they have done for as long as they can remember, Molly and Daisy will leave a mince pie and a glass of Shadowbush Sloe Gin out for Father Christmas and a carrot and a bag of reindeer food for Rudolph (a lucrative mixture of porridge oats and glitter procured at the school christmas fayre). I have once again ceremonially tied the Peacock of Doom to the penultimate branch of the tree. Christmas is also a time for family and against all better judgement and previous experience, I am looking forward to spending it with mine. Like the boy in the John Lewis advert, I can barely wait to present my sister with the needle-felted cardigan I have lovingly crafted for her from one of my old jumpers which shrank in the wash (Oh Kirstie Allsop, what would I do without you?). I am also happy that the crew of HMS Ocean will be home for Christmas. Their homecoming video had apparently had one and a half million views on Youtube, according to the BBC it made Mariah Carey's day and I can confirm that it improved Molly and Daisy's morning too.
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| Molly and Daisy watching HMS Ocean's version of All I want for Christmas |
